Which bodies for old Nikon AF lenses?

A buddy of mine has a Nikon N8008 (F-801) and several lenses that he bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I think he has a 35mm f1.4 and several other lenses (some AF, some MF). He is just now at this very late date starting to think about getting a DSLR. I don't know much about Nikon so I hope someone here can help him. Which Nikon bodies (current and recent past) will allow the use of his old Nikon AF and MF lenses? Will the D5100 and D5200 be okay? The D7000 and D7100? The D600 and D610? He is on a bit of budget, but has some flexibility. I think he would prefer to keep it at the cheaper end, but it depends on what works with his lenses. Thank you.

Henry Richardson said:

A buddy of mine has a Nikon N8008 (F-801) and several lenses that he bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I think he has a 35mm f1.4 and several other lenses (some AF, some MF). He is just now at this very late date starting to think about getting a DSLR. I don't know much about Nikon so I hope someone here can help him. Which Nikon bodies (current and recent past) will allow the use of his old Nikon AF and MF lenses? Will the D5100 and D5200 be okay? The D7000 and D7100? The D600 and D610? He is on a bit of budget, but has some flexibility. I think he would prefer to keep it at the cheaper end, but it depends on what works with his lenses. Thank you.

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Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

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The D5xxx series cameras will NOT meter or AF old lenses.

the D7xxx and D6xx series cameras will work with the old lenses.

If he doesn't want to spend a lot of money, he should get a used D200 or D300. Both are built like tanks and will meter and AF his old lenses. The D200 will be under $400, and the D300 will be under $600 for lightly used and excellent condition bodies. Both are excellent cameras

Check out www.KEH.com

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Take anything coming from the guy with a grain of salt (a boulder, sometimes), but this table is quite helpful:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

So, it's not really as simple as the other poster (fucile) put it.

Henry Richardson said:

A buddy of mine has a Nikon N8008 (F-801) and several lenses that he bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I think he has a 35mm f1.4 and several other lenses (some AF, some MF). He is just now at this very late date starting to think about getting a DSLR. I don't know much about Nikon so I hope someone here can help him. Which Nikon bodies (current and recent past) will allow the use of his old Nikon AF and MF lenses? Will the D5100 and D5200 be okay? The D7000 and D7100? The D600 and D610? He is on a bit of budget, but has some flexibility. I think he would prefer to keep it at the cheaper end, but it depends on what works with his lenses. Thank you.

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AF lenses won't autofocus and AI lenses won't meter on a D5100 or D5200.

The D7000, D7100 and D300s will work properly with old AF and MF lenses but, since they're crop-sensor cameras, the field of view will be tighter than they are on a film camera. With FX cameras like the D600 or D610, the lenses will work and the fields of view will be the same as they were with film.

While it's cool to be able to use old lenses, many of the old film lenses are not very good on digital.

Henry Richardson said:

A buddy of mine has a Nikon N8008 (F-801) and several lenses that he bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I think he has a 35mm f1.4 and several other lenses (some AF, some MF). He is just now at this very late date starting to think about getting a DSLR. I don't know much about Nikon so I hope someone here can help him. Which Nikon bodies (current and recent past) will allow the use of his old Nikon AF and MF lenses? Will the D5100 and D5200 be okay? The D7000 and D7100? The D600 and D610? He is on a bit of budget, but has some flexibility. I think he would prefer to keep it at the cheaper end, but it depends on what works with his lenses. Thank you.

--
Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

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To elaborate newbrain's answer (and answer your specific question a bit more specifically):

Any of the cameras you've listed will allow you to use AI/AI-S lenses. If the lenses are older than this (pre-AI manual focus lenses), they will need to have been AI-converted. So it depends on just how old that 35 f/1.4 is.

However, since pre-AI lenses won't mount on a N8008, it's fairly safe to say that these lenses are all AI and later. So they will mount and work on any Nikon dSLR.

However...

On a D5100 or D5200, these lenses (the AI/AI-S MF lenses) will not meter. Not only will they be manual focus, they will be manual everything.

On the D7xxx and D6x0 cameras, these lenses will meter, though they will not (obviously) autofocus.

(Side note: on the D90, the direct predecessor to the D7000, the will not meter, wither).

I have not tried it extensively, but some people complain about MF lenses onf DX cameras, saying the viewfinder is too small and manually focusing is difficult.

I have several older MF lenses and use them on my d600 without problems.

For the AF lenses: the 5100 and 5200 lack auto-focus motors in the body, so AF will not work on older AF lenses (AF-D). Only AF-S lenses will autofocus on these cameras.

The D7xxx and D6x0 have AF motors, so any AF lens will work on these cameras.

paulski66 said:

Henry Richardson said:

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To elaborate newbrain's answer (and answer your specific question a bit more specifically):

[...]

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My laziness shows...

As another piece of advice for the OP, be sure to investigate if the lenses owned by your friend are really worth the hassle. Some old lenses are extremely capable, even with today's DSLRs, others are not that good.

Sometimes you might be better off with a carefully selected camera+lens kit, than with a bunch of old glass on a slightly better body.

I just want to underline once again what paulski said: If some of the lenses are AF (not AF-S), they will not focus on a 3xxx or 5xxxx class body, and focusing manually with their small (pentamirror) viewfinder is going to be an uphill struggle (been there, done that very shortly before giving up).

newbrain said:

Take anything coming from the guy with a grain of salt (a boulder, sometimes), but this table is quite helpful:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

So, it's not really as simple as the other poster (fucile) put it.

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Thank you! I sent him that link.

I sent him the info all of you provided. Thank you! I suggested he might look for a used D300/D300s. Price looks pretty good and I know it is a great camera. I still have my Sony A700 (don't use it much anymore since I have moved on to m4/3) and it has the same 12mp Sony sensor. Nikon and Sony do a bit differently with the sensor, but I always was quite satisfied with it. Also, I know my buddy sort of prefers somewhat bigger, solid bodies more like his N8008 so he should feel right at home holding the D300. We'll see if he decides to go for that body or something else. Thanks again to everyone!

Henry Richardson

Henry Richardson said:

I sent him the info all of you provided. Thank you! I suggested he might look for a used D300/D300s. Price looks pretty good and I know it is a great camera. I still have my Sony A700 (don't use it much anymore since I have moved on to m4/3) and it has the same 12mp Sony sensor. Nikon and Sony do a bit differently with the sensor, but I always was quite satisfied with it. Also, I know my buddy sort of prefers somewhat bigger, solid bodies more like his N8008 so he should feel right at home holding the D300. We'll see if he decides to go for that body or something else. Thanks again to everyone!

Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

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I'd suggest your friend also look into the D700. It's similar to the D300/D300S, but less noisy (even at lower ISOs), and it will keep the original FOV of his old lenses.

Julie

windsprite said:

I'd suggest your friend also look into the D700. It's similar to the D300/D300S, but less noisy (even at lower ISOs), and it will keep the original FOV of his old lenses.

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Yes, I will mention it to him because I think if he was willing to spend the money he would like it a lot. I checked and used they are $1500+, but I don't think he wants to spend that much money. The D300 goes for about $600 used. He doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry so he can mull it over.


Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com