Nikon-to-m4/3 Adapter Question

[Univer]

Hi All,

I'm hoping some of you Nikon experts can help me out with an adapter question.

I recently acquired a 10.5cm Nikkor-P (9-blade aperture), with the specific intent of using it on my m4/3 camera by means of a Nikon-to-m4/3 adapter. The adapter (purchased from a source that has been very reliable up to now) was described as working with Non-AI and AI lenses alike.

Today the adapter arrived, and I tried mounting the lens. When it is inserted into the adapter, it will not turn in either direction, and so cannot be locked in place. I didn't have the leisure to try every possible orientation, but I'm relatively confident that one of two things is going on: either (a) there's some kind of lens/adapter incompatibility or (b) user error. The second is not unlikely. My last experience with Nikon lenses goes back a couple of decades, to a second-hand F2 Photomic, and I have only a vague recollection of the old "double-twist" routine that was necessary when changing a lens; so I'm not exactly well-versed in the intricacies of the various generations of Nikon mounts and cameras.

My understanding was that modern adapters are agnostic with respect to non-AI and AI lenses - that they work identically with both. But is there a trick to mounting an older non-AI lens to a current adapter? Or is this a known issue with some adapters - do I need a different one?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Cheers,

Jon

[calvin83]

[Attila]

I think if you can't mount it, something wrong either with lens or adapter. These adapter has simple Nikon F mount you must mount all kind of Nikon lenses from oldest to latest.

[aleksanderpolo]

Could it be a Nikon S lens, for rangefinder, you will need a different adapter if that's the case.

[koji]

[Univer]

Hi,

Nope, not a Nikon RF lens. I just passed on a nice 10.5cm Nikon-S lens last week, because I already had this one. Maybe not the best decision.

Since I posted, I discovered that I was able, with the application of a great deal of force, to twist the lens in the adapter. But when the lens is so mounted, the aperture ring won't move. Obviously the fit is simply too tight, and the likeliest reason (it seems to me) is a problem with the adapter - the flange that meets the lens must be too high.

Here's a really poor snap of the adapter and the lens - I deeply apologize for the quality of the image (G1 kit lens, AF). The adapter is woefully out of focus, but I'm not sure there's much to see there anyway; it looks like any other Nikon-to-m4/3 adapter. Hopefully the image of the lens is clear enough to show any possible issue there.



I'm sure I can return this adapter without any trouble. Do you think I should simply try an alternative source?

Thanks, again, for all your help.

Cheers,

Jon

PS See, I knew the old "twist" maneuver was out of date.

[Attila]

If lens ok, works fine for example in an analog body, adapter is wrong for sure. Perhaps source is okay, just this adapter has faulty.

[calvin83]

[Attila]

Any they have quality difference only if you will get a bad adaptor. Stefan has zebra , I have plain black both works great.

[calvin83]

[Attila]

[calvin83]

[koji]

I have never had any a bad trouble with those cheap or some expensive
adapters from HK and Japan. But OP's lens looks a genuine Nikon one albeit
older than 1966, so the adapter may have a culprit. It is hard to think thou.

[Attila]

I will be happy if phones, DVD players , even from big players Panasonic, Nokia etc will have at least same good quality than Chinese adapters. I bought many expensive garbage in last few years from Nokia, Panasonic. I bought lot more adapters from Chinese vendors and I had lot less troubles My expensive Nokia phone was crap from beginning, big Plasma TV did work well for 3 yrs only, I throw out numerous DVD players after one year etc.

[koji]

Yes Attila, I am with you. When one of our friends rent us some Korean
movie DVDs (one story 6~7 discs, much scratched), our old DVD player
kept stopping saying "cannot play this disc". So I went out shopping
newer and cheaper DVD players, one was DOA (Dead on Arrival) then
I got another new one, which played the discs but no SOUND! So I ended
up buying Sony's new BD players which works with all those bad DVD discs.

My Chinese adapters are much better quality than those dvd players! Sigh.

[calvin83]

Simple metal adaptor is more easily to make than most elelctronic appliance. These cheap DVD player is only cost $1x USD in China and I don't expect they will give you good user experince.

Many costdown elelctronic producs will not last long. Some of them even desgined to work for the warranty period provided... I am still happy with my old ipod-mini which last for many years (moded with 8GB CF card and swap the battries many times).

[Univer]

Hi,

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm relieved to know that the lens doesn't show any evidence of damage or modification (I didn't really think so, but one never knows). I agree that the problem must lie with this specific adapter.

It's not a zebra model, by the way; it's plain black. I did a quick eBay search, and I see that there are a few adapter versions out there. Some are fully chromed at the lens end, while mine has a chromed lens flange surrounded by black-finished metal. Just to be sure I'm getting a different model, I think I'll try one of the all-chrome variants.

For my part, I think inconsistent quality control is just a fact of life, and that it has less than ever to do with price or place of manufacture. Honestly, this is one of the very few problems I've had with any recent-production adapter. I think it's near-miraculous that I can invest about twenty-five US dollars and purchase an adapter that will allow me to mount lenses from an orphaned system on a current body. When you stop to think that we're talking about adapters that marry obscure old mounts to technologies that weren't even a gleam in an engineer's eye when those lenses were new, and you figure in the fact that many of those old systems went through several different iterations and running changes, you have to acknowledge that we're amazingly lucky everything works as well as it does. So if it takes a little trial-and-error to find the right adapter for this old lens, I'm perfectly fine with that.

Cheers,

Jon

[Univer]

Hi All,

Just dredging up this thread to offer a followup.

I wound up trying a different eBay Nikon-to-m4/3 adapter, and it was an improvement; but I still needed to spend significant time working with the Dremel in order to get everything moving freely and smoothly. I think it may simply be that some of the older non-AI lenses don't get along very well with some of the newer adapters.

On a related note, the seller of the original problematic adapter - a gentleman from whom I've purchased several other adapters without issue - promptly refunded my purchase price, but then blocked me from bidding on any of his other listings. I sent a note to ask about that, but never received a response. A very interesting policy: obviously you get one return, but after that you're not welcome at the shop.

I'm not mentioning the seller's name, because most of my experiences with him were positive; but if anyone's curious, just drop me a PM.

Cheers (and thanks again for all the assistance),

Jon

[calvin83]