There was just "something" on the edge of perception that made images special when I used this lens. As always, for me regret is a powerful motivator. Even though I am rich in 28mm and 50mm lenses, I just had to have another copy of the 35mm f/2.
I've been thinking about this for over two years. I've been trolling "that auction site" to see what might turn up. I've been hoping that I could mend the errors of my ways.
Then, one day not too long ago, I came across a beautiful-looking early single-coated pre-Ai Nikkor-O version of the lens. It had a case and, well, it looked rather un-used.
With patience that comes with age I bid late in the auction and, surprise!, won.
The package the lens arrived in had been sliced by a sharp blade along one seam. While unopened, I wondered who did that and why? The story I got from the point relais where I picked the lens up from was completely bogus. Something was up. So I opened the package right there in front of the man, just to make sure everything was OK. It was, so I took my new acquisition and left.
From my first example of the lens I knew that Nikkor-O would be sharp. There is a bit of field curvature, but along that line of that curvature images are sharp all the way to the edge of the frame.
Once back to home and hearth I took a quick look at the lens' out of focus rendition. It looks and "feels" similarly to the Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AiS and the 24mm f/2.8 Ai. Which is to say, behind the point of focus the Nikkor-O is gently under-corrected for spherical aberration.
The all up cost, including delivery? It came in under my self-imposed limit of 50Euro with more than a few Euro left over.
When will I ever learn my lesson about selling lenses that I like? For the moment balance in life has been re-achieved.
[NOTE: The photos in this album and this album, too, were shot using the Nikon Nikkor-O 35mm f/2 pre-Ai]
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