I purchased two Nikon primes on the recommendation of a colleague, but failed to notice one of the lenses, the 105 was in fact, a standard prime and not of the close focusing (micro) varitey.
Both are pretty much dead mint; beautiful glass!
Now, I am wondering if I will do as well with this lens in a bellows as I would with the 105 Micro?
I will be shooting 1:1 35mm movie frames (4 perfs high) with a PB5 bellows (not purchased yet) adapted to an Oxberry Optical Camera.
Frankly, I am trying to avoid just yet paying for a 105mm f4 Printing Nikkor for motion picture work, which yet fetch in the $3 to $5K USD region -- not exactly an option at the moment...
So, anyone have any experience with this combo or can make a educated guess as to performance?
In any event, I guess this is going to FORCE me to purchase a Nikon F of some variety -- life is so unfair!
The 2.5 is either a Sonnar or Planar, and one of the MOST lovely lenses ever. Ever. They are different, and lovely,
but NOT macro lenses. Depending on how much the image will be magnified, you might get by on the Oxberry ... stopping down covers a lot !
But I think the best you can do is to shoot the 2.5 out in the world, and scrape up another micro nikkor.
Thank you, I feared as much, but your description makes the pain of having to purchase yet another lens bearable!
The 105 f2.5 I have has a serial # of 808476, so I am guessing it places it in the 1980 region. It is so clean, even the PASSED gold sticker shows NO wear. Nice. I don't think it has ever been used...
As to the 105mm Micro Nikkor, I have found one in a 'P' Short-mount and looks like a dedicated bellows lens with 1/3 fstop divisions and yet another varitey more like the 105 I have, only f4 and with the micro designator; any wisdom here?
Frank, I have the 105 f/2.5 with a slightly later serial number, if you can keep it and use it as a general lens, do so.
I have some quite tasty Nikkor lenses, and, regardless of their reputation, my 105 is the best Nikkor lens by far, possibly in the top three lenses Nikon ever produced for the F range of cameras.
If it's an AI-S version, which I believe it is, then it was designed for the F3 body and also fitted with the aperture prong for the F2, but will of course work excellently on any of the other F cameras and many others to boot.
An F3 body is really the cheapest (currently) body going and marvelous value.
Having used my own 105 f/2.5 with a bellows (Vivitar copy of the PB5 more or less) I can tell you it isn't too good, mind you, "good", can be subjective!
Mick.
Last edited by Mick Fagan; 07-25-2008 at 05:00 AM.
Reason: Had caps key in place.
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Thank you very much for the informative posts; I will now attempt to chase down the elusive 105mm f4 "short mount" macro bellows lens for my work. Barring that, I will go for the standard 105mm f4 "long mount" micro.
I agree that the 105/2.5 is not suited to macro work. The short mount lens is a collector's item and costs far more than it's worth if you only want to take pictures with it. If fitting the lens isn't a problem you can get a Nikon T mount adapter, a Leica to T adapter and then use an enlarging lens. Last year I bought a 105/5.6 EL Nikkor in mint condition for $20. At f/8 or f/11 it should gove all the sharpness you need for photographing flat surfaces.
I'd recommend an enlarger lens as a bellows lens, too. But beside the 105/4 macro, there are several other absolutely brilliant budget macro lenses available in the 90-105mm range.
Just to make it clear, the 105 f/2.5 is a Sonnar type lens. (Not a Planar.) More info on this page: Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens
This f/2.5 105 lens was a favourite of mine with a pleasing bokeh and excellent rendering. I havn't got the lens today, but I got both a Planar and a couple of Sonnars for my Hasselblad.
On the original question: While being an excellent general purpose long lens, it's at its best within it's range without extra bellows etc. I.e. from 1 meter to infinity. Nikon makes/have made excellent macro lenses which would suit your needs much better. There are also many other good options given in previous answers.
But if you plan to use a manual focus Nikon camera for general photography in the future, do keep the lens.
105mm f2.5 Nikkor VS 105mm f4 Micro Nikkor? 
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