Will this lens fit?

Ian S · May 7, 2010

So I have a Nikon D3000. I'm was looking around at old lenses that are cheap to fill in until I can get a new Nikon lens. Anyway, I came across this and wondered if it would fit or what adapter I would need to make it fit. I know it says at the bottom but I don't really understand it (don't laugh). I only want it because it is a cheap 200mm lens and should hopefully last until I can afford a new lens.

Big Mike · May 7, 2010

No, it has an M42 mount, which isn't what your camera has.

Dallmeyer · May 7, 2010

Looks like a Soligor built lens, judging by the markings. Prinz is Prinzflex (1960's/70's Dixons) as Miranda was too.
The ''flange'' distance of the D3000/Nikon DSLRs.. This is the distance between the rear of the mounted lens and the sensor (or filmplane on an SLR). A specific registration is necessary to allow the lens to focus to infinity or even to be useable at all (Russian M39 thread mount lenses - for rangefinder cameras- are unusable on my Canon DSLR for example because they cannot be adapted close enough to the sensor to be used, due to the mirror-box). I don't know about compatibility with this M42 lens and your D3000. You can probably get an adapter if its feasible to mount. I'm sure i've seen M42 to Nikon DSLR mounts on ebay but not 100%. But consider the lens is worth only paying a tenner for..just as likely to stumble upon a Vivitar of similar range (zoom) in Nikon mount in a charity shop or bootfair for 10-20 quid.

Ian S · May 7, 2010

Big Mike said:
No, it has an M42 mount, which isn't what your camera has.

If I was to buy this would that work?

Thanks for your help

Dallmeyer · May 7, 2010

Yes but the seller adds the caveat that infinity focus cannot be achieved. Unfortunate;y i dont know the Nikon flange distance and dont seem abe to find it at the moment.

Derrel · May 7, 2010

M42 to Nikon F bayonet adapters come in two varieties: the glass-free kind which will not provide focusing to infinity and the kind with a glass element that WILL provide focusing all the way to infinity. I have both. THe glass-bearing kind I have are cheap, and they cause a loss of image quality that is noticeable, especially at wider apertures like f/2.8 to f/5.6. At f/8 to f/11, the quality is "bearable", but nothing to write home about.

The glass-free adapters for M42 to Nikon F are okay to good for close-up work. More information about adapting lenses can be found at the cameraquest.com website, in their rather extensive adapter section.

For low-cost lenses, the Nikon D40,D40x,D60,D3000,and D5000 can all use basically ANY lens in F-mount, so that means there are plenty of low-cost pawnshop and eBay/thrift store off-brand lenses actually in Nikon F-mount, with no need for an adapter, and full automatic lens diaphragm control, manual focusing, and AF green-dot focus confirmation with f/5.6 or faster maximum apertures.

Dallmeyer · May 7, 2010

Derrel, i just read your reply. Interesting the extra rear element solution. I had read about it before but had forgotten. That's a solution for Nikon shooters. Just a stroke of luck that Canon have this very accommodating flange distance compatible with much legacy gear.

Derrel · May 7, 2010

Dallmeyer said:
Derrel, i just read your reply. Interesting the extra rear element solution. I had read about it before but had forgotten. That's a solution for Nikon shooters. Just a stroke of luck that Canon have this very accommodating flange distance compatible with much legacy gear.

YES, Canon EOS cameras are an outstanding platform for lenses from many makers! I use Nikon F-mount macro and longer telephoto lenses on my Canon 20D and EOS 5D at times. The Canon EOS bodies can accept M42, Leica-R, Olympus OM, Nikon F, and other mounts quite well. The flange-to-film distance that the EOS system uses is a real strength of the system. There are literally tens of millions of lenses available that can be easily adapted to a Canon EOS body. FotoDiox.com sells dozens of types of adapters.

Ian S · May 8, 2010

Thanks for the help guys. I've decided that I'm not going to buy it and instead save up for a Nikon AF 70-300mm at a little over £100 new. Not too bothered about it only being able to manual focus on D3000 as I only use manual focus anyway, just something about auto I don't like. At least I now have more understanding of lenses.

