For most of my life as a photographer (45 year in 2025) there have been a number of pieces of equipment I hankered after. But since I rarely shoot for money in recent years (more’s the pity), I could never afford to invest in all my favourite lenses. Don’t get me wrong, I have had a small but perfect collection of my favourite MANUAL lenses, but there were always a few missing that made me come close to spending money I did not have.

So it is that in October 2025 I finally bit the bullet and ordered a secondhand Nikkor 85mm ƒ/1.8 AF-D. Firstly, this after so many years, is my very first autofocus lens ever. I have always been a little too bent on working fully manually. So when it arrived last night I could not wait to get out there and start running it through its paces.

Today the 24th October, I went to my favourite camera store to buy a UV filter, and start shooting in the street.

I am not going to write a long technical paper about this. For that you can always check the brilliant Ken Rockwell‘s meticulously comprehensive tests.

I can however point out two facts. Years ago, in London, I bought a secondhand Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.5 P Auto (Pre-AI Lens). It was old enough to still be a screw mount lens, for a mere £25. So I took it to Nikon House London to get the mount changed to a bayonet so I could use it with my Nikon F3. The technician there who took it from me was amazed that I had found one in such great shape and for such a low price. What he told me and recently I confirmed, reading Rockwell, was that the 105mm, especially the one model I had was the best lens ever made by Nikon. Ken Rockwell says that in general the 85 to 105 range of Nikkor lenses are the absolute best they ever made. I have posted two of the very first shots I took in RAW, without any kind of retouching or processing, bar saving them as JPG. I simply shot the two photos below in the available light in our sitting room (the details of each image are in the captions).

The other fact is that with my experience with many of Nikon’s lenses (as well as many other makers) some of the best out of focus renderings you can get are with the lenses in that range. Specifically I am totally in love with the way the bokeh in these lenses helps enrich and isolate the visual aspect of each photo. This is why I prefer shooting with them on the lower “ƒ” numbers.

I forgot to say. I found this for a very reasonable price on the site of “mpb“. It came quickly, beautifully packaged, cleaned and I have to say in incredibly good nick, given that the store themselves only gave it a “Good” rating. It is as far as I can see in perfect condition. All that for only €123. So far everything works perfectly. There is not one bit of damage or alignment issue on the elements. So basically, score.