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Using older Nikon lenses on your modern DSLR

December 1, 2016webmaster
EquipmentLensTips and Tricks

Using older Nikon lenses on your modern DSLR

Last month I was visiting my brother. After a wonderful dinner he disappeared down the basement stairs and returned with an old, dusty camera bag. To my surprise he pulled out an old Nikon F2 film camera and said, “You want this old stuff?” Without a moment’s hesitation I said “Absolutely!”

The camera was in great shape and came with an old Nikkor 50mm lens looking as good as the day it was made! So now I have a vintage Nikon F2 with all the fancy attachments (a work of modern art!) and an old 50mm f-2 lens in excellent condition. This lens was made in 1978 but it works perfectly on my Nikon d750 in Manual Mode. I’ve had a lot of fun using the lens for macro and close-up photography where manual control of aperture and focus are necessary.

 Why use an older lens?

  • These lenses were very well made and inexpensive. They are fun to use and can even improve your photography by forcing you to use your camera’s manual settings.
  • Older Nikkor/Nikon lenses were made of metal rather than plastic and are very rugged.
  • They were optically very good and can often hold their own when compared to modern lenses.
  • Although these lenses lack some of the modern coating to reduce some chromatic aberration, some are optically just as sharp as many modern lenses. Chromatic Aberration can be easily fixed in Lightroom so this issue shouldn’t be a problem.
  • Rather than spend $200 or more on a new 50mm Nikon lens, an older, manual lens can be purchased on the Internet or at a used camera sale for as little as $50. Some of the best old lenses can fetch up to $200 or more but can be used in place of lenses costing over $1000!
  • These lenses are most useful in situations where manual aperture control is needed e.g. Macro photography using manual bellows or extension tubes, reversing the lens for macro.
  • Modern lenses are designed for Autofocus. To improve autofocus speed, focus can often be adjusted from close-up to infinity in as little as half a turn of the lens focus ring. This makes it difficult to get accurate manual focus with modern lenses. Older manual focus lenses have a much larger “focus throw” making it much easier to make fine adjustment to focus where sharpness is critical.

Where to buy these lenses:

  • Used camera stores (HITS Cameras, Burlington Camera for example).
  • On the Internet from eBay. Be careful and buy only from reputable vendors with at least 99% Positive Feedback rating and don’t forget to factor in the exchange rate and shipping costs!
  • Online from You can often negotiate the price and save shipping costs since sellers often live in the local area and you can actually check the lens yourself in person.
  • My favourite place to purchase old lenses is at Used Camera Sales organized by the Photographic Historical Society of Canada. These Photographica Fairs are held a few times a year where you can find dozens of vendors selling all types of old cameras, lenses, tripods, film, and hard-to-find accessories. They also run Auctions twice a year where you can get all kinds of camera gear for bargain prices. Locations and dates of upcoming sales and auctions can be found at their website (http://phsc.ca/ ).
  • Many people buy an old film camera with the lens attached and just get rid of the camera. This is an excellent way to add to your “stable” of lenses without breaking the bank!

Notes on using these lenses with your modern DSLR:

Newer Nikon lenses have CPU contacts that transfer focussing and exposure data to the camera. Older lenses do not have any CPU contacts so they cannot transfer any information to the camera and must be used in Manual Mode.

On older Nikkor/Nikon lenses (non-CPU lenses) made from 1977 onwards, the aperture must be adjusted by turning the aperture ring on the lens and the lens must be focussed manually. Consumer-level Nikon cameras ( D5300, D5200, D5100, D5000, D3300, D3200, D3100, D3000, D80, D70, D60, D40, and D40X) cannot read the metering information from these old lenses. The camera’s light meter will still work but no f-stop values will be displayed by the camera. Higher-end Nikon cameras (D4(S), D3X, D3, D810(A), D800(E), D750, D700, D610, D600 D300S, D300, D200, D7100) can be set to report exposure information from these older lenses and will actually show the f-stop value from the lens. To configure these cameras to use the older manual lens, open the Menu and choose the “SETUP” sub-menu and ”Non-CPU lens setup”. Simply enter the focal length of the lens and the minimum aperture and save.

