Nikon E lens compatibility chart?

<p>Now that Nikon has several new E lenses, is there a chart that shows which bodies can use them?</p>

<p>We had a discussion about this a few weeks ago: <a href="/nikon-camera-forum/00dSpx">Nikon E Lenses</a></p>

<p>Essentially all Nikon DSLRs introduced on and after 23rd August 2007 (the day Nikon introduced the D3 and D300), with two exceptions the D90 and D3000, are fully compatible with E lenses. Some DX bodies may not fully work with some PC-E lenses, but that is mainly due to the tilt/shift feature, not the E feature.</p>

<p>No Nikon SLR or DSLR introduced before August 2007 is fully compatible with E, but you can still E lenses on them. However, the aperture is stuck at wide open and there is no way to close it down. In a lot of cases (especially those super teles), there might not be a serious problem.</p>

<p>The PC-E lenses are a different category. Those three lenses have an electronic aperture ring such that you can still control the aperture with that aperture ring on some old bodies.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if we might not see some clever company producing an adapter ring fitted with a CPU and contacts to convert Nikon E lenses to Canon bodies with full compatibility. After all, it would now be "just" a question of firmware with no bulky mechanical linkage to squeeze in.</p>

<p>It wouldn't work the other way round of course, because Nikon's register is longer than Canon's.</p>

<p>And perhaps Nikon have an eye on future backward-compatibility (if that makes sense) of E lenses with their inevitable range of full-frame mirrorless DSLRs. We'd still call them DSLRs I presume, it's just that the "Reflex" bit would be done electronically. Maybe DSLEVFs or DSLCs?</p>

<p>Well there are so few E lenses to be backwards compatible to, it's like <0.02% of Nikon lenses, so any backwards compatibility would have to include all the Ai(-S) and AF-S lenses as a minimum to make any sense to make an adapter in the first place. Screwdriver AF compatibility is a bit more difficult to achieve since it requires a separate motor (Sony has implemented that too in their adapter) so it is likely that Nikon would leave that out (and these lenses would be manual focus only in conjunction with such cameras, which makes their use almost impossible since the focus throw is so short). In the long run few people would want to put up with the ergonomics and inconvenience of using an adapter, I suspect.</p>

<p>The 45mm and 85mm PC-(E) have no shift or tilt related incompatibilities with camera bodies, but the 24 PC-E shifts fully only with a realtively small number of cameras due to the popup flash housing creating an obstacle. Df, D3, and D4 series bodies allow the full movements on the 24 PC-E, e.g. D810 is very good as well but a bit less convenient to use with this lens.</p>

<p>Shun,</p>

<p>Will the E lenses work on the Nikon F6? Not sure if it was introduced before or after August 2007.</p>

 

<p>Nikon introduced the F6 and D2X just before Photokina 2004. Incidentally, the F6 is the very last film SLR Nikon introduced. In other words, all Nikon film SLRs cannot electronically control the aperture diaphragm inside E lenses, but the three PC-E lenses have an aperture ring to compensate for that.</p>

<p>Years ago I used to have a Nikkor 500mm/f8 mirror lens, which has no aperture diaphragm at all. If you want to "stop it down," that lens comes with some rear, gray neutral-density filters to block some light. I have mounted the 300mm/f4 E PF AF-S VR on the F100, and it is essentially the same situation. You have a fixed 300mm f4 lens that is always at f4 and cannot be stopped down. Otherwise, everything else, including AF-S and VR, works normally.</p>

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Nikon 300mm/f4 E Lens on F100

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<p>Ilkka - ????? You got hold of the wrong end of the stick I think. I was merely surmising that adapting Nikon's E lenses to a Canon body might be entirely feasible now, or at some future date when all of Nikon's lens range is converted to "fly-by-wire" aperture control.</p>

<p>Interesting to hear about a Sony adapter that can control Nikon's screwdriver AF system though.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I have mounted the 300mm/f4 E PF AF-S VR on the F100, and it is essentially the same situation. You have a fixed 300mm f4 lens that is always at f4 and cannot be stopped down.</p>

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<p>Shun,<br>

Could you describe how the camera behaves in each of the modes? I.e., do you have to set the camera to aperture priority to take a picture? What happens if you attempt to set a smaller aperture? Does the display remain at F/4 even though you turn the dial? What happens if you set the camera to shutter priority? Can you release the shutter at all or does it lock up and prevent you from taking a picture?<br>

Thanks in advance, I am curious how such a lens might function on one of the older digital cameras.</p>

