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Nikon film camera with AF, auto exposure, and a manual advance lever
- Thread starter tammons
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neilt3
Senior Member
As far as I know the only auto focus camera with a manual film advance lever that takes regular easily available auto focus lenses is the Minolta 9000AF .
https://www.9000.org/
The only Nikon auto focus camera that allowed this is the Nikon F3 AF .
This is an F mount Nikon with auto exposure and a manual film advance lever .
https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/f3afbasic/index.htm
However only a few lenses were made that were autofocus , 2 or 3 , I think .
The later AF lenses that you use on conventional AF bodies are only manual focus on it .
So essentially it's a manual focus camera ( if you can find one ) that can use a couple of rare AF lenses . other than that it's just a manual focus collectable camera .
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https://www.9000.org/
The only Nikon auto focus camera that allowed this is the Nikon F3 AF .
This is an F mount Nikon with auto exposure and a manual film advance lever .
https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/f3afbasic/index.htm
However only a few lenses were made that were autofocus , 2 or 3 , I think .
The later AF lenses that you use on conventional AF bodies are only manual focus on it .
So essentially it's a manual focus camera ( if you can find one ) that can use a couple of rare AF lenses . other than that it's just a manual focus collectable camera .
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I don't think that Nikon ever made one of those.
There was a special version of the F3 called F3 AF(!) but that only worked in AF with two specifically designed for it lenses.
( I wrote the above as Neilt3 posted...)
There was a special version of the F3 called F3 AF(!) but that only worked in AF with two specifically designed for it lenses.
( I wrote the above as Neilt3 posted...)
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neilt3
Senior Member
Just to add on my original answer .
You want to use all modern Nikon F lenses on a film camera ?
Not going to happen .
Some modern F mount lens , both Nikon and third party use an electronic aperture like Canon .
There are no film cameras that can operate this aperture mechanism , and even earlier digital SLRs can't operate it .
So although you would retain autofocus on a conventional AF SLR ( not the F3 AF ) you will have no aperture control and would be shooting wide open .
Other lenses ( G lenses ) don't even have an aperture control ring .
So on earlier AF and all MF bodies you can't control the aperture .
Later cameras have a dual on the camera body to alter aperture , earlier models you changed it on the lens .
So with some early bodies to get the aperture to stop down you would have to be shooting in an auto / programme mode or shutter priority.
Aperture priority and manual mode are not available .
On MF bodies bodies it gets worse . On some models when you press the shutter release button the lens gets stopped down to the selected aperture , and as you can't select one , it ends up on the smallest aperture of the lens .
Go onto Ken Rockwell's site and look up his lens compatibility chart .
It tells you what functions of what lens you can and can't make use of on what bodies .
Features such as VR isn't fully backward compatible either , but at least you can leave that switched off and use it without .
Make sure you do switch it off on incompatible bodies or you'll drain the battery quickly .
The VR motors power up but don't function correctly on some cameras . So apart from possibly making things worse , use up the cameras battery .
A lot of Nikon fanboys make a big deal of how compatible Nikon lenses and bodies are as if any lens can be used on any body and it's utter nonsense .
Fitting a lens on a body is only part of the story .
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It's basically that you can use old lenses on new Nikon bodies (pre-ai need to be modified) but you can't use new lenses on old bodies.
Overrank
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Its a bit of an odd request to start off with, it’s like asking which electric cars still have trafficators ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafficators ) , but moving on…
I can’t speak for others but I think it would be odd for anyone to be claiming compatibility with lenses that will be released in the future
( although I think the F4 was released before any AF-S lenses, and is compatible with them) There are more incompatibilities than you’ve listed, particularly around metering. If you want to be compatible (including matrix metering) with most Nikon lenses up until around 2005 then buy an F4, or a pre-AI converted F6.
The F100 wont function properly with G lenses?
F100 is 100% compatible with G lenses.
neilt3
Senior Member
The F100 will work fine with "G" lenses , the aperture value can be controlled via the camera body .
It won't work with "E" lenses as no film camera can control the electronic apertures.
Almost all Nikon F lenses are stopped down by the camera body via a mechanical lever between the camera and lens .
"E" lenses don't have this lever and the lens has a motor in the lens instead to move it .
Look at the mounts on your lenses , if they all have a bar sticking out of them , your fine . If not , it's an E lens and you'll have no aperture control .
Don't confuse "E" lenses with the manual focus "Series E" lenses .
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neilt3
Senior Member
Do all "G" lenses have a mechanical linkage for aperture control ?
