105mm f/2.5 Non-AI Nikkor

I recently bought a 105mm f/2.5 non-AI Nikkor lens from National Camera Exchange in the Twin Cities.

This wasn’t the first time I bought something from them. Years ago, we purchased an Olympus Stylus 600 that proved to be so awful we returned it in a matter of a week or two. They did not hesitate to take it back. We ended up exchanging that Olympus for a Canon PowerShot SD600 that served us well for many years.

More recently, I bought from them a 50mm f/1.4 non-AI Nikkor lens in absolutely beautiful condition. Concerned about buying an old lens without first holding it in my hand, I called over to National Camera Exchange and spoke to a very helpful saleswoman who gave me a very frank assessment of the lens. It exceeded even my own very picky standards.

A few weeks ago, I saw a listing on National Camera Exchange’s website for the earliest version of the 105mm f/2.5, a short telephoto lens that I’ve wanted to add to my lens collection for some time. I didn’t feel the same sense of nervousness that I often have when I take a risk on something listed by Joe Shmoe on eBay, so I went for it.

A week later, it arrived at my home. With a small copy of The Thinker by Auguste Rodin as my test subject, I had the chance to put it through its paces. In a nutshell, I found it was a very interesting lens. It was sharp in the middle even at full aperture. Whatever vignetting turned up when I shot with it wide open actually served as an asset.

Here are my test images, which I took with the lens adapted to my Canon EOS R8. I had my tripod-mounted camera set to aperture priority mode with an ISO setting at a steady 125 and my exposure comp set to +2/3rds stop.

And here are the same set of eight images in an animated GIF. In spite of the obviously limited range of grey tones that GIFs are capable of rendering, you can see the changes between apertures a bit better this way.

At f/2.5 and f/2.8, there is a pleasing amount of vignetting that makes the subject appear to glow. The center of the image is rather sharp even with the lens wide open. At f/4, that vignetting goes away quite dramatically. Consistent with my experience with my other old Nikkors, the sweet spot for this lens seems to be between f/4 and f/8. At f/11, the effects of diffraction become apparent. At least for portrait work, I don’t think I would ever use this lens at f/11 or slower.

Unfortunately, I found a fatal flaw in the example I had just bought: the silver ring between the focusing and aperture rings was missing a set screw. Thanks to another honest evaluation I got over the phone from a National Camera Exchange salesman before I made my purchase, I already knew about a problematic aperture ring, whose “clickiness,” for lack of a better term, was very much on the spongy side. But this coupled with that missing set screw prompted me to return the lens. Just like my earlier experience years ago, National Camera Exchange took the lens back with no questions asked. They even paid for return shipping.

I was sorry to return that lens. Those early 105mm Nikkors are legendary lenses, and I was excited to get an example of my own. My search a good one will have to continue.