Old glass for Nikon D70

[alistaircotton]

I really enjoy the standard 18 - 70mm that came bundled with my Nikon

D70 but have decided that the 70 - 300mm lad is just not sharp enough

for anyone who has the slightest interest in picture quality.

 

I was keen to purchase some good glass from Nikon (some kind of

reasonably fast fixed 105mm or 150mm or similar) until I looked at

the price tag.

 

In the happy book which came with the camera, I see that I can use

older Nikon glass with the camera. However, a second hand camera

dealer over here has suggested that while you may be able to use

older Nikon glass on the D70, it renders your light meter impotent.

 

I'm far more interested in utilising good quality glass - no matter

how old it may be - than gizmos like autofocus and auto apeture. I'll

even be happy to thumb suck or use another camera body's light meter

for setting the f stop and shutter speed.

 

My question is what old Nikon glass can I use for the Nikon D70? Is

anyone else out there using old glass on a D70, and if so, what have

their experiences been in terms of picture quality?

[errol young]

I have experimented mounting my old '70's 35mm F2.0 and 85mm f1.8 on my 70 after I had the bottom ring ground down to allow it clear the Max Aperture lever on the body.

 

I used the histogram for exposure. I like the results and plan to use them as faster options to my kit lens. I also got a modern 50mm 1.8 for the same reason.

 

Errol

[ed_b]

Check out the following link:<br><br>

 

<a href="http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/other/compatibility.html">http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/other/compatibility.html</a>

<br><br>

I love my 105 2.5 AI lens and have used it on my D70 using the histogram for metering. My biggest issue is I like to have the split rangefinder view in my viewfinder for focusing, and I find the D70 viewfinder hard to focus with. I don't always remember to look at the green dot and the highest magnification on the LCD is still not sufficient to see if everything is tack sharp. As a result I get a lot of soft shots... <br><br>

 

Beyond that, you will find that a lot of the barrel distortion, pincushioning, and vignetting that you may have experienced with using your lens on a film camera goes away since only the center of the image is being used (due to the fact that the digital sensor is smaller than a 35mm surface).

[bwcombs]

According to Shun:

 

"All AI lenses produced since 1977 are usable on the D70, but

there is no metering with the pre-AF lenses without CPU."

[bwcombs]

I've used a number of older Nikon lenses on my D70, and love

the results. The picture quality is great, and the histogram

makes shooting without metering easy enough.

 

Lenses I've used include: 70-210mm E macro, 75-150mm E,

35-105mm macro, 28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4

[vivek iyer]

I use a 16mm f/3.5 AI Nikkor on my D70. Don't know if this is pre 1977 lens or not. What the heck, as long D70 (well, it is oblivious to anything without a matrix chip) does not know that it should be OK, right! It works and works superbly!

 

I also use a variety of lenses (some Nikon some not)which were made in the late 1950s or 1960s. They perform much better than the kit zoom in terms of optical quality.

 

I use the 75-150mm f/3.5 E-series zoom that is in BW's list, extensively. It is a stunning perfoermer on D70. Others include 50-135 f/3.5, 50-300 f/4.5 ED, 200mm f/3.5 ED, 105/4, etc, etc.