Nikon non-D Lenses for D80

Reluctantly, and with a fair amount of kicking and screaming, I am dragging

myself toward purchasing a digital SLR. Being a longtime Nikon user, I have a

pretty sizeable collection of lenses, two of which are non-"D" (a 70-210 f/4 AF

and a 50mm f/1.8 AF). The body model I am considering most seriously is a D80.

According to Nikon's website, the "D" lenses will support all functions, while

the non-D lenses will support all "except 3-D color matrix metering." If I use

my non-D lenses on the D80, does this mean that I will have to switch the

metering mode to centerweighted or spot each time I use these lenses? Or, will

the camera just default to another metering mode?

 

While I'm at it, one other brief question. As you might imagine, I have a

number of filters (Nikon and B+W). Are there filters peculiar to digital that I

might need in addition to or instead of these? Thanks for any info.

1) The camera will default to another metering mode (I think Center Weighted)

 

2) You might want to trade in your linear polarizer filters (if any) for circular polarizer filters.

You will still have matrix metering with non-D autofocus lenses, but rather than 3-D metering (which uses the "D"istance encoding info), it will only be "2-D" matrix metering. In 99% of cases, you are unlikely to see much if any difference.<div></div>

As Michael says, you'll still have matrix metering, just not 3D matrix. I doubt that you'll see any significant differences.

I've just compared my 18-200 with a newly acquired (& cheap) 70-210 f4-5.6 non D lens. Exposures were identical (& the cheapo 70-210 was a touch sharper even hand-held @ 1/320th @ 200mm setting with lots of shaking). A weekend with some tripod based testing beckons.

Hi Shane,

I shoot with a couple of D70's and I have a 50mm 1.8 and a 28mm 2.8" -- both non-D -- I've never had a problem with these two lens compared with other "D" lenses I use.

As I understand it, "D" lenses might show a very small difference in exposure accuracy when used with flash. While it tends to make sense in theory, I have my doubts as to just how big a deal 3D Matrix really is in practice.

 

The only non-D lens that I own is a 180mm f2.8 ED AF which works just fine with regular matrix metering, with or without flash.

Thanks to all for the useful information. I suspected this would be the case, but not yet fully familiar with the pecularities of DSLRs, I wanted to make certain. Thanks again.