fergmark wrote:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/995088-REG/fotodiox_fd_nk_g_pro_nikon_f_adapter.html#customerReview
the reviews on this are wildly mixed.
That Fotodiox adapter won't work. That's a Canon FD to Nikon F adapter. It's the wrong Canon mount.
The MP-E 65mm is a Canon EF mount lens. Whole different animal! Larger diameter bayonet mount, shorter lens register... but the real kicker is electronic aperture control. Both Canon and Nikon use it now (all Nikkor "G" for example)... But I've never heard of anyone ever working out a way to get the different electronic control systems to talk to each other.
I honestly do not think there is any way to use an MP-E on a Nikon body. Even if you get it to fit somehow, I doubt the electronics could ever be adapted.
You'd have better luck just getting a Canon camera to use the lens on... and a flash. In fact, as high magnification as you'll be doing, you are probably not going to be using a standard flash.
I use the Canon MR14EX Macro Ring Lite on my MP-E 65mm.... that ring light is designed to clip directly onto the front of the lens... and the lens is designed to accommodate it. In fact, the MP-E 65mm is the
only lens I use a ring light with. I don't care for the effect of ring lights on lower magnifications. But it's ideal for the MP-E 65mm at 2X and greater. Current version of the MR14EX is an RT/radio controlled model that can work in conjunction with other RT flashes. I use the older version and see no need to upgrade, because I don't ever use the ring light in conjunction with other flash. (I know for certain that Yongnuo also makes a Canon ETTL compatible ring light. Others probably do, too.)
It's a topic for another thread, but I really never understood all the buzz about Nikon flash anyway.... or the disdain for Canon flash. I've been using Canon EX-series flash for years. They work great and are easy to use. My only gripe with them was that their off-camera control was via IR light, which limited placement and distance considerably. But the same was true of Nikon flash. Until, beginning around five years ago, Canon intro'd flash with much better radio control and triggering in all the RT-series flashes, plus there are now third party products that can adapt the older optically triggered flashes to the same radio control, too. Problem solved. (A couple years later Nikon followed and intro'd radio control flash, too. SB5000 I think was first, and a couple others since.)
Wouldn't be the first time someone bought a camera and accessories from a different system, just to use a particular lens. In fact, when Nikon introduced their 35mm PC lens back in the 1970s, a lot of Nikon users ended up carrying around a Konica SLR, too. It turned out that the Nikon bodies of the day could only meter that PC lens when all it's movements were reset to 0. That was a pain in the arse. Then someone discovered that the lens could be metered at any of it's settings on a Konica. body.... and that there was a widely available Nikon F to Konica K/AR. So a lot of Nikon shooters who using that special lens ended up with a T3 or similar in their camera bag, too. Demand for it drove up the price for it and to this day, the Nikon F to Konica K/AR adapter still sells for about 3X as much as other, very similar adapters that allow various other mounts be used on Konica.
If you would feel "unclean" buying a Canon camera, how about a Sony? There are adapters that allow Canon EF lenses to be used on Sony... even controlling the aperture (pricey, though.... around $400 for some of the adapters... and I don't know for certain an MP-E 65mm would work, but I also can't imagine why it wouldn't). The Sony cameras that can use EF lenses via an adapter are their mirrorless models, which are available in both APS-C and full frame formats. AFAIK, they all use electronic viewfinders, too... which would be a nice feature for some high magnification macro work. I don't know anything about the Sony flash system or if it's possible to use other system flashes with it.
Another possibility... Venus Optics Laowa is introducing a macro lens with 2.5X to 5X range of magnification that will be available in Nikon F-mount. I don't know much about it. Not in stores yet, AFAIK. Probably manual focus AND manual aperture control (as have been some of their other lenses).
Yet another possibility... get a macro bellows for your Nikon and an appropriate Nikkor to use on it. After all, the MP-E 65mm was essentially designed to serve as a replacement for bellows (which are problematic on the system's electronic mount). There are any number of bellows available for Nikon... their own and many other brands... and with the right lens they can be capable of just as high magnification.