Are non of the "E" lenses designated a G lens ?
neilt3
Senior Member
Some folk I personally know , and many folk on the forums seem ignorant on the difference between forward and backward compatibility.
I don't have a huge amount of Nikon gear , MF or AF , but the lenses I have are MF , AF and AF-D so I can use any of my lenses on any of my bodies with certain obvious limitations .
The only lens I have that isn't fully backward compatible is 18-70mm DX lens .
All G lenses have a mechanical linkage for the aperture. E lenses are a different designation and have electronic aperture (no linkage).
As was mentioned there are also the "Series E" lenses which are from the late '70's / early '80's. These are manual focus with no electronics, and you can use them on the F100 if you wish!
neilt3
Senior Member
I've come several people that are convinced that you can use a y lens on any body and everything works correctly.I can’t speak for others but I think it would be odd for anyone to be claiming compatibility with lenses that will be released in the future
You can only assume they realise that an AF lens will not AF on a MF body , but you've got to wonder !
The F4 is one of the cameras I have for it's versatility.
The lack of metering on some bodies is annoying.
The main Nikon bodies I use are an F3 , an FE , F4 , F100 and F80 .
The F80 would be a nice camera to use more along with small prime's . Most of mine are MF , but it won't meter with them .
I don't understand why some of Nikon's cameras won't meter with some lenses , other than Nikon stitching you up .
I'm mostly a Minolta (MF & AF) shooter along with Canon EF , and anything I put on my Minolta gears meters just fine .
I can even put my friends Nikon 500mm lenses on my Minolta cameras via a glassless adapter and it works fine .
Manual focus and aperture control , obviously, no infinity focus , but meters and exposes perfectly in aperture priority or manual .
I can put bellows on the camera , a bellows lens and it still works great , even TTL flash control .
I can't say if the Canon gears behaves the same as I haven't checked .
But certainly all the Canon EF lenses I know off are fully backward and forward compatible.
neilt3
Senior Member
Thank's , I wasn't sure if they were clearly differentiated.
Judging by questions on the forum if a certain third party lens was compatible on film bodies , they don't seem to make it clear that their lenses have the electronic aperture , which has caused confusion.
Resulting in "why doesn't my lens work ?" type questions.
I have a few if the series E lenses along with the F100 , but it's the F80 I would have liked to use them on .
The small compact lenses would be a perfect match to that body whilst still allowing me to use AF lenses on it .
You can use them , but to metering , so no aperture priority mode that I usually shoot in ...
Perfect lens for the F80!
The Voigtlander lenses are fantastic too, but since they're discontinued they've become expensive and harder to find.
Voigtlander 20mm F3.5 Color Skopar SL II
Voigtlander 28mm F2.8 Color Skopar SL II
Voigtlander 40mm F2 Ultron SL II
Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO-Lanthar SL II
It would have been nice if Nikon had the "non-cpu" metering option on the F80, but I suspect that was their way of forcing people to upgrade to the F100.
There is always the option of adding a chip to the non-cpu lenses. Dandelion chip
Overrank
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For a long time I’d thought that G and AF-S were synonymous, but you can (or could) get AF-S lenses that aren’t G (e.g. AF-S 80-200mm f/2.8D - https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/80200afs.htm ). The G just means it doesn’t have an aperture ring (so you need one with aperture control on the body or use Program or Shutter priority)
The AF-P lenses also won’t work on film Nikons.
Overrank
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If it’s the lens I’m thinking of, there are two versions, one which does work on film Nikons and one which doesn’t
Overrank
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I wonder if this came from early publicity for Ai lenses, as you could still use your pre-Ai lenses the the FM, FE, F2, and with rabbit ears fitted use your Ai lenses on pre-AI bodies.I've come several people that are convinced that you can use a y lens on any body and everything works correctly.I can’t speak for others but I think it would be odd for anyone to be claiming compatibility with lenses that will be released in the future
There is that teleconverter which allows you to AF a MF lens (TC-16A - https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/teleconverter/tc16a/index.htm )You can only assume they realise that an AF lens will not AF on a MF body , but you've got to wonder !
And some bodies meter, but not quite - the F5 will meter manual focus lenses, but not matrix meter. It’s one reason as much as possible I use contemporary lenses on my Nikons (apart from 50mm f/1.8..)
I use a 50mm AF-D on mine, but then again I also use a 50mm AF-D on my FM (I’ve accumulated a few 50mm AF-Ds)
Just curious.
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