Old lenses, new camera

[Frank F.]

ZENITH Helios 44m (M42) to Nikon F Mount Conversion.: 15 Steps


It can be done I you love mechanical work

 

[480sparky]

...... How did I come across the idea it was 37.50 mm?..........

Same way I thought it was a K-mount camera.

 

[MVPernula]

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.

Gotcha, thanks.

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.

Yeah they have a very sentimental value to me.

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

Lol no worries, we all make mistakes!
If anything you gave me an interesting read.

...... How did I come across the idea it was 37.50 mm?..........

Same way I thought it was a K-mount camera.

^Pretty much sums up my knowledge about anything camera related

 

[MVPernula]

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.

You say "Dirt cheap"
I say "My budget x2"

 

[Designer]

 

[480sparky]

Can I install dandelion chips Nilly-Willy?

 

[Braineack]

well played, @Designer !

 

[Braineack]

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.

it still makes no sense to suggest buying a D600 to replace a D7100, when we are discussing utilizing old lenses on a D7100.

 

[Frank F.]

...... How did I come across the idea it was 37.50 mm?..........

Same way I thought it was a K-mount camera.

Sorry. Need to double check on things that seem to be so clear to me. Ashes on my head. Sorry

 

[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.

You say "Dirt cheap"
I say "My budget x2"

A new D7100 goes for 500 to 550 US$ on eBay, a used D600 can be had for 100 Dollars more.

The D7100 has the better AF system but the 24*36 recording chip of the D600 is still one of the best money can buy.

I paid €4000 for my D3 in 2008, and the D600 runs circles around her when it comes to Image Quality. It is a phantastic camera and if you should have trouble with the shutter some day, Nikon will replace it free of charge. They did so for mine after 25.000 clicks.

I only wish for a better focussing screen. But this can be replaced

 

[Braineack]

what does that have to do with old manual focus lenses?

 

[Frank F.]

what does that have to do with old manual focus lenses?

Focussing manually is much easier if the focussing screen in the camera is designed for manual focus.

The focussing screen in the D500 is derived from the Film F6 and it is very easy to achieve reliable focus even with lenses that are difficult to focus like the 1.2/55mm or 1.4/35mm Nikkors.

It is much more difficult to focus these in the D600 and D3. I use all three bodies in parallel until my D850 arrives.

Then the D600 and D3 have to go.

I am still contemplating to replace the screen in my D600 and keep is as a pure MF or modify it for IR shots.

 

[Braineack]

you're just saying words at this point.

so now youre back to the OP needing to buy a "cheap" D500 to use $20 lenses?

 

[cgw]

The electronic rangefinder/focus confirmation system in recent Nikon DSLRs does the trick with manual lenses--and takes focus screen acuity off the table.

Older Sony cameras(e.g., A6000 and earlier) are great with adapted lenses. Definitely not worth the bother trying to cozy old K-mount glass up to a Nikon DSLR.

 

[Frank F.]

I hope this forum features an "ignore" list...