Nikon digital SLR newb questions

I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

What Nikon digital SLRs are considered "bargains" on the current used
market?

"Jim" wrote in message
...
I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

What Nikon digital SLRs are considered "bargains" on the current used
market?

Personally, my D70 must be the best buy in the second-hand market.

You can use these old lenses on all current Nikon DSLR's in manual mode
only. You retain the sharpness and resolution but lose out in terms of
digital SLR "automation", ie it's back to manual focussing, a Weston Master,
and speed and aperture setting, although on the D70 you get an indication of
when the focus is correct with a green dot in the viewfinder. The DSLR
viewfinder is not nearly as good as an F3 or later film Nikon for focussing
manually.

Lots of pro's and amateurs use these lenses and forget about the DSLR's
modern technology, AND they take great pictures!

You can always buy a new DX lens, or earlier AF lens, later, but remember
the DX range will not work on the Nikon film cameras because of vignetting.

Dennis.

"Jim" wrote in message
...

I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

What Nikon digital SLRs are considered "bargains" on the current used
market?

From what I've heard the D200 sounds like your best bet. There is a
compatibility chart on Thom Hogan's site which might be of help:

http://www.bythom.com/lensacronyms.htm

As buying lenses is normally the most expensive part of dslr photography it
sounds like you are at an advantage having some older lenses already as a
lot of people seem to swear by these lenses for their quality.

cheers adrian www.boliston.co.uk

"Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!)" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 23:06:55 -0800, in rec.photo.digital Jim
wrote:

I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin...i=&p_topview=1
--
Ed Ruf )
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...ral/index.html


Hi there.

Ed's Nikon Chart does not show it, but I understand the D200 can use Ai
lenses and meter with them, but not autofocus.

Check the Nikon website.

Roy G

On Dec 29, 2:06 am, Jim wrote:
I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

What Nikon digital SLRs are considered "bargains" on the current used
market?

An Ai lens will operate on any Nikon DSLR - BUT with the more consumer
oriented models D40, D50, D70and also the D100 the lenses won't meter.
Not a huge crisis with digital, if you have a lens that will meter just
use the setting you have. If you want a camera that the Ai lenses will
function fully, new the D200 is the lowest priced camera. Some of the
older Nikon pro cameras, D1X, D2H are at good prices right now. Buy
from a reputable store and you should be alright. There are other Nikon
pro cameras that are down right cheap, D1, D1H, but they have very
small file size. I'd go for a D200 if you have the bucks, a little used
D1X would be a second choice. I do think warranties are important with
digital cameras.

Tom

Jim wrote:
I have some nice older Nikon film gear, and several lenses.

Can I use old AI type lenses with Nikon digital SLR? If only certain
models, which?

What Nikon digital SLRs are considered "bargains" on the current used
market?

Sorry guys, I made a MISTAKE in my first question. I meant to say
NON-AI or pre-AI lenses, with the ear that couples with the bayonet.

The Nikon site doesn't mention the D200, but seems to exclude all of the
others. Am I out of luck with these lenses, even with the D200, because
of the ear that couples with the meter on the older cameras?

Jim wrote:
Sorry guys, I made a MISTAKE in my first question. I meant to
say NON-AI or pre-AI lenses, with the ear that couples with the
bayonet.

The Nikon site doesn't mention the D200, but seems to exclude
all of the others. Am I out of luck with these lenses, even
with the D200, because of the ear that couples with the meter on
the older cameras?

For more information than you will ever really want to know,
check this web site:

http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm

The non-AI lenses lack not just the ears (which would not be
used anyway), but a mechanical tab that transmits the current
aperture setting to the camera body. Look at this URL,
at the clockwise end of Theta1 for the tab that is missing
on pre-AI lenses. (There is another at the counter clockwise
end of Theta2, but I don't know what it does and it obviously
is not always present on AI lenses as can be seen from the
images shown.)

http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhanse...IPposition.htm

Nikon warns that use of pre-AI lenses could damage the camera,
though in fact I've yet to see one that is actually likely to do
that. The problem is that base of the lense mounting plate does
not have clearance for the lever on the camera body that would
normally be indexed with a tab on an AI lense, and mounting a
pre-AI lense puts pressure on the camera's indexing lever which
pushes it against the camera mount rather than moving it to a
position which indicates the f/stop setting. Some lenses fit on
very easily, and some do not. You'll want to look very closely
the first time you mount an pre-AI lense to make sure it is not
going to break the lever on the camera. It might also be
possible to remove the mount ring on a lense and file off some
of the metal if it is too tight.

I use a couple of different pre-AI lenses on a D2x, and have not
experienced any problems. It of course does mean that the
camera has no clue what the lense is doing, and therefore light
metering does not work. However, I rarely use the light meter
anyway, and much prefer to rely on the "blink-on-over-exposure"
LCD display.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)