Lens recommendations?

It would appear that the digital SLR market has pushed up the prices of
compatible film lenses. Is this correct? On an auction the lowest 50
mm 1.8 Nikkor AF lens I could find was about $90 US! This used to be
hard to sell at a third of that when it was just a few years old. Is
there a trick to getting compatible AF film lenses at a reasonable
price? A 50 mm 1.8, and a portrait lens should do fine.

And can one get a focusing screen for the Rebel or D70 so you can use
manual focus lenses? Or is there any focus indicator that tells you
when its in focus? The old one used to have a green light that pops on
when things are focussed. Manual focus lenses seem cheap enough.

aaJoe writes:

And can one get a focusing screen for the Rebel or D70 so you can use
manual focus lenses? Or is there any focus indicator that tells you
when its in focus? The old one used to have a green light that pops on
when things are focussed. Manual focus lenses seem cheap enough.

The Rebel XT (aka 350D) indicates focus also when focusing manually.
You can get a replacement focusing screen from Katz Eye Optics.

--
Måns Rullgård

aaJoe wrote:

It would appear that the digital SLR market has pushed up the prices of
compatible film lenses. Is this correct? On an auction the lowest 50
mm 1.8 Nikkor AF lens I could find was about $90 US!

eBay people are crazy. I've bought several lenses on there at decent
prices, but the key is to want lenses that aren't in high demand, and to
be very patient and watch one auction after another until the right one
at the right price comes along. Otherwise, just go to KEH or the B&H
used department.

A 50 mm 1.8, and a portrait lens should do fine.

The 50/1.8 is so cheap there's really no point in going to the trouble
and risk of buying it used.

And can one get a focusing screen for the Rebel or D70 so you can use
manual focus lenses?

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

Note that the old Canon manual lenses don't work on the new Canon cameras.
With Nikon, they will work, but with a D70 they won't meter. (They work
and meter perfectly on the D200, D2x, etc.)

Or is there any focus indicator that tells you when its in focus?

There is the green light. It works off the autofocus sensors, obviously,
so when autofocus doesn't work, it's not much help.

--
Jeremy |

aaJoe wrote
(in article noemail-86D797.17121801052006@shawnews):

It would appear that the digital SLR market has pushed up the prices of
compatible film lenses. Is this correct? On an auction the lowest 50
mm 1.8 Nikkor AF lens I could find was about $90 US! This used to be
hard to sell at a third of that when it was just a few years old. Is
there a trick to getting compatible AF film lenses at a reasonable
price? A 50 mm 1.8, and a portrait lens should do fine.

I can't remember the last time I saw that lens for less than
$90. Similarly, I can't imagine complaining about paying $90
for something you want to hang on the front of an SLR body
costing much more than that.

--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

According to Jeremy Nixon :
aaJoe wrote:

[ ... ]

And can one get a focusing screen for the Rebel or D70 so you can use
manual focus lenses?

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

Hmm ... *that* looks interesting, indeed.

Note that the old Canon manual lenses don't work on the new Canon cameras.
With Nikon, they will work, but with a D70 they won't meter. (They work
and meter perfectly on the D200, D2x, etc.)

Yes.

Or is there any focus indicator that tells you when its in focus?

There is the green light. It works off the autofocus sensors, obviously,
so when autofocus doesn't work, it's not much help.

FWIW -- I just tried it, with my D70 and an old 80-200mm f4.5
which has no chip. The green dot focus indicator works just fine --
though I wish that it had the arrows which suggested focus direction to
either side of the dot that the N90s has. That certainly speeded up the
manual focus operation.

I presume that the manual selection of autofocus zone also works
without a CPU lens, though I did not think to try it while I had the lens
on the camera. It certainly was paying attention to the center zone
which I normally have it locked to.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

DoN. Nichols wrote:

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

Hmm ... *that* looks interesting, indeed.

I am patiently waiting for them to make one for the D2x.

There is the green light. It works off the autofocus sensors, obviously,
so when autofocus doesn't work, it's not much help.

FWIW -- I just tried it, with my D70 and an old 80-200mm f4.5
which has no chip. The green dot focus indicator works just fine --

What I meant by "when autofocus doesn't work" is when it wouldn't work if
you had an autofocus lens mounted -- when the AF sensors don't work, which
is of course a good motivation to use manual focus, and suddenly you find
yourself with no focus indication at all.

though I wish that it had the arrows which suggested focus direction to
either side of the dot that the N90s has. That certainly speeded up the
manual focus operation.

It does, though a proper focusing screen would be much better. After all,
you don't get the dot *or* the arrows if the AF sensors don't work.

I presume that the manual selection of autofocus zone also works
without a CPU lens, though I did not think to try it while I had the lens
on the camera.

It does, yes. The focus sensors don't require anything special from the
lens at all.

--
Jeremy |

"Jeremy Nixon" wrote in message
...
DoN. Nichols wrote:

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

Hmm ... *that* looks interesting, indeed.

I am patiently waiting for them to make one for the D2x.

There is the green light. It works off the autofocus sensors,
obviously,
so when autofocus doesn't work, it's not much help.

FWIW -- I just tried it, with my D70 and an old 80-200mm f4.5
which has no chip. The green dot focus indicator works just fine --

What I meant by "when autofocus doesn't work" is when it wouldn't work if
you had an autofocus lens mounted -- when the AF sensors don't work, which
is of course a good motivation to use manual focus, and suddenly you find
yourself with no focus indication at all.

though I wish that it had the arrows which suggested focus direction to
either side of the dot that the N90s has. That certainly speeded up the
manual focus operation.

It does, though a proper focusing screen would be much better. After all,
you don't get the dot *or* the arrows if the AF sensors don't work.

Well actually some cameras still give the indication of focus even when
using manual focus, this includes on non AF lenses.

"Jeremy Nixon" wrote in message
...
Pete D wrote:

It does, though a proper focusing screen would be much better. After
all,
you don't get the dot *or* the arrows if the AF sensors don't work.

Well actually some cameras still give the indication of focus even when
using manual focus, this includes on non AF lenses.

Of course they do, that's what I said. But they *don't* do it when the
AF sensors don't work. Which is exactly when you're forced to use manual
focus.

No, mine work all the time no matter if I have manual focus switched off or
on, all the time.

Pete D wrote:

Of course they do, that's what I said. But they *don't* do it when the
AF sensors don't work. Which is exactly when you're forced to use manual
focus.

No, mine work all the time no matter if I have manual focus switched off or
on, all the time.

Of course they do, that's what I said. But I am sure yours *do not* work
when the AF sensors don't work, because that would be physically impossible.
Having manual focus switched off or on has no bearing on it.

--
Jeremy |

And can one get a focusing screen for the Rebel or D70 so you can use
manual focus lenses? Or is there any focus indicator that tells you
when its in focus? The old one used to have a green light that pops on
when things are focussed. Manual focus lenses seem cheap enough.

I think you people have convinced me that AF is really the way to go.
If I was taking landscape stuff with the focus just locked at infinity
it would be more attractive to entertain the thought of a manual focus
lens. But most of my stuff is moving subjects so AF is the way for me.
Thanks again for the excellent input and ideas.