Nikon Equipment I have used (more or less); * means more. I have used multiple samples of most marked *. Some of the items marked * I have not owned, but used extensively. Other items not so marked I may have owned but not used very much.

Cameras

• *Nikon F - clumsy loading, clumsy motor (but it worked most of the time), mostly crude metering, but the basic camera was great.
• *Nikon F2, with DP1, DP11, DP12, and MD1 and MD2 - a delight to use. The camera with MD1 and battery pack was very large and heavy, but was great to use. One of my favourite cameras.
• Nikkorex - for collectors and masochists.
• Nikkormat F, FT, *FTn - decent, rugged lower cost alternatives to the NikonF
• EM, FG, F70 - you get what you pay for. All useable, but with limitations for serious use.
• *FE, FE2 with MD11 and MD12 - As successor to the Nikkormat EL and ELW, a huge success. What you save in buying the MD11 over the MD12 you will soon spend in extra battery usage.
• F3 - never did like it very much. Mostly used my F2's until the F4 came out.
• *FM, FM2, FM2n with MD11 and MD12 - Nikon's best effort at a small, light, straightforward manual camera.
• *FA with MD15 - Nikon's first 'matrix metering'; lots of bugs - lots of overexposed slides! Can use MD12, but is very sluggish with it.
• *N2000 - decent operation and performance; goes forever on a set of the optional AA batteries (uses AAA's in standard form); can use AI lenses in program mode.
• N2020 - the first Nikon autofocus camera that used the present system
• *801 - The first Nikon autofocus that actually worked
• *F4 - a great camera, but heavy. With the MF-23 back very versatile, and it allows me to change screens, viewfinders, and, most importantly, it shows me (almost) exactly what will be on the film.
• *F90x - A very good fast handling camera, which, with the SB-26 and the 24-120 zoom makes the best point-and-shoot combo I have seen. Too much distortion in the viewfinder (as in most SLR's except for the top models), too many small buttons, and overly complex setting the options on the MF-26 back.
• *F601 - A decent camera, with a useable flash for fill. Reliance on Lithium batteries (necessary for flash) main drawback.

Lenses - note that I am more critical with respect to the more expensive lenses.

• *15/3.5 AI - very good lens with minimal distortion. Main shortcomings are with ghosting and flare when sun is just out of picture.
• 15/5.6 - Not quite as good as the 3.5
• *18/4 - see below
• 18/3.5 AIS - see below
• 18/2.8 AF - the best of the three, but with huge shortcomings for a lens of this price. The distortion that this lens produces is of the 'mustache' type, where there is fairly strong barrel distorion 1/2 way to the corners, and fairly little distortion along most of the edges, except for the very corners, where straight lines parallel to the edges turn into the corners quite sharply. Definitely quite ugly for architectural work! All Nikon 18's exhibit this to a pronounced degree. Fortunatly the 15/3.5 and 20/2.8 exhibit little of this, so this focal length can be skipped.
• *20/3.5 (old, 72mm filter type) - Nikon's first at this focal length. Not very good, but compared with the older 21, it did offer through the lens viewing.
• 20/4 AI - very compact, slightly better performance than the old 20/3.5
• *20/3.5 AI - very decent performance in a small package.
• 20/2.8 AIS - same optics as the present AF lens
• *20/2.8 AF - excellent wideangle, with minimal distortion for an SLR lens.
• *24/2.8 - first of this focal length, first with CRC, and still a great lens
• *24/2 AI - A bit soft wide open, but then you can shoot at f/2 with a very compact lens! Don't leave home without it.
• 28/3.5 of various ages - from not too good to excellent; try it out!
• 28/2.8 AIS - mostly good to excellent, again, try it out!
• 28/2 AI - probably the best of the MF 28's.
• *35/2 - all versions quite good, with later AIS and AF being best
• *35/1.4 AIS - Top quality lens, useable at all apertures.
• 50/1.8 of various types. - all good, with no reservations
• *50/1.4 of various MF types - usually set the standard at this focal length and speed. Compared with the slower f/1.8 and f/2 versions, usually it was better, but again usually the difference was not great. If you need the speed, no need to hold back.
• *50/1.4 AF - A good lens that I don't use much. As with the MF 50/1.4's, a bit too much distortion.
• 50/1.2 - useable, but not great. Did not compare well to the f/1.4.
• *85/2 AIS - the smallest tele. A very nice travel lens; maybe not quite as good optically as the 85/1.8 AF.
• *85/1.4 AIS - great! A very nice lens to use, with good contrast even wide open. Sometimes too bulky to pack.
• *85/1.8 AF - One of my favourites!
• 85/1.4 AF - possibly not quite as good as the AIS, but if you want AF, don't worry about it.
• *105/2.5 of various vintages. All excellent.
• *105/1.8 AIS - almost as good as the 2.5
• 135/2.8 early - don't bother. Quite a bit of flare.
