Confused with digatal body to old MF lens compatibility.

[tancho_kuhaku]

Hi Gurus!
First of all im still a complete noob when it comes to MF lenses and have some things that i need help with:

1st- are there any third party lenses that i can use with my nikon dslr body?

2nd- compatibility issues with old nikkor MF lens to my nikon dslr.( i have 50mm 1.4 and read that it needs "type B " conversion, but nonetheless i still used it and got great images) will it destroy my dslr?

3rd- i know that there are adapters that needs to be used so that i can use other MF lenses, which one adapter should i get? for hat type/kind/brand of MF lens? any site or anything i could read from?

btw, im using nikon d90.

Hoping you could help me out.
Thanks in Advance guys!

[RioRico]

Some background: A basic parameter of camera optics is the register, or flange focal distance. This is the distance within the camera from the lens mount to the frame (film or sensor). Longer register lenses can be used on shorter register cameras with simple glassless adapters, and can reach infinity focus. Shorter register lenses CANNOT be used on longer register cameras except as closeup lenses, or with an optical adapter. An optical adapter is essentially a teleconverter, and it loses whatever is special about the lens being used.

Of 35mm and APS cameras (SLRs), Nikon has the longest register and Canon has the shortest. Canon is thus the universal receptor and Nikon is the universal donor. I can easily put Nikon lenses on a Pentax camera, but not vice-versa.

Now, to your questions.

1) Basically, the only lenses you can use easily on your Nikon are lenses meant for Nikons. Many third-party Nikon-mount lenses exist. The only other lenses you could easily use are from medium-format cameras, and the non-optical adapters tend to be expensive.

2) Using older Nikon-compatible lenses will NOT ruin your dSLR. I'm no Nikon expert, so someone else can tell you about the limitations of using older glass on modern Nikon bodies. But you won't damage anything.

3) To use other lenses with adapters, dump the Nikon. To use many great lenses, go Pentax. To use MANY MANY great lenses, go Canon. To use just about everything, go Sony NEX. IMHO the best use of a Nikon body is to mount very expensive Nikon glass. But I can't afford that. Bother...

[aoleg]

1st, you're pretty much limited to Nikon Ai and AIS lenses as well as third-party lenses in Nikon Ai mount. Some third-party lenses in non-Ai may still be used with modern bodies, and most (but not all) non-Ai Nikkors can be modified to Ai mount.

2nd, mounting a non-Ai Nikkor can harm your camera's metering prong *if* it is there in the first place. It is safe to mount non-Ai lenses on lower Nikon bodies e.g. D40, D40x, D60, D80, D3100 etc.

3rd, you would need to swap lens mount to make it usable on Nikon bodies. Visit www.leitax.com for details. Reasons for that are pretty much outlined by RioRico. General consensus is that Canon EOS bodies are the most accomodating in respect to old glass (except mirrorless formats, of course; but there you'd be limited to 1.5x-2x crop factor whereas Canon has full-frame bodies).

[tancho_kuhaku]

Okay to put it in lame man's term
-nikon lenses(most or almost all)are for nikon bodies only
-using old nikkor lenses wont damage new nikon bodies but WILL damage metering prong due to frequent usage.
-they are very very few third party MF lenses that i could use on my nikon body. So, i would have no choice but to go to all out nikkor len$e$ that are expensive.

-On another note, im just curious on how would i know IF the old MF lenses can damage my metering prong? which old nikkor lenses could do damage and which would not?
So the site ive seen on the net that nikkor MF lenses is true that i need convertion so i could fully use the old lenses w/o damaging anything...
too bad.. and the cost of conversion is not cheap.

or are there any cheaper alternative that i could do aside from the lens conversion? like maybe an adapter or something?

thanks!

[Esox lucius]

[LucisPictor]

Don't forget medium format lenses. Many of those can be adapted to Nikon as well.