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Manual Focus lenses


13 years 4 months ago #7859 by Screamin Scott
I'm one who uses older manual focus macro lenses on a Nikon D70s. Now my camera won't meter with these old lenses, but after awhile you can kinda "guesstimate" the exposure pretty well. That & then you can utilize the LCD & histogram or even a handheld meter to acquire your proper exposure. I moderate a group on Flickr dedicated to using older lenses on Nikon DSLR's. Most of the shots on my galleries are done with them. Now, I shoot a lot of macro & that type of photography lends itself very well to using the older lenses...One big plus on using them is that you can get "pro" quality glass at rock bottom prices (compared to current "pro" prices that is). If anyone is interested in using them & has any questions, just ask..
Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/
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13 years 4 months ago #7861 by Hamtastic
Is there really that much price difference in the cost of these lenses? I've not shopped out a manual lens before. But couldn't' you just get a external light meter and take any sort of guess out of it? I like the idea of saving a buck when I can. ;)

Good info!
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13 years 4 months ago - 13 years 4 months ago #7866 by Screamin Scott
Yes, you can use an external meter to determine your exposure. Now I'm a Nikon shooter & Nikon has kept the same mount almost since their first SLR's thus I can use most any Nikkor or 3rd party lens ever made for Nikon on my camera. Canon shooters aren't so lucky, neither are Minolta as both of them changed their lens mounts when auto focus came along. Now there are adapters for the Canon folks, I'm not sure about Minolta (Sony) though, and I believe Pentax can use older bayonet mount lenses, & screw mount with an adapter.
Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/
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13 years 4 months ago #7868 by Hamtastic

Screamin Scott wrote: Yes, you can use an external meter to determine your exposure. Now I'm a Nikon shooter & Nikon has kept the same mount almost since their first SLR's thus I can use most any Nikkor or 3rd party lens ever made for Nikon on my camera. Canon shooters aren't so lucky, neither are Minolta as both of them changed their lens mounts when auto focus came along. Now there are adapters for the Canon folks, I'm not sure about Minolta (Sony) though, and I believe Pentax can use older bayonet mount lenses, & screw mount with an adapter.


What kind of photography are you shooting Scott?
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13 years 4 months ago #7872 by Screamin Scott
I shoot a broad range of subjects although Macro is my niche...Take a look at the galleries I posted for samples...
Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/
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13 years 4 months ago #7874 by Yasko
Us Canon guys aren't so much out of luck - I have a couple Nikon AIS lenses I use on my canon with a 10 dollar adapter I got on ebay ;) not to mention the huge amount of m42 and k-mount lenses available out there

Scott, your camera can't meter AT ALL? What about in aperature priority mode? maybe this is exclusive to the D70 body only. You might get metering capability with newer Nikon bodies. I have a buddy that uses AIS on his D2x body, and he's an expert on all things Nikon. I'll ask him what he knows.
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13 years 4 months ago - 13 years 4 months ago #7885 by Screamin Scott
Yasko, in order to have metering, you have to have at least a D200 or better body & then you get metering but not matrix ( you have to enter the lens focal length & max aperture into the memory bank first though), The new D7000 will meter as well with Ai & Ais lenses & as such is the only "consumer grade" body that will...I know that Canon can use Nikkor & other lenses via an adapter, but my point was that with Nikon, no adapter is needed as long as they are Nikon mount. Canons can't use the older FD mount lenses (AFAIK ) & Minolta can't use their older MD lenses either (not sure if they can with an adapter though)...
Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/
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13 years 4 months ago #7891 by Yasko
Very true, the best I could do with an FD lens is make a macro out of it. It's a shame Canon didn't retro fit the EOS line. At the time of the switch Canon made a high quality adapter with glass in it so EF could be used with FD and FL but those are hard to find now, and are going for 1000+ dollars :ohmy:
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