<p>Again, on a pre-2007 body with electronic contacts, namely all pre-2007 AF bodies, plus the D90 and D3000, the 300mm/f4 E lens behaves to have only one aperture, namely f4. In aperture priority or manual modes, you can keep turning the sub-command dial but the aperture remains at f4.</p>

<p>In shutter priority, the camera would honor the shutter speed you select; however, if that shutter speed requires an aperture that is out of range for that particular lens at the selected ISO, the camera will show Hi or Lo for over and under-exposure, respectively. With the 300mm/f4 E, the aperture "range" is restricted to f4 only on bodies that are not fully compatible with E. In other words, due to the aperture restriction, you effectively lose the flexibility of shutter priority unless you don't mind incorrect exposure. Incidentally, Nikon DSLRs prior to 2007 didn't have Auto ISO.</p>

<p>A note about Nikon trivia that has a small potential to confuse a buyer - Nikon made and sold a group of lenses called "Series E" around 1980, and these lenses should not be confused with the current E types with electronic aperture controls. The old Series E lenses don't have the well known meter coupling, so I presume one could be visually mistaken for a modern E lens. I see this as a potential problem mainly if the owner of an older body that isn't modern-E compatible finds an old Series E lens that might be a candidate for purchase, but chooses not to, thinking the lens is a newer electronic aperture lens. Like I said, this doesn't look like a significant issue - more a bit of Nikon trivia.</p>

<p>I've mentioned it before, and maybe it's wishful thinking, but it would be really nice if Nikon (or someone else) offered an option to have the F100, F6, and maybe even the F5 modified to be fully compatible with the new E lenses. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me it would just be a matter of updating the firmware in the camera.<br>

<br />I've been thinking about replacing my Sigma 50-500mm OS, and of course the new Nikon 200-500mm E is a contender, but I'm more inclined to consider one of the Sigma 150-600mm options, not only because of the slightly longer focal length, but also because it would be fully compatible with my F100!</p>

<p>Shun, thank you for the update. Essentially shutter priority is the same as manual mode, and program mode is the same as aperture priority on these earlier bodies.</p>

<p>Think about any regular lens, e.g. a 50mm/f1.4 AF-S will give you an aperture range from f1.4 to f16, a 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S will give you a range from f2.8 to f22. When use you shutter priority and the shutter speed selection forces the aperture outside of the available range, you'll have problems. When you mount an E lens to an older, non-fully-compatible-with-E body, you end up with an extremely narrow aperture range with just one setting.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I've been thinking about replacing my Sigma 50-500mm OS, and of course the new Nikon 200-500mm E is a contender, but I'm more inclined to consider one of the Sigma 150-600mm options, not only because of the slightly longer focal length, but also because it would be fully compatible with my F100!</p>

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<p>If you are getting the 200-500mm/f5.6, for all practical purposes, there is one useful aperture anyway. 99% of the time I'll be using that lens wide open at f5.6, which is already slow for a super tele. I wouldn't consider any super tele that is f6.3 because I don't trust AF with such slow lenses. In fact, IMO f5.6 is already somewhat problematic. When you couple f6.3 with the old AF from an F100, you will have lots of problems. I would imagine that you have already experienced that with the Sigma 50-500.</p>

<p>Now, if you have a 16-80mm/f2.8-4 DX E lens, not being able to stop down such that you are stuck at f2.8 on the wide end and f4 on the long end, it can be a pretty serious problem.</p>

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<p>If you are getting the 200-500mm/f5.6, for all practical purposes, there is one useful aperture anyway. 99% of the time I'll be using that lens wide open at f5.6, which is already slow for a super tele. I wouldn't consider any super tele that is f6.3 because I don't trust AF with such slow lenses. In fact, IMO f5.6 is already somewhat problematic. When you couple f6.3 with the old AF from an F100, you will have lots of problems. I would imagine that you have already experienced that with the Sigma 50-500.</p>

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<p>The performance of my Sigma 50-500 seems to be just as good on my F100 as it is on my D300 and D700! Granted it probably isn't as fast and responsive as the Nikon 200mm f/2 or 600mm f/4, but I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on lenses either. For what it is, I've been happy with the "Bigma" but the new 150-600 lenses, especially the "Sport" model are sharper, have faster AF, and have full compatibility with my F100!</p>

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<p>there is one useful aperture anyway. 99% of the time</p>

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<p>Often when I'm shooting with the "Bigma" I stop down to f/8 or f/11 for a little more DOF and also because those are the "Sweet spots" of the lens.</p>

<p>Never seen this subject on photo.net before so may I ask you, Shun a Question, I recently got a Nikon S Rangefinder camera with a Nippon Kogaku 50mm f.2 H Lens, Do you know of any other lens of different focal lengths that would fit this camera.</p>

