Zoom lenses

My dad just recently gave me a Nikon FE2 that he purchased in 1983 or
'84 as
well as a couple zoom lenses. Will these zoom lenses (Series-E
70~210mm f/4
& Series-E 36~72mm f/3.5) fit/work on a new digital camera?

Thanks!
Andrea

wrote in message
oups.com...
My dad just recently gave me a Nikon FE2 that he purchased in 1983 or
'84 as
well as a couple zoom lenses. Will these zoom lenses (Series-E
70~210mm f/4
& Series-E 36~72mm f/3.5) fit/work on a new digital camera?

Thanks!
Andrea


Hi.

Great Camera. I have been using my FE (not FE2), till this year. Your Nik
E series lenses are not the best Nikon ever made, but they will fit onto
almost any Nikon digital.

Have a look at the Nikon Website, you will find tables for which lenses work
with which bodies.

On the D70, 70s & 50 there will be no AF and no Metering. The AF indicator
light will come on when you get the lens focussed, so it works like a
Rangefinder, but it is very "Hair triggered". The Histogram will show
whether exposure was correct, after you guess at it or use a hand-held
meter.

I have used my 105mm F2.5, as above, on my D70, with excellent results
although it did take some time for each shot.

I think the new D200 can meter with these lenses.

Roy G

wrote in message
oups.com...
My dad just recently gave me a Nikon FE2 that he purchased in 1983 or
'84 as
well as a couple zoom lenses. Will these zoom lenses (Series-E
70~210mm f/4
& Series-E 36~72mm f/3.5) fit/work on a new digital camera?

Thanks!
Andrea

You can mount them of course. However, considering the limitations
described in the D50 and D70 manuals, they aren't real useful on those
cameras.
Jim

Thanks for your quick reply. This is very helpful!

Andrea

Thank you for your quick reply. This is helpful.

Andrea

wrote:
My dad just recently gave me a Nikon FE2 that he purchased in 1983 or
'84 as
well as a couple zoom lenses. Will these zoom lenses (Series-E
70~210mm f/4
& Series-E 36~72mm f/3.5) fit/work on a new digital camera?

Yes they will, but no you don't really want to do that.

Why? Because technology has moved right along in the past 20
years!

Those are what are called AiS lenses. They are manual focus,
but do have the aperture coupled from the lense to the camera in
such a way that the camera's light meter can measure exposure
with the aperture wide open (which means you have a bright
viewfinder image that is easy to focus). When you press the
shutter release the lense aperture is closed down to whatever
you've manually set it to, and the image is recorded at that
setting. Note that the viewfinder has a focusing aid in the
center (probably a "split prism" device) that greatly helps in
adjusting the manual focus.

That was great stuff in 1980 or so. But now we have lenses that
focus automatically at the push of a button. And the camera not
only measures light with the aperture wide open, it also set,
automatically, the aperture and shutter speed for you. Indeed,
there are lenses available that don't even have an aperture
adjustment ring on them!

And worse, for you, is that modern cameras with auto focus don't
have that little split prism focusing aid in the viewfinder.
That makes accurate manual focusing somewhat difficult.

The effect is that old manual focus (MF) lenses are nice and can
be fun and inexpensive, but they are hard to use and not nearly
as wonderful as modern auto focus (AF) lenses. For anything
that moves (sports, kids, etc etc), the new AF lenses are so
much better than an MF lease that it is nearly impossible to
describe the effect that it will have on you. Try an AF lense
one time for what they are good at, and it will become a
necessity!

On the other hand, yes you can use those lenses, and if you buy
a DSLR now they will give you something to use while you save up
to buy a set of lenses. I would recommend the Nikkor 18-70
f/3.5-4.5G AFD lense first (it is often sold with various Nikon
DSLRs, so you might get it with a camera anyway), and then
either the 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor (if you can
afford it, because they cost an arm and a leg)) or... buy a
used 80-200mm f/2.8 AF ED lense.

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

Thank you for such a quick, detailed response. I agree that using
these until I save up for a newer lense would probably be a good
option.

Andrea

writes:

My dad just recently gave me a Nikon FE2 that he purchased in 1983 or
'84 as
well as a couple zoom lenses. Will these zoom lenses (Series-E
70~210mm f/4
& Series-E 36~72mm f/3.5) fit/work on a new digital camera?

E-series lenses are AI (or maybe AIS; anyway) lenses, so they'll mount
safely and focus correctly and all that. Manual focus only of course,
the lens has no provision for autofocus.

On what Nikon considers "consumer" bodies (D100, D70, D50; and also
the Fuji digital bodies) these lenses won't *meter*, though. I've
used AIS lenses a lot on my Fuji S2, and I don't find it that big a
deal, but some people do; it depends on your habits and what kind of
photos you're shooting, I guess.

On the Pro bodies including the D200, these lenses *will* meter.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: 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/