There’s a pattern in my life that I’ve only recently recognized. Over the last 25 years, I’ve bought a series of cars that became progressively more expensive and substantially less exciting. Each one promised more features, more comfort, more technology. And each one delivered exactly that—along with a growing sense that something essential had been engineered away.
There are cameras you need, and then there are cameras you need. The Nikon Df has always been the latter for me, and finally after 13 years I pulled the trigger.
The Nikon Zf is a phenomenal camera for manual focus photography. Whether you’re mounting vintage AI-S glass or modern manual focus lenses like the Voigtlander Z-mount series, these lenses feel right on this camera. The ergonomics, the tactile feedback, the deliberate nature of manual focusing—it all clicks. There’s just one problem: Nikon has artificially restricted one of the camera’s most useful features in a way that makes no technical sense.
After ten digital Nikons spanning two decades, I finally made the leap to mirrorless. Not because I had to, but because the Zf made me want to.
My D850 was—and still is—a magnificent camera. For years, I watched the mirrorless revolution with interest but without urgency. The technology was impressive, but something wasn’t quite right. The experience felt clinical, disconnected from the tactile pleasure that drew me to photography in the first place. So I waited.
I was almost today-years-old when I even learned this lens existed.
The Nikon 25-50mm f/4 AI-S is one of those forgotten classics that photographers stumble across and wonder, “Wait, how did I not know about this?” Released in 1981 as Nikon’s first professional wide-angle zoom, this lens was a big deal at the time—costing the equivalent of around $2,700 in today’s money. But somewhere between the march of autofocus and the proliferation of 24-70mm zooms, it quietly faded from collective memory.
The Nikon 28-50mm f/3.5 AI-S is one of those lenses that flies completely under the radar. It’s not the lens that gets talked about in vintage Nikon forums, it doesn’t command high prices on the used market, and most photographers have never even heard of it. And that’s exactly what makes it such a gem.
Let’s be honest - this lens is quirky. It’s a compact zoom from an era when “compact zoom” often meant compromises. The f/3.5 maximum aperture isn’t going to wow anyone, and there’s definitely some pincushion distortion at the wide end. But here’s the thing: once you get past the spec sheet, this lens really delivers.