Nikon owners, quick question..

dbov22

dbov22

dbov22

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262
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Washington
Hi,

Was out in town today and walked past a number of interesting shops, some of the old school 2nd hand shops, piled high full of junk etc, they had loads of lenses, as did cash converters....

the problem... I have a Nikon Dslr, I would like to know - will ANY Nikon fit lens from any era work - I'm aware the auto focus may not, also the likes of sigma and tamron lenses, they are not badged up as Nikon fit etc and the staff are hopeless and know nothing.... how can I tell whether they will work?

Simple answers please, assume I know nowt about cameras....

Thanks
 
Any Nikon SLR lens will physically fit on any Nikon SLR body (Digital or film) BUT (and it's a big one) you may not be able to adjust the aperture if you fit a new lens on an old body, and you will not be able to use the camera metering system if you fit an old lens on a new body. Obviuosly autofocus may or may not work depending on the combination.

I'm not aware of any sure way to tell what fit a 3rd party lens is other than carefully trying it on your camera.
 
If you don't want to risk damaging your Camera, then try any unknown Lenses on a Lens Rear Cap from a Lens you know does fit, any resistance will be a lot less worrisome!

I can't remember if it's some old Nikon Lens or another manufacturer but I'm sure I read somewhere that some Lenses (Or maybe it was a Teleconverter?) have rear elements that protrude out more than normal that can damage the mirror prism through interference on DSLRs which would be something to take notice of too I guess :p
 
doofer said:
If you don't want to risk damaging your Camera, then try any unknown Lenses on a Lens Rear Cap from a Lens you know does fit, any resistance will be a lot less worrisome!

I can't remember if it's some old Nikon Lens or another manufacturer but I'm sure I read somewhere that some Lenses (Or maybe it was a Teleconverter?) have rear elements that protrude out more than normal that can damage the mirror prism through interference on DSLRs which would be something to take notice of too I guess :p
Click to expand...

There a very few very old lenses with an extreme retrofocus design that could damage the mirror. These are old lenses, very rare and I think are moderately fast wide angles, maybe from the 60s.

I think it would be obvious to tell. If there is a glass element going a long way back from the mount then be weary.


There can be issues with old 3rd party lenses not working very well.


For trusted reviews of almost every Nikon lenses, look no further than here:
http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html#top1

I Think Born also warns you of lenses that might damage a modern camera.
EDIT: E.G. the 21 mm f/4 Nikkor-O from 1959 will damage modern cameras.
 
thanks for all the responses, I particualrly like the idea of just taking the rear lens cap in, the reason i didn't just try it was I didn't have my camera with me, and 80% of the time I won't, just wanted a way of being able to tell there and then....

Mine is the new d3100 so very modern camera... the lenses are more than likely a little bit older, it was more for the lenses made by the likes of tamron, sigma etc...
 
dbov22 said:
thanks for all the responses, I particualrly like the idea of just taking the rear lens cap in, the reason i didn't just try it was I didn't have my camera with me, and 80% of the time I won't, just wanted a way of being able to tell there and then....

Mine is the new d3100 so very modern camera... the lenses are more than likely a little bit older, it was more for the lenses made by the likes of tamron, sigma etc...
Click to expand...

To be honest, I wouldn't buy a very old Sigma/Tamron lens. They are unlikely to work very well and wont offer good IQ.

I would be looking to pick up some old Nikon prime lenses. on the cheap.
 
doofer said:
If you don't want to risk damaging your Camera, then try any unknown Lenses on a Lens Rear Cap from a Lens you know does fit, any resistance will be a lot less worrisome!

I can't remember if it's some old Nikon Lens or another manufacturer but I'm sure I read somewhere that some Lenses (Or maybe it was a Teleconverter?) have rear elements that protrude out more than normal that can damage the mirror prism through interference on DSLRs which would be something to take notice of too I guess :p
Click to expand...

There are certainly some physical problems mixing and matching sigma teleconverters with some Nikon lens of old (apart from the AF/electronic issues)
 
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