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Are you hanging onto your screw drive AF lenses?


mark_stephan2

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I just sold my AF 20 f/2.8, AF180 f/2.8 and AF-D 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR lenses to KEH and got a decent price for them. I have more screw driver lenses I plan to get rid of in the near future. I love my old lenses but my reasoning for selling is quite simple, I have muscular dystrophy and AF is something I have to have because it makes photography easier for me. I'm planning to add a mirrorless body to my camera bag in 2021 and I need to maintain auto focus. I may not stay with Nikon because of compatibility issues with my 3rd party lenses that have a lens motor. Just curious if you are hanging on to your old screwdriver lenses? I've been a Nikon user since my 1975 Nikkormat FT2.
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Yes, I am - my 50mm f/1.4D and my 35-70 f/2.8D. Although the 35-70 is for use mainly on my F100 35mm film camera, I have a Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 for the D750. I also have manual focus lenses - 24mm f/2.8, a 105mm f/2.5 and a 200mm f/4 that proved to give surprisingly good images on the D750, although I never cared for it on either my FTn or F100 film cameras.
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I'm sorry about the MS--a dear friend had a particularly vicious form of it. I am holding on to two of my lenses with screw-driven AF (85mm f/1.4 AFD and 135mm f/2.0 DC) because I like the look I can produce with them. I don't expect to switch to mirrorless soon, and mostly shoot with a D7200 and a D750, both of which will autofocus using the screw drive. I did pick up a used D5600 recently for when I need something lighter, and only use it with AF-S lenses. I was surprised that it weighs only 15 grams more than the Z50 and at least 100 grams than any of the full frame Nikon mirrorless bodies. It's not as capable, of course, but sometimes I don't need all that capability.
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Although I sold most of them long ago, I still keep the ones I didn't sold... decades ago my gear buying policy was different than today, so I plan to keep this lenses in use as long as they work for me. They may be not as sharp and fast as the latest ones, but the images I get with are perfectly fine. I bet nobody can distinguish if the photos I take are done with an early AF or a much recent AFS lens.
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If I move to mirrorless as planned, I will sell my Screwdriver Nikkor's. Those plastic beasts gives me no pleasure to use. I tolerate them only because they auto focus. My MF Nikkors, on the other hand, are dear to me and I'll keep them until I go bankrupt or die, whichever comes first.
Niels
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"kind of yes", from another system: I have Pentax / Samsung k-mount screwdriver AF crop SLR stuff, that takes pictures, while weight & value are rather low.

Moving to something else entirely would cost, strip me of backup layers and so on. If it felt right, needed and affordable, I'd probably do it.

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I'm keeping my last one, the 60mm D. I prefer the focal length over a 50mm and like its solid build quality. Plus I can use it on any F mount camera; I still have an FM and friends occasionally give me old Nikon bodies. All my other mechanical AF lenses were sold off a few years ago.
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I don’t plan to sell any. I have bodies very current and as old as the FT2, F and severalF2’s. Lens both autofocus and a bunch of manual focus give a look I like. Some are quite old but I like them so I keep them. I’m fortunate that I have no physical issues but if that changes who knows?

 

Rick H.

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