Early versions of autofocus lenses, first introduced in 1986,  do not have a built-in focus motor so they can only autofocus on Nikon cameras with a focus motor built into the camera. These older lenses without a built-in focus motor will not autofocus on the following cameras: D40, D60, D3000 series, D5000 series.

How to tell if an old lens will work with your DSLR?

 

In 1977 Nikon introduced a new system for coupling the camera to the lens. This system was called “Automatic maximum aperture indexing” or “Ai” for short. These cameras had a small lever that coupled with the lens to report the f-stop value to the camera.

Lenses using this system will fit on modern Nikon DSLRs and are called “Ai” lenses. They can be used in Manual Mode.

 

WARNING: Lenses made prior to 1977  (NON-“AI” lenses) cannot be attached to modern DSLRs without possible damage to the camera’s autofocusing and metering system!

 

How to recognize a Nikon/Nikkor “Ai” lens:

 

  • “Ai” lenses have a coupling ridge that interacts with the “Ai” lever on the camera. This ridge is cut out of the aperture ring and is raised as shown in the photos below.
  • “Ai” lenses have 2 rows of aperture numbers as shown below.
  • The coupling fork, often referred to as the “rabbit ears”, is not solid but has two small cut-outs.

 

These lenses will mount to modern Nikon cameras and can be used with manual focus and manual aperture. The camera must be set to M or manual mode.

 

CHART SHOWING TYPICAL “Ai” LENS

Here’s how to recognize a NON-“Ai” lens:

  • There is no raised, cut-out coupling ridge
  • The aperture ring sticks out past the metal mounting ring. This can damage the AI lever on your camera.
  • There is only one row of aperture (f-stop) numbers).
  • The coupling fork, often referred to as the “rabbit ears”, is solid.

WARNING: These lenses may damage your camera if you try to use them!

Nikon provides some excellent resources focussing on older lens compatibility with new cameras.

Before you try an old lens, check out these web sites!

 

  1. A Nikon web site that lists different lens types and compatible cameras. http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d3000/compatibility.htm

 

  1. An excellent article: “Can I use my lens from my old camera on a new digital SLR? “

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14439/~/can-i-use-my-lens-from-my-old-camera-on-a-new-digital-slr%3F

 

  1. An excellent summary: “What is the difference between an AI lens, an AI-S lens, and Non-AI lens?”

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5366/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDUzNjgzOTUyL3NpZC90MjRaUm1IbQ%3D%3D

 

  1. The following web site lists Nikon lenses, their version numbers, serial numbers, the year they were made and, most importantly, the lens type (AI or NON-AI)

By clicking on the lens number you can also see a photo of the lens… An Excellent resource!

http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

 

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to try older Nikon “Ai” lenses on your camera. These lenses are most useful in situations where manual focus and manual aperture are preferred:

Night Photography, Macro photography. (These lenses can also be reversed to give even more magnification!), High-speed photography, Video, Portraits and Still-life. They are often of high quality, were built to last a lifetime or two and will give you hours of enjoyment. You may also find that its lots of fun browsing the vendors in the Photographica Fair or bidding on used gear at the auction.

Older lenses are much less expensive and will allow you to try out prime and zoom lenses of different focal length before you decide to purchase a new one. By working in manual mode you will learn more about how your camera works and how to take control of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. You will be forced to slow down and really take the time to create the photograph that you want!

 

 

 

Give your computer a performance boost

September 1, 2016webmaster
ComputerEquipmentMemoryStorageTips and Tricks

Give your computer a performance boost

Let us imagine that it has been a year or two since you brought home that new shiny computer; too early to consider a replacement, but a good time to consider a mid-cycle refresh – to improve performance and take you through the next couple of years.

Below are a few ideas.

Operating System/Software

Before you start spending your money on hardware, there are some software things you can look at:
• Disable or remove unwanted startup programs
• Remove abandoned software/Clean up unnecessary system files
• Keep your system free of viruses and malware
• Upgrade to a newer operating system
• Check for newer device drivers

Please be careful, make sure you have a proper backup before starting, and if you are unsure as to what you are doing, get knowledgeable assistance.

