Old lenses, new camera

MVPernula

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

1. They'll contain glass, which is necessary to maintain infinity focus.
2. That glass will degrade image quality.
3. It will cost more.
 
Being a Pentax K-mount type system, you'd be better off forgoing the expense of adapters and buying E-series lenses.
'
Would I be able to use the E-series lenses to their full extent?
 
Being a Pentax K-mount type system, you'd be better off forgoing the expense of adapters and buying E-series lenses.
'
Would I be able to use the E-series lenses to their full extent?

Absotively posilutely!

And if you ever wanted to get a legacy Nikon film camera, you'd be golden!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
However. The viewfinder of the D7100 is not made for manual focussing. You probably need a replacement focussing screen at least.
The D7100 has a "rangefinder" function in the focus module. Not difficult to use.
 
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
 

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