Autumn

Nikon D300s + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D2Xs and AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G lens.

Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro camera.

Nikon D700 + 55mm f3.5 Micro-Nikkor AI lens.

Nikkor-S 35mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D digital camera.

I used a Nikkor 200mm f/4 AI lens, made sometime between 1977 and 1981, in combination with a Nikon TC-16A teleconverter on a Nikon D2Xs camera. This provided a focal length of 320mm and a field of view equivalent to almost 500mm on a full frame SLR. The TC-16A was designed to work with Nikon's first AF cameras during the 1980s. It enables photographers to mount manual focus lenses and, within certain limits, use them in automatic focus mode. By some strange design quirk, it functions on the D2Xs, Nikon's last professional camera to use the APS-C format.

The Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI lens. The lens of which Bjørn Rørslett remarked, 'A small, cheap and unobtrusive lens with an outstanding optical performance - can anyone wish for more? This petite Nikkor delivers the goods with a snap and clarity many lenses could - or better - should, envy. Wide open there is a trace of softness into the corners that disappears by stopping down to f/2.8. From f/4 to f/8 its performance hardly can be improved.' Autumn at Lacock. Nikon D2Xs. Sycamore leaf. We'll have to leave aside the fact that an inanimate object is incapable of registering any emotion, least of all envy.

After the morning rain, a damp afternoon in a cemetery during autumn, the season of sleep and death. Photographed with a Nikon D2Xs and an AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D2Xs and Micro-Nikko 55mm f/3.5 AI lens.

Nikon D700 + AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens at 70mm. F/5.6. Astoundingly, ISO was 3200.

Nikon D700 and Tamron AF 70-210mm f/2.8 SP LD lens.

Nikon D50 and Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D2Xs and AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens.

Photographed the day the clocks went back. What a curious expression that is. Nikon D700 and AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens at 44mm. 1600 ISO; f/11; 1/500th.

Nikon D2Xs with a Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) lens set at 50mm.

Nikon D2Xs + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8mm lens.

Ecclesiastes 3:2. Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D and an Auto Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens mounted via an M42 - EOS adapter. Shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. The Japanese Tomioka company made this lens to a Planar design by Johannes Berger of Zeiss, which Zeiss never themselves used, having something similar which they considered superior. I bought this lens still attached to a Chinon CX from an eBay seller. It is engraved ‘Auto Chinon’ but in all other respects is identical to 55mm f/1.4 lenses badged ‘Tomioka’ which Chinon were supplying before 1974 when there was a change of ownership at Tomioka. The company was taken over by Carl Zeiss in 1974 and the name Tomioka was removed from the front of lenses being supplied to camera manufacturers. Tomioka was at one time the largest lens producer in Japan. It was more economical for Chinon, Mamiya Sekors, Ricoh, and others to buy from Tomioka than to manufacture their own lenses. In this they were not alone. Vivitar and Soligor, for example, never made lenses. They specified what they wanted, and various Japanese optical companies bid for the contracts. When sold new in the UK by Dixons the f/1.4 lens was available as an option to the normal f/1.7 for an extra £10 over the £69.95 usual price (I quote from a 1976 advertisement in ‘Amateur Photographer’). That was quite a premium and as a result the f/1.4 version is relatively scarce. However, the more normal f/1.7 offering is also a very good performer and both plentiful and cheap. It is rumoured that Tomioka made it as well, and whilst the appearance is strikingly similar (for example, the focussing ring is covered with a rippled leatherette material in both cases), there was never a Tomioka-badged f/1.7 on a Chinon SLR. Much as I enjoy using these vintage lenses, I would add a footnote that they are not in the Nikon league for contrast and sharpness. You won’t beat a 50mm Nikkor from this period, either optically or on quality of construction. Of course, they cost appreciably more, and were beyond the reach of all but the professionals and the well-heeled. Heigh-ho.