Old lenses, new camera

[480sparky]

No-one can of course guarantee that the old lenses will perform very well on your camera

One thing is the focussing screen.

Another thing is the automatic functions of your camera. They will only work in total if you put a chip into them. How?

Ask here: What the Nerds Do

But you can always go for the real thing and get a used D500 for cheap.

She has a great focussing screen and her automatics are much more forgiving.

It is a good idea to buy the D500 anyway. She is a great UPGRADE from most FX bodies even. The used ones on eBay.com are dirt cheap. If you are on a budget, get a used D600 for half the price. FX, more character, but a lot more training in the manual focus area.

All the best.

See you soon.

Frank

What is 'work in total'?

No chip needed. Just dial in the lenses used into the non-CPU bank.

 

[Braineack]

Frank's a troll.

 

[MVPernula]

What you want is AI or automatic indexing lenses. There can be problems with some pre-AI lenses so, to be safe, avoid those. Also you can use any of the AF lenses. But manual lenses should be AI.

I'm not quite sure I follow.. My knowledge about cameras and lenses isn't very impressive I'm afriad.
Think of me as a novice. I studied a bit of photography before but that was years ago.

Heya!

I recently got my D7100 and I love it.
Combined with my 50mm lens it does the trick to say the least.

However, I feel like I lack variation, more lenses would be great.
My grandfather was also into photography, before he passed away he gave me his old camera; A 'Chinon CM-3' to be precise, and three lenses of the same brand. All in mint condition, except the house that has been through alot since he bought it back in -79.

The lenses are:

• 55mm
• 135mm
• 28mm

I would LOVE to be able to use these. I am however lacking knowledge about lens converters or if there even exist converters for such old models translated to my new D7100, or well, more recent at least.
Am I pushing my luck believing I can use these lenses on the D7100?
Do you need any other specs other then the old camera and the new to figure this out?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

They would work on another system, but not well at all with your 7100.

you would also quickly come to terms that manual focus and aperture control on a modern camera is not fun.

Alright I see, and I can kind of imagine that's a hassle.
Which system would they work on?

Heya!

I recently got my D7100 and I love it.
Combined with my 50mm lens it does the trick to say the least.

However, I feel like I lack variation, more lenses would be great.
My grandfather was also into photography, before he passed away he gave me his old camera; A 'Chinon CM-3' to be precise, and three lenses of the same brand. All in mint condition, except the house that has been through alot since he bought it back in -79.

The lenses are:

• 55mm
• 135mm
• 28mm

I would LOVE to be able to use these. I am however lacking knowledge about lens converters or if there even exist converters for such old models translated to my new D7100, or well, more recent at least.
Am I pushing my luck believing I can use these lenses on the D7100?
Do you need any other specs other then the old camera and the new to figure this out?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Because Registration is 37.5 mm on Nikon and over 45 mm on M42 it should be easy to find mechanical adapters for your grandpa lenses.

However. The viewfinder of the D7100 is not made for manual focussing. You probably need a replacement focussing screen at least.

Replacement focusing screen? Like what?

 

[Frank F.]

Frank's a troll.

I just do my research and know what I am talking about. No guesswork

 

[Frank F.]

What you want is AI or automatic indexing lenses. There can be problems with some pre-AI lenses so, to be safe, avoid those. Also you can use any of the AF lenses. But manual lenses should be AI.

I'm not quite sure I follow.. My knowledge about cameras and lenses isn't very impressive I'm afriad.
Think of me as a novice. I studied a bit of photography before but that was years ago.

Heya!

I recently got my D7100 and I love it.
Combined with my 50mm lens it does the trick to say the least.

However, I feel like I lack variation, more lenses would be great.
My grandfather was also into photography, before he passed away he gave me his old camera; A 'Chinon CM-3' to be precise, and three lenses of the same brand. All in mint condition, except the house that has been through alot since he bought it back in -79.

