Nikon lens for digital camera

I am thinking to purchase a digital camera for the first time. Please
bear my amateurish questions.
One candidate on my mind is Nikon D90 for the reason that I hear that
Nikon digital SLR cameras can use the Nikon lenses made for film SLR
camera such as Nikkor series. If true, it will save money because I own
Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm zoom lens.
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.
My second question is that if the answer to the first question is yes,
what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135 mm Nikkor
is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90. Especially will a wide
angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens) similarly function with
a digita SLR?
Thanks for your time.

In article , Beyond X
wrote:

I am thinking to purchase a digital camera for the first time. Please
bear my amateurish questions.
One candidate on my mind is Nikon D90 for the reason that I hear that
Nikon digital SLR cameras can use the Nikon lenses made for film SLR
camera such as Nikkor series. If true, it will save money because I own
Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm zoom lens.
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.

they'll fit and autofocus will work, however, on a d90 you'll only have
manual exposure (not a huge deal with an lcd on the back). for auto
exposure you will need to step up to the d300.

My second question is that if the answer to the first question is yes,
what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135 mm Nikkor
is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90. Especially will a wide
angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens) similarly function with
a digita SLR?

all lenses have a 1.5x conversion, so your 135 will be equivalent to a
202mm lens and the 24-70 would be equivalent to a 36-105mm.

Beyond X wrote:
[]
My second question is that if the answer to the first question is yes,
what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135 mm Nikkor
is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90. Especially will a
wide angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens) similarly
function with a digita SLR?
Thanks for your time.

If you buy a full frame (FX) Nikon DSLR, the lenses will behave just the
same. That's a rather more expensive option, of course!

David

Beyond X wrote:
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.

Absolutely. Any lens, that is at least AI-P (introduced around 1988)
will work with all features supported by that lens on any Nikon dSLR
with two exceptions:
- non-AF-S lenses will not autofocus on the D40 and D60 family (not an
issue for the D90)
- DX lenses have a smaller image circle and will cause vignetting on a
full-frame camera (not an issue for the D90)

Even older lenses without AI-P (typically that means more than 30 years
old) often still work fine or can be upgraded with a chip to AI-P level.

My second question is that if the answer to the first question is yes,
what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135 mm Nikkor
is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90.

The focal length is a physical property of the lens and doesn't change
with what camera it is used on. So a 135mm lens is a 135mm lens, no
matter if used on a F1, a F4, a D90, or a D3.

However depending on the sensor size you are getting a different angle
of view and thus a different magnification. This is known as the crop
factor, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_factor for a rather good
explanation.

Nikon DX cameras have a crop factor of 1.5, which means that a lens
mounted on a DX camera produces the same image as a lens with a 1.5
times as long focal length on a full frame (FF) camera would. Examples:
- Normal lens on FF: 50mm. Normal lens on DX: 33mm ( 50mm/1.5)
- tele lens: 200mm lens mounted on a DX has the same field of
view/magnification as a 300mm (200mm*1.5)lens on a FF

Especially will a wide
angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens) similarly function with
a digita SLR?

On a DX camera you will get the same field of view/magnification as you
would get from a 36-105mm lens used on a FF camera.

jue

nospam wrote:
In article , Beyond X
wrote:
I own
Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm zoom lens.
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.

they'll fit and autofocus will work, however, on a d90 you'll only have
manual exposure (not a huge deal with an lcd on the back). for auto
exposure you will need to step up to the d300.

The F4 was introduced at the same time as AI-P lenses (1988), therefore
it is likely (but of course not guaranteed) that the OP's lenses are
AI-P in which case they will mount and meter (and autofocus if so
equipped) on the D90 without any problems.

jue

In article , Jürgen Exner
wrote:

I own
Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm zoom lens.
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.

they'll fit and autofocus will work, however, on a d90 you'll only have
manual exposure (not a huge deal with an lcd on the back). for auto
exposure you will need to step up to the d300.

The F4 was introduced at the same time as AI-P lenses (1988), therefore
it is likely (but of course not guaranteed) that the OP's lenses are
AI-P in which case they will mount and meter (and autofocus if so
equipped) on the D90 without any problems.

good catch. i was thinking of manual focus lenses.

Beyond X wrote:
I just want to say thank you to all the responders. All comments are
very helpful and I admire your range of knowledge.

On Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:45:43 +0900, Beyond X
wrote:

I am thinking to purchase a digital camera for the first time. Please
bear my amateurish questions.
One candidate on my mind is Nikon D90 for the reason that I hear that
Nikon digital SLR cameras can use the Nikon lenses made for film SLR
camera such as Nikkor series. If true, it will save money because I own
Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm zoom lens.
My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses made for the
film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like D90 with all
feature still working.
My second question is that if the answer to the first question is yes,
what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135 mm Nikkor
is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90. Especially will a wide
angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens) similarly function with
a digita SLR?
Thanks for your time.

People have told you quite a lot about what the lens will continue to
do. However if your older lenses are not 'computer' lenses there is
quite a lot which they will not enable the camera to do.



Eric Stevens

Eric Stevens wrote:

People have told you quite a lot about what the lens will continue to
do. However if your older lenses are not 'computer' lenses there is
quite a lot which they will not enable the camera to do.



Eric Stevens


Such as please?

John.

nospam wrote:
In article , Beyond X
wrote:

I am thinking to purchase a digital camera for the first time.
Please
bear my amateurish questions.
One candidate on my mind is Nikon D90 for the reason that I hear
that
Nikon digital SLR cameras can use the Nikon lenses made for film
SLR
camera such as Nikkor series. If true, it will save money because I
own Nikon F4 and several Nikkor lenses such as 135mm or 80-300 mm
zoom lens. My first question is whether or not those Nikkor lenses
made for the film camera can really fit to Nikon digital SLR like
D90 with all feature still working.

they'll fit and autofocus will work, however, on a d90 you'll only
have manual exposure (not a huge deal with an lcd on the back). for
auto exposure you will need to step up to the d300.

Huh? What AF lenses will not meter on a d90?

My second question is that if the answer to the first question is
yes, what the actual focal length will be when a lens such as 135
mm
Nikkor is used with a digital camera such as Nikon D90. Especially
will a wide angle lens (such as AF Nikkor 24-70mm zoom lens)
similarly function with a digita SLR?

all lenses have a 1.5x conversion, so your 135 will be equivalent to
a
202mm lens and the 24-70 would be equivalent to a 36-105mm.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)