Older Nikon manual focus lens - tight spots on focus ring normal?

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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Toni
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I've just received an old 28mm f3.5 Nikkor, bought via ebay. Now I have no experience of Nikkors specifically, but my expectation would be that the focus ring should move smoothly and easily all the way round, rather than having tight spots. Can anyone with previous experience of older Nikkors confirm my expectation, or are tight spotssomething that can develop with age (rather than, say, being squished in transit)?

Thanks
 
Yes, should be consistent all the way around though actual resistance can vary a bit from lens to lens.
 
ancient_mariner said:
smoothly and easily all the way round, rather than having tight spots
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Older ƒ rings had 7+ stop notches where a given resistance made
them clear to feel (so not so smoothly) and easily all the way round.
You should feel, Toni, the notches but they should run easily with on
other noise than the click.
 
Thanks Kodiak, but it's the focus ring - not the f ring. The f ring sounds a little gritty, but is OK.
 
If it is not gritty, the grease has probably settled in the position it was laid and hardened with age.
A good work out might even it up, but along with the gritty stop ring, it indicates it needs a service.
 
Yep, just needs a clean.
I don't know how easy it is with that particular lens. There may be a youtube vid of how to do it.
Sometimes you can clean lenses by just removing the front cover and sliding some kitchen paper in the gap.

I did this the other week with a Yashica lens that was gritty and not smooth. It works a treat now.
 
New on here, so hello first:). I have a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 ai that I've owned for about thirty years that developed a tight spot when focusing below 1m. When focusing in, the lens barrel extends. I found a small screw on the barrel had slightly come loose and the protrusion was catching the focus ring. a tiny screwdriver reseated the screw properly and solved my problem. Hope this helps.
 
gad-westy said:
Toni, is it the Ai/AIS version or pre AI one?
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Ai

Mac7117 said:
New on here, so hello first:). I have a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 ai that I've owned for about thirty years that developed a tight spot when focusing below 1m. When focusing in, the lens barrel extends. I found a small screw on the barrel had slightly come loose and the protrusion was catching the focus ring. a tiny screwdriver reseated the screw properly and solved my problem. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I'll have a look - thanks.
 
I have the 28/3.5 ai and the focus ring is very smooth (much smoother than any modern nikkor!) so sounds like service needed possibly. I used to like the lens so much that I could not bring myself to sell it, even though I no longer own a camera I can use it with - amazing value for a £35-£50 lens!
 
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