The lenses are:

• 55mm
• 135mm
• 28mm

I would LOVE to be able to use these. I am however lacking knowledge about lens converters or if there even exist converters for such old models translated to my new D7100, or well, more recent at least.
Am I pushing my luck believing I can use these lenses on the D7100?
Do you need any other specs other then the old camera and the new to figure this out?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

They would work on another system, but not well at all with your 7100.

you would also quickly come to terms that manual focus and aperture control on a modern camera is not fun.

Alright I see, and I can kind of imagine that's a hassle.
Which system would they work on?

Heya!

I recently got my D7100 and I love it.
Combined with my 50mm lens it does the trick to say the least.

However, I feel like I lack variation, more lenses would be great.
My grandfather was also into photography, before he passed away he gave me his old camera; A 'Chinon CM-3' to be precise, and three lenses of the same brand. All in mint condition, except the house that has been through alot since he bought it back in -79.

The lenses are:

• 55mm
• 135mm
• 28mm

I would LOVE to be able to use these. I am however lacking knowledge about lens converters or if there even exist converters for such old models translated to my new D7100, or well, more recent at least.
Am I pushing my luck believing I can use these lenses on the D7100?
Do you need any other specs other then the old camera and the new to figure this out?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Because Registration is 37.5 mm on Nikon and over 45 mm on M42 it should be easy to find mechanical adapters for your grandpa lenses.

However. The viewfinder of the D7100 is not made for manual focussing. You probably need a replacement focussing screen at least.

Replacement focusing screen? Like what?

NIKON D7000/D7100 Focusing Screen Installation Instruction

I had replacement screens on both of my D70ies to be able to use Manual Focus glass.

At the time a company called "Katzeye" made the best, but they are out of business.

I wish there was a focussing screen as good as the D500/F6 screen for every Nikon and I sure hope the F6 screen will also be installed on the D850.

The lenses from your grandpa seem worth the fuzz esp the 55mm

 

[Frank F.]

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/chinon/cm-3/chinon_cm-3.pdf

This is the manual of the grandpa camera

 

[Frank F.]

Being a Pentax K-mount type system, you'd be better off forgoing the expense of adapters and buying E-series lenses.

As you can read in the manual the camera is a M42 screw mount. How did you get the idea it could be K Mount. RTFM!!!

 

[Frank F.]

No-one can of course guarantee that the old lenses will perform very well on your camera

One thing is the focussing screen.

Another thing is the automatic functions of your camera. They will only work in total if you put a chip into them. How?

Ask here: What the Nerds Do

But you can always go for the real thing and get a used D500 for cheap.

She has a great focussing screen and her automatics are much more forgiving.

It is a good idea to buy the D500 anyway. She is a great UPGRADE from most FX bodies even. The used ones on eBay.com are dirt cheap. If you are on a budget, get a used D600 for half the price. FX, more character, but a lot more training in the manual focus area.

All the best.

See you soon.

Frank

What is 'work in total'?

No chip needed. Just dial in the lenses used into the non-CPU bank.

Yes you can dial in the parameters.

Yes you can choose lenses from the menu every time you change the manual focus lenses.

Much more comfortable is to put a chip into them to turn Ai and Ai-S into Ai-P, meaning the lens is fully recognized and the EXIF data are correctly written.

But in the case of M42 I am not even sure that the camera is able to set the aperture right.

General remark: of course every lens can be used on every camera that allows full manual settings, even if you do not attach the lens to the camera at all.

You can always go to full manual mode and choose time and aperture and ISO to your liking.

The only parameter that is really important is that the optical system projects an image onto your picture recording area.

 

[Frank F.]

I had a closer look at the adapters.

There are two kinds. One is purely mechanical attaching the M42 screw mount to the Nikon F Mount. These are very cheap but do not allow for infinity focus on most lenses.

The others are a tad more expensive but feature an optical element that allows for most lenses to focus to infinity.

On the adapters I found so far there is no way to set the aperture from the camera side so the camera can never know which aperture is set and so it makes no sense to dial the lens into the manual lens database in your camera. Also a chip would only make sense to help with the EXIF data in your files.

