nikon f mount to G1

New to this forum as just got G1. I would like to range-find with the cam, but its lack of distance increments on the lens makes this hard, the dp1 has a little dial, does/can the G1 have a distance indicator of focus on the monitor like some point and shoots?

can you get an adaptor for nikon ais lenses this would solve my prob

best dougie
--
http://www.dougiewallace.com

Like you I have reasons to want to use my Nikon lenses on my G1.

There is apparently a Nikon > Micro 4/3 adaptor coming from Novoflex in May.

At the moment it seems there are two ways to do it.
Nikon > 4/3 adaptor fitted to 4/3 > Micro 4/3 adaptor > G1
or
Nikon > Leica M adaptor fitted to Leica M > Micro 4/3 adaptor > G1

I've seen images of these working and descriptions - it seems they do work
OK.

I've already got a Leica M > Micro 4/3 adaptor so I'm going to try the Nikon > Leica M with it.

2482 said:

New to this forum as just got G1. I would like to range-find with the
cam, but its lack of distance increments on the lens makes this hard,
the dp1 has a little dial, does/can the G1 have a distance indicator
of focus on the monitor like some point and shoots?

can you get an adaptor for nikon ais lenses this would solve my prob

best dougie
--
http://www.dougiewallace.com

Click to expand...

By the way I went to your website & enjoyed your images very much.
Theres some great stuff there.

I can see what you want to do.

Best Wishes

2482 said:

New to this forum as just got G1. I would like to range-find with the
cam, but its lack of distance increments on the lens makes this hard,
the dp1 has a little dial, does/can the G1 have a distance indicator
of focus on the monitor like some point and shoots?

can you get an adaptor for nikon ais lenses this would solve my prob

best dougie
--
http://www.dougiewallace.com

Click to expand...

david martyn said:

Like you I have reasons to want to use my Nikon lenses on my G1.
...
Nikon > 4/3 adaptor fitted to 4/3 > Micro 4/3 adaptor > G1

Click to expand...

I use this scheme to fit my Nikkor lenses to the G1.

One thing to be aware of is that you'll need to calibrate the focusing scale of adapted lenses if you want to focus by scale. Most lens mount adapters err on the side of providing a slightly short mount register, so the focusing index (especially with wide lenses) often allows focusing 'beyond infinity'. This is particularly true when using a pair of mount adapters like the above.

My Nikkor 20/3.5AI focusing index aligns with approximately the f/8 DoF marking on the left hand side of the original focusing index, for example.
--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

I'd be interested to know how you have found the Nikon lenses on your G1.
I've got 3 MF lenses I want to use. 24mm F/2, 50mm F/1.2 & 135mm F/2.8.

The speed is the great attraction for me plus they are reasonably small lenses.

How do you find they compare image wise with the Panasonic lenses? (Assuming you use any) I find these 3 to be stunning with my Nikon DSLR's (& my Canon too)

Godfrey said:

david martyn said:

Like you I have reasons to want to use my Nikon lenses on my G1.
...
Nikon > 4/3 adaptor fitted to 4/3 > Micro 4/3 adaptor > G1

Click to expand...

I use this scheme to fit my Nikkor lenses to the G1.

One thing to be aware of is that you'll need to calibrate the
focusing scale of adapted lenses if you want to focus by scale. Most
lens mount adapters err on the side of providing a slightly short
mount register, so the focusing index (especially with wide lenses)
often allows focusing 'beyond infinity'. This is particularly true
when using a pair of mount adapters like the above.

My Nikkor 20/3.5AI focusing index aligns with approximately the f/8
DoF marking on the left hand side of the original focusing index, for
example.
--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

Click to expand...

Using the Nikkon lens on the G1 will it still have autofocus?

pond said:

Using the Nikkon lens on the G1 will it still have autofocus?
--

Click to expand...

I use a Fotodiox Nikon F mount adapter and that doesn't allow autofocus.

It works perfectly well otherwise.

Godfrey, please correct me if I'm wrong, but using the DMW-MA1 adapter seems not to allow any lens that I've got, including 4/3 lenses like the Zuiko 50/2 MACRO and the L1 Leica kit lens, to use AF.

I have a lot of fun using legacy glass (Pentax SMC FA, Leitz, M42, Nikon) on my G1 and encourage others to.

All my adapters are Fotodiox.

Thanks for quick reply, sounds a bit complicated two adaptors, might wait till the nikon comes out, + the 4/3 to m4/3 is a bit pricey and big in the scale of things, still to open manual but went through phils review and played with cam. Question, is there a way to get a focus distance scale on screen, that would help as its hard to manually gage 2m away and shot from the hip

might be time to sell canon gear as moved to nikon and now have this system

anyone tried the small flash? the nikon sb900 works sort of ttl on auto, the canons and the sb600 dont have this, abit stupid looking,!
also looking for a off camera flash cable will olympus work?
--
http://www.dougiewallace.com

I believe there's also the two adapter option of going from m4/3 to Canon FD and then Canon FD to Nikkon F. Then you can use both Canon FD and Nikkor AI/AIS lenses of about the same vintage--though at this point the FDs are cheaper than the Nikkors.

