(1979-today)
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Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 AI-s. Enlarge. You can still buy them new from B&H Photo-Video, where I've bought two of them myself. It helps me keep adding to this site when you use that link to get yours, thanks! Ken.
July 2008 More Nikon Reviews
Introduction
This lens has been a hit ever since it was introduced in 1979. I've bought two of them brand-new over the years, and the first one I bought in 1983 still works perfectly.
You can still get them brand-new at B&H Photo-Video in 2008 for only about $350. (It helps me keep adding to this site when you use that link to get yours.)
It is hellaciously sharp at every aperture and distance, diffraction limited by f/5.6 in the center, extremely well made and fairly inexpensive, selling for about $300 brand new.
Since the 60mm f/2.8 AF focuses to 1:1, instead of the 55mm's 1:2, I'd suggest it instead for most uses.
Specifications
It takes 52mm filters.
It focuses down to about 9," at which point the image on film is one-half the size of the subject.
It has six elements in five groups.
It has close range correction (CRC).
It has a seven-bladed diaphragm stopping down to f/32.
It takes the Nikon HN-3 hood, although you don't need it.
It weighs 10 oz. (290g).
It is 2.5" (63.5mm) in diameter and 2.8" (70mm) long.
Nikon 55mm f/2.8 Controls.
Performance
This lens is often used as the benchmark against which other lenses are compared. It's that good.
Distortion
The 55mm f/2.8 AI-2 has no visible distortion at any distance.
On film and FX cameras, it can be corrected complete by using a setting of +0.25 in Photoshop CS2's lens distortion filter.
Ghosts
It has few ghosts.
Lateral Color Fringes
It has no lateral color.
Sharpness
It's very, very sharp at every aperture. Here's what it does on Fuji Velvia 50:
f/2.8: Sharp all over, does have some light falloff
f/4: Little, if any, falloff
f/5.6: Diffraction limited in center; seems like it is all over actually. Even illumination.
f/22: Diffraction takes the edge off the sharpness
See my Diffraction page for actual performance examples.
Mechanics
Like all AI-s manual focus lenses, it is made to an impeccably high mechanical standard.
Recommendations
This lens is so good I own two. Well, OK, that's not exactly why I own two, but I really do have them.
It's inexpensive to buy new. On the other hand, the 60mm f/2.8 AF version doesn't cost much more and focuses directly to life-size. The AF version also gives full compatibility on AF and digital cameras, even though for macro work I usually focus manually anyway.
I prefer the 105mm lens for macro work. That's why, even though I have two of these, I rarely use it. Friends use this focal length for photographing fish in aquarium tanks. The short focal length allows one to get close to the glass and still be able to see a complete fish, unlike a 105mm.
If you want a macro for duplicating documents then this is a good choice. If you want to photograph little animals, then go instead for a 105mm macro.
Hand held on a Nikon FA I get blurred results at 1/30 and great results at 1/60.
It works great in place of a faster normal lens. When I was younger and stupider I thought that it would not be very good when used at ordinary distances. Whoops, it is spectacular at all distances. Unless you need the extra stop or two offered by the other 50mm normal lenses, you can forget about needing a separate normal 50mm lens if you have this.
The nature of close-up photography is such that the effective aperture of the lens gets smaller as you focus closer. The camera compensates for this automatically when you meter through-the-lens for available light or with TTL flash. TTL flash even works great on an F100, although one does have to dial in compensation as for all other lenses due to the calibration of the F100.
If you are using this with manual flash or an external meter you will need to compensate manually for this loss of light.
The hard way to do this is to carry the instruction sheet with you everywhere and refer to it constantly.
The smart way is to attach a piece of removable white label to the focus ring, and mark the compensation along this ring of paper that corresponds to the focused distance. In the photo below you can see that 1/3 stop is marked at 1:8, 1/2 stop is at 1:5.2, 2/3 stop is at 1:4 and (trust me) 1 full stop is at 1:2.1.
I have never messed with the PK-13 extension rings. If I want more magnification I use my 105mm AF macro instead, or add a TC-200 teleconverter to either lens.
PLUG
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