Hardware

As you probably know, there are many sub-systems that make up a computer. Some of them are limited by the manufacturer=s system design, but others can be easily enhanced without considerable expense. There are three subsystems that can be upgraded to substantially improve a machines performance – memory (RAM), storage and video.

Please note that there are design limitations and not all computers can be upgraded. Notebooks are generally more difficult to upgrade than desktop/tower machines. This article is intended to be of general information and not necessarily applicable to every configuration. Also note, that right or wrong, the author has a Windows perspective on the world, but much of this will apply to a Macintosh environment.

Memory

More is better. Up to a point. If you have 4GB of RAM, upgrading to more will help. Eight is better than four, and sixteen is better than eight. After that there is the law of diminishing returns, although for power users even more may be beneficial. If you are a power user, you already know this stuff. (Note: You need to be running a 64-bit operating system to take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM.)

You may find that your computer is limited as to how many memory slots are available and the maximum amount it will recognize. Check your manufacturers website or try www.kingston.com as a good third party source for both information and memory. Choosing the right memory can be a bit of a minefield, so you may want to engage professional assistance.

Storage

For the past thirty years we have relied primarily on spinning-media hard drives. The industry is changing. Spinning drives still give you the most storage for the least cost, but Solid State Drives (SSDs) are making significant advances in performance and lowering the cost/GB.

If you have a spinning hard drive, there is a good chance that you can replace it with an SSD. You will be amazed at how much faster everything happens on your computer. Startup times are typically reduced from many minutes to generally under a minute. Upgrading to an SSD gives you the best Abang for the buck@.

The majority of SSDs are available in 2.5″ form factors and have SATA interfaces, which is the usual interface for most notebook and desktop type computers. For the most part, you can unplug the old drive and plug in the new SSD in its place. Be sure you have all the right cables, both data and power. If your old drive is a 3.5” device, you may need a new way to secure it in your computer.
Just like spinning drives, not all solid state drives are the same. A good guide line would be to pay attention to the length of the warranty, and buy a brand name with which you are familiar.

Be aware that a newer solid state storage interface standard exists, it is called NVM Express for PCIe. Higher end notebooks are starting to take advantage of this improved performance, and if you are upgrading a desktop/tower machine, this may be an option for you as well. (http://www.nvmexpress.org/)

What is behind this newer standard? Having a SATA interface means you can plug an SSD in where you once had a spinning hard drive, which is very convenient. However, the speed that data moves through the non-volatile memory (NVM) used in SSDs is so much faster than it can move through a spinning hard drive. This results in a bottleneck at the SATA interface, as it was designed for the slower requirements of spinning drives. NVM Express PCIe removes this bottleneck, but as you might have guessed, at a higher price. These drives look less like the old hard drives and more like memory modules or PCIe plug in cards. Major players are Samsung and Intel.

An NVMe drive is the ultimate storage upgrade, but pricey. It might be something to consider for the next computer.

Video

In April of this year, with the release of Lightroom 6, Adobe made a number of improvements. One of them was to recognize and incorporate GPU acceleration for faster video performance. Okay, before I lose you, GPU stands for Graphics Processor Unit, or in other words what we old-timers used to call a video card.

If you already have a good graphics subsystem, Lightroom may have already recognized it and taken advantage of it. There are methods to check this within Lightroom and your favourite search engine will direct you to them. A good place to start is at:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/lightroom-gpu-faq.html

Will a better GPU improve your performance? In doing my research I came across this thread from an Adobe engineer. It seems the answer is maybe; it depends on your circumstances. See more here: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1828580

For Photoshop, Adobe says the minimum amount of graphics processor VRAM supported is 512 MB (1 GB or greater of VRAM is recommended).

I found some helpful information at:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html
and
http://www.nvidia.ca/content/adobe/pdf/adobe-hardware-performance-white-paper.pdf
Be careful as you cannot buy just any card and plug it in, you need to know, or get someone to help you determine, what sort of expansion slots your computer has available, and select the appropriate display adapter. Your computer manufacturer may have some suggestions

I hope and trust this will make your computer and your photo processing experience more enjoyable.

