Novoflex adapter ?

[wibban]

Nikon to GF1....is that a good choice ?

 

[BJN]

Search for Novoflex F-mount adapter tales. Their adapter is expensive and poorly engineered. The aperture control ring doesn't have indexing and has a very short throw, so you're working blind with respect to the actual aperture and the adjustments are difficult to control. Worse, the internal diameter of the adapter is too small and it hits baffle tabs on several Nikon lenses. Do you want to grind off tabs from your lenses to use them with the adapter?

I bought and returned a Novoflex adapter. I have an inexpensive F-mount adapter from Hong Kong. It doesn't have an aperture control, but it works well with non-G lenses.

--
BJ Nicholls
SLC, UT

 

[Fredrik Glckner]

This one is cheap, and works well. No aperture control on newer lenses, though.

http://m43photo.blogspot.com/2010/02/nikon-to-m43-adapter.html

 

[Ed Overstreet]

Good news/slightly bad news. The good news is that you're wrong, the Novoflex adapter DOES give you aperture adjustments. The bad news is that you didn't know this because the crummy instructions it comes with don't tell you this, though there's a hint in them if you pay close attention and play a little.

The directions mention that you have to rotate the blue ring on the adapter all the way clockwise when using it with a Nikon lens. It doesn't say why. Unless you do this, the manual aperture ring on your Nikon lens (if it has one) won't function correctly, you won't get the full aperture range. If you rotate the blue ring fully clockwise, you will.

You can use the adapter with any Nikon G (aperture-ring-less) or equivalent Nikon mount lens. However you must use the blue ring to adjust the aperture with those lenses; the ring is continuous (no stops on it) so you won't know what aperture you're getting, but the analog manual metering display and the histogram will correctly tell you when you've set it "right" for the shutter speed and ISO you're using in the particular scene. Effectively the blue ring functions as a continuous-aperture-adjustment ring, not like the click-stop rings those of us with older Nikon lenses know and love.

With the adapter you can only use Manual and Aperture-priority Metering Modes on your camera. Do pay attention to the notice in the instruction that you have to set the custom setting on the camera for "shoot w/o lens" set for On, not to Off. Otherwise the camera won't recognize the lens and adapter and it won't function.

Novoflex should get someone to rewrite their instruction sheet. For $300 Canadian I think they owe that to their customers (and to themselves, for that matter ...), especially since it's not exactly high-tech (no glass in it, for example, and no click-stops on the blue ring). Otherwise, it's a great product and it works with every Nikon-mount lens I own. The instructions don't mention you lose auto-focus and also any image-stabilization in the lens when you use the adapter, but I guess Novoflex assumed that would be obvious to buyers. Maybe they thought the use of that blue ring on the adapter would be obvious too, but it isn't (or wasn't to me until I reread the directions and started playing with the ring ...)

Enjoy. It's fun. With my Lumix GF1 and GH1 I can get efffectively a 100mm f:1.4, a 170mm f:1.8, a 210mm f:2.8 2:1 micro, a 600mm f:4 and a 300-1000mm zoom lens with the Nikon and Sigma lenses I already own, albeit only with manual focus and no OIS. All with the purchase of a $300 adapter ring. Great stuff!

BTW if you have a spotting scope for which you can get a T-mount camera adapter (e.g., the great Leica spotting scope), get a T-to-MFT ring and you can attach your Lumix G-series or Olympus MTF camera and you'll get a humungous telephoto lens that is a LOT easier to work with than trying to balance the scope on a tripod with a honking-great-big SLR stuck on the end! The tripod mounts on spotting scopes are placed at the centre-of-gravity when using an eyepiece; an SLR throws the centre of gravity way the heck to the back of the rig making it very hard to keep from drifting during exposure with even the tightest and strongest tripod head ... An MFT camera is much lighter and will cause less of an imbalance problem, also the live-view histogram all the Lumix cameras have (not available on any SLR I've ever owned) makes getting correct exposures a snap, first time.

--
Ed Overstreet

 

[dbledsoe]

Ed,

An excellent and very informative post. Thank you for sharing some great info!

Don
--
'The trouble with normal is it always gets worse.'
Bruce Cockburn

 

[Peter Wall]

Thanks for the instructions but I believe I might have a defective adapter or I dont know how to install it. My GF1 says "Please check that the lens is attached correctly" when I press the shutter release button. Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Miserere]

I have the Pentax K mount Novoflex adapter and it works just like Ed said. I've had no problems with mine and find it to be very well built, but a bit pricey. At least the tolerances are tight as there is no wiggle once everything is attached. I would have preferred a longer throw for the blue ring (maybe 50% more) but I've used it mostly with lenses that have aperture rings, so it wasn't an issue.

Cheers,

--M.

--

My blog/website about Photography:
http://EnticingTheLight.com
WSSA Member #249

 

[Miserere]

You probably have to tell the camera to let you take pictures without a lens on. Read the manual or menu dive; it's in there somewhere.

Cheers,

--M.

--

My blog/website about Photography:
http://EnticingTheLight.com
WSSA Member #249

 

[saghost]

Thanks for the instructions but I believe I might have a defective adapter or I dont know how to install it. My GF1 says "Please check that the lens is attached correctly" when I press the shutter release button. Please help. Thanks in advance.

We've discussed this on the forum a number of times - there's a setting in the setup menu called shoot w/o lens - you have to enable that to shoot with anything except 4/3 and u4/3 CPU lenses.
Walter

 

[guyv]

Rayqual is coming up with adapters with aperture rings that have a patented demultiplication for Nikon, Pentax, Minolta and Sony:
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20100308_353444.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fdocs%2Fnews%2F20100308_353444.html&sl=auto&tl=en

Search for Novoflex F-mount adapter tales. Their adapter is expensive and poorly engineered. The aperture control ring doesn't have indexing and has a very short throw, so you're working blind with respect to the actual aperture and the adjustments are difficult to control. Worse, the internal diameter of the adapter is too small and it hits baffle tabs on several Nikon lenses. Do you want to grind off tabs from your lenses to use them with the adapter?

I bought and returned a Novoflex adapter. I have an inexpensive F-mount adapter from Hong Kong. It doesn't have an aperture control, but it works well with non-G lenses.

--
BJ Nicholls
SLC, UT

 

[Martín Crespo]

for video is great in the GH1, I guess it's no so comfortable to focus manually in the GF1

Nikon to GF1....is that a good choice ?

--
Martín Miguel Crespo
http://www.ISO1600.com
http://www.MartinCrespo.net

 

[guyv]

In June:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.fotoactualidad.com/2010/03/nuevos-adaptadores-rayqual-para-el.html&ei=8gy0S6HZBoP-8Ab8vYCHAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCoQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPDA-M4%2B/%2B3%2Brayqual%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Djbq%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial

Rayqual is coming up with adapters with aperture rings that have a patented demultiplication for Nikon, Pentax, Minolta and Sony:
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20100308_353444.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fdocs%2Fnews%2F20100308_353444.html&sl=auto&tl=en

Search for Novoflex F-mount adapter tales. Their adapter is expensive and poorly engineered. The aperture control ring doesn't have indexing and has a very short throw, so you're working blind with respect to the actual aperture and the adjustments are difficult to control. Worse, the internal diameter of the adapter is too small and it hits baffle tabs on several Nikon lenses. Do you want to grind off tabs from your lenses to use them with the adapter?

I bought and returned a Novoflex adapter. I have an inexpensive F-mount adapter from Hong Kong. It doesn't have an aperture control, but it works well with non-G lenses.

--
BJ Nicholls
SLC, UT