Lens: Nikon 105mm f/4 AIS micro
Vintage: Early 1980's.
Lens Mount: Nikon F-Mount.
Needed Adapters: None.
Preferred Mounting: Normal, not reversed.
Filter Thread: 52 mm.
Street Price: $200-$275 in good used condition. Prices vary a lot online, shop around.
Controls: Focus and aperture settings.
Aperture: 7 blades.
Basic Function: Manual focus macro lens.
| Extension | Magnification | Working Distance |
| marked 1:4 | 0.27 | 472 mm |
| marked 1:2 | 0.51 | 276 mm |
| 25 mm ext | 0.77 | 206 mm |
| 50 mm ext | 1.01 | 172 mm |
| Est. Focal Length: 104.3 mm | ||
Appearance:
Resolution vs. Aperture:
The sharpest aperture is f/8 and the most resolving aperture is f/5.6. I would tend to use f/8 for most shooting as the resolution at f/8 is very nearly as good as f/5.6. A sharpest aperture of f/8 is typical for this focal length.
Corner Sharpness vs. Aperture:
The corner performance of this lens is very good. The unsharpness is mild at f/4 and f/5.6 and gets very good to extremely good at smaller apertures.
(Testing done at 0.5:1 magnification. Numbers at each aperture setting will tend to improve as the magnification is increased and worsen as the magnification is decreased.)
Sharpness and Resolution vs. Magnification:
This lens shows good sharpness and resolution across its usable magnification range. Compared to similar 105 mm lenses such as the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR , it has less resolution and sharpness although the difference is pretty small. The 105VR is a much newer design.
This lens shows very good corner performance across the macro magnification range.
Performance: Sharpness vs. Magnification:
I have 4 lines that represent levels of performance from outstanding (top) to fair (bottom). This shows where this lens fits into the hierarchy that I have created.
The Nikon 105/4 AIS shows sharpness that varies from very good on the low-end of magnification to fair on the high-end. Modern macro lenses tend to do a little better.
Performance: Resolution vs. Magnification:
I have 4 lines that represent levels of performance from outstanding (top) to fair (bottom). This shows where this lens fits into the hierarchy that I have created.
The Nikon 105/4 AIS shows resolution that varies from very good on the low-end of magnification to good on the high-end. Again, modern macro lenses tend to do a little better.
Resolving Power vs. Magnification:
This graph represents the smallest details that are able to be resolved by this lens at various magnificaitons. If the number doesn't get smaller as the magnification rises, there is little benefit to going up in magnificaiton with this lens. This situation is also called empty magnification.
Good resolution, no problems.
Chromatic Aberration:
This lens show minimal color fringing in the center (about 0.15 - 0.40 pixel) and very good on the periphery (0.014 - 0.020%). Anything below 0.04% is not considered significant. There is mild axial CA on out-of focus details (see image below) as shown by a slight red fringe on the left and a slight green/cyan fringe on the right of the image.
Longitudinal CA:
Image Contrast: Image contrast is very good across the magnification range.
Flare: This lens shows no significant flare during testing.
Distortion: This lens shows no significant distortion during testing.
Image Samples:
About 1:2 magnification, f/8, cropped and resized:
Pixel level crop from the image above:
There is very good pixel level detail, no problems.
About 1:1 magnification, f/8, resized:
Pixel level crop from the image above:
There is good pixel level detail, no problems.
Conclusion:
This is a good all-around macro lens that works well on a copystand. It is relatively inexpensive to purchase and they are commonly available at used camera stores.
This lens has good resolution and sharpness, but it does get slightly outperformed by other lenses in its focal length range. This is probably related to its age and relatively simple design compared to more modern offerings. That being said, the difference between this lens and a modern macro lens will be pretty minimal - likely only visible when zoomed up on full size images.
This lens shows very good corner performance and contrast. There is very little chromatic aberration and no visible distortion.
The one slight limitation is that you will need about 50 mm of extension to get to 1:1 magnification because this lens only focuses to 1:2 unaided.
One nice feature is that this lens has a focus lock screw built-in. When shooting images in a vertical orientation, tightening this screw will prevent focus creep.