It has finally started to warm up, which means that everything's starting to melt,
which means that it's kind of ugly out here... but that might be the perfect time
to give you a review of this lens.
Considered by some to be the worst lens that Nikon has ever made, the 43-86mm f/3.5
is the first zoom lens the company produced for the f-mount. Released in 1963, the design
features a push-pull style zoom, a six-blade aperture, and 52mm filter thread. Minimum
focus distance is 1.2m, or nearly 4 feet. It is definitely a unique lens, but is it any good? No,
not really, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder - so let's take it for a spin.
I'm trying really hard to like this lens.
Well, what do I have to say about it? Plenty, because there's plenty to say about it. So let's
start with the bad news. In terms of image quality, it suffers from pretty much every
problem a lens can. Under most conditions it isn't very sharp outside of the centre of the image.
Hell, isn't very sharp in the centre either. There's some serious spherical aberration,
although I expected more chromatic aberration. Distortion runs the gamut, barrel at the wide
end and pin cushion zoomed in. It has some intense fringing in high contrast areas,
vignetting, oh don't forget about the flares - veiling flares are common,
blowing out what little contrast is there, and the ghosts are something else.
Build quality is a bit of a mixed bag. It is a solid-built 60's lens, but it handles like an
old shopping cart. It's tough to zoom and focus, and the throw is too long for such a stiff lens.
[that's a keeper]
Fungus also loves to have its way with this lens,
so keep an eye out for that if you are in the market for one. As I said earlier, it is
a unique lens, and it renders a unique image. The bokeh is almost bizarre looking at times,
and the massive hexagonal ghosts have such a stylized, almost comical, appearance.
You're never going to be able to completely avoid its issues, so you're best off leaning into them.
It's an interesting lens to experiment with, but unfortunately a little bit too much of a pain in
the ass to be much fun. So, I can't really recommend it, although I do kind of like it.
Thank you so much for watching, if you like this video please hit like, if you like it a lot hit
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