D200 and Ai50mm F1.4

[kfuse]

I have very old Ai50mm f1.4. When the lense is used on D200, I feel little shock everytime I

shoot. It seemed something is hitting inside the mirror box, so I took out the lense and

compare with other Ai lenses and I noticed that my Ai50mmF1.4 has extra long notch which

my 35mmF2.8 doesn't have (well, I know that the notch is for but I don't see any difference

other than the notch) . Does anyone know if this notch is something I should remove before I

use the lense on D200?

[Michael R Freeman]

"Does anyone know if this notch is something I should remove before I use the lense on D200?"

 

Since you have a D200, why don't you take a photo of the back of the lens and post it here (max. 511 pixels wide / 100K) so we can see what you are talking about.

[ryan_brenizer]

Are you *sure* it's AI? If it's from before 1977, it's not, and will take modification to fit on a

modern SLR.

[ryan_brenizer]

Look up the serial number here: http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html#50%

20fast

[douglas_green1]

On my Kodak DCS-760 (a 6 MP digital sensor built into an F5 body) I had to remove this notch from a couple of my lenses before I could mount them. The lenses included an old home-AI'd 50mm f1.4 and my 28mm f2.8 AI. With the notches, they couldn't mount due to hitting the Kodak's internal anti-aliasing filter mount, which is in front of the mirror box (and also acts to keep dust out of the sensor).

 

I filed those notches down and now have no problems using either of these lenses.

 

My belief is that these notches are there to physically protect rear elements that protrude on these lenses, but serve no other purpose.

[Michael R Freeman]

I presume you are talking about a "protrusion" and not a "notch"? A notch to me means a hole or removed area, and I'm not sure how a empty "hole" could hit anything. :-)

 

See the photo below - is this what you are asking about? If so, that is the lens speed indexing post. Not used for the D200, but absolutely necessary for bodies such as the FA and F4 if you want matrix metering.

 

If you decide to remove it, then remove the rear mount from the lens before filing/grinding it off. Removing it while attached to the lens is just asking for trouble.<div></div>

[kfuse]

Thank you everyone for swift response. Yes, the black protrusion on the Michael�s picture is the notch (slug) what I was talking about. My 50mmF1.4 has extra long slug there (for FA and F4 metering). I�ll post some pictures tonight.

[Michael R Freeman]

Extra long? Mine (AIS, but AI should be identical) is about 5.3mm (7/32").<div></div>

[Michael R Freeman]

The area "occupied" by the lens speed post can be seen in the photo below (F4 mount). During lens mounting, the post travels from left to right in an arc between the two yellow dots. Once mounted, it remains in a fixed position (of course).

 

It seems very unlikely to me that this post would cause interference during shutter release on your D200 unless it was bent, broken or modified. Is there anything in this area on the D200? This area is well clear of the mirror travel arc. The post is the same height (approx. 5mm) on all of my lenses that I checked, including one AF-S G lens.

 

I would be more suspicious of a bent or misaligned stopdown lever on your 50/1.4 AI. Any misalignment or binding would reveal itself when the camera stops down the lens - i.e. every time you shoot. I am very curious to see your photo of the rear of your 50/1.4 AI.<div></div>

[kfuse]

Here is the picture of my 50mm F1.4.<div></div>

[kfuse]

and 35mm F2.8<div></div>

[kfuse]

comparing 50mm and 35mm<div></div>

[kfuse]

comparing 50mm and 135mm<div></div>

[kfuse]

D200 Mirror<div></div>

[kfuse]

The shock getting from each lense is different.

35mm F2.8 : no shock (same as latest DX lenses).

50mm F1.4 : noticeable shock.

135mm F2.8 : minor shock but not as much as 50mm F1.4.

 

I looked at inside of D200 mirror box and there is no sign of scratch or dent.

 

I also posted same topic to one of Japanese photo related BBS and got answer from a guy

saying his D2X had same problem and after using the camera several weeks (with the

sympton present) he had to send the camera for repair (for broken stopdown lever).

[Michael R Freeman]

Your lenses look completely normal, and I don't think your "shock" problems are related to the lens speed posts. If there was any interference you would see marks in the area of the mirror box as indicated in my F4 photo. The only significant difference in the lens speed post for a f/1.4 lens (50mm) and f/2.8 lens (35mm, 135mm) would be a slight difference in the location of the post (about 9 degrees - http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/MAIPangle.htm and http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/MAIPposition.htm). I don't have a 35/2.8, but the height of the post doesn't look to be that much different.

 

Are the aperture levers on both AI lenses "fast and free", with no binding. Better get it checked out - I'm no repair tech, but I think your problem is between these two here ...<div></div>

[Michael R Freeman]

"... but the height of the post doesn't look to be that much different."

 

Ignore that - I checked a couple of my f/2.8 lenses (55/2.8, 105/2.8) and the post is about 3mm high on those. Still don't think that's your problem, as all 50/1.4 (including the current AF-D) have the longer post.

 

My advice - find someone better qualified than I to diagnose this before you do some damage. :-)

 

Good luck.<div></div>

[kfuse]

This is just followup.

 

I called Nikon to ask about what is causing the shock and I got answer from them saying that

I need to send D200 and 50mmF1.4 back to Nikon to determine what is causing the issue,

but I didn't want to send D200 just for this test so I asked if buying brand new 50mm F1.2

likely to solve the problem, however since then Nikon is not answering my question...

 

Last week, I got 55mm f1.2 from eBay. I tried this lense on D200 and worked just fine!