New D40 and old AI/AIS glass

Hi,

 

I just purchased my new D40 w/ 18-55 kit lens. I know the limitations of old

AI/AIS lenses with this body but I'm wondering if they will preform better than

the Kit lens. The two lenses I'm planning to use ar a bit faster than the 18-

55. With the crop factor it seems like the limitations like soft corners of my

old Nikon glass should out preform the new kit lens. I have a good meter and a

fair understanding of exposure and DOF. The 2 lenses I'm wanting to try are the

20mm 2.8 AIS and the 28mm 2.8 AIS. With the crop factor these lenses are about

35mm and 42mm. Can anyone comment on thier own experience using AI/AIS lenses

on the D40? Sample photos would be nice too.

 

Thanks, Jim

Jim....I think you will be happy with both lenses. I have the 20mm f/4 AI and the 28mm f/2 AIS, and focal-length-wise I can say they both are useful and 28mm is a good walk-around length. By the way: You have the math right on the 28mm, but the 20mm will act like a 30mm 2.8, not 35mm.

 

You didn't mention "histogram" when making exposure comments, but that is a feature of a digital camera that you should learn and fully understand. That's the only way to be sure, exposure wise, of what is actually happening at the sensor. "Going manual" on the D40 will require that you can read a histogram to get the exposure YOU are after, so study up on that. All AI, AIS, and even pre-AI glass works well and are very enjoyable on the D40. For me, being able to shoot the lenses with a pre-AI flange was the whole reason for getting a D40.

Thanks Joe for the math correction. I'm planning to use a hand held meter and just use the histogram for conformation. I've been fighting the urge to go digital for years and it's finally become so affordable to do so that it makes no sense not to. The ability to use the old lenses is fantastic, even with the given limitations. The DOF indications on my lenses shouldn't change should they? I'm a zone focus kind of guy. Thank you for the response. Jim

The DOF should be about the same - think of it as a cropped full frame negative rather than as a focal length multiplied and this becomes easier to understand. The 'about' above is due to the greater enlargement for a given print size, where, in the extreme limit, an image enlarged from DX format could show the limitations of the DOF approximation. Unlikely to be a problem in practice though.

Just bought a Nikon 75-150 f/3.5 E series and I have compared it with my 18-200 on a D40x at 75mm and at 5.6. The old lens is just a little sharper in the center and significantly sharper in the corners than the new one. Focus ring need more than 180 degree to go from minimum focus to infinity so manual focus is quite easy but I don't know if this is common to all Ai/Ais lenses. Now I'm looking for a 20-25 f/4. I think you already know this site, but I suggest you this web site:

 

http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

 

here you can find how old lenses perform on film and digital cameras.<div></div>

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I was referring to 25-50 f/4 (not 20-25)

Both 28/2.8 (only Ai-s) and 28/2.0 (any type) works excellently with D40. Ai-s 28/2.8 is almost distortion-free in DX size format.<div></div>

I have over two-dozen AI/AIS Nikkors, from over two decades of film Nikon use, and I have also got a D40 to get my feet wet with a DSLR.

 

I was like a kid in a candy store when I first powered up the camera, playing with most every lens on the D40, and I can say that all worked well with a manual shutterspeed and manually adjusted f-stop. I used a Sekonic meter and it worked perfectly for the ISO that I had set on the camera. The lenses worked, but some of my favorite focal lengths were rendered as less than useful with the 1.5 crop factor, and the need to externally meter was less than speedy in some situations, so I got two prime AF lenses (which don't even AF, but do meter) as my everyday glass.

 

As for focus, I have seen it here in many posts that manual focus is hard with the D-series, but I have been doing very well with simply adjusting focus with the AF mark on the subject until the in-focus dot lights up and even at full aperture the focus is correct. The silky smoothness of the manual focus lenses is a lot better than the sloppy feel of AF glass for tiny adjustments of focus from my experience. I have come to trust the in-focus dot when my eyes can't assure the subject is in focus, and I am usually rewarded with a sharp photo.<div></div>

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"I'm a zone focus kind of guy."

