Nikon F4, Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 and Foma 100

Today I decided to shoot a lens that I normally don’t take with me when I go out. That being the Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D. As most know, when I first started learning photography, nature/wildlife photography was my area of supreme interest. I read as much as I could about the genre every chance I got. One book and the author of that book were a huge influence on me then. The book was “The Nature Photographers Complete Guide To Professional Field Technique” and the author was John Shaw. In that book the images shot with one lens captivated me and immediately “needing” it. That lens is the Nikkor 180mm f/2.8. The lens I have today is not the lens I fell in love with all those years ago. And although I have the autofocus D version, I finally have one.

Not really knowing what I wanted to shoot I figured I could best test the lens at one of our local cemeteries that I’ve shot at before. The initial plan was to try to isolate some of the more ornate grave stones in order to test sharpness, contrast and bokeh while shooting wide open. To my surprise, when I got to the cemetery I could see it adorned with a myriad of American flags on veteran’s graves. Certainly placed there for the recent Memorial Day at the end of last month, but also appropriate for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

The film I chose for today was Fomapan 100 and rated it at 100. Since I was going to rely on the cameras meter today I set the camera to a -1 compensation in order to bias to zone 4 instead of 5 and developed in D23 with a 1 stop pull to help with what I felt were highlights that were going to blow out. Was that the right thing to do? It seems to be, based on the results I got. I love the images I got from this lens. Without question it will be staying in my “shooting” bag and used more often that it has been in the past.

If you have experience with this lens, or film then I’d love to hear it. If you have questions or comments about anything in this post please feel free to post them below in the comments. As always, thanks for stopping by, I hope you have found this useful in some way

God Bless and Happy Shooting!