dhaywood

I have an old Nikkormat FTN that has a beautiful f1.2 lens. I have seen references to using such lens on DSLR cameras. Does anyone have experience with this and can you advise what adapter would be needed?

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

As long as it has a F mount it should work...although maybe in manual only.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

I have a 35mm F2.8 Nikkor and a 43-86mm F3.5 from my Nikon FTN and Nikkormat FTN. I had modified them to fit my D200. Those pre-AI lens can only fit on the Nikon D5000 series D3000 series D60 D40 with out metering. but won't fit on the other higher end Nikon digital camera such as D1; D2; D700;D300; D200; D90; D80; D70; D50; D100 and the new D7000 series, if forcing to mount it on, it will damage the metering linkage on the camera. You need to modify it with an AI mount if you can find it in the market, or may be found at Ebay.

dhaywood

You didn't mention the D800 in your list but I'm assuming that it would be the same. Thanks for the information. I'll look on eBay for a mount.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I have an older non-AI 135mm lens that works just fine on my D800. Doesn't meter, of course. The aperture following ring around the lens mount has a tab that could be damaged if you force an incompatible lens on.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Looks like I may have an oddball AI conversion on my 135. Solid coupling ears, no secondary aperture scale, but the aperture ring is cut away to connect to the tab on the body.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

Yes, I missed The D800, sorry about that! You should be able to find one at Ebay. I modified my lenses by grinding a ridge around the aperture ring of the lens ( I took chance to do so) and did it successfully, lucky me!

Mousie M Loc: Coventry, UK

Goofy, sounds like you have a home made AI conversion. They work, but not as well as a proper conversion which uses the correct Nikon aperture ring. Another sure fire sign is a stick on strip with the tiny aperture settings hand written on (or no tiny numbers at all). They may be good lenses but are not worth much home converted (as I have found out myself on Ebay).

Mousie M Loc: Coventry, UK

If you do find the conversion kit, it is also worthwhile getting the proper screwdriver. The screws can be tight, and you will most likely damage them worth an ordinary watchmakers jobbie. If you find one, please let me know where!

Mousie M Loc: Coventry, UK

Apologies Goofy, I did not read your post fully, you already say there is not secondary scale!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

No worries!
In looking at my 135 is may be a "home" modified w/o the paper scale.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

Gitzo Loc: Indiana

If you search the archives here, there was a thread about this just a month or so ago; one fellow (who remembers this stuff much better than I do), pointed out that all Nikon (or Nikkor ?) lenses made since a certain year (which I'm inclined to remember for about two days if I'm lucky), DO have "F" mounts; There is a small little "tab", (or some kind of small mechanical "gadget") which needs to be "removed", "modified", (or some such) which apparently doesn't cost "that much" to have done, on the "older" of these lenses.

Keeping in mind, ALL older lenses were designed to cover the 35 mm film format, (app.24mm X 36mm), which is the same (or very close to) the size of today's full-frame FX sensors.

I have a 300mm,/f4 manual focus prime which was fairly "long of tooth" when I bought it on eBay, app. 12 or 14 yrs ago; I use the thing quite often with my APS-C (DX sensor) D 300s, (often with a MF 2X TC which is also probably older than a few members here), and I get some very acceptable results. Obviously, when using all of this old glass, I set everything to "M" mode, but the camera does do the metering. Also to keep in mind, when you use these lenses (which were designed to "cover" the 24 X 36 mm film format), with a DX (somewhat smaller format) lens, because of the size of the "light cone" from the older lens, you're only using part of the light in the middle of the light cone, so the smaller sensor in a DX body camera is said to have a "crop factor"; with Nikon D SLR's, this crop factor is 1.5; so when I attach the 300mm lens to the 300s, because of the 1.5 crop factor, you end up with an "effective focal length of 1.5 X 300, or 450 mm; then, when you double that with the 2X TC (tele-extender), you end up with an effective FL of 900mm.

This is a subject that comes up so often with so many long time Nikon shooters, that I think some brave soul who is a lot smarter than I am, should probably come out with a book on the subject.

At the risk of becoming a target of a lot of rocks, I might also point out that........when it comes to using old lenses from the days of film, Nikon users have a HUGE "leg up" on Canon users; ( many people, myself included, still have a number of excellent FD Canon lenses, all with the "best attachment scheme ever, IMHO", the famous old "breach-lock" mount). When Canon started designing ALL of their new EOS lenses for digital bodies, all of these fine FD lenses became instant "paper weights" and "door stops". (which is when I went from being a "canon shooter" to a Nikon devotee.)

Would merely using a full frame D-800 say, with a 900mm prime lens be "better" ? (LoL!) Yeah, it definitely would be MUCH better ! ( It would also be about about 10 times more "costly".) ( All of which is why you hear of so many people using lenses designed 30 yrs ago, with cameras designed a year ago.)

All of the above was intended for.......anyone OTHER than "guru's";
Everything below is aimed at: beginners, and "old timers"........

Have you ever thought about...........ALL camera lenses, ALL telescopes, MOST magnifying glasses are "round"; and they ALL are designed to do "more or less", the same thing........"gather up" a certain quantity of light, then bring this light to a "focus" at a certain point, which in the case of a film camera is called.......the "film plane"; Think about that for about 5 seconds; OK, now think about this......have you EVER seen a lens which has SQUARE "elements" in it, or a film "format" that was ROUND ?

Because ALL lenses are ROUND, and all (or most) film formats are SQUARE or RECTANGULAR, it seems logical that ALL lenses produce a ROUND "cone" of light, which come to a "focus" (or POINT).......at either a film plane, or a sensor; ( a very clever gadget for collecting light and doing something with that light )........it also seems logical, that covering a SQUARE or RECTANGULAR "area", with a ROUND "cone of light", will always result in much of the light MISSING the intended target area, and is therefore wasted.

Why then, are all sensors and MOST film formats SQUARE, of even RECTANGULAR ? That's the question; my best guess is, because most people tend to prefer looking at square (of rectangular) pictures. There may be other reasons which I haven't thought of.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Nikon F mount dates from about 1960. The mount itself has not changed- just the metering connection.



The metal indexing tab used with the earlier cameras does not interfere when using the lens on the new digital cameras.
The aperture ring needs to be modified (replaced or ground down) so it does not damage the tab on the ring surrounding the lens mount of the camera. (Later film cameras had a tab which could be flipped out of the way) The converted aperture rings are for sale on e-bay among other places. Where to grind? Ask Google.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

Here is the site that show you how to convert the Non-AI Nikkor lens to AI lens. I followed the step by step instruction and converted my lenses, it came out not that pretty but worked. You have to have great courage to sacrifice your old lens to make it work!

The site: www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/repair/aimod/aimod.htm

Hope the site is still there!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Looks like it.
Here is a working link:
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/repair/aimod/aimod.htm