John Allman
President, Toronto Digital Photography Club
 

Acknowledgements:

My thanks to Danny Andonoff of Plexxus Technologies Inc. and Roger Correia of the Toronto Digital Photography Club for proof reading this article and for their comments and suggestions.

Backup Images while Travelling

January 4, 2015gtccc
EquipmentStorageTips and Tricks

Bob Fowler
Richmond Hill Camera Club

I recently did some travelling in the U.S. with the intent of taking lots of images with my digital camera. I also wanted to back up those images as I traveled to ensure that nothing was lost during the trip due to card memory failure, theft, etc.

One solution to backing up which many photographers use is to bring along a laptop/ultrabook computer and periodically backup the memory cards to that device. I used a similar method that is much cheaper, requires less luggage space, and is only marginally less convenient. I brought along a portable, slim, external hard drive; usb cable (the one used for your printer); usb hub; and tiny sd card reader. Together they take a mere few inches of room and a matter of ounces of weight in a carry-on bag. Depending on the choices of brand, hd size, etc. the items can be bought for about $100. In fact you probably have most of these items already. In my case it was more like $130 worth of gear since I had a 2 Terrabyte portable hard drive, plus the other items.

The inconvenience involved in this scheme is that one must have access to a computer with usb ports in order to use the gear. Luckily every hotel/motel we encountered had an easily accessed desktop computer in their lobby open to free use by any guest.   Pretty much every desktop computer today has usb ports both back and front. With the hub I had, I only needed one free usb port – never a problem. The hub provided 4 free ports. I needed 2.

That minor inconvenience factor itself will soon be eliminated by new gear. The Western Digital “My Passport Wireless” has just become available in Canada. It has an SD slot in the side for direct access by your camera’s memory card. Furthermore it establishes its own wireless network, so that your mobile devices can use/control its content directly. Each evening you could upload your card’s images and view them immediately on your mobile device (IOS, Android phone or tablet – up to 8 devices simultaneously). This is a more expensive (about an extra $100) option than the one I used on this recent trip, but that extra degree of control may well be worth it. If your only need for your laptop while travelling is for image backup, you can now skip that device and have equal or better backup storage options.

Here is info re. the new WD Passport Wireless:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330

 

Understanding the ND Filter

November 29, 2014gtccc
EquipmentFiltersTips and Tricks

Thomas Lee

Understanding the ND Filter

by

Thomas Lee (Chinese-Canadian Camera Club)

 

What is an ND Filter?

ND is short of Natural Density. It is a piece of glass (or acrylic) placed in front of a camera lens in order to reduce or modified the light getting into the camera. ND filter is in gray color and there are different filters with different degrees of grayness (ratings). On a camera, a photographer can use the aperture setting and the shutter speeds to adjust the amount of light entering the lens. Putting an ND filter in front of the lens will give the photographer a third tool for adjusting the amount of light.

 

Ratings of a ND Filter

ND filters are rated with different ND numbers according to their optical transparency, such as ND2, ND4, ND8, ND16, ND32, ND64, ND100 . . . etc. The lager the number, the greater the amount of light will be reduced. ND2 and ND4 are the mostly common used ratings. Also, there is a variable ND filter which allows the user to continuously changing the ND rating without physically changing to a different rated ND filter. By turning the variable ND filter, a photographer can get his precise light intensity for his exposure which cannot be obtained by any f/stop.

 

Application of an ND Filter

  • Extend exposure time without having over exposure take place.
  • Blurring the moving water (such as waterfalls, rivers, water waves) by using very slow shutter speeds.
  • Use a wider aperture to reduce depth of field (such as portraits shooting) on a very bright sunny day when the required shutter speeds exceed the fastest available on a camera.
  • Remove or reduce the visibility of any moving objects (e.g. people on a street or tourist hotspots) by using very slow shutter speeds (up to several minutes).
  • In a continuous changing brightness environment, e.g. moving cloud, the photographer can use a variable ND filter to modify the light intensity without changing the camera settings (aperture etc.)

