Nikon F and Ai

[nantnee]

Is there a difference? Some 35mm adapters says Nikon F while other say Nikon Ai. Are they interchangeable?

 

[Will Clegg]

Ai is a designation for some F-mount lenses. Check out this article for some more basic info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F-mount

Essentially, the F-mount is the actual lens mount you need for almost all Nikkor lenses. The lenses you can use may be designated as Non-Ai, Ai'd, Ai or AiS for manual focus lenses (these have to do with way the lens communicates with the light meter in a still camera - they all use the same F-mount). The auto-focus lenses have a different set of designations beginning with AF.

 

[nantnee]

so if i want manual focus, I should stay away from AF and later models, is that correct?

 

[Ted Ramasola]

not exactly. some AF lenses have a switch which makes you focus manually. In some lenses AF with manual switch are ok for adapter use some dont focus well. an example is the 50mm lens. Old fully manuel lens are ideal for adapter use. the AF version which you can also focus manually is not ideal as the focus ring is not viscuous smooth and has a small degree of turn.
The 80-200 zoom f2.8 however is a good piece. It has AF and manual.
What you should be wary of when going for an AF is seeing if it has an aperture ring to let you control aperture as newer ones Dont have it.

 

[nantnee]

So F mount the sort of like the universal mount for a degree of nikon lenses. So U, B, T, Q, P, etc should work on the F mount as well as the Ai mount?