General MF lens discussion

perryge wrote in post #7378060
Yeah obviously the nice thing about nikon bodies is they can do the autoaperture on those lenses. Does that only work with AIS lenses, or will my AI 105 2.5 (coming tomorrow) have an auto aperture on a Nikon body too?

I say this because if I amass a nice enough collection of these Nikon lenses, I might have the weakest (but still sufficient) excuse in the world to treat myself to a D700 .

the ai will too (on everything from the D300 and newer) It has to be ai, ai-s or ai'd (after the fact) in order to be used on the cameras though.

Sweet...autoaperture is crucial, if I have that, then I can totally use MF primes for serious work, and without an adapter too - do they have AF confirm? Or is there a focusing screen for the D700 similar to the Ee-S for the 5D?

perryge wrote in post #7378060
Y
I notice that all your ai lenses are converted Permie, is that for aperture? And is the 200 f/4 an exception? Plans to convert?

my converted lenses weren't ai or ais (the 200 is an ai). In order to mount (w/o breaking a part off the camera) on the new cameras the nikon lenses have to be ai, ais or a converted (ai'd).

There's a person on FM who does it for the non-ai lenses for $35 I believe...I love my converted lenses too...some very nice IQ there.

there is AF confirm..there's also something on the bottom of the screen that looks like

>0<

if you need to turn your lens to the right to get it to focus

> will show

if you need to turn your lens to the left for focus

< will show

and if you are in focus

0 will show. It's super easy for fine tuning.

WOW that's cool. So you set the aperture on the lens, but you focus wide open, shoot, and not worry because it stops down automatically when you shoot? Basically the workflow is just like using an AF lens but without the AF?

perryge wrote in post #7378101
WOW that's cool. So you set the aperture on the lens, but you focus wide open, shoot, and not worry because it stops down automatically when you shoot? Basically the workflow is just like using an AF lens but without the AF?

exactly...you treat it just like an AF lens but you MF.

The camera has a function where you tell your camera what MF lens you are using (you can save 9 of these in memory) and then when you are using an MF lens, you make sure to dial in the correct lens (like my 35 1.4 is #3 in my saved functions) and then it will meter properly and you don't have to do anything else.

Permagrin wrote in post #7378113
exactly...you treat it just like an AF lens but you MF.

The camera has a function where you tell your camera what MF lens you are using (you can save 9 of these in memory) and then when you are using an MF lens, you make sure to dial in the correct lens (like my 35 1.4 is #3 in my saved functions) and then it will meter properly and you don't have to do anything else.

SO COOL.

Canon's system is great because it's easiest to adapt various mounts to it, but Nikon has such a wonderful selection of manual focus lenses themselves...ooh.

*flocks to local craigslist in search of cheap D700*

perryge wrote in post #7378153


SO COOL.

Canon's system is great because it's easiest to adapt various mounts to it, but Nikon has such a wonderful selection of manual focus lenses themselves...ooh.

*flocks to local craigslist in search of cheap D700*

If you leave for the dark side, can I have your MkIII?

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #7378165
If you leave for the dark side, can I have your MkIII?

No.

I'm not going anywhere - my MF stuff is for fun, but it takes place almost exclusively outside of my main/serious photography. It's nice to get out of the Canon bubble and into the rest of the photographic world sometimes, and the 85L is keeping me firmly where I am.

Permagrin wrote in post #7378167

Having said that, if I win the lottery, I'm buying a D700/D3/D3x system in a heartbeat to go alongside my Canon system. You're a bad influence, Permie.

perryge wrote in post #7378199
No. I'm not going anywhere - my MF stuff is for fun, but it takes place almost exclusively outside of my main/serious photography. It's nice to get out of the Canon bubble and into the rest of the photographic world sometimes, and the 85L is keeping me firmly where I am.

Having said that, if I win the lottery, I'm buying a D700/D3/D3x system in a heartbeat to go alongside my Canon system.

Oh, ok...

If you win the lottery can I have enough to buy my own MkIII?

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #7378207
Oh, ok...

If you win the lottery can I have enough to buy my own MkIII?

Sure, but I'm in Canada, so after taxes we'll have like 10 bucks to spend.

Hey wait a minute, does somebody have the Mark III itch?

It's another thing that's awesome about MF lenses - have the lens buying itch? One of these gives cheap relief! Price-wise, being addicted to MF glass is like being addicted to cigarettes, which is better than being addicted to L glass, which is like being addicted to cocaine.

Given the crop factor eliminating edge resolution and the increased Depth of Field on crop bods, shooting one click down from wide open (one teles, e.g, 4 on a F2.8, 5.6 on F4/4.5) is really all I need to get great sharpness from Nikkors...2 clicks down from wide open on the 50 is all I need to get great results (2.8 on the F1.4)....and at those appertures the VF is still very bright and easy to focus on the Canon...

perryge wrote in post #7378199
You're a bad influence, Permie.

There is a reason I'm known as the High Priestess of TMS (therapeutic money spending) Perry

kitacanon wrote in post #7378328
Given the crop factor eliminating edge resolution and the increased Depth of Field on crop bods, shooting one click down from wide open (one teles, e.g, 4 on a F2.8, 5.6 on F4/4.5) is really all I need to get great sharpness from Nikkors...2 clicks down from wide open on the 50 is all I need to get great results (2.8 on the F1.4)....and at those appertures the VF is still very bright and easy to focus on the Canon...

I'm impressed. I don't know that I would have gone that route when I was shooting canon. Just because it intimidated me.