Best way to start seems to buy this adapter:
Amazon

And then see how you cope with the existing focussing screen and "green dot" method

 

[Braineack]

Frank's a troll.

I just do my research and know what I am talking about. No guesswork

you suggested someone asking about some old lenses they acquired, purchase a d500. you also suggested they were dirt cheap on ebay, and that they are an upgrade to an FX body. and that you could add a chip to these lenses to get "automatic functions"*. 1. that's bad advice. 2. wrong and wrong and wrong.

troll status achieved.


you are correct about the adapters, those cheap ones will not allow for infinity focus, so best the OP could use these lenses are really crummy macro lenses with a narrow focus window. The infinity focus adapter you linked on ebay is going to have the optics of fine piece of plastic soda bottle.

again, I will restate this: trying to adapt these lenses on a Nikon is a futile exercise. They will work well, however, on a different body like a Canon or Pentax.

my advice: Keep the lenses are decoration and a reminder of your Grandfather, Buy a cheap Canon or Pentax body w/cheap adapter to mount them, or sell them for a few dollars.



*one does not simply just put a dandelion chip into a lens willy-nilly.

 

[fmw]

Not quite sure I follow.. My knowledge about cameras and lenses isn't very impressive I'm afriad.
Think of me as a novice. I studied a bit of photography before but that was years ago.

Not general photographic information. It relates to Nikon lenses. Don't use lenses that do not have the AI feature. If you don't understand which they are, ask the seller.[/QUOTE]

 

[Derrel]

SNIP.... The infinity focus adapter you linked on ebay is going to have the optics of fine piece of plastic soda bottle.

again, I will restate this: trying to adapt these lenses on a Nikon is a futile exercise. They will work well, however, on a different body like a Canon or Pentax.

my advice: Keep the lenses are decoration and a reminder of your Grandfather, Buy a cheap Canon or Pentax body w/cheap adapter to mount them, or sell them for a few dollars.

EXACTLY right....these eBay adapters with glass elements to achieve infinity focus are terrible. I bought a couple...ugh! The 28,55,and 135 lenses are totgether probably worth $100 total at pawnship prices, but priceless reminders of Grandpa. Trying to adapt these to a modern, digital Nikon is a bad idea.

 

[Frank F.]

46.50 mm is the flange focal distance of the Nikon F bayonet. I am in fact in error here. How did I come across the idea it was 37.50 mm? I was plain wrong.

My bad.

Throw dirt at me.

45.46 mm is the ffd of M42 as well as Pentax K. So there is more than one millimeter missing. The ffd of Nikon being too long again. To mount these lenses some mayor nerdy adaptation is needed to shorten the back end of the lenses, replacing the bayonet and I do not know if this is worth the fuzz.

Frank

 

[Frank F.]

Frank's a troll.

I just do my research and know what I am talking about. No guesswork

you suggested someone asking about some old lenses they acquired, purchase a d500. you also suggested they were dirt cheap on ebay, and that they are an upgrade to an FX body. and that you could add a chip to these lenses to get "automatic functions"*. 1. that's bad advice. 2. wrong and wrong and wrong.

troll status achieved.


you are correct about the adapters, those cheap ones will not allow for infinity focus, so best the OP could use these lenses are really crummy macro lenses with a narrow focus window. The infinity focus adapter you linked on ebay is going to have the optics of fine piece of plastic soda bottle.

again, I will restate this: trying to adapt these lenses on a Nikon is a futile exercise. They will work well, however, on a different body like a Canon or Pentax.

my advice: Keep the lenses are decoration and a reminder of your Grandfather, Buy a cheap Canon or Pentax body w/cheap adapter to mount them, or sell them for a few dollars.



*one does not simply just put a dandelion chip into a lens willy-nilly.

D600 is dirt cheap on eBay. D500 is still double the price of a D600.

D600 can be had for 650 to 750 Euros and these are a real bargain.

Used D500 are still 1400 plus Euros.

 

[Frank F.]

M42 Lens Aperture Control on Modern DSLRs: 3 Steps