Nikon 135 f 2 DC User Manual
Nikon 135mm f/2 DC
The King of Bokeh (1990-)
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Nikon 135mm f/2 DC
04.01.2010
http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm
-f2-
dc.htm
© 2009 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Intro Specs Performance Recommendations
Nikon AF DC-NIKKOR 135mm f/2 D (72mm filters, 28.9oz/818g, about $1,300).
enlarge. I'd get it new or used at at Adorama or B&H Photo Video, new at Amazon,
or used at eBay. The 135 DC is a limited-production lens, and therefore hard to find
in stock; you have to order it and wait. It helps me keep adding this site when you
get yours from these links, thanks! Ken.
December 2009 More Nikon Reviews
Introduction
Intro Specs Performance Recommendations
The Nikon AF 135mm f/2 DC is Nikon's, and arguably the world's,
greatest portrait lens. It has a very similar smaller brother, the
105mm f/2 DC.
The 135mm DC is also Nikon's sharpest 135mm lens, and an
extraordinarily great lens for nature and landscape photography. It
is worlds sharper and freer from spherical aberration than any of
the the old manual focus 135mm f/2 lenses.
The hood is the best built-in hood I've ever used. It is metal, and it
locks into position so it doesn't shrivel down like most other built-in
hoods.
top
You have to move a ring to get to manual focus mode, and once
you do, manual focus is fantastic.
Search Amazon:
Defocus Control
,
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Nikon 135mm f/2 DC
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DC stands for Defocus Control. A lot got lost in the translation on
the way from Japan. The key word is control, not defocus. This is
not a soft-focus lens; it is a lens that has been specifically
designed and patented both for superior bokeh (the softness of
out-of-focus areas), and the ability to control this bokeh for
optimum results under all conditions.
I personally buy
from Adorama,
Amazon, Ritz, B&H
Calumet and J&R. I
can't vouch for ads
below.
Defocus Image Control. bigger.
How do you set this 135mm lens for optimum bokeh? Easy: set
this ring to the same aperture at which you're shooting. Press the
unlock button on the left in order to move it, otherwise it stays
locked. Set it to the R side to make backgrounds go soft and
disappear, or the F side if you want to optimize it for junk in the
foreground.
Hint: You should almost never have out-of-focus objects in front of
your subject or in the foreground. It looks unnatural and weird. Our
eyes naturally focus on the closest thing to us, so it's
uncomfortable when a photo has a soft foreground or other
distractions which our eyes can't bring into focus.
The effects of this defocus control are very subtle. You won't see it
through your viewfinder. When used properly, the 135 DC turns
backgrounds into the softest, smoothest washes of color you've
ever seen. Turn the ring in the wrong direction, and out-of-focus
backgrounds get harsher. These are subtle effects. Computer people may not see
these subtleties at all, but artists will.
Leave the Defocus Image Control ring at zero, and the 135 DC simply acts as the
sharpest 135mm lens you've ever used.
The defocus control only controls defocus, or the parts of the image that are not in
focus.
If you set the control beyond the aperture you're using, like set to f/5.6 when
shooiting at f/2, you can get a softer focus effect.
The in-focus part of the image is always ultra sharp. This is not a soft-focus lens. It's
only the unfocused parts of the image which are made softer. No one in the USA
understands this lost-in-translation subtlety, and mistakenly thinks this is a soft focus
lens. That's why this lens isn't popular in the USA.
The 135 DC has a control for all of this. This is why Nikon has the patent on it. You
can adjust the lens from normal to super bokeh to soft focus if you push it too far.
You'll notice that dedicated soft-focus lenses have no separate defocus control; they
are fixed one way and the only control you have is your shooting aperture.
This lens is so unique that Nikon will probably discontinue it just around the time
to focus after you set the Defocus Image Control (DIC). That's why the ∞ mark has a
For use on most Nikons made since the 1980s where aperture is set or controlled on
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people start figuring out what it does, and then the used price will skyrocket to
$4,000, just like it did with the 28mm f/1.4, for exactly the same reason.
Focus
When you set the Defocus Image Control away from zero, the focus shifts. Be sure
white band slopping off to the left: with the DIC set to optimize defocus behind the
subject (R), infinity comes up along that bar. With the DIC set towards F, infinity
comes up closer on-scale distances. Don't sweat this; this is how the optics
recombobulate themselves for optimum performance. If your an engineer and aren't
getting this, leave the DIC at zero.
Nikon 135mm DC Focus Controls. bigger.
To switch between auto and manual focus, press the unlocking button on the left,
and rotate the AF Mode selector between M or A.
the camera, be sure to set the aperture ring to 16, otherwise you'll see a blinking "
fEE" message. There's a sliding lock to keep it set at 16, just above the 2 in the
photo above.
Nikon 135/2 DC. bigger.
camera made since 1977. If you have a coupling prong added to the diaphragm ring,
, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. These
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Compatibility
This 135 DC lens works incredibly well on FX, film and DX Nikons like the D700,
D3X, D300s and F6. It works fantastically on manual-focus cameras like the F2AS,
F3, FE and FA, since it has a real manual-focus ring that works exactly as it should.
The 135mm f/2 DC AF works perfectly with almost every film and digital Nikon
it's perfect with every Nikon back to the original Nikon F of 1959.
The only incompatibility is that it will not autofocus with the cheapest D40, D40x,
D60, D3000 or D5000
cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you.
See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details on your camera. Read down the "AF, AF-D
(screw)" column for this lens.
Production and History
1990: This AF 135mm DC was introduced as an AF lens.
1995: It was updated to "D," meaning that focus distance is coupled to 3D Matrix
meters, especially helpful for flash exposures.
Nikon made about 15,000 of the first non-D version from 1990-1995, and has made
about 15,000 of the current D version so far.
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Specifications
Intro Specs Performance Recommendations
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