Dwig · May 8, 2010

Big Mike said:
No, it has an M42 mount, which isn't what your camera has.

If you read the ad closely you'll see that it is not and M42 mount lens.

This is a T-mount lens, which is an interchangeable mount system. The lens on offer has an M42 mount/adapter as part of the package. This can easily be removed, it just screws off, and replaced with any of a wide range of T-2 mounts including Nikon. With the M42 mount replaced with a Nikon mount the lens will mount fine on the OP's D3000, but will not be particularly easy to use

The T mount system used removable mounts. The mounts were very quickly upgraded from T-mounts (fixed orientation) to T-2 mounts (2 part mounts with adjustable orientation). The two mount styles are interchangeable. With the T-2 mounts when the focusing and f/stop scales fail to be positioned at the top you simply loosen three small set screws to allow the inner part of the mount to rotate, rotate the lens to correct the positioning, and tighten the screws. With the original T-mounts, you just had to live with the occasional misalignment.

T/T-2 lenses are either manual aperture or preset aperture; the one on offer is pre-set. This has nothing to do with auto-exposure. It refers to whether the lens stops down from maximum to the set working apeture when you fire the shutter. These lenses don't. You must manually stop down to shoot and reopen to view and frame the next shot. With some cameras you can stop down to meter, but the OP's Nikon D3000 will not meter at all with this type of lens.

Manual lenses differ from preset lenses in the way the f/stop ring works. With manual lenses there is a simple f/stop ring. Setting an f/stop on the ring causes the aperture to close to that f/stop. To use these lenses you set the lens wide open, focus, close the aperture to the desired working aperture by either looking at the f/stop ring or counting clicks, and then shoot. This can be a bit slow.

With preset lenses there are two rings. One ring, the preset ring, is marked in f/stops but is not connected to the iris that actually sets the f/stop. The preset ring merely limits the travel of the other ring. This second ring is most often marked O-C (Open and Close) and is the actual f/stop ring. Its travel is limited from maximum aperture to the f/stop set on the preset ring. To use a preset lens you set the desired shooting aperture on the preset ring, open the O-C ring to maximum, focus, turn the O-C ring to its other limit, and shoot. There is no need to look at the ring or count clicks making it much faster and easier to use than a manual aperture lens.

icassell · May 8, 2010

Derrel said:
Dallmeyer said:

Derrel, i just read your reply. Interesting the extra rear element solution. I had read about it before but had forgotten. That's a solution for Nikon shooters. Just a stroke of luck that Canon have this very accommodating flange distance compatible with much legacy gear.

Click to expand...

YES, Canon EOS cameras are an outstanding platform for lenses from many makers! I use Nikon F-mount macro and longer telephoto lenses on my Canon 20D and EOS 5D at times. The Canon EOS bodies can accept M42, Leica-R, Olympus OM, Nikon F, and other mounts quite well. The flange-to-film distance that the EOS system uses is a real strength of the system. There are literally tens of millions of lenses available that can be easily adapted to a Canon EOS body. FotoDiox.com sells dozens of types of adapters.

Derrel ...

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment, but do you know anything about the fotodiox FD->EOS adapter. Is it any good? I know it has glass to preserve infinity focus, but what is the quality?

Dallmeyer · May 8, 2010

Sorry to add to the confusion. I assumed at a glance it was M42.

Derrel · May 8, 2010

icassell said:
Derrel ...

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment, but do you know anything about the fotodiox FD->EOS adapter. Is it any good? I know it has glass to preserve infinity focus, but what is the quality?

I don't know how good the adapter's quality is. It only costs $39.95, and has a 1.4x teleconverter effect on the lens attached, so it's probably not earth-shatteringly good. But it might be "okay" with some lenses, for some uses. For the price, it wouldn't be too much lost money to try it. It's sold here Fotodiox

Canon made a similar adapter for about a year when they dropped the FD mount and went to EOS mount, and their converter also had a telephoto converter built into it; those go for $1,000 or so when available, and were mainly designed for use with Canon big-glass lenses, as I recall.