Nikon FG new owner, 35mm lens suggestions?

I was just offered this nikon FG that belonged to an uncle that passed away last year. He bough it in California in the 80's. He was chilean as I am, he just lived in the US for about 20 years.

 

I'm 46 yo so I know film cameras but I was a canon guy back then, the last film camera I had was a bronica SQ 6x6 in the early 2000. it comes with a zoom which is actually not great but I'd love to add a good 35mm 1.2 or 1.4 if that exist.

 

Can you recommend 35mm lenses that are the best and would fit this camera?

 

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Lots of options, the 43-86 has been around forever but not their best. 35-70 is good. An 80-200 is also good and all these are affordable. If you don’t want a zoom I would get a 35/2, a 50/1.4 and a 28/3.5, something like the 135/2.8 also. Look at the Series E lenses too, they can be quite good and budget friendly.

 

Rick H.

Lots of options, the 43-86 has been around forever but not their best. 35-70 is good. An 80-200 is also good and all these are affordable. If you don’t want a zoom I would get a 35/2, a 50/1.4 and a 28/3.5, something like the 135/2.8 also. Look at the Series E lenses too, they can be quite good and budget friendly.

 

Rick H.

 

Thank you Rick I'll have a look at that 35/2 you mention.

It si this one, right?

 

It si this one, right?

 

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Yes. This huge listing is very helpful in sorting out the various generations/models of Nikkor lenses:

 

Rolands Nikon Pages

 

I'd check the condition of the light seal at the hinge end of the film door. Yours looks a little decayed. It's an easy DIY fix and really the only place these can leak light and damage your film. No need for a full seal kit, just short piece of thin adhesive-backed sheet foam most craft stores sell. Lots of DIY instructions online. A sweet little camera.

A 35mm f/1.4 lens would be way too expensive. It would be worth many times the camera body.

The 35/2.0 ai or ais is what I would look for. The 35/2.8 variations are not particularly great. 35/1.4 is expensive, but will likely hold its value.

The FG is a very underrated body, so still reasonably priced. It does have a quirk, and I don't remember the details. For the P-mode to work correctly, it needs an Ai spec lens (or AiS). Some aftermarket lenses, in spite of supposedly being Ai, don't expose quite right. I could have the details of this wrong, but do a bit of research before trusting the P-mode with every lens. Edited April 14, 2022 by conrad_hoffman

The old 50/2 Ai is nice and may still be fairly cheap. Nikon made container-loads of them. The 100/2.8E is a sleeper, equal IMHO to the 105/2.5 but smaller, lighter and probably more affordable.

The 35mm f2 is around US$120 and the 35mm 1.4 is around US$420, so I guess I'd like the f2 better.

Any Ai lens will fit the camera. Ai lenses can be recognised by the little 'ledge' that runs for about 70 degrees around the top rear of the lens. Those lenses also have a secondary and smaller series of white aperture numbers engraved on the aperture ring at the back. On later lenses the smallest aperture is filled in orange paint. (This secondary aperture scale is designed to be seen through the 'Judas window' of the viewfinder.)

 

As others have said, the 35mm f/2 Nikkor is probably your best option, although it suffers from quite marked coma in the outer field at full aperture. So not recommended for night cityscapes wide open. If you must have a 35mm f/1.4, Samyang's offering is a cheaper option.

Edited April 15, 2022 by rodeo_joe|1

A 35mm f/1.4 lens would be way too expensive. It would be worth many times the camera body.

You don't need to match the value of the lens to the value of the body. On the contrary, it makes every bit of sense to use the best lens possible, once you know the body is in good working order.

 

I'm in a similar position to the OP, with an inherited old manual camera, that I'd like a nice 35mm lens for. Not Nikon, but Olympus in my case.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Colin O

You don't need to match the value of the lens to the value of the body. On the contrary, it makes every bit of sense to use the best lens possible, once you know the body is in good working order.

 

I'm in a similar position to the OP, with an inherited old manual camera, that I'd like a nice 35mm lens for. Not Nikon, but Olympus in my case.

And I don't even think Olympus made a 35mm f/1.4 for the OM series.

The Zuiko 35/2 is a very good lens, I've been using mine happily since the eighties. I actually got it for my OM cameras after having had good experiences with the pre-AI Nikkor 35/2 on Nikkormats and Nikon F2s.

 

Some shots from the last couple of years using the Zuiko 35/2 - OM-2n, Tri-X in D-76 1:1, 1200dpi scans:

 

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I got the PC-Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 at first (it was why I switched from Pentax to Nikon), so I never got a 'straight' 35mm Nikkor.

 

The PC Nikkor is about US$100-300 sold on eBay, BUT it's non-AI (totally manual aperture, pre-set in fact) and it will not mount on many later Nikon cameras. You'd need to check.

It is, however, a wonderful lens just straight up, and you have shift (no tilt) for perspective control, also.

 

There are Nikkor 35mm± f/2 to f/3.5 lenses that are (I am told) very good. My personal non- PC wide was the 20mm f/4.

my 35/2.8 ais pretty much lives on my FG; I'm happy with it...

The Zuiko 35/2 is a very good lens, I've been using mine happily since the eighties. I actually got it for my OM cameras after having had good experiences with the pre-AI Nikkor 35/2 on Nikkormats and Nikon F2s.

 

Some shots from the last couple of years using the Zuiko 35/2 - OM-2n, Tri-X in D-76 1:1, 1200dpi scans:

 

[ATTACH]1425166[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1425167[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1425168[/ATTACH] :

 

And so is the Nikkor 35mm f/2. There is no need for the f/1.4

Absolutely. I also use my old pre-AI Nikkor 35/2 frequently on my F2 and Nikkormat. It's excellent.

I got the PC-Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 at first (it was why I switched from Pentax to Nikon), so I never got a 'straight' 35mm Nikkor.

 

The PC Nikkor is about US$100-300 sold on eBay, BUT it's non-AI (totally manual aperture, pre-set in fact) and it will not mount on many later Nikon cameras. You'd need to check.

It is, however, a wonderful lens just straight up, and you have shift (no tilt) for perspective control, also.

 

There are Nikkor 35mm± f/2 to f/3.5 lenses that are (I am told) very good. My personal non- PC wide was the 20mm f/4.

 

"...it will not mount on many later Nikon cameras."

 

Not so. The aperture ring seems to be on the nose of mine, so no interference with those pesky Ai tabs. After all, it's a pre-set lens--wide open to focus, stopped-down to meter and shoot, right?

Nikon FG are AI/AIS/AI Converted lenses only. Avoid anything needing mirror lockup and fisheye lenses. I've owned several, they were excellent travel cameras, their only shortcoming is being a bit delicate with age and not non AI lens friendly.