Bjorn (or others) 180 f2.8 ED AIS Question

[jfenton]

Hi Bjorn...

I had one offered to me really cheaply this afternoon in mint condition with the disclaimer that it "focuses past infinity", so you need to manually focus (duh) rather than just putting it to infinity and pointing and firing away.

Is this an issue????

Thanks,

 

[greyflash]

I had a 180 f2.8 lens and it too focused slightly past infinity. I loved that lens and it never bothered me. I normally focus manually anyway. I did have a chip put in the lens to convert it to AFS but then sold it when I bought my 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

 

[Chris101]

Hi Jim, I'm not Bjorn, but I believe the lens is designed that way to accomodate a focus shift in the lens with varying temperature. This way, you are assured to be able to get to infinity, no matter what the temperature.

 

[Iliah]

Chris is correct IMHO. Mine rotates about 4 mm past infinity mark, same as many other (telephoto) lenses from different manufactures.

 

[jfenton]

Is Everyone Happy

Is everyone happy With the optical qualities / performance of the AIS..I intend to use it on a D2X.?

 

[W Thorne]

I had one of the later 180 f2.8 AIS lens and the optics were great. What I didn't like was the long focus turn and the stiff feel. Not smooth like a 300 f2.8.

I bought a 180 f2.8 AFD lens and the IF of that one fixed all the focus problems for me. On manual focus it was very smooth and fast.

 

[Johnnymg]

Is everyone happy With the optical qualities / performance of the AIS..I intend to use it on a D2X.?

I have the 135mm AIS lens (which is very similar to the 180 in image quality) and love it!!!! Here is a pic of the lens on my now 'gone' D2H. 'Bodies' come and go but good glass goes on forever!

I suspect the 180 AIS will perform great on your D2X.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

JohnG