D200 Mount Modification

[scribble.wymer]

The Nikon F5 film based slr cound have its mount modified to accept any pre-AI

lens, and i think the f100 could as well. Is there any way to get a mount

modification to leth the ancient pre-AI's to mount onto our modern DSLRs?

 

Uncoated lenses from the 1950s still hold a unique look for portraits, and i was

wondering if there is any way to acieve this look with a dslr. so far, i can

only do this with the epson R-D1 and leica screw mounts. however, the

conventional SLR is much more adaptable that rangefinders ever were.

[mawz]

Modify the lens instead. It's not hard to get a lens AI-modified.

 

But if you want to use 1950's uncoated lenses, I'd recommend getting a Canon or Pentax and an M42 adaptor, then using M42 lenses (including all those nice Carl Zeiss designs). Unfortunately the F mount is not suited to mount adaptations.

[ravi_swamy]

Maybe but I wouldn't risk it and it would be better to modify the lens instead, then you could use it on any Nikon body. aiconversions.com will do it for about $25. I use an AI converted 50mm f1.4 on my D2X from time to time. It's older than me but works great.

[david_h._hartman]

The practical chance of modifying the D200 is about zip. You would need a part custom manufactured to very high standards of precision. The F5 can be modified because I believe it borrowed a part from the F4s.

 

Regards,

 

Dave Hartman.

[Michael R Freeman]

Only the F5 was ever offered with the possibility of an AI meter coupling ring modification (this service was never offered for the F100, which has a thinner plastic coupling ring). As Dave said, it probably used the F4 part.

 

As already noted, your chance of getting a flip-up AI tab retrofitted to a Nikon D200 is close to nil. The F4/F5 parts won't work.

 

You should be able to safely mount "ancient" pre-AI Nikkors on a D200 if you first mount them on a thin K1 ring (not exactly an abundant accessory), but you would of course lose far/infinity focus. Also, no meter coupling. AI conversion of the desired lenses is a far more practical option.

[ShunCheung]

I recall that the F5/pre-AI compatibility modification was offered by Nikon as an option. AI was introduced back in 1977 and the F5 1996, so that was already 19 years since AI. We are now 29 years away. If you must use pre-AI lenses on modern bodies, it is simply much easier to perform the AI modification on the lenses.

[vivek iyer]

Steven,

 

I am curious. Which Nikon lenses from the 1950s are uncoated? Are you talking about a Nikkor T lens and/or a 55mm quartz nikkor- both triplets?

[aj_nadershahi]

If you're a handy type, convert the lens to AI yourself.

 

http://www.chr-breitkopf.de/photo/aiconv.en.html

[scott_warn]

I think that what he specifically wants to do is use the rangefinder lenses that Nikon made. I say this because he wants to use their "uncoated" lenses from the 50's and the F wasn't brought out until 1959. BTW, Nikon's rangefinder lenses were coated, it was just a low tech single layer coating. Also, most of the optical formulas were carried over for the early Nikon SLR lenses and it is a pretty simple procedure to machine the aperture ring on these lenses to be compatable with the D200. John White in Ann Arbor, MI offers this service over the net and the cost is around 25-40 USD per lens. His web site follows.

 

http://www.aiconversions.com/compatibilitytable.htm

 

However, if you have some of those rangefinder lenses at hand and want to try them on your digital camera, it may be possible for some of these lenses. Nikon used to make an adapter for mounting some of the rangefinder lenses on the F, it was called the N-F adapter. They do come up occasionally on eekbay. After you find an N-F adapter, you will probably have to have it machined at the rear surface to provide clearance for the aperture indexing tab and the minimum aperture signal lever. Then the final question will be whether they will allow a complete range of focusing. I have thought about trying this but have never had enough need to get myself an N-F adapter, so I am saying this having never tried it. It's quite possible that the N-F adapter only works properly with the "long mount" Nikkors that were made to be used with the mirror accessory that Nikon used to offer for the rangefinders. I would suggest that you try giving John White a call, he probably knows about these adapters and what lenses they will work with.