The case for old Nikkors...

[Dave Blackham]

Interesting. I see Eastern Enterprises rehouse Nikon Glass to create a Motion picture lens as well as Leicas and other stuff. I shall do some googling to see if there's any info about thats shot on Nikons. Our perference ehre is still Lecia but we are growing fond of Nikon too. I just wish they would sort out that blasted focus rotation though.

[Phil Holland]

I have a few 1960s Nikkors and totally agree that they are a fantastic value. Any of their 105mm designs are also superb.

[PatrickFaith]

28mm 2
50mm 1.2, 1.4 or 2 (1.2 is the best still 50 I've ever used)

I have a nikor 50mm from the 70's, put an EF adapter on it ... it is my favorite EF lens (and i have a bunch of zeiss stuff). The "feel" i get from that lens is crazy ... is hard though in cinema, to get another lense that "matches" that nikor.

[Evin Grant]

Evin, I'm surprised you didn't recommend the 85mm f/1.8 instead of the 85mm f/2, which I find kinda dull.

I like them both, the 1.8s are just getting harder and harder to find in good condition. The 1.4 is the real doosey though, I've owned them all but currently have the f2 mostly for size/weight reasons, and I like having a matched f2 across most of the set.

[Sanjin Jukic]

Actuall most fo the Panavision "C" series Anamorphic lenses use Nikkor lens elements. Those are the lenses used on "Close Encounters" "Raiders of the lost Ark" "Blade Runner" and many other benchmark anamorphic films. There are other Nikkors in the Panavision vault but I don't know them specifically.

You can really see Nikkor image look rendering in those movies on DVD/BR. And also I like Nikkors.

[Tom Greenberg]

I recently purchased a set of Nikkor "standard speed" cine-mod lenses from Peter Sensor at RP Lens here in Grand Rapids and am absolutely thrilled with them.

The set consisted of:
24mm f2.0
35mm f2.0
50mm f1.4
85mm f2.0
105mm f2.5

Peter does a full cine-mod on these lenses...he de-clicks the aperture ring, installs press-on focus gears, and installs 80mm front step-up rings so that all lenses have the same diameter fronts...all for $3900 in a nice little Pelican case. He also sells a couple of different "high-speed" sets. If you are interested in buying a "pre-built" set of Nikkors that are ready to shoot, I can't recommend Peter highly enough!

[Matthew Scott]

I recently sold my 15mm 3.5 because although it looked really cool and came in a leather case (hehe) it fell over in every other aspect compared to the Tokina 11-16mm 2.8. Sharpness, color, contrast, flare and weight. It's the only lens I use that's not nikkor though...and I love my 180 ED the most :)
Great post, all for the AI/AIS love! :)

[Rob Castiglione]

Thanks Evin. Totally agreed. I just keep coming back to the Nikkors. I really love the lower contrast look of the older Nikkors.

[Edward Blythe]

All I need now is the mount... Time to double down on the Optitek methinks.

[Nick Morrison]

You can also just use the All Star Mount. Or fotodiox adapters if you are using the Scarlet/Epic EOS mount.