dmillard wrote: Unfortunately, I don't currently have any lenses between 90mm and 300mm to mount on my D300, so the answer is no. A comparison would be very interesting.
Oskar O wrote: It's OK, I have more lenses than my better half approves anyway
The Fujinon 180/9 just looked like a neat lens when I googled it. Your test is indicating that a better corrected lens would be a better choice than a simple achromat as a tube lens.
It may be that the dedicated 200 mm lenses for 35mm do not perform any better in this role, the effective aperture being so small.
I don't have a Mitutoyo, but in the last couple of weeks I have joined the Nikon 10/0.25 infinity club and over the last few days the jinfinance M25-M52 adapter arrived, also a 52-62 and 52-72.Chris S. wrote: I briefly checked my copy of the 20x/0.42 on my Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AF-D micro lens, and on casual glance, it looked good and didn't vignette.
So I am close to being able to add to the pool of tested tube lens replacements, having a number of lenses in the 200-ish range and more outside that range.
Don't hold your breath though as my health has been a bit dodgy of late. But I thought the following might make an interesting comparison. These are all manual focus prime lenses, and they might throw some light on whether 'better than achromatic' helps.
- * Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 180mm f/4. Probably my best lens in that range, gives very good results wide open, apochromatic. On the downside, its optimised for closer focus, at least in terms of the spacing of the focus ring. A generous 300 degrees or so of throw, but the infinity to 5m area is all bunched up so precisely getting infinity can be problematic. 49mm thread, I have a 49-52 step-up for it.
* Nikkor AIS 180mm f/2.8 ED. A well regarded and well corrected lens, gives good results, but not apochromatic and does suffer from axial CA (lateral CA is very well controlled). 72mm thread, I have the 72-52 step-down.
* Arsenal Telear-N 200mm f/3.5. Probably my worst lens in that focal range, in terms of build quality at least. Arsenal was a manufacturer in the Ukraine, they made some lenses for a film camera which used a copy of the Nikon F mount, so their lenses work on modern Nikons. This lens needs a custom white balance as the rear element has a yellow-green colour. 62mm thread; I have the 62-52 step-down.