Nikkor Lenses on a T2i

Metrolens said:
Thank you once again for all this fantastic information.

And now, a curveball.

I just took a closer look at my Nikkor 50mm lens... which I'd never used despite owning it for several years. And... when I turn the aperature dial looking through the barrel of the lens, I don't see any aperature opening/closing whatsoever. Is this normal?!? I connected it to a borrowed Nikon D90, and sure enough, changing the aperature on the Nikkor 50mm has no effect on exposure - it's apparently full wide at all settings.

Busted lens? Can it be repaired?
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:)

It's designed to operate this way. When you place the lens on a camera designed for it, the aperture gets adjusted to the desired setting when you press the shutter to take a picture. Otherwise if you stopped it down enough to get the exposure you wanted, it would be too dim to focus.

Old film cameras used to have a lever that you pushed to see what it was going to look like once stopped down. Some called it the depth of field preview lever (or button). Because once you stopped it down, if you had adequate light you could see what was going to be in focus and what was not.

One of the reasons pros liked fast glass, was that the focusing screens back then weren't all that bright. And when you used slow glass it was hard to focus accurately. That F1.4 and F1.8 glass was bold and bright and you could focus with confidence.

Try snapping off a few photos with that lens and see what you get. Alternately, take the glass OFF the camera, look in the back of it, and adjust the iris. You should see the iris leaves close down. Open it back up, and then move the little lever on the back of the lens.. do it gently. Moving that should cause the leaves to close down as well. That is the lever the camera body uses to adjust your aperture when you shoot a picture.
 
Ok, thanks PerroneFord.

I've taken the 50mm off the camera, and am looking straight through it.

When I adjust the aperature ring on the lens, the iris leaves do not appear. The lens stays full wide at all stops, f1.4 - f16.

However, when I set the lens to f16, and then move the lever on the back of the lens, the iris leaves finally appear, closing the lens down to its smallest aperature. I can then open the lens up all the way to f2, and close it down back again through the full range, and the lens behaves normally.

BUT, if I open the lens full wide to f1.4, , the iris leaves do open fully, but then become stuck. Any further adjustment of the ring has no effect, leaving the lens full wide.

So clearly the lens is malfunctioning; the iris leaves get stuck at full open. Can this be repaired? Any idea how much?
 
Can it be repaired? Sure. Probably just needs a cleaning... BUT to be honest, the cost of doing a cleaning on your lens might cost more than the lens is worth. A Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 is worth maybe $120. You're in LA so you should have a number of camera shops that can help you, and maybe you can do it cheaply enough to make it worth it.
 
PerroneFord said:
Can it be repaired? Sure. Probably just needs a cleaning... BUT to be honest, the cost of doing a cleaning on your lens might cost more than the lens is worth. A Nikkor 50mm F/1.4 is worth maybe $120. You're in LA so you should have a number of camera shops that can help you, and maybe you can do it cheaply enough to make it worth it.
Click to expand...

Great - will find out about cost of repair/cleaning. Thanks again!
 
Nikon 105mm f2.5 varieties

Nikon 105mm f2.5 varieties

Now I'm looking at getting a Nikon 105mm f2.5. Adorama has a bunch of these. What's the difference between Ai-C Chr, Ais, and Ov versions of this lens? Which is best for the T2i?
 
Fotodiox adapter & Dandelion focus confirmation chip

Fotodiox adapter & Dandelion focus confirmation chip

A question on the adapter choice.

If I were to get a more expensive Fotodiox adapter, could I simply leave it on the camera body and snap on a new lens? Or does the adapter come off with the lens?

Basically, which solution would be easier to use and better for the gear: a set of Kawamall adapters which stay on the lenses almost permanently, or a single Fotodiox adapter, assuming it can easily swap between lenses?

Also, is this Fotodiox dandelion focus confirmation chip adapter worth getting? It's $139 vs. the non-chip version for $79.
http://www.fotodiox.com/product_info.php?products_id=28
 
Metrolens said:
A question on the adapter choice.

