brianroberts

I now have a DX body and have done some further work. The modified 60-180 will work on it but the mirror gives the just the slightest touch at 60mm. I've reworked the 30-60mm removing the circuit from the shiny metal support and then removing that. The circuitry can be then tucked down into the lens but on DX the mirror still touches at the shorter end so I've now given up on the quest to use these on standard bodies

I removed the shroud completely on the 30-60 then black insulating tape to tidy up. I found that the internal light baffle part of the shroud could be cut out and the glued back inside to stop reflections from the circuit board. I've just tried the modified 60-180 on an old FX film body to find that the mirror joust touches the rear element at about 70mm so then onto the D700 keeping the zoom at the long end and it works just fine. I have a feeling that perhaps the 60-180 will be fine on a DX body but I have't got one at the moment to try. All a bit risky I know but it's great when these lenses work for so little money

I've done it, the 60-180 is easy to modify and make a neat job. It will mount on a Kenko X1.4 TC although the lenses crash at 60mm. Once on the TC you can mount the whole thing and any standard DX & FX bodies with AF possible with a screw drive body. As you say modifying the 30-80 is more of a challenge but I did get one of these to work on a DX body by tucking the circuit board down inside