Nikon 135 f 2 DC User Manual

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC

The King of Bokeh (1990-)

Seite

von

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC

04.01.2010

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm

-f2-

dc.htm

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

Seite

von

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC

04.01.2010

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm

-f2-

dc.htm

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

Seite

von

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC

04.01.2010

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm

-f2-

dc.htm

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

Seite

von

Nikon 135mm f/2 DC

04.01.2010

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/135mm

-f2-

dc.htm

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.

back to intro back to top

Specifications

Intro Specs Performance Recommendations

top

+ 8 hidden pages