What digital camera for old Nikkor Ai lenses

Hi all,

I haven't used My old Nikon F2AS many in years but I have some excellent condition lenses that I would like to use with a digital camera. Since these lenses are manual I don't need a camera with auto focusing. Is there a good quality digital camera that would allow use of my old lenses?

 

Thanks,

henryr

The Nikon Z7.

Legacy Nikon lenses can be used to full effect on any mirrorless full frame digital camera. AIS can also be used on nearly any Nikon DSLR. Pre-AIS lenses don't have a notch to engage the aperture coupling ring, and will damage the camera if you try.

The more budget - 4 digit - Nikon DSLRs won't meter with, or recognise the aperture of, AI or Ai-S lenses. Exceptions being the D7000, D7100 and D7200 bodies. The more expensive 3 digit and single digit Nikons will meter wide-open and register the aperture, provided the lens data is entered in the 'Non-CPU' section of the camera menu.

 

A interchangeable-lens mirrorless camera of almost any make can use Nikon lenses via an adapter. Metering will be done stopped-down at the working aperture, and niceties like magnified (manual) focussing might be available. Some models also offer in-body image stabilisation, but none will register the aperture or other lens information in the EXIF data of the image file.

 

Having used MF Nikkors on both compatible 3 digit Nikon DSLRs, and on Sony mirrorless cameras; it's my opinion that using them on a MILC is a slightly better user experience. Focussing is certainly easier and more reliable than using LiveView on a DSLR.

 

Using lenses designed for full-frame on a DX (APS-C) sensor body isn't always very satisfactory either.

If you have $300 or so to spend, F to FE (Sony) adapters are available which will transmit EXIF data from AI lenses to the camera. They will also autofocus AF-S lenses. Some will also control the automatic aperture. Usually you must shoot in Aperture Priority mode.

 

With Sony cameras, in-body image stabilization works with all lenses, regardless of focal length or manufacturer. If you don't capture EXIF data, you must enter the focal length manually to get the best results.

 

Focus magnification (5x to 12x) makes manual focusing very accurate. It's easily programmed to one of several buttons. It's disengaged by pressing that button again, or half-pressing the shutter release.

You could consider APS-C bodies, BTW. Not that you absolutely should, but you are using the centre of the image circle when you do so.

 

So, my pick for APS-C bodies would be Fuji. For full frame bodies, given that you are using manual focus, I say give the Panasonic S5 a serious look. I would choose it over the Sony A7III, but that is just me. If you are bold, look at a Fuji GFX50R. Yeah, medium format, but some of those lenses might just cover the larger sensor. Maybe. ;-)

 

As far as DSLR bodies go, I can't give you advice on that, but I agree that EVFs are better for manual focus.

I use my old Nikon AI lenses on my DF, D750, D810 and D7200. They work very well once programmed and operate manually as they would on your F2. Metering and Focus indicator work. I have an adapter, and can use them on my Ricoh GXR, but rarely do.

This is good to know. I have several Nikkor AIS lenses just waiting for a D-Ride. 20mm 3.5, 24mm f2, 55mm micro 2.8, 85mm 1.4, 105mm 2.5, 180mm 2.8, 400mm 3.5. So far it looks like a Z is the way. I've been happily working with Fujifilms X, but I can't let the Nikkors go! We've been together too long.

A good way to use AI lenses is to get hold of a second hand body like a D200 or D300, they can be found quite cheaply and it saves on the cost and hassle of adaptors. Or you want full frame, a D700.

A good way to use AI lenses is to get hold of a second hand body like a D200 or D300, they can be found quite cheaply and it saves on the cost and hassle of adaptors. Or you want full frame, a D700.

Legacy Nikon lenses work perfectly well on a Sony A7, for example, with a simple adapter consisting of a tube with a Nikon mount on the lens end and a Sony E mount on the camera end. You can get a simple adapter for as little as $30 from B&H.

 

In the absence of a mechanism to engage the auto-aperture lever, the diaphragm closes to the setting on the aperture ring. The camera will measure the light falling on the sensor and indicate the exposure level. If the camera is in Aperture Priority mode, it will set the shutter speed (and/or ISO) automatically. Sony and other mirrorless cameras set the exposure with the lens stopped down. The display doesn't go dark like an SLR. The EVF adjusts its output level for viewing (unless set to display real-time settings), and can be focused manually.

 

Hasselblsd lenses, with a built-in shutter can be used by making sure the shutter is open (cocked) and engaging DOF Preview.

 

Sony engineers designed their cameras to focus in the closed aperture position, and I suspect that is what other mirrorless cameras do as well. This is probably to accommodate focus shifting, which occurs in most lenses as they are stopped down. Native AF lenses start in the fully open position, which is best for phase-detection, then close and revert to contrast detection for fine tuning and continuous AF.

 

I think it makes more sense to look ahead and buy a mirrorless camera which can be used with legacy lenses, than to look behind and buy an obsolete camera for that purpose. Older lenses, particularly manual SLR lenses (with a long back focus) work just as well on a mirrorless camera as on an SLR. Leica lenses, not as well, due to their short back focus distance. That said, these lenses were designed for use with film, and a 24 MP sensor (or higher) will reveal faults you never noticed before. Manual focusing is so easy and precise on a mirrorless camera, you will probably find the old lenses work better, especially wide open.

