Beginner Minolta to Nikon ?

[Chris J]

Hi all,

Inherited a lens today, believed to be a Nikon fit. Wouldnt fit my D70s so looked online and it looks like this is a Minolta fit.

Nice lens by the looks of it.

Is there anyway to convert the lens to a Nikon fit and still use AF functions ?

Thanks all

 

[BacktotheFuji]

No, I'm afraid not. You wouldn't even be able to mount it as use it manually as the Nikon mount register is too short. You could buy an old Sony A mount body to use it with, but in all honesty those old Sigmas were not the best...

 

[ancient_mariner]

Have to agree with that, although not all the old Sigma lenses from that era were bad, but if the maximum aperture range starts at f5.6 then it was a food grade consumer lens and probably not great.

 

[BlackCloud]

There are a number of adapters on the market that in some cases allow one manufacturers lens to fit another. Mostly they are simple 'short coupling tubes' with one fitting one end and another the other. No idea if they do Minolta to Nikon, but one of the most common ones is using other brand lenses on Fuji X cameras e. g. I use some of my Nikon lenses on my Fuji. The adapters don't work autofocus or exposure though, there is no electrical coupling. It might seem irrelevant now, but should you consider Fuji in the future (the user base is increasing rapidly) your Minolta lens or Nikon might prove useful. As the other guys said though, the Sigma isn't that brilliant.

 

[steveb]

I'm a Nikon user, am I correct that Nikon bodies aren't so acceptable to using other manufacturers older manual focus lenses with adapters?

I have and old Pentax 50mm F4 macro lens that appears to be well thought of, and recently bought an adapter for it. Have yet to try it out. Have also an old Canon FDn 17mm F4, used to be one of my favourite lenses long ago, but I don't believe it's useable with Nikon bodies with an adapter.

Is there any cross reference on the web as to what older manual focus lenses can be adapted for use with different manufacturers modern DSLR's or mirrorless cameras?

 

[BlackCloud]

I don't know personally. You are best to Google or look through Ebay as to what all the options are. There are adapters for all sorts of things. Part of the problem though is using an adapter moves the lens further away from the camera body, so mostly they can't focus the image in the same place they should i. e. the sensor or the elements of the lens rear getting in the way. Fuji cameras being smaller, thinner, mirror less consequently allow more options of other lenses as the adapter tube holds the lens a couple of cm further forward then it's own lenses.

 

[BacktotheFuji]

I'm a Nikon user, am I correct that Nikon bodies aren't so acceptable to using other manufacturers older manual focus lenses with adapters?

I have and old Pentax 50mm F4 macro lens that appears to be well thought of, and recently bought an adapter for it. Have yet to try it out. Have also an old Canon FDn 17mm F4, used to be one of my favourite lenses long ago, but I don't believe it's useable with Nikon bodies with an adapter.

Is there any cross reference on the web as to what older manual focus lenses can be adapted for use with different manufacturers modern DSLR's or mirrorless cameras?

For Canon FD lenses, you are limited to mirrorless cameras i.e. Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Samsung, Canon M, Nikon 1 series. There are adapters available for DSLRs, but because of the register difference issue, they need to add a glass element into the adapter which works like a (poor quality) teleconverter, so not really recommended.

Pentax K lenses are easier as you can use them on Canon and Pentax DSLRs with a simple mechanical adapter. The older M42 screw mount Pentax lenses can also be used on Sony a mount DSLRs and even Sigma DSLRs with a simple adapter too.

 

[ancient_mariner]

AFAIK Nikon DSLR bodies don't accept lenses from other manufacturers (including M42) without an optical element to allow the lens to focus to infinity. Other makes seem to be OK with M42 mount lenses, but there may still be issues because of the bayonet mount depth. Like mf-g above says, pretty much any DSLR lens can be adapted to fit a CSC body, though often only a simple mechanical coupling is possible.