Optical Review Blog No. 55 – Nippon Kōgaku AI Nikkor 300mm 1:4.5 S

There’s no denying it; this lens is a monster. I have some big and heavy lenses in my tool kit, and while this one is undoubtedly smaller than my 70-200/2.8G, it is the largest and heaviest of my manual focus kit. It is also often overlooked compared to later versions of the lens, which means that it’s an excellent, affordable lens, no matter what other people say about the number of aperture blades. The lens itself comes from a long lineage, released in 1977. Designed initially by Saburo Murakami and released in 1964, the Auto Nikkor-P 300mm 1:4.5 used a five-element design but struggled with chromatic aberration like many lenses of the focal length and era. Tadashi Takahashi took on the task of improving the lens without increasing its size. While moderate improvements were made in 1966, it wasn’t until 1969 that a new version saw release; the Auto Nikkor-H increased the number of elements to six and decreased the amount of aberration. A new exterior was designed in 1975, and the AI Version was released in 1977. Since then, the lens received the AI-S update in 1981 with a new seven-blade aperture and the ability to stop down to f/32. It was further improved with the addition of an ED Glass element and Internal Focusing arrangement, and there have also been several AF and AF-S versions of the lens. While most people go for the AI-S or ED-IF version, the clunky AI version is a sweet spot moderating between cost and image quality. While I would normally review this lens while shooting on a manual focus camera, I have decided to use my Nikon F5 for this review because of the size and weight.

So in fairness I wanted to photograph a War of 1812 reenactment with this review, but sadly the schedules never worked out so I ended up shooting the review roll in downtown Oakville thinking that it would be a slog, but I ended up ripping through the roll a lot faster than I expected. Also I should note that while my fixer tested still good, it seemed fixing two rolls of T-Grained film was too much. I tried a refix which did work somewhat.

Lens Specifications
Make: Nippon Kōgaku
Model: AI Nikkor 300mm 1:4.5 S
Focal Length: 300mm
Focal Range: ∞ – 4m
Aperture: f/4.5 – f/22, 6 Blades
Structure: 7 Elements in 6 Groups

Build Quality
This lens is a beast; it’s big, long and heavy. You won’t want to use this camera on a small body camera; if you do, add a motor drive. I mounted it on my FE2 without the MD-12 motor drive, and it certainly tipped the centre of gravity and made it almost impossible to hold easily. The lens throws off the centre of gravity even on my D750 without the battery grip. It works wonders on my F5, as that camera has a lot of weight on the body. But honestly, this is a lens that you want to steady using either a tripod or throwing a monopod onto the lens. Construction is entirely metal, and there’s even a dedicated mount to get the proper stabilisation for the lens. While I wouldn’t recommend it, you could probably take a few hits to the lens before it took significant damage. While common wisdom calls for a minimum shutter speed of 1/300″ when using the lens, I would shoot at a speed of around 1/400″ or faster to eliminate any chance of visible camera shake. Like most Nikkor lenses of the era, the 300/4.5 has an integrated lens hood that works well and is permanently attached. The one concern I have is focusing; this is not a lens that you can focus on quickly, so I find it easiest to set the focus beforehand and, if possible, stop the lens down to keep the area you want in focus and wait. Moving from infinity to the minimum focus distance is a long twist, 4 meters; you can only be far from your subjects with this lens. The one thing to watch is if you have the original screw-on front lens cap, if you over-tighten it, you may have trouble getting it off the lens again, so no violence or replace it with a modern plastic cap with a 72mm diameter.

Image Quality
One of the first things you’re going to notice is how nice the images you can get out of this beast of a lens, and that should come as no surprise. Looking at the history of this lens, even in this version, which lacks a lot of improvements over the later models, the results are superb. First, there is little to no distortion, well, nothing I can easily see on the screen, and second, when using the wide-open lens, you don’t have any vignetting or falloff at your corners. Now, if there were that at f/4.5, I would have some serious questions for Nikon engineers at the time. The biggest threat to overall image quality is camera shake; it took me three tries to get the test shots right, between setting up on a tripod, using a cable release, and even the self-timer, either 2s or 5s. I ended up using a feature on my D750 that I had not yet used: mirror lockup. The camera shake was eliminated once the mirror slap was out of the way. Now, at f/4.5, the images are soft at the edges, nothing too serious, but enough to notice. Once you stop down to f/5.6, that problem disappears and the edges snap. The real sweet spot of the lens is between f/8 and f/22, which doesn’t give you much range, but I like the results best in this aperture range. The out-of-focus rendering is dreamy, with everything blown out of focus in a soft, almost pillow-like rendering. I also like how well this lens looks when using digital, which is the primary reason why I got the lens. Despite its age, it handles modern sensors nicely with good colour rendering and contrast. Of course, a newer version would be far better, but I can’t argue the pixel peeping for the price point.

Applications
I classify this lens in my use case as one I wanted but didn’t need. That said, having a good quality lens in my collection that has a reach of 300mm is a good thing. The obvious options for this lens are photographing outdoor or well-lit events where I need to be far from the subjects I’m photographing for safety or logistical concerns. I’ve taken this to reenactments and been able to get close to the action without needing to be on the other side of the safety barrier, producing amazing results. It also is excellent at events where the crowds need to be closer than the photographer, and thanks to the focal length, I can still isolate my subjects and set the aperture to f/8. It also works great when working with animals; I can stay at a safe distance and get close to spots like the Toronto Zoo and African Lion Safari. I also see this being useful at sports events and even portrait work if you want to leverage the compression from the longer focal length and still use the lens stopped down. The downside is that you must increase the ISO with only an f/4.5 maximum aperture in low light conditions to get the shutter speed needed to freeze the action when it’s essential. Thankfully, besides being used on my 35mm cameras, it works perfectly with my D750. I can set up the non-CPU preset for the lens and run my camera in Aperture priority or metered manual. It works cleanly in aperture priority without any problems of over- or under-exposing the images. Of course, you can always switch to manual and dial in your exposure.

The Low Down
Probably one thing that is best about this lens is that it is not that popular on the used market, which means that on the used market, it is relatively affordable, most running at under 100$, although I would suggest buying ones that cost between 150-190$. And if you are looking for that AI-S support, the cost for the 300mm f/4.5 will run between 150-200$, but make sure the lens is an AI-S lens, not an AI Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 S. Of course, the real cost comes when you start to get into the f/2.8 version of the lens, then the price jumps to 650$ and up and even more when you get into autofocus territory. But if you are a photographer like me and only use it occasionally and don’t mind using the older lens, then this humble AI version will suit you perfectly. As I said at the start, this lens is the perfect balance between cost and performance, and with all the abilities of modern cameras, you can make it due when you only use a lens of this type on occasion rather than as a daily user.

Further Reading
Don’t just take my view on the Nikkor 300/4.5 (AI), check out these other reviews.
Nikon Cafe – Review: Nikon 300/4.5 (AI)
MFLenses – Nikon-Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AI Review