Will my old lens and flash work with a new DSLR?

SAdams

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I haven't done any photography is a number of years, or kept up with any of the new technology changes, but I was thinking of getting into it again. I currently have an N70 body, a lens and flash.

The lens I have is the "Nikon AF Nikkor 24-120mm f3.5-5.6 D"

I also have a Speedlight SB-28.

I've been reading some reviews the last couple of days and really liked the Nikon D80. I was hoping that my lens and flash would work on it.

Are they any good? Will they work on the D80? Thanks.
 
Before I was able to purchase the lenses I have now (see my sig) the lens I most realistically coveted was the 24-120 I have borrowed it on a few occassions from friends and have found it to be a very sharp lens. You should have no problem using this with a digital body just remember treat the aperture ring as if your digicam was in program lock it at the smallest aperture. I do not know wether your flash will work correctly with a digital camera.
 
Welcome to the forum.

Any lens (and I think flash) that worked with the N75 should work with the D80 or any Nikon DSLR.
 
The flash will work but I think you have to manually meter. The lens will function just as it did before.

LWW
 
Thanks for the information.

So, the lens I have is a good one then? I was wondering if it would be better to get one of the kit lenses and sell this one, or if I should just keep this one and put the extra I'd spend on a kit lens for some other lenses (Like a 50mm f1.8 )

I may end up selling the speedlight and getting the SB-600. It sounds like I won't be able to use all the features that the D80 offers on the SB-28.

JIP, can you explain this better? "just remember treat the aperture ring as if your digicam was in program lock it at the smallest aperture."

I usually like to shoot all manual and select the aperature and shutter speed manually. I'm not sure what you are saying I should do here? Thanks. Sorry if that sounds dumb. It's been a long time since I've done any SLR stuff.
 
Nikon digital cameras have dual control dials on the camera one for shutter one for aperture this is the reason the newer DX lenses have no aperture ring. Even if you are shooting all manual you still control the aperture from the camera body. The lens you have is an older non-DX lens meaninig it has an aperture ring if you have your aperture set at anything butF/22 or whatever is the smallest for that lens yor camera will not recognise it and the diplay will read F-EE. An yes that is a very nice/sharp lens the only problem you may have is it not being a DX lens at 24 it will not really be that wide with the crop factor.
 
The lens isn't bad and would work. The flash would mount but only work manually since it doesn't support iTTL. I'd consider replacing it with an SB-600 if you don't want to go through the hassle of manually calibrating stuff.

With a Digital, you select the Aperture and Shutter with the Command Dials on the camera. You don't use the Aperture ring at all, and leave it locked at the smallest setting. That's all he's saying.
 
JIP said:
Nikon digital cameras have dual control dials on the camera one for shutter one for aperture this is the reason the newer DX lenses have no aperture ring. Even if you are shooting all manual you still control the aperture from the camera body. The lens you have is an older non-DX lens meaninig it has an aperture ring if you have your aperture set at anything butF/22 or whatever is the smallest for that lens yor camera will not recognise it and the diplay will read F-EE. An yes that is a very nice/sharp lens the only problem you may have is it not being a DX lens at 24 it will not really be that wide with the crop factor.

Oh, I see. Thanks! That makes perfect sense.

Another thought I had was that I could maybe sell the lens I have and get the D80 with one of the kit lenses instead. I see two different lenses available, an 18-55mm and an 18-135mm. I see a lot of people raving about the 18-55, but I would think the 18-135 would be better? (assuming the kit 18-55 is not the f2.8, but the f3.5-5.6)

Is the 18-135mm comparable in IQ to the one I have? It seems I'd get a little more versatility with it, plus it would be a DX lens.

Thanks again for the help!
 
To simplify matters, your lens will work just fine. The D in the name of the lens signifies that it is a CPU lens designed for auto focus cameras. One of the nice things about the Nikon system is that it pays a lot of attention to backward compatibility. I believe someone mentioned that you need to lock the aperture ring at the minimum aperture. That is true if you want to use the metering system in the camera.

I had a Nikkor 24-120 zoom at one time. It was too slow for anything but favorable lighting conditions at the long end of the zoom range since I always used slow film, but it sure was handy to have that 5X range. I did sell it a couple of years ago but I did get good use from it for event photography with flash. I think it would be a good choice to mate to a D series Nikon SLR.
 
The 24-120 is at least as sharp as any of the kit lenses sadams named just not as wide. If yo do not plan on buying a collection of 2.8 lenses there really is no point in selling this lens.
 

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