Using DX (Nikon Z) lenses on the Nikon1 CX system.. (?)

Has anyone tried using DX lenses (Nikon Z) on a Nikon1 CX camera?

I'm just wondering if there is an adaptor to buy? like a ZT1? or Viltrox or perhaps there is something to 3D print?

The reason I ask is because Lens are more expensive than the camera bodies. I eventually plan to move to a Z6III or something like that. I don't mind buying a few new lenses.

I've only got one (usable) lense which is the 18.5mm f/1.8, and not really keen to buy more of the same quality lense or something older.

I'd prefer buying newer lenses because it makes better financial sense.

Any way to do it?

Doubt it. Too small a market & flange focal distance - a corrective lens would almost certainly degrade quality.




Credit: Wikipedia

No - as Kazmarov explains. Also Z’s are focus by wire and fully electronic comms so zero way if using them even on a 3D print and correction optics.

Bit confused why you might want to mount Z(DX) when you are thinking of a Z6iii unless you are happy with the forced crop and 10 mpx - like a V1. Anyway:

Sounds like you are not interested in FX mount Nikkors on the FT1 - some good buys around. I always buy used if I can except for the Z’s - limited used market when I bought.

Depending on your budget you just might be able to get hold of a Z6 interim and sell it at not too much if a loss when you get your Z6iii. You are losing nothing in IQ but a fair bit in AF but at least you would get to use those superb Z lenses, natively

Kazmarov said:

Doubt it. Too small a market & flange focal distance - a corrective lens would almost certainly degrade quality.


Credit: Wikipedia

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Flange distances being -1mm and CX as much smaller flange diameter make it highly unlikely; It won't be just a spacer, will need some kind of optics. In the past, adapters with optics either introduced a lot of bad artifacts or it's expensive.

Richard Dutton said:

No - as Kazmarov explains. Also Z’s are focus by wire and fully electronic comms so zero way if using them even on a 3D print and correction optics.

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Ah that's bad. I'd have to dig out my electronic comms debugging tools and make up some sort of jig. Whilst having the technical skills to do it, there are other hardware hacking projects that I'm behind on.

Richard Dutton said:

Bit confused why you might want to mount Z(DX) when you are thinking of a Z6iii unless you are happy with the forced crop and 10 mpx - like a V1. Anyway:

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The J5 has been my intro to the Nikon system to see if I liked it. I tried some Canon, nah and some Panasonic, almost, but in terms of image quality even the J5 shows some promise.

Richard Dutton said:

Sounds like you are not interested in FX mount Nikkors on the FT1 - some good buys around. I always buy used if I can except for the Z’s - limited used market when I bought.

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It's just about finding a decent lense for what I want. Which is basically webcam/person filming. I'd need something around the 17-20mm range like the 18.5mm/f1.8 like I already have. I've no idea what there is for the J5 except the AF-S NIKKOR 17-35mm 1:2.8D but it's a zoom and f2.8.

Richard Dutton said:

Depending on your budget you just might be able to get hold of a Z6 interim and sell it at not too much if a loss when you get your Z6iii. You are losing nothing in IQ but a fair bit in AF but at least you would get to use those superb Z lenses, natively

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I'm thinking about it, there's not a big difference in price for the z6ii and the z6 in Japan so I'd probably just get a z6ii. But I won't be going back for a few months so I just have to play with what I have here first.

Sigma art 18-35/1.8 ? Nikon FX mount. No idea whether it will run in an FT1

Kazmarov said:

Doubt it. Too small a market & flange focal distance - a corrective lens would almost certainly degrade quality.


Credit: Wikipedia

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After testing this





After testing this, I don't agree.

Everything from my current lense collection seems to require an offset from the camera-body of about 20mm.

My theory is that a larger Z-series lense would simply require to sit at the same distance away from the body.

It seems to me that the Nikon1 series is a "cousin" to micro-four-thirds.

Look forward to the results of your experiments David.

DavidZihon said:

1. DavidZihon wrote:

Kazmarov said:

Doubt it. Too small a market & flange focal distance - a corrective lens would almost certainly degrade quality.


Credit: Wikipedia

Click to expand...

After testing this



After testing this, I don't agree.

Everything from my current lense collection seems to require an offset from the camera-body of about 20mm.

My theory is that a larger Z-series lense would simply require to sit at the same distance away from the body.

It seems to me that the Nikon1 series is a "cousin" to micro-four-thirds.

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No, the Z lenses have a registration distance 1mm less than the CX lenses meaning that Z lens would have to move into the CX body by that much assuming you want to be able to focus at infinity. The lens you show on your green adapter is an SLR lens which has a much greater registration distance because of the mirror box inherent with the design. You can adapt almost any F mount lens to the CX body with varying functionality but Z lenses are just not possible. You actually have a better chance of adapting a m4/3 lens to CX than a Z lens but you still have all the electrical issues to overcome.

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Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad
WSSA Member #450

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

DavidZihon said:

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

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What camera body will you use this with? Do you have any camera with a Z mount?

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You can see a lot just by looking.
WSSA #449

RichDitch said:

What camera body will you use this with?

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My Nikon J5 which I plan to adapt.

RichDitch said:

Do you have any camera with a Z mount?

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Not yet. Still working on it.

DavidZihon said:

RichDitch said:

What camera body will you use this with?

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My Nikon J5 which I plan to adapt.

DavidZihon said:

Do you have any camera with a Z mount?

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Not yet. Still working on it.

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Good luck, I am very curious what you discover with your experiment. I have a Meike 25mm in Z mount and it is a really nice manual lens given what I paid for it.