<p>Forgive me stepping in Jim. This might help: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/RF-Nikkor/index.htm</p>

<p>But finding those lenses isn't going to be easy, and expect to pay $$$$$$ for any of them.</p>

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<p>Often when I'm shooting with the "Bigma" I stop down to f/8 or f/11 for a little more DOF and also because those are the "Sweet spots" of the lens.</p>

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<p>I am not sure what your subjects are at 500mm or 600mm, but think about Sunny 16. At ISO 100, you have f16 @ 1/100 sec or f8 @ 1/400. With the magnification at 500mm to 600mm, 1/400 sec is frequently not fast enough to prevent camera shake and certainly not fast enough to freeze motion for sports and wildlife subjects that are typical for those long telephotos.</p>

<p>If you move up to ISO 400, you get f8 @ 1/1600 sec, and remember that is under full, harsh sunlight. Anything in shadows or at the best morning/later afternoon golden light, you are easily 2, 3 stops or more below Sunny 16. ISO 400 or a bit higher is no big deal on digital SLRs. I wonder what kind of film you are using beyond ISO 400 on your F100 just to freeze motion in typical situations in order to use f8 and f11, and what type of results you are getting with such high-ISO film.</p>

<p>I have had a 500mm/f4 in one form or another since 1992. During the film days, I typically used it at f4. On DSLRs sometimes I use it at f5.6 since I cam pump up the ISO a little more and it is a bit sharper at f5.6 on those 16MP, 24MP DX bodies. The Nikon super teles are designed to be used wide open. F8 and f11 are hardly "sweet spots" because you have to make serious ISO and shutter speed compromises with such small apertures, not to mention that diffraction will be obvious at f11 on modern DSLRs.</p>

<p>As I mentioned on the previous thread, IMO in the next few years, we'll see mirrorless Nikon bodies that are only fully compatible with E lenses, which work much better with high frame rate and video. That is why Nikon is aggressively adding new E lenses to their lineup, already counting 6 so far in 2015 and we still have a few months to go. I would much rather have a lens that is compatible with the future than looking backward for film SLR compatibility.</p>

<p>Jim, those Nikon S rangefinders are from the early 1950's? Those are before my time. I would imagine that you are looking into lenses from the middle of the last century. The latest F-mount E lenses are not going to work on those rangefinders.</p>

<p>Also I don't think that anybody who knows the slightest thing about the Nikon system would mistake the lens on the right - below - as coming from the same era as a lens looking like the one on the left.<br /> The one on the right is a lot better made for a start.;-)</p>

<p>Sorry, I don't have any modern E lens for comparison.</p><div></div>

<blockquote>The old Series E lenses don't have the well known meter coupling, so I presume one could be visually mistaken for a modern E lens</blockquote>

 

<p>Just to clarify the "meter coupling" statement: as RJ demonstrated, the series E lenses (which are "Nikon" but not "Nikkor") have aperture rings, just not the "bunny ears" that were present on pre-AI lenses. They're effectively AI-S-only, but this means they'll work just fine on any DSLR from the D7000 up. They're not "G" (no aperture ring) like RJ's 18-140, and they have an aperture lever like everything but the new Nikkor "E" lenses (and oddities like the mirror lenses).<br />

<br />

Jim: There's some Nikon rangefinder information <a href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/htmls/nikon1_S.htm">here</a>, on Leofoo's site; lenses are <a href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/RF-Nikkor/index.htm">here</a>. I believe KR has also discussed them (which may or may not mean "used them"!) Hope that helps.</p>

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<p>I'll be using that lens wide open at f5.6, which is already slow for a super tele.</p>

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<p>MM still not really bad at 500mm...<br>

Nikons other , 5 times the price , supertele 500mm is just 1 stopfaster at max F/4.0, is'nt it ?<br>

And this 200-500 mm is not onley a few grams lighter in weight, but also has a newer version of VR which might just help it to be a bit closer in usefullness in some situations, when talking about max. Aperture only that is.... ( not saying it is a better lens, just separating the Aperture part of the story..)</p>

<p>I've not been following the reviews, but if the new supertele zooms are actually acceptable wide open, that's a big difference. On a D8x0, I end up stopping down even a 500 f/4 a little, albeit an AI-P in my case. My 150-500 Sigma (-f/6.3) felt like it wouldn't be that far behind, but didn't really get acceptably sharp (even on a D700, where diffraction wasn't such an issue) until f/11. f/5.6 that's actually a useful f/5.6 is a different matter entirely, and a lot more tempting. (But I still really want a 400 f/2.8...)</p>