Could I somehow use my old Solingor lenses with my new Nikon D3300 DSLR?

[bertalanp99]

Hello everyone!

One of my friends gave me a Fujica AX-5 SLR and two Solingor lenses that can be mounted to it.

(Solingor C/D Zoom + Macro, 100-500 mm, 1:5.6-7.5, 72 mm diameter and Solingor C/D Zoom + Macro, 28-200 mm, 1:3.5-5.3, 72 mm diameter)
​

I have a Nikon D3300 DSLR that I use everyday. I would like to use the old lenses with that.

As I've read on the internet, there are adaptors available to do this sort of conversion.
All I could find out is that the AX-5 has a Fucija X mount and my D3300 has a Nikon F mount. I didn't find any adaptors, but I found that there is a Fujica X to M42 adapter available. Is it possible to somehow combine two adaptors to achieve what I want?

Thank you for your answers in advance!

 

[greybeard]

Sounds like a bad idea.

 

[cgw]

Honestly? Buy some film if the old Fujica is still operable and shoot it with the lenses. Shop for old off-brand F mount manual glass if you really want to take the junk lens trip. Otherwise, just because you can adapt a lens doesn't mean you should but it's your $$$ and frustration.

 

[Derrel]

Nikon has a long flange to focal plane distance, so it needs an adpater that has glass in it, which causes image degradation. M42 to Nikon F adapters that have this glass in them are usually not all that good, performance-wise. Overall, this is a bad idea once realitites are taken into account. Manual f/stop selection and actuation, by counting clicks...Ughhh! Focusing manually through a small, pentamirror type viewfinder...more hassles. Nikon F-mount is NOT a good mount for adapting lenses to, and the d-slr type camera is worse than a mirorless type camera for adapted lens use.

Forget the old Fujica screw mount lenses on a Nikon. Like cgw says, shop for old, off-brand F-mount lenses, which are very low-priced in most cases. You WANT the automatic diaphragm actuation and instant-return diaphragm opening! You will have that with any F-mount lens. Vivitar, Soligor,Kiron, Asanuma, Quantaray, all those "old" F-mount lenses will mount right, and will be so much easier to use. There are literally tens of millions of older, low-priced F-mount lenses on the used market.

 

[bertalanp99]

Nikon has a long flange to focal plane distance, so it needs an adpater that has glass in it, which causes image degradation. M42 to Nikon F adapters that have this glass in them are usually not all that good, performance-wise. Overall, this is a bad idea once realitites are taken into account. Manual f/stop selection and actuation, by counting clicks...Ughhh! Focusing manually through a small, pentamirror type viewfinder...more hassles. Nikon F-mount is NOT a good mount for adapting lenses to, and the d-slr type camera is worse than a mirorless type camera for adapted lens use.

Forget the old Fujica screw mount lenses on a Nikon. Like cgw says, shop for old, off-brand F-mount lenses, which are very low-priced in most cases. You WANT the automatic diaphragm actuation and instant-return diaphragm opening! You will have that with any F-mount lens. Vivitar, Soligor,Kiron, Asanuma, Quantaray, all those "old" F-mount lenses will mount right, and will be so much easier to use. There are literally tens of millions of older, low-priced F-mount lenses on the used market.

Thank you for your suggestions!
I looked around for off-brand F-mount lenses online that I could get for a lower price, but I am not really sure where to look... Could you help me out with some hyperlinks?

 

[Designer]

Could you help me out with some hyperlinks?

You can start here: Camera Lenses in Compatible Brand:For Nikon, Mount:Nikon F | eBay

I got it down to "for Nikon" and "Nikon F-mount", but there are a couple hundred makes of lenses from which to choose going on from there. I would just go one-by-one until you find some you're interested in, then save those to "my eBay" for later. After you decide on which one(s) you want, go back and buy them.

You can also check out Adorama, B&H, KEH, and your local Craig's List, although I wouldn't actually buy anything from CL myself.

 

[fmw]

The Soligor lenses are famously poor in quality. Fortunately, they won't work in your Nikon.

 

[Derrel]

KEH.com is one of the larger used equipment dealers in the USA. Craigslist and e-Bay also have a lot of gear for sale, and TPF even has a Supporting Vendor site on the front FORUMS panle with a supplir of a lot of used equipment at reasonable prices.

 

[bertalanp99]

Could you help me out with some hyperlinks?

You can start here: Camera Lenses in Compatible Brand:For Nikon, Mount:Nikon F | eBay

I got it down to "for Nikon" and "Nikon F-mount", but there are a couple hundred makes of lenses from which to choose going on from there. I would just go one-by-one until you find some you're interested in, then save those to "my eBay" for later. After you decide on which one(s) you want, go back and buy them.

You can also check out Adorama, B&H, KEH, and your local Craig's List, although I wouldn't actually buy anything from CL myself.

I have found the eBay site, but I don't see why these are so low-priced? I was thinking about using the old Solingor lenses specifically because I can't afford buying new ones at the moment. But if it won't work, then I don't have a choice...

KEH.com is one of the larger used equipment dealers in the USA. Craigslist and e-Bay also have a lot of gear for sale, and TPF even has a Supporting Vendor site on the front FORUMS panle with a supplir of a lot of used equipment at reasonable prices.

I don't suppose KEH is an option for me, I live in Europe. I guess I could order it with shipping to Hungary, but it would cost as much as the lenses themselves...

 

[Designer]

I have found the eBay site, but I don't see why these are so low-priced?

They are low priced because they are old technology, and they weren't very good to begin with. I understand your wanting to use the lenses you already have, but as you see, the adapters will sometimes cost as much as the lens. Try to find a local seller so the shipping will not be expensive, and try one or two. Do some research on which lenses you might want to try.

 

[bertalanp99]

I have found the eBay site, but I don't see why these are so low-priced?

They are low priced because they are old technology, and they weren't very good to begin with. I understand your wanting to use the lenses you already have, but as you see, the adapters will sometimes cost as much as the lens. They to find a local seller so the shipping will not be expensive, and try one or two. Do some research on which lenses you might want to try.

I see. Then there really is no point :/ Thank you for your help. I'll look around!

 

[Designer]

Then there really is no point :/

Some people like to experiment to find out what certain lenses might be capable of, and there might be some good ones that are not expensive, but all the fiddling you have to do to find the adapters, is a lot of work. Continue to do your research on the lenses you have, and maybe you will find someone who will buy them from you.

 

[Derrel]

Soligor lenses were cheap when they were new, and today they are low in cost on the used market. If you fill in your location on your profile, people will have a better idea of how to respond to you. It has no location on your profile. I assumed you were in the USA. The need to use an adapter with glass in it to get the lenses to focus to the right distance behind the mount makes using m42 mount lenses on a Nikon kind of a net negative.