Does anyone else use old ass lenses on their DSLR?

[eurotrashed]

I recently got a D70, I went used because I couldn't afford a D80 and I wanted a Nikon that accepted old lenses. I picked up a Nikkor 35-135mm 1:3.5-4.5 because I wanted one modern(ish) zoom AF lens to get me through for awhile (it was only $50, so...). The lens isn't quite wide enough so I had to bust into my dad's arsenal of 30 year old Nikkor lenses from his days as an amature photographer. Downside is it isn't AF, isn't zoom and no more light meter on the camera, just had to play around til it came out right its a 20mm 1:35 that I used heavily inside the BMW museum in Munich Germany and when I got home and uploaded pics I was left with pics like this:


I was surprised, Not too shabby for a 30 year old lens. I also have a 200mm 1:4, 50mm 1:2, and a 105mm 1:2.5. And I have come to realize that I actually like these lenses better than my AF lens. The biggest downfall is no light meter, but after a few practice shots and as long as the lighting doesn't change too much it isn't bad at all. As long as I don't need zoom I don't mind focusing myself. Doing some research on using older lenses I learned how Nikon used to really be the king of photography with great optics that are still on par with today. But now every other company finally caught up with Nikon as far as optics go. But more and more I am getting angry at my AF lens, it seems soft in a lot of shots, it isn't the fastest focus, it likes to be out of focus and then a lot of the times it freaks out and won't go into focus and let me shoot so I have to go to manual focus.

Just curious, does anyone else use anything old school on their new cameras?

[CleanNeon98]

I wish I could find older lenses for my Canon, I think it would be cool to shoot with them compared to new ones. Id also like to shoot film haha

[eurotrashed]

From my understanding, Canon likes to change their f-stops every generation of cameras so lenses as old as mine don't work on any new canons. Film can be fun to screw around with, but digital is sooooo much easier to deal with everyday.

[CleanNeon98]

Originally Posted by eurotrashed

From my understanding, Canon likes to change their f-stops every generation of cameras so lenses as old as mine don't work on any new canons. Film can be fun to screw around with, but digital is sooooo much easier to deal with everyday.

The guy I talked to at the camera shop actually said that Nikon likes to change their layouts every so often, and that Canon has kept the same one for like 15 years...dunno how true that is.

[sisforsurfing]

Any Nikon lens for the past 30+ years will still mount, and on the higher end bodies you'll still get metering.

Funny this thread came up, I'm looking to purchase a few old MF Nikkors just for fun. They made some cool lenses back then and for the faster ones I'm fine manually focusing. Plus they're relatively inexpensive.

[eurotrashed]

Originally Posted by sisforsurfing

Any Nikon lens for the past 30+ years will still mount, and on the higher end bodies you'll still get metering.

Funny this thread came up, I'm looking to purchase a few old MF Nikkors just for fun. They made some cool lenses back then and for the faster ones I'm fine manually focusing. Plus they're relatively inexpensive.

I know D80 and up still mount old lenses. The D40 and D60 won't. But I know D50 and D70 and older all work too. Can you get metering with a D70? Is there a setting that I am missing? Or is there like a threshold of how old you can go and still get metering, because these lenses are OLD?

[TROLL]

I still have a Nikon FE-2 with a 50mm f/1.4 and a 24mm f/2.8 and every now and again I'll use them on my D300. They are much louder I've found, but of course they take great photos since they are very good quality lenses.

[eurotrashed]

With the few pics I have taken with the 200mm I have found them to be louder. I have had great luck with the 20mm though

[Chris_PA]

Originally Posted by eurotrashed

From my understanding, Canon likes to change their f-stops every generation of cameras so lenses as old as mine don't work on any new canons. Film can be fun to screw around with, but digital is sooooo much easier to deal with everyday.

What would changing the aperture value have to do with a lens not mounting up?
Nothing.

Originally Posted by CleanNeon98

The guy I talked to at the camera shop actually said that Nikon likes to change their layouts every so often, and that Canon has kept the same one for like 15 years...dunno how true that is.

Canon has really only had 2 major lens systems in the past 40+years
The FD lenses and the EF lenses
The FD lenses will not mount onto an current SLR without a FD > EF converter
EF lenses were first introdocued around 1987
So any EF lens will mount up to any DSLR canon has made

[eurotrashed]

I mean f-mount, not f-stop. They didn't change the aperture values obviously since every lens has different values. Like you said they changed how it mounts to the camera

[eurotrashed]

Should my light meter still be working with these old lenses?

[RichK]

Yep, I sure do. Here is a sample I posted here before. The lens is a 20+ year old AF Nikor 35-70 3.5-4.5. It sat in a drawer mounted to my old Nikon 8008s film body collecting dust for a LONG time. Then we went to Maine for vacation and, on a whim, I took it along. Here is the result when I mounted it to my D3 and took a walk around Bar Harbor. BTW, yes, the water was like glass that evening.



Exif data:
Camera: Nikon D3
Exposure time: 1/800 sec
Aperture: F10
Focal length: 42mm
ISO: 200

[grimm]

i've used my aunt's old canon glass on my newer bodies without any problems.