I could have sworn the Polish G1 adapter source on ebay had a Nikon F to m4/3 adapter for sale, but maybe he sold out or found an issue with the design.

pond said:

Using the Nikon lens on the G1 will it still have autofocus?

Click to expand...

Lenses adapted from mounts other than FourThirds SLR are manual focus and iris control only.

--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

Francis E said:

Godfrey, please correct me if I'm wrong, but using the DMW-MA1
adapter seems not to allow any lens that I've got, including 4/3
lenses like the Zuiko 50/2 MACRO and the L1 Leica kit lens, to use AF.

Click to expand...

Only FourThirds lenses which were designed from the start with CDAF in mind, or those that have had updated firmware delivered to provide compatibility, with autofocus on micro-FourThirds cameras. Panasonic maintains a compatibility listing which is mostly up to date (although I notice the recently released Olympus ZD 14-54/2.8-3.5 II - compatible with AFS - isn't on it yet:

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html

Of my FourThirds SLR lenses, the Olympus ZD 25/2.8 and Panasonic/Leica Summilux-D 25/1.4 ASPH are both AFS compatible. All my others work fine but are manual focus only.

--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

david martyn said:

I'd be interested to know how you have found the Nikon lenses on your
G1.
I've got 3 MF lenses I want to use. 24mm F/2, 50mm F/1.2 & 135mm F/2.8.
The speed is the great attraction for me plus they are reasonably
small lenses.
How do you find they compare image wise with the Panasonic lenses?
(Assuming you use any) I find these 3 to be stunning with my Nikon
DSLR's (& my Canon too)

Click to expand...

There's no knocking a great lens... The Nikkors I use are the 20/3.5AI and 105/2.5AI .. a couple of examples:

Nikkor 105:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/3370643779/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/3371465054/

Nikkor 20:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/3327041224/

I like using the Nikkor 20 mostly when I want to do zone focusing for street work as it nets a field of view most reminiscent of a 35mm lens on my old Leica M (due to the difference in format proportions, if you make an 11x14 print and crop the long axis of the 35mm negative, the FoV is nearly identical to a 20mm on FourThirds.

105 and 135 mm are quite long focal lengths on FourThirds. I'm more comfortable hand-holding up to about 70mm ... longer than that I prefer to put on a tripod most of the time (although there are obviously exceptions).

How they compare to the G Vario 14-45? To be honest, I can't make a very knowledgeable comparison. I have only made around a hundred exposures with the kit lens of the nearly 3000 total I've done with the G1. I found it to be quite a good performer, and certainly an excellent choice for the wide to normal range. But it's a little too slow: I want a larger aperture for focus zone control, and I tend to prefer working with prime lenses anyway.

The other lenses I'm using a lot with the G1 are an Olympus ZD 25/2.8 and an Olympus G.Zuiko 40mm f/1.4 (from the Pen F SLR line).

Less frequently, I use a Panasonic/Leica 14-50/2.8-3.5, Summilux 25/1.4, Olympus ZD 11-22 and 35 Macro, G.Zuiko 70/2, and a Pentax-M 50/1.4. I like that I can pretty much use any lens I want with this camera and get very good results.

--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

Godfrey said:

Of my FourThirds SLR lenses, the Olympus ZD 25/2.8 and
Panasonic/Leica Summilux-D 25/1.4 ASPH are both AFS compatible. All
my others work fine but are manual focus only.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Godfrey.

I don't have a problem with MF. For MACRO work I much prefer it.

My Zuiko 50/2 MACRO seems to have some communication with the camera because the lens retracts automatically when the camera is turned off.

I'm not a technical person, but wonder, if it can do that, why AF doesn't work?

Regards

Francis E said:

I don't have a problem with MF. For MACRO work I much prefer it.

Click to expand...

Same here.

Francis E said:

My Zuiko 50/2 MACRO seems to have some communication with the camera
because the lens retracts automatically when the camera is turned off.

I'm not a technical person, but wonder, if it can do that, why AF
doesn't work?

Click to expand...

The aperture works properly too, and the camera senses the focusing ring movement. Retracting the lens using the focusing motors is simple: just send the control signal to focus at infinity until the lens hits the limit mark.

What can't work (until/unless Olympus updates the lens' firmware) is the focusing control algorithm. The contrast-detect autofocus algorithm used in the G1 requires different control dynamics compared to the phase detect autofocus algorithms used in the FourThirds SLR bodies. Both Olympus and Panasonic feel that unless the firmware is updated and the lens meets a reasonable performance, the AF user experience will be too poor to use effectively.

Better to have these excellent lenses manual focus only on the G1 than to autofocus poorly. I think that's the right decision.
--
Godfrey - http://www.gdgphoto.com

Godfrey said:

Better to have these excellent lenses manual focus only on the G1
than to autofocus poorly. I think that's the right decision.

Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely.

Thanks for the information.

Kind regards