Nikon 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens Review – Oldie That Shines!

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUILD & QUALITY

The original box, cap, and hood did not come with my purchase – A small drawback, but the build quality of this lens is amazing nonetheless. Considering that it is over 30 years old, the lens is still in one piece with only some minor cosmetic scratches.

The mechanics are also in good condition… Although this decades-old lens does suffer from a bit of zoom creep from the years of usage, the internals is still smooth and sound – That goes to show a well-designed, well-built lens… and some people really know how to take good care of their lenses.

 

THE CONSTRUCT

One thing I do like about old lenses is that they use a lot of metals and are structurally solid. Unlike most modern lenses, there are also no rubber rings on this lens. The focus ring is actually metal with “built-in-grip”, it will never have issues of expanding floppy rubber and becoming loose.

 

 

THE MECHANICS

For the guys who have not used old lenses before, this is going to be a little strange. Instead of the “usual modern” zoom ring, the 35-105mm uses a push-pull zoom mechanism instead… Quite a lot of these similarly designed old lenses actually ended up with bad zoom creep, but not as much on the 35-105mm – There is some zoom creep, but it still seems to be holding up pretty good for a 30 years old lens.

The interesting part about this lens is that it is capable of switching into macro mode. Push a tiny button below the zoom, twist it, and the minimum focusing distance turns into 14mm. So yep, the range of this lens pretty much covers street photography, landscape, portrait, products, macro, and just about generically everything.

Lastly, an uninteresting aperture ring sits at the end of the lens. While it does click into place, it is a little thin for my fat fingers. A little uncomfortable to work with, but otherwise does no harm.

 

 

F MOUNT

Nikon stays faithful to using the F-mount, and it has not changed for donkey years. There has been some advancement in circuitry and stuff, but I had no problems mounting the 35-105mm onto my Nikon D610 and take photos as-it-is. However, being a manual lens, the DSLR did not register the aperture and focal length; These data are also missing in the EXIF.

Likewise, without this data, the DSLR is unable to give accurate metering. You are basically back to the good old days of exposure guestimation with this lens. Not recommended for newbies… but it does force people to learn the exposure triangle fast.

 

NO WEATHER SEALING

There are no rubber gaskets and this lens is not weather-sealed in any way. Stay away from shooting in bad and wet environments with this lens.

 

 

 

TEST GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Here a few sample shots from the Nikon 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5.

 

OPTICAL QUALITY

• Lens flare magnet. It’s an old lens without nanocrystal lens coating nor advanced glass elements.
• Not much distortion throughout 35mm to 105mm.
• This lens is sharp, even wide open. If you cannot get sharp photos with this lens, something might be wrong with your copy… Or your manual focus technique.
• A nice thin plane of focus at 105mm, f/4.5 wide open.
• Nice BOKEH! It’s a macro lens after all.
• The sweet spot seems to be at around f/8.
• It has a unique vintage touch.

 

 

 

THE SPECS AND WORTHY CONTENDERS

When it comes to zoom lenses, there are plenty of options. But I will put the 35-105mm side-by-side against other modern full-frame zoom lenses, so you can decide if this lens is even worth your time and money.

	35-105mm f/3.5-4.5	24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G	Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6
Price (USD)	(Used) About 30 to 200	(Used) About 400 (New) About 600	(Used) About 700 (New) About 1000
Filter Size (mm)	52mm	72mm	77mm
Weight (grams)	435	465	800
Elements	16 elements in 12 groups	16 elements in 11 groups	19 elements in 14 groups
Vibration Reduction	No	Yes	Yes
Close Focus	14 cm (in macro mode)	38 cm	50 cm
Angle of View	62°	84°	74°
Max/Min Aperture	3.5-4.5 / 22	3.5-4.5 / 22-29	3.5-5.6 / 22

As it seems, the 35-105mm has a smaller build when placed beside the modern zoom lenses… It is also obviously missing the modern-day conveniences of VR and AF. But interestingly, this old classic is able to switch into macro mode, and the glass quality is not shabby at all.

 

“ENABLING” THE APERTURE PRIORITY MODE

Open up the “Non-CPU lens data”, manually key in the specs and aperture priority works! Well, that will make this old lens a little more usable for today’s standards.

 

 

WHY I GOT THE NIKON 35-105MM – WHO WILL WANT THIS LENS?

This is a small extra for those of you who are curious enough. What makes a “serious hobbyist photographer” desperate enough to buy a classic lens? Why would anyone still want to buy an old lens these days?

Truth is – I drowned my 24-70mm in seawater in a bad accident and had no money to get a replacement. When hunting for deals on eBay, I stumbled on a Japanese seller with a good condition 35-105mm. Although it is not the AF-D version, the price is just too irresistible (3000 yen) to pass for a mighty decent lens – So I decided to give this old classic a chance to shine again.

Anyone else with a serious budget constraint and looking for a mighty decent lens can consider this classic. Although a manual lens, it really is a pretty good alternative for almost anything – Landscape photography, product, macro, portrait, etc…

 

POSSIBLY USEFUL LINKS

• Archived Nikon 35-105mm PDF Manual
• More samples on Nikon 35-105mm Ai-S Group – Flickr

 

THE GOOD

• Built like a tank.
• Good optics.
• Pretty lightweight for a “full metal lens”.
• Actually, a good deal if you can find one of these in good condition.
• Good all-purpose lens – Landscape, macro, portrait, street, products, food, etc…

 

THE BAD

• Manual lens – Zoom, focus, and aperture.
• Not a beginner-friendly lens.
• Not suitable for high-speed photography, unless you have ninja reflexes.
• No weather sealing.