• 135/2.8 AI - decent if you like a compact tele.
• 135/2 AI - fast and big. Very good performance.
• 180/2.8 - a very good lens.
• *180/2.8 ED - a better than very good lens.
• *180/2.8 AF - Very sharp even performance across the field, fast focussing, and works well with the Vivitar Macro focussing TC. The best 180 of Nikon's, and compares well with Leica's and Contax'.
• *200/4 (old, large) - an excellent lens, but a bit much flare
• *200/4 AI (compact) - also an excellent lens, and easy to carry. Multicoating got rid of the flare problem. Good zooms make these less attractive, but most zooms do not have as good performance at 200.
• 300/4.5 - a good lens for its time (60's and 70's), but eclipsed by the ED's.
• *300/4.5 ED - excellent performance, but try to get the IF for its handling advantages.
• *300/4.5 ED IF - great performance, great handling, small size; what more do you want?
• 300/2.8 ED IF - if you need the speed, all of Nikon's 300/2.8's are good, if not quite up to brand C.
• *300/4 AF - A good compromise between speed and weight for my purposes. Works with the TC14B. Performance might be even better than the f/2.8 version's.
• *400/5.6 - This is the old PC lens from about 1970; it was the first 'ED' Nikkor, although it is not designated as such. The sharpest, highest contrast telephoto I know of. Better than Nikon's 400/5.6 IF, or even the 400/3.5 IF. On the downside, the handling is poor as it is not IF.
• 400/5.6 ED - top class performance, if not quite up to the previous lens'.
• 400/5.6 ED-IF - similar in performance to the non-IF version, with vastly improved handling. Note that nearly all IF lenses focus by reducing the focal length, so that at near focussing distances you don't have a 400 anymore, but more like a 350.
• *400/3.5 ED-IF - the best of the 400's, if not all of Nikon's long teles with the exception of the old 400/5.6 PC noted above.
• *600/5.6 w/AU-1 focussing unit - these old lenses looked good at the time, but were a bear to maneuver. They were made in 400, 600, 800 and 1200mm sizes, and in 600, 800 and 1200 in ED versions. The ED gave good images, but were large and clumsy compared with today's lenses.
• 600/5.6 ED-IF - reasonably light and easy handling considering its focal length, with excellent performance.
• 20-35/2.8 AF - good, sharp and versatile, but not quite as good as the fixed lenses within its range, and more distortion and light falloff. A photojournalist's lens; not an architecural photographer's.
• *24-50/3.3-4.5 AF - light, acceptable performance.
• 25-50/4 - large, fairly sharp, lots of distortion
• *24-120/3.5-5.6 AF - An amazingly good lens for its focal range. Where they overlap, this lens is much better than the 24-50; only at the long end is there a slight falloff in quality wide open. First examples of this lens had bad zoom creep, but Nikon fixes this for free if you bring the lens and your receipt in. This is a two-touch, IF lens, but Nikon negated the advantages of IF by having the front rotate not with focussing, but with zooming. Also, at the close focussing distance of 0.5m or 20", due to IF the focal length is less than 100mm. The lens hood is very large, but flare is not a big problem with this lens anyways. If you want to use a polarizer with this lens, get Nikon's, as most others will cause vignetting at 24mm.
• 28-45/4.5 - the first Nikon wideangle zoom, only notable for that fact.
• 28-85/3.5-4.5 AF - a decent travel lens, with reasonable performance. Not much point to it since the 24-120 came out.
• 35-70/3.5-4.5 AF - first AF zoom besides the 70-210/4, uninteresting otherwise.
• 35-70/3.5 - high performance in a focal length range I am uninterested in.
• 35-70/2.8 AF - higher performance in a focal length range I am still uninterested in.
• *35-105/3.5-4.5 AI - 5 samples were from terrible to quite OK. The greatest variation out of the box I have seen with any Nikon lens.
• 35-200/3.5-4.5 - if you need the range, it's as good (poor) as any. Try to avoid.
• 43-86/3.5 in various forms - a dog useful for certain tricks. This comment does a disservice to dogs.
• 50-135/3.5 - great performance in a very unpoplular lens
• *50/300/4.5 - 50 to 300? Wow! Too bad the quality wasn't there. Also huge and unwieldy.
• *50-300/4.5 ED - a fair bit smaller, but still a monster. At least the quality was now OK.
• *70-210/4 AF - The old Series 'E' constant aperture optics in an autofocus mount. A good travel lens which works well with the 5T and 6T closeup lenses. Optical performance not a lot different than that of the 80-200/4.
• *80-200/4.5 of various ages - the best of their time, but the 'legendary" performance has to be seen in its own niche in time. Nothing to get excited about today.
• *80-200/4 - better than the old f/4.5 lenses, but not as good as the 2.8AF
• 80-200/2.8 AIS - big, fast, big, sharp, big, expensive, BIG.