If I were to get a more expensive Fotodiox adapter, could I simply leave it on the camera body and snap on a new lens? Or does the adapter come off with the lens?

Basically, which solution would be easier to use and better for the gear: a set of Kawamall adapters which stay on the lenses almost permanently, or a single Fotodiox adapter, assuming it can easily swap between lenses?

Also, is this Fotodiox dandelion focus confirmation chip adapter worth getting? It's $139 vs. the non-chip version for $79.
http://www.fotodiox.com/product_info.php?products_id=28
Click to expand...

You are not going to be able to remove the lens, with an adaptor, from the camera, and have the adaptor stay on the camera. What these mechanical adaptors do is make the a** end of a lens match the a** end of a lens designed for the mount you want, not make the mount you have match the mount your lens needs. That is a significant difference. I think that the wear and tear of pulling the adaptor and lens off the camera, then pulling the adaptor off the lens, putting it on another lens, then onto the camera, "lather-rinse-repeat"... would, over time cost you more than just buying the inexpensive adaptors and keep them on the lens.

As for that expensive adaptor goes, well, if you have the cash for that, and the cash to be buying newer auto-exposure, auto aperture Nikon lenses, which it looks like this adaptor is designed to accommodate, I would suggest you just buy auto-exposure, auto aperture Canon lenses.
 
here are some useful places to buy nikon glass
http://www.keh.com/
http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=category&cat1=Used
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=3018&N=4294247086+4291315846

here is an ebay search tool for lenses
http://primes.decentattempt.com/lis...=US&focal_length=&max_aperture=&mount=Nikon+F

sometimes there will be a piece of metal protruding from the back of a nikon manual lens
and this will collide with the gold electronic contacts on the inside of your eos mount. Here is a
post I wrote a year ago showing the piece and how to remove it safely
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1765847&postcount=49

finally not all nikon manual lenses are awesome, in fact some of them really suck, do a
google search for reviews. One in particular that looks appealing is the 24/2, (it creates ghosts easily) I returned mine to get the 24/2.8 instead
 
Excellent info, thank you both.

It would seem that the focus confirm adapter is not what I seek; I'm planning to get old prime Nikon lenses which I'm guessing have none of those characteristics. And the repeated off/on of the adapters sounds like a bad idea. So it seems the Kawa method is indeed still the way to go, just like PerroneFord said earlier.

J Davis did you mean the 24/2 looks appalling? Appealing is quite the opposite. :)
 
No I really did mean 'looks appealing'.

Often when shooting narrative on aps-c sensors like the 7d or t2i and even more so with the 4/3rds sensor on the gh1/gh13, you will find yourself spending more to get quality wide shots and there are not many options out there. At first glance the nikon 24/2 looks good, its 24mm and its f2 !! But don't be fooled.
 
Thanks again.

I also may have access to some vintage Minolta and Pentax glass. Any of these particularly interesting?

Minolta / MC Rokkor-PF 58mm f1.4
Minolta / MC Tele Rokkor-X 135mm f2.8
Pentax-M 50mm f2
Pentax M Zoom 75mm-150mm f4
 
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^^ I've read that the Pentax-M 50mm f2 is pretty sharp but that the f1.7 is a bit sharper. I would definitely invest $4 in an adapter for it. Before I could afford a fast 300mm lens, I had a Pentax Asahi 300mm f/6.3. Not so fast, but sharp and really great color rendition. Fairly light-weight, too. Cheap, too, at $35.
 
Just got my 50mm 1.4 Nikkor back. Stripped and cleaned for $55. Mechanics are now working beautifully.

Apparently if you leave these lenses in high heat, sometimes the iris leaves will gunk up and can get stuck open or closed.
 
Metrolens said:
Just got my 50mm 1.4 Nikkor back. Stripped and cleaned for $55. Mechanics are now working beautifully.

Apparently if you leave these lenses in high heat, sometimes the iris leaves will gunk up and can get stuck open or closed.
Click to expand...

Nice. You should shoot something and post a frame grab here.
 
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