AF lens on Nikon FE

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Camera Equipment : One Thread

I'm considering buying a ±28-200mm type zoom. The Sigma AF f3.5-5.6 appeals to me because it is small & light. Can I use this lens on my Nikon FE (& Nikomat - yes Nikomat) bodies. I realize the Vivitar manual focus is $60 or so cheaper at Porter's, but is longer & doesn't focus as closely & I may be able to convince my wife I "need" this. Thanks, Ken

-- Ken Kenlon (kjkenlon@frontier.net), April 26, 2001

Answers

I've used all my Nikon-fit AF lenses on earlier MF bodies (mainly an F2A) with no problem at all. The only thing to check is that there's an adequate manual focusing ring on the Sigma. I have a 90mm Sigma AF 'macro' lens, and the manual focusing ring is a bit fiddly and feels very sloppy.
Buying AF lenses makes a lot of sense, since if you decide to upgrade, then you'll almost certainly be buying an AF body these days.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), April 27, 2001.

AF lenses usually have a very loose focus ring. They need a very light touch as they have little dampning. The focus ring also turns in a much shorter arc to speed AF. This all combines to make manually focusing touchy.

Almost all wide range zooms have a fair amount of distortion & often get soft at the long end & sometimes at the short end too. If you're not too picky about image quality and/or don't plan on enlargements, their convenience is quite compelling. I've owned the new Sigma 28- 200. It's not bad. It's just not good either.

B&H Photo, Camera World or Adorama would be reliable places to buy with prices better than Porters.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 27, 2001.


AF lenses fit on the Nikon FE and any of the Nikomats -- and I don't disagree with anything that Pete and Jim have said -- but I'd like to present a purist alternative.

The shorter the zoom range the better. There are real compromises involved in a zoom range of more than about 2.5x, and horrid compromises involved in a zoom range of more than 4x. But you can get small, light, inexpensive, and genuinely good lenses if you stick to a couple of secondhand manual-focus 2x zooms.

The ones I'm thinking of are

I suspect that the better optical quality of these would show up in prints as small as 7x5 from ISO 160 colour film. They would also have better manual-focus "feel" than an AF 28-200. (Try to find a second version 75-150 (with a chrome mounting ring) with as little zoom creep as possible.)

I understand that in the US, each lens would cost between $100 and $150 secondhand.

Later,

Dr Owl

-- John Owlett (owl@postmaster.co.uk), April 27, 2001.


How does your Nikomat couple the lens to the meter? I am not familiar with this camera, but if it requires the old AI "prong and fork" you will not be able to couple to the meter.

-- Ed Farmer (photography2k@hotmail.com), April 27, 2001.

Thanks to all for their comments. The Nikomat does use the prong & fork attachment for the meter. It's a great old camera I bought in Tokyo for 51800 Yen ($144) in 1968 including the 50mm f1.4 lens. I must have put 10,000 rolls of film through it. Now if I could just organize all those slides...

-- Ken Kenlon (kjkenlon@frontier.net), April 27, 2001.


Ken. There's nothing to stop you fitting a coupling fork to an AF lens. The Nikon AF lenses even used to be marked out for the screw holes. I don't know if they still are, haven't bought a Nikkor for years (Sorry Nikon, but you can't expect to keep putting your prices up, and your quality down, AND keep your customers!).
Most lens bodies seem to be polycarbonate these days, and the aperture ring should easily drill to take a tiny self-tapping screw. The fork needs to be centred on f/5.6, if you didn't already know that.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrew@bham.ac.uk), April 30, 2001.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