 

Jim, you're all set to go.

 

I bought my AIS lens for that precise reason. Below is the photo taken with 28/2.8 AIS, zone focus, zone meter (i.e. guesstimated). You can see the EXIF for more info.<div></div>

This thread has really got me thinking.

 

Just how long does it take you to get used to being manual EVERYTHING ?

 

Would working this way actually make you better at using any camera because you develop your own internal "light meter" and can do so quickly ?

 

Is the D40 really that hard to focus ? I messed with one at a Ritz Camera, and it didn't seem that hard.

 

I've really held off getting a DSLR because the bulk of my lenses are MF and I can't afford a D200 or above.

@John, I've recently dipped my toe into using manual lenses on my D40.

 

I have a 45/2.8P (MF, meters), a 28/2.8 AIs (unfortunately in bad shape) and a 135/2.8 series E (very nice).

 

If you have time to do a test shot to test your exposure, it works great. For rapidly changing light conditions and when using flash, I miss the metering. For action shots, I miss AF.

 

Otherwise focusing works fine. Getting some DoF in helps. A really fast lens can be hard to use with the ground glass, but the focus confirmation dot is pretty accurate.

 

If you have the spare cash, I'd recommend you getting a new or used D40 to try out digital. The kit lens is nice for casual "party" shooting.

<I>Just how long does it take you to get used to being manual EVERYTHING ?</I><P>

 

For years, I used old Leica M cameras that had no meter, and I also use an old Nikon F with the non-metering pointy prism. I have been able to do pretty good exposure setting based on the Sunny-16 rule and its variations for cloudy bright, hazy, overcast, etc.<P>

 

As long as the light is constant, no problem. With the DSLR, a test shot or two can get you to the right exposure, and then you can get on with the real shooting. When the light is in constant flux, say for example when clouds are moving in front of the sun in random intervals and durations, then adjusting the exposure settings can get labor intensive. While I have many AI/AIS lenses in my bag, I did buy two AF lenses for my D40 (a 50mm and 35mm) just so I could set the camera to aperture priority and just shoot while being only concerned with the subject.<P>

 

<I>Is the D40 really that hard to focus ?</I><P>

 

As I said in my post above, I get a very high percentage of my wide-open shots in focus most every time buy trusting the in-focus dot while holding the AF point over my prime subject. It is not "hard", but it is not as good of a finder as my F class film Nikons. After several months of using only the D40, I picked up my F3 and the finder was shockingly better. You can get use to the D40, but it is not a great finder compared to other Nikons. That said... it works.<P>

 

<I>Would working this way actually make you better at using any camera</I><P>

 

Yup. I can go from my meterless Nikons and Leicas to a medium format TLR with ease. Once you know what an f-stop and shutter speed are, a nd how they interact, there is no problem using any basic camera.<div></div>

Albert,

 

I don't know if you'll remember or not but several years ago I contacted you and asked you a few questions about zone focusing with shorter focal length lenses and depth of field. You shared a few photos with me and explained the subject very well so I could understand. You were most helpful and I'd just like to thank you again for teaching me a bit of what you know. You should hold a class on the subject. Just expressing my thanks.

 

Jim

Albert,

 

That helps. I know a bit about how to use the in camera meter and how to get it to make the scene exposed the way I want it. Well, in thoery, anyway. I still blow it, in real world shots at times. What I can't do, at this point, is look at a scene, and say ... " Hmmm. That should be a f8 at 1/125th of a second at ISO 200. " and be close. Maybe the instant info from a DSLR could really help that. For Landscape stuff, I usually try aperture priority or manual, and for fast moving stuff, it's shutter priority or manual.

 

How about low light shots ? Sunrise, sunset, stormy skies. That sort of thing.