 

Lenses designed for mirrorless cameras are so much better than legacy lenses, you probably won't look back. The flexibility to use old lenses means you don't have to replace everything at once. Been there, done that ;)

Edited December 31, 2020 by Ed_Ingold

I do one major project a year, usually roughly 500 photos after culling - half done with modern lenses, half with legacy Nikon lenses, particularly the 180 2.8 and 135 2.8. I have done this for the last six years. Some prints up to the limit of my printer, 13x19, more 8.5x11. No differences visible in the prints or on the monitor. If anything, some of the images from the older lenses are a bit more appealing. I have consciously alternated cameras using the old lenses down the years. DF, D750, D810. I can only speak of my own experiences which have been favorable. Using Nikon lenses on Nikon cameras works. Considering the relatively low cost of the older lenses it is certainly worth a try.

I have a D200 and never found using my AiS lenses on it to be very rewarding. DX cameras just don't have viewfinder systems that are very good for manual focusing. I never took a single sharp shot with the 50 mm f/1.2. My Z6 is a whole 'nuther thing and works great with them. That said, the S-series lenses for the Z cameras are so good you probably won't bother with most of the AiS lenses, save for the Micro and the better long ones (that I don't own). The most recent firmware fixed the missing bar graph in manual mode, so it's even better with the old lenses. In-body stabilization clinches the deal.

I never took a single sharp shot with the 50 mm f/1.2.

I venture that nobody has taken a single sharp photo with an f/1.2 lens on an SLR. Take three or four shots, focusing between shots, and you stand a fighting chance. Most of the time, capturing the "moment" at f/1.2 is more important than the technical quality of the shot. Early versions of extreme lenses were part of a specification race between brands, with little regard to image quality.

Most of the time, capturing the "moment" at f/1.2 is more important than the technical quality of the shot.

 

Absolutely on, although if you stop the f/1.2 down to f/11 or so (at least on my 55mm Nikkor-S version), it is not a total disaster in ordinary shooting.

 

Although I love my Nikkor f/1.2 greatly and still use it frequently on my Canon EOS cameras and older Nikons, I use it for available darkness shots and places where I want a lot of "bokeh"

 

it is like the old story about the singing dog.

 

No one asks if it sings well.

 

It's a specialized lens and if you want a sharper normal lens, even get the cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens instead.

These days f/11 is a disaster. High resolution sensors show diffraction limiting at f/8 for most lenses and f/5.6 for lenses designed for digital use. I never owned a lens faster than f/1.4, and that lens, a Nikkor 50 AIS, is 50 years old. If you paid a premium for a super-fast f/1.2, you thought of it as the best invention since sliced bread. I stopped at the sliced bread point, or maybe a little earlier.

If you have $300 or so to spend, F to FE (Sony) adapters are available which will transmit EXIF data from AI lenses to the camera.

With non-CPU manual focus Nikkors?

That's a good trick!

 

The old 55mm f/1.2 Nikkor S.C. is bad enough wide open to have a certain charm. The newer 50mm f/1.2 Ai-S Nikkor is just bad enough to have almost no appeal whatsoever.

Edited January 1, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

Older lenses work just fine without EXIF. My F to FE adapter is a simple metal tube with a bayonet flange at each end.

 

I'm aware that older lenses have a following which considers poor image quality as "artistic." In the day, we deemed those faults as unavoidable.

which considers poor image quality as "artistic."

This is a sop to those who spent £1k+ on a lens because of that certain character valued by those who see optical faults as a virtue..

 

Really? You can make a good image have those image 'values'..

 

But you can't make an 'artistic' image any good...:(

 

If you start with Gold you can make Tin,... just don't try the other way around.

Edited January 2, 2021 by mike_halliwell

Lens Baby products seem popular, yet IMO do so by the introduction of deliberate distortion. To a lesser extent, that would describe Petzval portrait lenses and the Leica Summitar. No one had much praise for the optical quality of a Canon f/0.95 lens of the early 60's. At the time this lens was to photography as tail fins to automobiles - form over function, in a mindless specification race to the bottom.

 

Please describe how you would transform gold into tin.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Ed_Ingold

F/1.2 gets you, theoretically, just under half-a-stop more light than f/1.4, and in the case of the 55mm Nikkor it also gets you a bucketful of spherical aberration. An equitable trade off?

 

Nikon's lens designers must also have been fully aware that their camera viewing systems 'end stop' at around f/1.8, and that therefore an f/1.2 lens gets you absolutely no increase in viewfinder brightness.

And how many pictures would half-a-stop extra exposure make a critical difference to?

 

Also, at the time when the 55mm f/1.2 S.C. Nikkor was introduced, nobody gave a rat's arse about 'bokeh' - most didn't know the meaning of the word and, quite sensibly, avoided distracting OOF highlight blobs in the background.

 

So what was the point of that lens?

Please describe how you would transform gold into tin.

I'd apply a Quantum Metaphor Field and stand well back....

I'd apply a Quantum Metaphor Field and stand well back....

I'm sorry, which episode was that? My recipe is to take one medium sized star, burn all the hydrogen to carbon, and stand back a light year or two,

I'm sorry, which episode was that?

It was the Christmas Special......;)

I do one major project a year, usually roughly 500 photos after culling - half done with modern lenses, half with legacy Nikon lenses, particularly the 180 2.8 and 135 2.8. I have done this for the last six years. Some prints up to the limit of my printer, 13x19, more 8.5x11. No differences visible in the prints or on the monitor. If anything, some of the images from the older lenses are a bit more appealing. I have consciously alternated cameras using the old lenses down the years. DF, D750, D810. I can only speak of my own experiences which have been favorable. Using Nikon lenses on Nikon cameras works. Considering the relatively low cost of the older lenses it is certainly worth a try.

You have good taste in glass. Those AIS 180s and 135s are marvels.