I am buying a used Nikon 300 4.5 AIS Lens from a gentelman who is not a photographer but is selling his fathers camera equipment. I don't have the lens yet but according to the description, the lens is marked AIS. I know from searching that for the 300 4.5, AIS and ED glass was released by Nikon about the same time (as well as IF)but I'm not clear if all AIS versions of this lens uses ED glass or is IF.

? For 300 4.5, are all AIS lenses ED and or IF

Thanks for any input.

-- John Pizzicaroli (pizzicar@mindspring.com), January 26, 2000

Answers

There were two AI-S versions of the 300/4.5. One was non-ED, non-IF; the other was ED and IF. Both lenses accept 72mm filters.

The EDIF version can be distinguished by a thin gold band around the front of the lens, just behind the slide-out lens hood. It is also lighter and focuses closer (to 10 feet instead of to 12 feet). If you're looking at a bad scan of a photo, the EDIF version can be distinguished by its profile. It is slim through the body, widening out considerably at at the lens shade.

The non-ED, non-IF version, on the other hand, has a straighter, more tube-like profile.

I owned the 300/4.5 EDIF. I now own the 300/4 ED. All in all, I think I prefer the older lens for its amazingly nice, light, quick handling.

-- John Kuraoka (kuraoka@home.com), January 26, 2000.

No, they made a non ED version with Ai-s fitting as well, and some were ED but not IF.

You can easily tell if it's ED, all the ED lenses have a gold coloured ring around the barrel, and the IF versions don't extend when they're focussed.

A few reviewers have rated the ED but non-IF version higher than the IF-ED.

(Purely BTW, I once owned an early Nikkor-P 300mm f/4.5, which was a real dog)

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 26, 2000.

Sorry about the duplication of answers, I must have submitted almost simultaneously with John.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 26, 2000.

There was also 300/4.5 ED non-IF, but I believe it was not offered as an AI-S lens. Still, that does confuse matters since the differences between AI and AI-S are so subtle (two sets of orange minimum aperture numbers = AI-S).

-- John Kuraoka (kuraoka@home.com), January 26, 2000.

Quite a variety of potential combinations! In my research, I found David Ruether at http://www.ferrario.com/ruether/slemn.html rates three versions of the 4.5 with the highest rating going to the ED non IF version. I'll let you know what I wind up with :-)

-- John Pizzicaroli (pizzicar@mindspring.com), January 26, 2000.