Nikkor 45mm 2.8 pan-cake is an extremely sharp lens with a very nice contrast and superb results, even at high aperture and with backlights. 2001 Ais P version of the lens has program contacts and mounts a weird convex lens-hood. Its extreme compactness takes advantage from the oldest known lens scheme still in use in tens of lenses (called Tessar-type): the Zeiss quadruplet (four lenses in three groups) designed in 1902. The 1968 Auto GN version of the lens recalls the “automatism” between f number and flash light range through manual flashes' guide number for a correct exposition (the scale of correspondances between flash GN and distances is carved on the lens). Both lenses are manual focus.
I frequently match these lenses to light traditional bodies as FM2 and FE2 to have an high quality “pocket-size” camera.
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