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Older Nikon lenses used with Canon Digital, like D10, D20

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W.Boyce

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Dec 7, 2009, 9:17:05 PM12/7/09
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I have some really nice Nikon lenses and now shoot mostly digital with a
D50 or else film in my FE-2, FA, or F100 and have pictures put directly
on a CD. Someone writes that the above digital Canon cameras actually do
a better job compatibility-wise than a digital Nikon in accepting these
lenses (with a mounting adapter, of course)while preserving much of
their functionality but no autofocus. Anyone have any experience in
this area? I can pick up an older canon fairly reasonably and hate to
see all that fast Nikkor glass just sitting on the shelf. Also I
collected and used rare nikkor lenses for years and want to use them
more. Thanks, Bill

Tim Conway

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Dec 7, 2009, 9:24:49 PM12/7/09
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"W.Boyce" <w_b...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:AGiTm.66940$rE5....@newsfe08.iad...

You could probably pick up a used Nikon D200 or D80 really reasonable and be
able to use all your old Nikkor glass direct.

nospam

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Dec 8, 2009, 2:26:01 PM12/8/09
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In article <AGiTm.66940$rE5....@newsfe08.iad>, W.Boyce
<w_b...@charter.net> wrote:

with a nikon lens on a canon body, you will stuck with manual focus and
stop down metering, which is not 100% accurate either, regardless of
lens.

on a nikon body, all autofocus lenses will focus and meter on a d50.
only on a d40 series camera is there no autofocus with the older
non-afs lenses (but there will still be metering). with manual focus
lenses, there will only be metering on the higher end bodies (d200
class and better). that's not really a big deal, since with digital you
can take a few test shots and determine the exposure.

your best bet is to get a d300 if you have old manual focus lenses.

Paul Furman

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Dec 9, 2009, 6:08:02 PM12/9/09
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Yeah, anything below a D200 won't meter; that's annoying. It's
ostensibly to prevent faulty metering complaints due to vignetting wide
open; if the camera doesn't know what the lens is, it can't calculate
that accurately. A used D200 is the best option and will work for
anything but pre-Ai, which oddly will mount safely on a D40 in manual :-)

Canons will meter with anything but won't stop down the aperture for
you, so the lens must have an aperture ring. If you like to stop down,
this will be annoying, if you shoot mostly wide open or nearly, it's no
problem.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

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nospam

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Dec 9, 2009, 6:45:02 PM12/9/09
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In article <hfpakv$m10$1...@news.eternal-september.org>, Paul Furman
<paul-@-edgehill.net> wrote:

> Yeah, anything below a D200 won't meter; that's annoying. It's
> ostensibly to prevent faulty metering complaints due to vignetting wide
> open; if the camera doesn't know what the lens is, it can't calculate
> that accurately. A used D200 is the best option and will work for
> anything but pre-Ai, which oddly will mount safely on a D40 in manual :-)

the reason is because there's a mechanical coupling and nikon didn't
bother to include it on the lower priced models since not that many
people are going to bother using older lenses.

> Canons will meter with anything but won't stop down the aperture for
> you, so the lens must have an aperture ring. If you like to stop down,
> this will be annoying, if you shoot mostly wide open or nearly, it's no
> problem.

true, g lenses won't work but there's an adapter that supposedly works
with those.

Paul Furman

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Dec 10, 2009, 11:04:55 PM12/10/09
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There is an adapter that lets you set the aperture on a little slider
for stop down metering.

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