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Lens recommendations for Nikon FM2N
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I just just bought myself a Nikon FM2N 35mm SLR. It is a body only, so I’m looking for some recommendations on manual lenses that I might pick up on ebay or otherwise?
As far as I know I can use my newer DX series lenses, but obviously wont have AF available, and I think the 50mm 1.8 should work with it okay as well?
Any hints, tips etc from Nikon film users in particular greatly appreciated.
Ta
Robbie
8)Came across this thread on another forum Robbie it might help you out
http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/004Dn6
Cheers Cathal… :D
That’s grand Mark, at least I’ll have a lens to use on it when it arrives :D
Great thing about the Nikon lenses is that just about all their lenses will fit (excl the DX).
Lots to choose from…
Any lens with a Nikon mount and an aperture ring at the mount will work on the FM’s.
If I had a preference for which series of lenses I would pick the AIS lenses, probably some of the sharpest and best built lenses Nikon ever made for their 35mm cameras….
M
I would recomment a 135mm Nikkor and a 35mm Nikkor, they are fairly cheap to buy second hand and will last forever. Buy the fastest you can afford but the 135 3.5 is especially good even if a bit slow. Both are high quality lenses and will cover a lot of different subject matter, portraits street and landscape.
A 35/1.4 AI-S would be another good investment… I am hunting for one myself at the moment. I am not sure if the pre-AI lenses work with that body without modification, I think, they don’t.
I’ve been thinking of putting these up in the ‘for sale’ section. All manual focus A1-S and a few of them are real crackers, now hard to find.
My favourites are the 105, 85 and 35. The 16mm is the full frame non-rectilinear fisheye, a great lens but more of a novelty than anything else and gives weird portraits when up close. I also have two FM2n cameras.
Nikkor ED 300mm f4.5
Nikkor 180mm f2.8
Nikkor 105mm f1.8
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Nikkor 35mm f2
Nikkor 28mm f2
Nikkor 21mm f2.8
Nikkor 16mm f2.8
Nikon Speedlight SB 26 or 28
Metz 45 CL-4 hammerhead flash Ni-CadI haven’t quite decided which to sell or maybe all but I haven’t used them since I went digital a few years ago and it seems a waste to have them locked away idle. It’s a sentimental thing but I haven’t been able to tear myself away from these lovely bits of optics. I got rid of my home darkroom a year ago and it was like cutting off an arm. I have an organ donor card so that helped.
I’ll give it some serious consideration and put some up on the ‘for sale’ next week.Thanks for the advice guys…:-)
Darkroom…I’ll keep an eye on the for sale section and hopefully take some of those from you if you decide to sell :-)
That’s a nice collection-
some lovely shiny things there-
everything but the kitchen sink-Thanks for that Glazing machine-
and the directions-I did manage to get it out of the car without too much damage-
to the car…
j
Congrats on a real classic workhorse of a camera Robbie, the FM2N is one of my all time favourites. I had to sell mine at one point and lamented it ever since but these days prices are very good for this sort of kit so I bought another – happy days!
There is quite a difference, I find, in digital optics and what went before – analog if you will – and I would recommend, if you can, to go for some AIS lenses. Their sharpness, feel and dof is really nice and not the same as the clinical perfection we’re used to with digital.
I have three, which I also use on my Canon (don’t spit!!) with a converter, and they’re a joy to use. The ones I have are 135mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 24mm f2 (links are to a sample image taken with that lens albeit on a Canon body (I said don’t spit! It’s rude! ;)), and they need to be stopped down manually as well as (obviously) focused manually – which means that I miss a fair number of shots compared to AF!
Have a few pics taken with the FM2N and 135mm lens on my PBase site here. It’s the ones starting with “N07” about half way down the page; they’re nothing remarkable, just gives you some feedback.
You can pick them up at a reasonable price these days (not like when I really wanted them some 15-20 years ago!).
Above all, enjoy your new toys ;)
Thanks Stas… I just received it yesterday in the post. Loaded some black and white Ilford Delta and am ready to shoot… ;-)
The controls seem pretty straightforward. The exposure meter is fairly simple by the looks of it.. 0 for correct exp, – for under and + for over.
Took two shots before I remembered that I had to set the ISO dial to the correct setting to match the film (100). So god knows what they will turn out like, if at all.
I love the feel of the camera and the simplicity. It seems in pretty good nick, the hotshoe even looks like it’s never had a flash fitted into it. There is dust in the viewfinder, but I don’t imagine this will affect the shots.
I stuck on my 50mm 1.8 AF lens as it didn’t come with a lens, but I’ve been watching a few of the AIS lenses on ebay, so hopefully something reasonable will pop up soon.
Now I’m going to have to look into maybe buying some gear for a basic darkroom, as JB7 has me demented telling me it’s sacrilegious to send the film off to a lab..hehehe!!
Anyway, thanks for the help guys…you’re all much friendlier than those nasty Digital people…. :wink:
Robbie,
Good man !
If you are interested in developing and printing, I would really recommend fintans and thefizz’s workshops (http://www.fpworkshops.com).
Will help get you started for sure.Thanks Mark..I did the introductory course there last year..was an interesting day,,,so may do a follow up if i get more into it :-)
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