Nikon finally listens to us-- AI(S) lenses on Nikon D200

[ilkka_nissila]

Vivek, Nikon has to compromise between making cameras that people want to buy and selling new lenses too. They have made so many good and durable lenses over the years that their situation became impossible, so they have to try to make people buy new stuff.

 

And by the way, my F70 (=N70) underexposed manual focus lens shots by 1 stop (while AF were ok). I tested 3 others at the time, and they all had the same problem. After 6 months Nikon came up with a replacement circuit which I got for free. Now it works fine (but I sold it in order to get higher eyepoint). Ironically, when I tested them, the F70 was -1, the F90x was -1/2 and all F5s were spot on, no difference between manual and autofocus lenses. So they first tried this kind of subtle persuasion to get people to buy new lenses, and then resorted to hard tactics with the D100 and D70. (However, all my subsequent repairs at Nikon have been free.)

 

Remember, Canon could just sell new lenses because they changed the mount. People are apparently very forgiving of this kind of thing, as their new lenses sell well. Nikon users on the other hand, many are using their 1970s prime lenses and would do so indefinately, which of course is not good for Nikon's financial interest.

[greg s]

In the computer chip manufacturing world we call this type of issue "backwards compatability". Our job is to make sure that the old works with the new. An IA-32 chip can still run early 'real mode' programs and all modes since (enormous validation space). If/when in the camera world a needed equipment advancement occurs that disallows backwards compatability, then perhaps it is understandable. But the logistics of AIS metering didn't fit into this category.

 

Now they play the 'hokey pokey' (we put the metering in, take the metering out, put the metering in, and we shake it all about :) D100 for orig $2000 doesn't have it, D200 for hundreds less does have it. Hmmm. I'm glad it's back, though quite frankly I find it problematic to reliably MF even a tele thru the reduced viewfinder. Would have prefered to make that decision on my own though rather than need to send my 600mm AIS lens to R Elliot for a the chip conversion.

 

I'll need to read the list of D200 features and see some images, but it looks like as big a win for Nikon users as the D2X has been in its own way. Really pleased to see Nikon's latest DSLR offerings.

[vivek iyer]

Good point Greg. I stopped the " chipping" after one (75-150mm f/3.5 E-Series, I have another sample with no chip). All other chips or on extension tubes and empty focus mounts.

 

Finally, I can put the 50-135 f/3.5, 50-300 f/4.5, 20/3.5, 16/3.5, 105 f/4.5 (UV) and host of other gems to better use.

 

I also appreciate the 200D's features and I hope Nikon would continue with this spirit.

[vivek iyer]

Ilkka, Consistent -1 under exposure is just fine as long as it is consistent.

 

I am glad that Nikon is listening and turning around to be the company it once was. I also sincerely hope that they made the folks redundant who came up with the metering non compatibility and crippled camera strategy.

[ilkka_nissila]

Vivek, but this meant that as I switched between MF and AF lenses, I had to change exposure compensation or ISO by 1 stop every time. This is hardly acceptable.

 

What I actually did was I bought a hand-held meter and used that for all my work until the camera was fixed.

[aaron_ng]

Actually, I'm more inclined to think that when the D100 was released, the base body used as a starting point was the F80. Hence no metering with manual lenses. The D70 also had a similar system as internally it is similar to the D100. Then the D2H came out with the new hardware/software AIS support and matrix metering. And that trickled to the other models (D2Hs, D2X and F6). Since the D70s was just a rehash of the D70, it did not get AIS compatibility and same for the D50 which was based on the D70. Finally when the D200 was based on a F100/F6 body, they had the provision of the coupling ring and put in the software and hardware into it. I'm happy that they decided to include matrix metering with AIS instead of just center weighted like in the F100.