manual focus lenses with D50?

<p>Hi all i just purchased a like-new nikon d50 and want to know if I can use the older manual focus Ai-lenses with it?</p>

<p>Yes you can, but you have to shoot in manual mode without any exposure metering. You set the aperture on the lens and the shutter speed on the camera. And the focus screen is not optimized for manual focus so it's harder to get the focus spot on compared to manual focus cameras.</p>

<p>Ai / AiS manual focus lenses are "non-CPU" lenses in Nikon speak. Check the index of your D50 instruction manual and you should find a couple of entries for "non-CPU lenses" that will lead you to a limited explanation of using these lenses with your camera. Or see the graphic below (extracted from the manual for a later body, but the same applies).</p>

<p><em>(Sorry - apparently the flipping brain dead filter on this forum thinks ANY url with the sequence e-b-a-y in the syntax originates from e-B-a-y, and I can't be bothered to rename the file and upload it again. I can't even post the image inline with <img src="url"> html).</em></p>

<p>The are a select few Ai-P manual focus lenses that are 100% compatible (metering, all exposure modes), sans autofocus of course, with the D50. The most common is the Ai 45mm f/2.8P "pancake" lens. The only others are super-expensive telephotos, like the 500mm f/4P.</p>

<p><rant><br>

<em>Note to Shun:</em> The "e-B-a-y filter" in this forum is overly aggressive, to the point of being frustrating. I tried to post a link to a file at my Photobucket account, and the url has the four letters 'e-b-a-y' in sequence within, and this silly filter thinks it's an e-B-a-y link! It even thinks a plain text "e b a y" within this post (minus the spaces) is a link. I understand the necessity to block e B a y links (and welcome it), but blocking a plain text sequence e b a y is almost as silly as banning links to a certain KR site.<br>

</rant></p>

<p>For some things, like my 55mm MF micro I use with my D50, the lack of metering is no big problem, but for most purposes, I think it's too limiting. I'd avoid them.</p>

<p>If you already have them around, or a buddy has them, that's another thing, but spending money on them to use with the D50? I wouldn't.</p>