Nikon made me buy Canon

I have been a Nikon SLR user for 20 years, using mainly FMs and occasionally
an F3.

Having tried digital compacts, I wanted to get a digital SLR. I'm quite keen
on manual focus lenses and see no reason why I should have to use autofocus
lenses. I was pleased to note that the Nikon bayonet had not changed.

I asked Nikon about using my existing lenses from my FM on a D70 and they
said:
"The D70 needs electronic contacts on the lens with which to communicate and
meter. Manual lenses (at least 99.9% of them)do not have these contacts and
therefore the camera would be unable to communicate with such lenses. You
would therefore be able to use the camera in manual mode only and would have
to use an external light meter to ascertain the correct exposure. YOu would
obviously also not get TTL flash exposure."

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!


--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

"Zebedee" writes:

Well, if I have to buy new lenses and a new camera, I'm darned well not
forking out for Nikon since they don't support their customers, I said.
Hence I bought a Canon 300D and an 18-55 lens. I shall purchase more
lenses - later.

Bye bye Nikon. You don't support your customer base so we're all migrating
to Canon!

You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.

The problem is that Nikon considers the D70 and the D100 consumer electronics
and not a professional dSLR. The D1 works great with manual focus Nikkors
and I assume that the D1H, D1X, and D2H work just as well.

The strange thing is that the D70/D100 buyers don't seem to care. It used to
be the case that every Nikon body would at least work in stop-down metering
mode. I can understand that nobody noticed that the F80 didn't work that way.

But at the original price of the D100, you expect at least that it can work
properly with old extension tubes, bellows, microscope adaptors, etc.

Anyhow, I have played with a D1 and it is a great camera for snapshots.
And eventually, the D1X will become affordable.



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

(Philip Homburg) writes:

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
You do realize that Canon did a much worse thing a few years back,
right? When they went from the FD mount to whatever the auto-focus
system they use now is called, they made a *complete* flag-day change;
no forward or backward compatibility between the old and the new
systems.

Whereas I still use my AIS Nikon lenses on my digital SLR perfectly
happily. And I can use my Nikon auto-focus lenses on my FM, too.
Significant forward and backwards compatibility.

The problem is that Nikon considers the D70 and the D100 consumer electronics
and not a professional dSLR. The D1 works great with manual focus Nikkors
and I assume that the D1H, D1X, and D2H work just as well.

I'm using a Fuji S2, which has the same limitations as the D100 (and
N80).

It doesn't meter with the AIS lenses, but with a digital camera *who
cares*? If I need a perfect "first shot" I can do test shots ahead of
time (just the way I'd use a light meter ahead of time to prepare with
a film camera). If it's studio or a repeating event so I can home in
on the perfect exposure as I work, even easier. So the lack of
metering is a minor inconvenience. (The lack of TTL flash with those
lenses would be more annoying if TTL flash worked decently with the
digital SLRs to begin with....)

(Which still ****es me off; because it's pure marketing, as the
ability to meter with those lenses on all the cameras you list, and
the F-100 and F5, demonstrates.)
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

It doesn't meter with the AIS lenses, but with a digital camera *who
cares*? If I need a perfect "first shot" I can do test shots ahead of
time (just the way I'd use a light meter ahead of time to prepare with
a film camera).

Exactly. People get terribly hung up about in-camera meters. I recently
picked up a small match-needle handheld light meter second-hand for the
price of a few pints of beer, and it works just fine.

I've also found that outside in the daytime, I can usually guess the correct
exposure to within a stop anyway, even here in the UK with our notoriously
changable weather. It only takes a bit of practice.

In article ,
Chris Brown wrote:
In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

It doesn't meter with the AIS lenses, but with a digital camera *who
cares*? If I need a perfect "first shot" I can do test shots ahead of
time (just the way I'd use a light meter ahead of time to prepare with
a film camera).

Exactly. People get terribly hung up about in-camera meters. I recently
picked up a small match-needle handheld light meter second-hand for the
price of a few pints of beer, and it works just fine.

I've also found that outside in the daytime, I can usually guess the correct
exposure to within a stop anyway, even here in the UK with our notoriously
changable weather. It only takes a bit of practice.

I think it is a bit ironic. Nikon designs the most advanced in-camera meter,
with a more than 1000 pixel RGB sensor, only to be told: 'who needs a
built-in meter anyway'. No wonder people are moving to Canon.



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Chris Brown writes:

In article ,
David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

It doesn't meter with the AIS lenses, but with a digital camera *who
cares*? If I need a perfect "first shot" I can do test shots ahead of
time (just the way I'd use a light meter ahead of time to prepare with
a film camera).

Exactly. People get terribly hung up about in-camera meters. I recently
picked up a small match-needle handheld light meter second-hand for the
price of a few pints of beer, and it works just fine.

I've still got one in my working bag, in fact.

I've also found that outside in the daytime, I can usually guess the correct
exposure to within a stop anyway, even here in the UK with our notoriously
changable weather. It only takes a bit of practice.

The fact that I've used unmetered cameras, including as my primary
camera for several years even after I got serious (a Leica M3), may
have something to do with it. I'd been photographing seriously for 25
years before I first owned a camera with auto-exposure.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

I use my D-70 on a Meade 10 inch 2500 mm telescope. You can't get much
more manual thatn that. Set the meter to spot, and adjust the shutter
speed to give the proper exposure.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

In article ,
Roger Halstead wrote:
I use my D-70 on a Meade 10 inch 2500 mm telescope. You can't get much
more manual thatn that. Set the meter to spot, and adjust the shutter
speed to give the proper exposure.

According to the D70 user manual, page 183, the spot meter works only with
CPU lenses. So either your telescope has a CPU in it or the manual is wrong
(or your telescope attaches to a Nikkor with a CPU in it).



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

I use my D-70 on a Meade 10 inch 2500 mm telescope. You can't get much
more manual thatn that. Set the meter to spot, and adjust the shutter
speed to give the proper exposure.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com