• *80-200/2.8 AF - a bit heavy at times, but very good performance, and, of course, f/2.8. Some vignetting noticeable, and performance is not as good as the 180 at the first two stops; also about 1/3 stop less transmission as is typical for zooms. All of the above criticisms are mainly to show that this lens is not yet ready for deification. Decent performance with the TC14B; no 2x converter provides useable performance.
• 200-600/9.5-10.5 - actually useable from the first version (60's). 490mm long.
• *200-600/9.5 - quite decent performance for the time (70's) and now only 380mm long.
• 7.5/5.6 - the one to get if you want to carry a fisheye.
• *8/2.8 AI - the one to get if you actually want to use a fisheye.
• 16/3.5 - Nikon's first full frame fisheye, great performance, 170 degrees.
• *16/2.8 AI - Fine performance if you need this type of picture.
• *28/4PC - not much of a difference optically compared with the 3.5.
• *28/3.5 PC - All around acceptable performance, but not outstanding. If overshifted, circle of illumination sufficient for the corners, but sharpness not good enough. More importantly, ugly distorion in the overshifted areas! For better optical performance in a 28 shift lens, get the Schneider.
• *35/2.8 PC - As with the 28, but maybe a bit better. Generally in shift lenses, Canon has done better optically. However, Nikon's lenses handle better.
• *55/3.5 Micro (first type) - This lens had a unique diaphragm mechanism, which was designed to counteract the reduction in effective f-stop as you focussed closer. At all apertures except wide open, it opened the aperture to provide the same exposure at all magnifications up to 1:2, after which an extension tube was required. This was done so that the lens could be used with non-TTL metering easily. With TTL metering, it is a pain to use as you have to counter-compensate. Avoid unless you use non-TTL flash. Optical performance was very good close-up, not as good at infinity.
• *55/3.5 Micro (various types) - The TTL-metering versions of the above lens. Optical performance was more even, and was generally excellent.
• *55/2.8 Micro - an excellent all-round lens in this range, plus the first Micro-Nikkor to have CRC, and a slight change in focal length as it goes through its range.
• *55/2.8 AF Micro - a Nikon that rattles and shakes; the least confidence inspiring Nikkor ever. Also at 1:1, the extremely deeply recessed elements mean that you have a hard time lighting your subject.
• *60/2.8 AF Micro - An excellent lens in an outstandingly designed mount.
• 105/4 Bellows Nikkor - optics of the 105/4 AI (but this came first).
• *105/4 AI Micro - a great macro lens; overall better than the 2.8 lenses
• 105/2.8 AIS Micro - good performance, but not as good as the f/4. Focal length also shortens slightly as you get to 1:1.
• 105/2.8 AF Micro - good performance, but focal length shortens as you get to 1:1 down to about 80mm, which is not really desirable. Best perormance at 1:1
• *200/4 AI Micro - my most used macro. Great performance at all distances and aperture, and with the TC14B. Not good with the TC301. Focus in both 200 Micro's is achieved by shortening the focal length, but with 200 to start with, this is not so bad.
• 200/4 AF Micro - excellent optically, but since I don't need AF for macro, and getting to 1:1 with this length is not a priority, I think it's too big and heavy for me. I'll keep the MF. At 1:1, the focal length (and relief between front of lens and subject) is very close to that of the 105/4 used with the appropriate tube (PN-11) to get to 1:1, but you will be nearly two stops brighter.
• 500/8 (two types) - the first is not as good, and doesn't focus as close (13') as the second (5'). Hard to get sharp shots wither either, due to light weight and poor optical performance compared with modern ED lenses. Try before you buy!
• 1000/11 - like the 500/8 only more so.
• *TC14B - good with most lenses that Nikon says work with it. Probably the best TC that I have used.
• TC201 - never found any lens it was really good with.
• *TC301 - not bad with the 400/3.5; unfortunately no good with the 400/5.6
• Other lenses in mounts for Nikon:
  • 28-200/3.5-5.6 Tamron (latest) - noticeably beter than the first version, but still not good enough at 200. Since at 200mm it's a f/5.6, you would like to be able to use it wide open, but performance is too poor.
  • *35-105/2.8 AF Tamron - very good performance. Somewhat high distortion levels, which is not too objectionable for the type of use I put it to.
  • *70-150/2.8 SF SP Tamron - an unusual lens. Dial-up soft focus in a fairly compact, basically very sharp, close-focussing zoom that covers the best portrait lengths.
  • *105/2.8 Macro Kiron - a very good 2.8 macro; performance lies between the 105/4 Nikkor and the 105/2.8 Nikkors. No shortening of focal length at close distances.
  • 200-400/5.6 Tamron LD AF - forget it.
  • MANY, MANY OTHERS.- in general, you get what you pay for.
  • *2x Vivitar Macro Focussing TC - the best 2x TC I've used with the 180/2.8 ED (any version), and that's the lens I want to use it with most. It also works well with the 300/4. Too bad it isn't autofocus.