Any digital use for my ancient (c. 1965) Nikkors?

[Landrum Kelly]

I'm still sitting here in awe looking at the blowups by Kelly Flanigan. Perhaps this is an area where easy generalizations do not apply. I had just been contemplating whether to buy a non-AI lens on eBay from 1967 (50-300 zoom) when I saw this, and now I am wondering if I should ask for sample images.

 

To be true to the spirit of thread, however, I should admit that I was going to use it on an F3, not my Kodak 14n, since (if I understand Shun correctly from another thread) any non-AI or AI lens is going to have be used in full manual mode on the 14n.

 

Gosh, this gets complicated at times for persons such as myself who are fairly new to Nikon lenses.

 

--Lannie

[ShunCheung]

Kodak's DCS 14n (both versions) was derived mainly from the N80/F80, and the N80 cannot meter with lenses that have no built-in CPU, such as most non-AF AI/AI-S lenses except for a few P lenses (e.g. the 45mm/f2.8, 500mm/f4P) and those with an aftermarket add on CPU (e.g. from Rolland Elliott). The N75, N80, D100, D70/D70s, D50, Fuji S2 and S3 all fall into this category.

[rwhillman]

"Please keep in mind that if you mount a Nikon lens on a Canon EOS body via a mechanical adapter, you'll only have stop-down metering and no focus comfirmation (auto rangefinder). Personally, I am very skeptical about the results from such old lenses on the demanding modern digital bodies."

 

An amazing statement. These lenses were designed for stopped down metering on camera bodies that required manual focusing. Some pretty nice photos were taken with this "primitive" technology.

 

Bob

[rwhillman]

"When you have to spend money on converting some really old lenses to AI (or purchase adapters to Canon EOS), it becomes questionable whether that is money well spent."

 

An adapter costs about $30. Pretty inexpensive way to get some of use out of some nice lenses.

 

Bob

[ilkka_nissila]

Very few Nikon F mount lenses were designed for stop-down metering. In fact, that was one of the innovations of the Nikon F, automatic aperture. Stop-down metering is intrinsically inaccurate IMO.

[rwhillman]

Ilkka -- the original question asked about lenses pre-AI lenses. These used stopped down metering.

[dan_fromm2]

Robert Hillman wrote "Ilkka -- the original question asked about lenses pre-AI lenses. These used stopped down metering."

 

Robert, what ARE you thinking?

 

One of the great advantages over the Nikon F with FT and later meter prisms over, e.g., the Spotmatic, was that the Nikon TTL prisms metered at full aperture. Similarly for Nikkormat FT and later.

 

For metering at full aperture to work, the meter has to know what full aperture is. Hence the Nikon shuffle.

 

When AI was introduced, its perceived big advantage is that is simplified the task of mounting a lens on the camera. No more shuffle to set the aperture index. Nikon's pre-AI TTL metering systems were made for metering wide open. The switch to AI didn't change that.

[rwhillman]

Dan -- look at the original question, which concerned pre-AI lenses and use on Nikon digital cameras. I simply noted they can be used to good effect on Canon digital cameras. Not necessarily a recommendation. But why is everyone so sure that modern plastic lenses are necessarily better than the best of the older glass?

Bob

[dan_fromm2]

Bob, thanks for the clarification. I regret that your comment that prompted mine and then the clarification omitted a key detail. But don't all Nikon lenses used on a Canon digital camera have to be metered stopped down?

 

About old lenses vs. new, I'm still using oldish ones. They still work. But then, I use prime lenses, not zooms. I'd believe that some of the better grade of current zooms shoot noticeably better than equivalently good ancient (relatively) ones. And I'm confident that the new AF 200/4 MicroNikkor is a better lens than my 200/4 MicroNikkor AIS.

 

People who shoot LF have similar discussions about whether it is safe to use old lenses. The latest most best are so much better, y'know. In their wrangles, they have a luxury that people who wrangle about lenses for Nikon SLRs have to do without: they can wrangle about lenses so old that (gasp!) they're not coated. Advocates of the new claim that uncoated lenses can't be used for shooting color. In my limited experience, this is complete hokum. Could be I'm shooting the wrong uncoated lenses.

 

Cheers,

[rwhillman]

Dan -- No problem. I agree that the older zooms can't match the modern ones. Primes are different, and a lot of the old Nikon glass can rival the modern consumer lenses. And yes, stopped down metering is required when using any Nikon lens on a Canon digital camera. This creates a problem when speed is important (sports, etc.) but is not an issue when time permits careful composition. Some of the older lenses are terrific value for the money and have a lot of life left in them. They may also outlive at least some of the newer lenses.

Bob