papakatz45 Loc: South Florida-West Palm Beach

I have a friend who has been given an old Nikon film camera with a number of different lenses. The camera does not work and he is not interested in fixing it. The question is, if he buys a digital Nikon can he use the older lenses with it?

MattSeven Loc: Scotland UK

Interesting question! -I'm looking forward to informed replies as I have some Nikon lenses too- which DO work on my Lumix Panasonic G10 & G3 bodies- albeit manually only.....

treadwl Loc: South Florida

It will depend on the lens. If they were SLR lenses they should fit. The auto focus may not work, depending on the lens.

Larry

ephraim Imperio

Depending on the camera, Yes if the lens is AIS, AI, P or AI'd lenses.

Check this chart

http://blog.gerardprins.com/pdf/Nikon-DSLR-AI-AIS-AIP-AF-AFS-compatibility_en.pdf

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Some older lenses require slight mount modification to properly attach to Nikon DSLRs.
Such was needed for my circa 1970, pre-Ai Nikkor lenses.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

That chart has errors on it just like the one at Nikonians.. I moderate a group on Flickr dedicated to just this subject & know this to be erroneous...If you let us know more info, we can be more specific...No matter what camera he has & lens he is interested in using, there will be some limitations. Of course, there are more limitations if his DSLR is a base model...

ephraim Imperio

Hi, Screamin Scott. Did you report this error to Nikon USA?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I have a 1971 F. Many of the lenses that worked on that camera work on my D700. However, be careful as some of the older lenses have a section on the back of the lens assembly that will damage the contacts inside the camera.

The older lenses that don't have that machined feature work well, but need to be in manual mode for both focus and exposure

dabriola

I have several of old AI lenses, and they work on my DSLR's, without auto focus of course. there is a setting in all of the DSLR menues about the non-cpu lenses, I think that is what that is for. You enter the Focal Length, and the FocaL Ratio and the camera remembers it. I have a 50mm f2, 24mm f2.8, 46-84 f4.5 Zoom, 300mm 4.5. except for the 24mm I hadn't used them for awhile. I just started using the 300mm on static subjects due to the non Auto Focus, and was surprised at how sharp it is.

House Finch, 300mm


Grackle, 300mm

dabriola

But, I think papakatz is right you should be careful how you use them, especially the pre AI lenses

azlynn Loc: Arizona

I have some very old Nikon lenses; they only work in manual mode. They are nice, tho...

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I, & many others, have reported the errors to the Nikonians website & they do not respond...The base model cameras that need AF motors can use any Nikon F model lens, even Pre-Ai (or Non Ai as they are also called ). Of course there is no auto focus (duh) but metering is non-existent as well. You can use either a hand held meter or use the old "Sunny 16" rule to get you in the ballpark & then the LCD & Histogram to fine tune the exposure. . Rockwell's site (although most of what he writes needs to be taken with a grain of salt) even has it right. The "prosumer" models can take all F mount except Pre-Ai Nikkors that have not had an Ai modification. They also wont have AF or metering. The "Semi pro" & "pro" models are the same as the ""prosumer" ones except that you will be able to meter in M or A... One other fact is that most 3rd party Pre-Ai can mount just fine without fear of damaging the camera because their aperture "skirt" does not extend down past the mount face...Many of the images on my Flickr site were taken with older manual focus lenses on a Nikon D70s (newer ones with a D300) & as you can see, there is no problems using the old lenses. I have been shooting that way for years & neither camera was damaged in the process

wolfie Loc: CT and FL

Yes. I have the D5100 and use an older 50mm prime lens with it. Need to set f stop and focus manually but shutter speed works through the camera control.

sensofhumor

My AF NIKKOR 1.8 50MM AND 28 200 MM WORK ON MY D 80. THE 50 BECOMES 70 AND THE 200 BECOMES 300.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

We are referencing older manual focus lenses in this thread. As for older AF lenses, the base model Nikon DSLR's require a motor in the lens to AF, otherwise they will meter but not AF...All other older AF lenses will AF & meter with all other Nikon DSLR's