.jpg){kind=logo}
Revisiting Classic Nikon Glass: The Nikon AF 135mm f/2 DC and 85mm f/2 AIS
- yzhensiang
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Every now and then, it’s worth taking a step back from the modern, clinically perfect glass to appreciate some classic Nikon glass. Recently, courtesy of my friend, I got to spend some time with the Nikon AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2D (135 DC). Spoiler alert: it’s an absolutely incredible lens, but comes with a few caveats that you would expect from an older optical design.
Let’s address the elephant in the room first: the "DC" stands for Defocus Control. My first encounter with this lens was 7 years ago, back in 2019—the Sony 135mm F2.8 T4.5 STF A-mount lens (135mm STF) during my Japan trip. Despite my short experience with it, I do love that lens a lot. It was nothing short of being an incredible lens. The only issue I had was its T4.5 light transmission which is somewhat limiting under low light condition.
Collection of images shot with the Sony 135mm F2.8 T4.5 STF A-mount.
Before we go on, I think we have to briefly explain how this type of glass work. Basically, the concept of STF glasses is to allow photographers to control the smoothness of the bokeh while maintaining the high revolving power of the lens. A typical lens with high resolving power is usually has a complex set of aspherical optics that corrects for the abberations and does not suffer from things like spherical abberations. But in turn causes lens aficionados moan about like onion rings in the bokeh. Therefore, the 135mm STF is design to keep both parties happy. It does this with an apodisation filter with combination of a secondary iris, and as a trade-off, the APD elements will eat up approx 1.5 stops of light when shooting wide open.
Now, the Nikon one does it slightly differently at least from what I read. Instead of adding a apodizaiton filter (some sort of ND filter) that affects the lights transmission entirely, Nikon design their DC lenses to allow photographers to change the amount of spherical correction of the lens. It allows control over the focal length gradient across the chief ray (light ray that passes through the center of the lens) and marginal ray (light ray that passes at the edge of the lens. This in turn allows users to control the smoothness of the front and rear bokeh. While Nikon claims the light transmission to be unaffected, I do see a small light losses in transmission (approx 0.9 stops by my estimation).
Bokeh is one of those funny subjects in photography that seems to get discussed way too much—probably because of how subjective it is. God knows what is good or bad; it really all comes down to personal taste. I mostly don't care about specific bokeh characteristics (cat eye, onion-ring, smoothness, etc.) as long as they are not distracting. Simply put, I just want the out-of-focus areas to be smooth. Reason being, I find lenses that naturally render smoothly are far more practical and can be put into multiple applications. On the flip side, those lenses with distinctive bokeh are what I label as "effect" lenses are mostly just for their gimmicks resulting in a highly niche use cases producing an image that might look dated as time passes by.
This brings me back to the 135 DC. While the concept of controlling spherical aberration to tweak the foreground or background bokeh sounds great on paper, in practice, I am just not a fan. All it does is adding a soft, dreamy glow to the image and also making onion rings either at the front or rear out-of-focus area. The defocus effect on the bokeh is also marginal and barely noticeable in real-world situations. That said, if you are going for that glowy look, by all means, use that DC ring to your advantage. But for my workflow, this is the feature that I would avoid. Reason being, the 135 DC is already such a great lens by itself. Sharpness is great even shooting at wide open aperture. The subject separation is fantastic, cutting planes beautifully and delivering a distinctive character that makes it such a lovely lens. Both colour and contrast rendition is also very pleasing and rich, giving the files a nice feel straight out of the camera. On top of that, the manual focus ring when decoupled from the AF motor also provides a good feedback.
That said, it is still an old lens. Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration (LoCA) is present and something you need to keep an eye out for when shooting wide open, as with most legacy prime lenses out there. However, if you can look past the wide-open LoCA and leave the defocus control untouched, you're left with a truly stellar piece of glass. Once you stop it down to f/4 and beyond, the performance becomes exceptional, offering plenty of sharpness across the frame.
Collection of images shot with the Nikon AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2D,
On a side note regarding legacy glass, I finally took my Nikon Ai-S 85mm f/2 out on the same shoot too, after what feels like ages. Dusting it off made me realise something: this lens has been with me the longest. We are pushing slightly more than the ten-year mark now, and it has remained a constant in my gear collection, surviving every single camera system change I’ve gone through over the last decade. From full-frame DSLR to mirrorless (2 rounds back and forth) and now with Fujifilm medium format.
And the absolute best part about this humble little lens is realising that it actually covers the medium format sensor on my Fujifilm GFX 50S after all this years. Sure, there’s a slight vignette, but looking at the rendering and image quality, who would have ever known it was shot on this vintage 35mm glass. It’s a brilliant reminder of the hidden potential in these older optics, proving that sometimes the gear you've held onto the longest still has a few surprises left.
Collection of images shot with the Nikon Ai-S 85mm f/2.
All images in this article are available for print request and for those who are interested in a more curated fine art style prints, you may visit my print store. Alternatively, you can also write to me if you wish to request any custom prints from my site.
Comments