Nikon D80 with manual lenses

[clrtrnsl]

Hello... I am new to the forum but have a question.
Is is possible to use manual lenses on D80...
Does any of the automatic features work...shutter time.

Any reccommendations for lenses.

[Attila]

Welcome to aboard! Nice to see you here!

- focus confirmation will works (small green lamp stable if you cath right focus)
- metering not works

I used a lot Nikon D50, half of images made with D50 http://www.mflenses.com/gallery. I not missed much metering a few test shoot can be perfect metering.

I recommend almost all Nikkor lenses except 28mm f3.5 , NON-AI , PRE-AI mount is possible but you need to set aperture before mount the lens. No this restriction with AI and AIS lenses.

M42 lenses works without infinity with adapter.I not recommend adapter with glass to support infinity.

I also recommend all Tamron SP lenses and many non SP lenses too.

You able to see plenty of samples in mflenses.com/gallery

[patrickh]

Welcome. That's just the kind of question that will get you more answers than you could expect - this forum is full of people like Attila and Chris who will share their experience freely. So make use of us.

Just to add a totally useless piece of information to the answers you already have - the process of checking the histogram to confirm exposure is called "chimping". If you shoot RAW (which I for one advise) then you do have some room for correcting exposure problems in PP.

patrickh

[peterm1]

I use manual lenses on my D70s (which in principle is the same as the D80, in this respect) but with two annoyances.

First that there is no metering. Only the D200 and above provides metering with non "chipped" lenses. This aggravates me a little because it is something that virtually every other camera system provides - admittedly with some limitations. However its not too hard to estimate exposure with digital. The immediate feedback afforded by having an image reveiw function allows you to get off another shot in most instances. This is pretty much how I shoot with Leica gear anyway. But I cannot deny that having metering would be a convenience.

The second is a limitation in the Nikon system itself. The body / register distance is so great that other system lenses like Canon and Pentax will not fit and focus to infinity. Its probably a bit churlish of me to complain about this given that Nikon has maintained system compatibility right thru the AF era and back to the end of the pre AI era, unlike Canon.

The inability to use pre AI lenses is also a slight bother but I get by with some AI lenses instead. However I have some very nice pre AI lenses that I would love to use. (I am told that the new D40 can use pre AI lenses but still without metering.)

I use what lenses I can on my Nikon Digital and I have bought a Panasonic L1 which allows me to use almost all other lenses excepting Canon due to the register distance of the lenses.

[ChrisLilley]

[ChrisLilley]

[small]

Hi all
Now I own my D80 and Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135 f2.8 T* but I wonder that how I can use this manual lens with my Nikon body, can I use it with some kinds of adapter or need mod lens to use with nikon body.
Thanks so much

[Attila]

You bought an incompatible lens! I suggest to sell it and buy instead a Manual Focus Nikkor lens what we suggested in previous posts....

[LucisPictor]

Welcome to both of you!

[small]

[tanheis]

I was wondering.... where to get chip for Nikon?
My friend has Nikon D80.
It would then have metering on all manual lenses
Sholder the chip inside the camera would be a better choice than modded
lenses

Like the Canon mod Nikon mod is possible.. it's always I think...
Well looks like Nikon needs a bit more than one small chip..


Well hmm... needs a bit more space then if using that kind of solution

This looks better

This guy did it. He put some cheap AF lens in to the pieces
http://www.alternativemicrosystems.com/D40/

Maybe just get broken lens like this helps?
Click here to see on Ebay

[yucel]

Chipping MF lenses or permanently chippping the camera itself is possible but latter being much more difficult.

I am not an expert but I chipped one russian lens (Mir 24) and a teleconverter so I have some experience (http://forum.mflenses.com/55mm-micro-nikkor-on-a-digital-body-t8190.html).

If you're going to chip the lens there are some specific things to consider.

First you should find a lens (a broken lens or even a cheap working lens to be sacrified) with same or similar max and min aperture values. You should get not only the CPU boad but also the contact points and ribbon connecting the cpu to the contacts (they generally come out in one piece). Sometimes using the mount of the AF lens is also easier than modding the original mount so try to get it.

Second, the cpu board must be small enough to be implanted into the mf lens body. Depending on the lenses inner structure this is sometimes possible and sometimes not (as in the photos you posted cpu board is place out the lens barrel). Flexible Finding CPU boards is an advantage.

If you use a cpu coded with the same aperture values of your MF lens than it is just a bolt on job. A cpu with similar aperture values needs manually setting under or over exp from the camera to get the right exposure from camera metering system.

You can also permanently embed a cpu into camera body if there's enough space and then correct exp again maually from the camera body for each lens. You can label mf lenses correction value on them. I've never done this. Depending on the complexity of the modification you may even use AF lenses as they are by switching embedded CPU on and off.

You can chip a converter like me so you can use any tele or macro lens as if they are chipped. Modding Nikon PK tubes (I modded a converter into a PK3) is logical for macro use otherwise modding a teleconverter has no real benefit I guess.

If you're really into manual lenses and desire the ease of using them like AF lenses get a sophisticated nikon body like d3,300,200 etc.