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Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad
WSSA Member #450

DavidZihon said:

1. DavidZihon wrote:

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

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Haven’t even looked at my Z lenses and my J5 but:

does the outer flange ( OD ) of the j5 lens mount by any chance fit into the 55 dia mouth (ID) of your manual focus, manual iris non cpu TT artisans Z lens?

you only need to get it in 1mm to recover the -1mm flange difference and so recover infinity focus.

If by extreme good fortune it did and the j5 front body ( including lens release ) didn’t get in the way, you could “free lens it” to try it out before design and print some clamping device.

interesting voyage into “extreme” lens adaptions.

btw - that lens - not too bad for the money I read - nice!

Richard Dutton said:

Haven’t even looked at my Z lenses and my J5 but:

does the outer flange ( OD ) of the j5 lens mount by any chance fit into the 55 dia mouth (ID) of your manual focus, manual iris non cpu TT artisans Z lens?

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I don't know yet. I'll update you when it arrives.

Richard Dutton said:

you only need to get it in 1mm to recover the -1mm flange difference and so recover infinity focus.

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It's my understanding that the bigger DX lense will project a bigger image than the CX sensor can collect due to the small sensor size. Sorry, I don't know how to describe this in proper Photography nomenclature.

Richard Dutton said:

If by extreme good fortune it did and the j5 front body ( including lens release ) didn’t get in the way, you could “free lens it” to try it out before design and print some clamping device.

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I have done that with other lenses in my collection. I have Canon EF, Soviet Lenses, Takamar lenses and others. Nothing that is very useable because they are mostly in the 50-80mm focal length range.

Richard Dutton said:

interesting voyage into “extreme” lens adaptions.

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Thanks.

Richard Dutton said:

btw - that lens - not too bad for the money I read - nice!

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The one I ordered was a lot less than that because it was used and lost a bit of value by the first owner.

DavidZihon said:

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

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Manual lenses like that are much easier to adapt, as you can just replace the rear mount. You can probably even save the 1mm required for infinity focus, as long as the lens's rear element isn't too large for the Nikon 1 mount.

Heritage Cameras said:

DavidZihon said:

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

Click to expand...

Manual lenses like that are much easier to adapt, as you can just replace the rear mount. You can probably even save the 1mm required for infinity focus, as long as the lens's rear element isn't too large for the Nikon 1 mount.

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Here's a few photos of my Meike 25 f/1.7 Z mount lens compared to a CX body and lens. If the Z lens mount were removed and you sourced a CX mount, with a little trimming in diameter, you may be able to make the CX mount sit flat around the slightly protruding rear lens mount of the Z lens. Attaching would either require 3 holes be drilled and tapped in the back of the Z lens or an adhesive used to attach the mount. At that point it may or may not be close to the correct distance to focus at infinity. I don't have proper tools here to do the disassembly and free-lens it to check. Of course if you go through with this, the lens will no longer fit the Z camera. The end result would be a rather large, heavy, manual lens equivalent to a 67.5mm lens on full frame, hardly worth the effort in my opinion.

I did free lens the Meike as is, and it would not focus any farther than about 6 inches from the subject, acting like a macro lens in other words. To be clear anything farther than that is a blur.




J5 and back of Meike 25mm Z mount lens




Meike Z mount




CX lens and Z lens lens mounts




Free-lens photo with Meike of back of cx lens





--
Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad
WSSA Member #450

Paul Pasco said:

Heritage Cameras said:

DavidZihon said:

I've decided to buy a TTartisan 25mm Z-Mount lense and see how I go with that.

Click to expand...

Manual lenses like that are much easier to adapt, as you can just replace the rear mount. You can probably even save the 1mm required for infinity focus, as long as the lens's rear element isn't too large for the Nikon 1 mount.

Click to expand...

Here's a few photos of my Meike 25 f/1.7 Z mount lens compared to a CX body and lens. If the Z lens mount were removed and you sourced a CX mount, with a little trimming in diameter, you may be able to make the CX mount sit flat around the slightly protruding rear lens mount of the Z lens. Attaching would either require 3 holes be drilled and tapped in the back of the Z lens or an adhesive used to attach the mount. At that point it may or may not be close to the correct distance to focus at infinity. I don't have proper tools here to do the disassembly and free-lens it to check. Of course if you go through with this, the lens will no longer fit the Z camera. The end result would be a rather large, heavy, manual lens equivalent to a 67.5mm lens on full frame, hardly worth the effort in my opinion.

I did free lens the Meike as is, and it would not focus any farther than about 6 inches from the subject, acting like a macro lens in other words. To be clear anything farther than that is a blur.


J5 and back of Meike 25mm Z mount lens

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Thanks for spending the time to investigate.



Actually I have the exact screwdriver needed in my tool collection and was able to immediately identify a spare 1mm by removing the flange on the N1.

How do I say this without sounding comedic, but "there's plenty of space in there"*.

There's even another black-plastic flange under the metal outer flange that seems to hold the sensor down. It has 3 screws holding it down but I'm not planning to investigate that right now.

One potential outcome is that if required, a certain person goes into the CAD Department and asks a favour from one of the highly skilled Technicians to design a new flange that will replace the two existing flanges.

That might require replacement of the outer four screws as they would no longer be long enough. I've seen them for sale in shops in Japan. I might have some here. It's not really today's problem.

I'm going to put it all back together for now. Thank you for the information.

This is how much room awaits under the outer flange in a J5.

DavidZihon said:

This is how much room awaits under the outer flange in a J5.

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The stuff inside is not the problem, that outer chrome rim on the body needs to go away in order for the Z mount to fit. Look at my photo again, the Z mount will not fit inside it.

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Regards, Paul
Lili's Dad
WSSA Member #450