Can I use old film lenses on my Nikon D7100?

9 years 5 months ago #408656 by C.C.
I have opportunity of getting some old Nikon film lenses pretty inexpensive and I was wondering if I got these, will they work on my Nikon D7100?

Will I need an adapter?  

:thx:


Photo Comments
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9 years 5 months ago #408658 by Screamin Scott
As long as they are Ai or Ais mount, then no problems & no adapter needed. The older Pre-Ai mount (or Non Ai as some call it) will damage the Ai follower tab if mounted, unless they have been modified. Nikon supplied kits for converting them to Ai spec, but those kits are long gone for the most part... Do you have images of the lenses mounts or serial #'s perchance ?.... If they are Ai or AiS spec, you simply enter the focal length & Max aperture info into the non CPU lens data field of the setup menu (the one ID'd with a "wrench" in the menu ). Whatever lens is highlighted there (when you have multiple lenses entered) is the info the camera will use when shooting with a non CPU lens.... You will get metering in Manual or Aperture priority modes only...I shoot with lots of older MF lenses,more often than I shoot with AF lenses...MF Zooms are a bit of a problem when used with the D7100.... You can't enter the focal length range & neither can you enter the aperture range on variable aperture lenses.  You can still use them though. It's just more of a pain (primarily the variable aperture range zooms)... The metering on the single aperture zooms will be correctly displayed, but not always with the variable aperture zooms as only a single setting can be entered. As far as the focal length, that isn't as much of a factor except when viewing the EXIF data. Any other questions, just ask...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

Photo Comments
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9 years 5 months ago #408732 by hghlndr6
:agree:   Scott's right.  You haven't read your manual, huh? :)   There's a "compatible Lenses" table on page 295.
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9 years 5 months ago #408748 by Joves
Here are two photos of the pre/non AI, and the AI lenses. Note the difference in the Indexing tabs, and that the non AI has a flat base on the body. The AI has a notch on the base of the body, and the Index tabs have holes.
Pre/Non AI


AI lens. See the difference?


You can get the non-AI converted to AI relatively inexpensively. But whether it is worth it depends on the lens. 


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