Please Help: Which Mount Adapter Should I Buy? (Photos Included)

DistantSubject · Apr 29, 2013

Hello, I recently came across some old lenses that I would like to attach to my Nikon D5100. I was wondering if the UltraPro T/T2 Lens Mount adapter would work? If not, could you recommend some that would?

Pictures of the lenses I wish to attach are below. Thank you!

Derrel · Apr 29, 2013

You will need a Minolta MD mount lens to Nikon F-mount camera adapter, like this one: New kipon adapter for Minolta MD mount lens to Nikon F camera on eBay!

DistantSubject · Apr 29, 2013

Thanks a lot for the quick reply! That's pretty expensive - I'll probably just save up for new/used lenses that fit my camera without an adapter.

Derrel · Apr 29, 2013

This one is $27. Minolta MD MC Lens to Nikon F Mount Adapter Ring with Glass for D3000 D5000 D700 | eBay

Actually, those lenses are not worth very much money at all, so best not to spend too much money on them. And besides, you should be able to replace all three with comparable lenses for under $75. The NICEST thing about the "baby Nikons" is that they will mount and shoot with "old" F-mount lenses, the kind that many pawn shops have piled up....old JC Penny and Rokinon and Quantaray 35mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2.8 and 70-200 f/3.8 zooms....all those old, 1970's-era classic primes and zooms...will WORK on the "baby Nikon" models. NO metering and no automatic flash control, but they will mount, and the lenses will stop down automatically to shooting aperture, and they WILL function.

A good many of these old 1970's and 1980's 3rd-party lenses, like the JC Penny brand, or Rokinon or Quantaray or whatever silly name they had, retail for $10 to $20 at most. In prime lenses, like 35mm f/2 or f/2.8, and especially 135mm f/2.8, the quality is pretty decent, and quite comparable to a $200 lens made today.

The D40, D60,D3000-series, and the D5000-series cameras ALL will accept basically all F-mount lenses and accessories without modification, no matter what era they were originally made in!! That makes the baby Nikons excellent cameras for experimenters and hobby shooters who want access to all that old glass.

DistantSubject · Apr 29, 2013

Derrel said:
This one is $27. Minolta MD MC Lens to Nikon F Mount Adapter Ring with Glass for D3000 D5000 D700 | eBay

Actually, those lenses are not worth very much money at all, so best not to spend too much money on them. And besides, you should be able to replace all three with comparable lenses for under $75. The NICEST thing about the "baby Nikons" is that they will mount and shoot with "old" F-mount lenses, the kind that many pawn shops have piled up....old JC Penny and Rokinon and Quantaray 35mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2.8 and 70-200 f/3.8 zooms....all those old, 1970's-era classic primes and zooms...will WORK on the "baby Nikon" models. NO metering and no automatic flash control, but they will mount, and the lenses will stop down automatically to shooting aperture, and they WILL function.

A good many of these old 1970's and 1980's 3rd-party lenses, like the JC Penny brand, or Rokinon or Quantaray or whatever silly name they had, retail for $10 to $20 at most. In prime lenses, like 35mm f/2 or f/2.8, and especially 135mm f/2.8, the quality is pretty decent, and quite comparable to a $200 lens made today.

The D40, D60,D3000-series, and the D5000-series cameras ALL will accept basically all F-mount lenses and accessories without modification, no matter what era they were originally made in!! That makes the baby Nikons excellent cameras for experimenters and hobby shooters who want access to all that old glass.

Hey that's great news! I'm on a super-tight budget, but I do love playing with my camera.

Where would you recommend I find these 10-20 dollar lenses? Thanks a lot!

Derrel · Apr 29, 2013

Goodwill. Local pawn shops. Craigslist on old 35mm film cameras. In any larger metro area, there are pawn shops. MANY of them have large inventories of now-almost-worthless 35mm film cameras and lenses. Seriously. 35mm film SLRs are now almost worthless in terms of sales at pawnshops...

It's a matter of understanding the power dynamics...a pawnshop that has a BUNCH of old camera stuff that's all dusty...is not selling any of the stuff. You need to know that. Be an aggressive buyer...tell them, in words, that you KNOW the stuff they have is worthless in today's market. GO to KEH.com....look at what old, off-brand gear is worth...very,very little. Tell the proprietor or manager that their prices are 120 years out of dfate, and that they'll be doing themselves a favor to sell the stuff for ANY price...ask them when the last time they actually SOLD an item at the marked price was.

Offer them "$10 on lenses, $17 if I have to take the camera off your hands and give it a good burial." Do not allow them to B.S. you...off-brand lenses like I have described are worth $10-$12, especially in orphan mounts like MInolta MD or Canon FD....those mounts are dead. Dead,dead,dead. Let them know that YOU know that.

Canon quit making its manual focus mount system in the mid-1980's!!! Minolta is done making cameras. It has been a quarter century since those lenses were current, or even desirable. You need to make your knowledge known to the vendors of such old cast-offs.