 

Types of ND Filters

  • Screw over the lens, single rating.
  • Screw over the lens, variable rating
  • Rectangular slot-in ND filter uses with a slot filter holder. The holder can hold multiple filters at the same time to get a mix of rating.

 

Some brand names of ND Filters:

  • B+W http://www.schneideroptics.com/
  • Cokin
  • Hoya http://www.hoyafilter.com/
  • Lee Filter http://www.leefilters.com/index.php
  • Singh-Ray http://www.singh-ray.com/
  • Tiffen http://www.tiffen.com/tiffen_filters.html

 

Phoneography

May 3, 2014gtccc
EquipmentSmart DevicesTips and Tricks

Edith Levy

Toronto Digital Photography Club

Phoneography – Taking Big Pictures with a Little Lens

I’m a photographer! I use a DSLR with various lenses to photograph the people and world around me so why would I want to use my phone or any other mobile device to take pictures? That’s easy sometimes it’s the only camera I have with me and really any camera is better then no camera. There are other reasons of course and they include but aren’t limited too:

  • It’s convenient
  • It’s easy
  • It’s less intrusive than a DSLR when doing street photography
  • I can take pictures with my phone when I’m doing long exposures with my DSLR
  • There are 1000’s of Apps that let me get creative on the go and many are free.
  • I can upload to social media and share my images right away

What Do You Need To Get Started

  • A smartphone with the ability to take pictures (which is just about any phone today) – iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, etc.
  • Instagram – it’s free and it’s like twitter for pictures. You can share your pictures with friends easily and follow others. If you want to follow me on Instagram @EdithLevy
  • Camera+ – (I love this camera app) or your phone’s native camera
  • Snapseed – my go to app for processing

One of the keys to getting started with Phoneography is to get yourself organized so that you know where all your important apps are. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create folders so that when you’re in the field your apps are literally at your fingertips when you need them.

 

 

I create 3 separate folders to keep all my apps organized (and this method was created by photographer Justin Balog)

  • Darkroom folder – I keep all of my processing apps in this folder. My Photo editing apps include:
    • Snapseed
    • 100 Cameras in 1
    • PhotoToaster
    • HDR FX Pro
    • Dramatic B&W
    • BlurFX
    • Grungetastic
    • Glaze
    • Mirrorgram
    • TangledFX

 

  • Camera folder – I keep all my cameras together with the exception of Camera+ which is onthe first screen of my iPhone. All other camera apps are in the folder and they include:
  • Camera Awesome
  • Hueles
  • 645Pro
  • Pocketbooth
  • Light Camera
  • Hipstamatic
  • MPro

 

  • Photo Tools Folder – For tools that I usually use in the field such as:
    • The Photographer’s Empheris
    • The Longtime Exposure Calculator


 

Workflow

Taking pictures with your phone is quite straightforward. Being consistent and following these simple steps will ensure that you come away with good images. As with all photography be sure to be mindful of composition. Open your favourite camera app and tap the screen to focus.

 

The square box will appear on the screen indicating where your focus point is. In most apps where ever you decide to focus this is where the camera will meter. This is similar with the spot metering system on your DSLR. It’s for this reason that my go to camera app is Camera+. The focus and exposure are separate in this app. You would tap on the square to focus then set your exposure point anywhere on the screen, via the circular aperture icon, to set the exposure as in the image above.

Take the picture and if you like it the way it is then great…you’re done. If you’re like most of us you’ll want to enhance your image using an image-editing app. The app that I use 99% of the time to edit every image is Snapseed. It’s intuitive and will allow you to crop, straighten, adjust brightness & contrast, bring out detail in your shadows and so much more. I may give my images a final artful touch by using other apps and apply presets to further give life to my vision.

 

Original Image straight out of my iPhone taken with Camera+

 

 

Final Image edited with Snapseed and the Toy Story preset in PhotoToaster

 

 

Finally don’t forget to share your work on Social Media. Whether its Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google+ there’s a whole community of Phoneography shooters that you could be a part of.

 

Edith Levy is a member of the Toronto Digital Photography Club and her work can be found on www.edithlevyphotography.com