New Nikon 'E' Lenses

wakarimasen

wakarimasen

Messages
283
Name
Roy
Edit My Images
Yes
As a Canon-Nikon waverer, I wondered what Nikon users think of the new 'E' lenses. From what I read, the new electronically (E) controlled diaphragm, renders these lenses only usable at full aperture with cameras like the F6, and those manufactured previously. Does this put you off such a lens? After, all one of the great benefits of the F mount is the ability to use old lenses with new technology, plus (with some caveats) vice versa.

Is this Nikons equivalent of Canons' infamous 'transition from FD to EF' moment?

Not trying to stoke the fire - just interested in opinions!
 
Last edited:
Surely it makes good economic sense to maintain backwards compatibility for only so long, and my understanding is that Nikon is pretty good at this anyway. When was the F6 launched?
 
Just downloaded the manual for the 500mm f/4 E lens - it shows this in terms of compatibility.

View attachment 43415
 
Last edited:
wakarimasen said:
As a Canon-Nikon waverer, I wondered what Nikon users think of the new 'E' lenses. From what I read, the new electronically (E) controlled diaphragm, renders these lenses only usable at full aperture with cameras like the F6, and those manufactured previously. Does this put you off such a lens? After, all one of the great benefits of the F mount is the ability to use old lenses with new technology, plus (with some caveats) vice versa.

Is this Nikons equivalent of Canons' infamous 'transition from FD to EF' moment?

Not trying to stoke the fire - just interested in opinions!
Click to expand...

IMO What does it matter, Nikon may have kept the same bayonet but it has the most incompatible line up of lenses going already. One more Lens X that won't work on Body Y isn't going to hurt them.
 
Wonder if my attitude is typical or not,i dont care it will work with my D750 and any thing else i may buy.
 
wakarimasen said:
Is this Nikons equivalent of Canons' infamous 'transition from FD to EF' moment?
Click to expand...
No.

Canon's approach is actually much more straightforward. Any FD lens works with any FD camera. Any EF lens works with any EOS camera. That's all you need to know. With Nikon it's much more complicated. Although everything with the F bayonet will physically fit, you need to consult a big complicated table to work out what functionality you'll get. The new E design doesn't really change much apart from adding another row to that big table.
 
StewartR said:
No.

Canon's approach is actually much more straightforward. Any FD lens works with any FD camera. Any EF lens works with any EOS camera. That's all you need to know. With Nikon it's much more complicated. Although everything with the F bayonet will physically fit, you need to consult a big complicated table to work out what functionality you'll get. The new E design doesn't really change much apart from adding another row to that big table.
Click to expand...

Yes.... but that 'simplicity' led to 10's of 1000's of lenses being rendered useless on 'newer' cameras. I think I prefer a table to built in obsolescence!
 
Last edited:
Alan Clogwyn said:
IMO What does it matter, Nikon may have kept the same bayonet but it has the most incompatible line up of lenses going already. One more Lens X that won't work on Body Y isn't going to hurt them.
Click to expand...

You can't say they've kept the same mount and then say it's the most incompatible system - that's a contradiction in terms. The whole point of maintaining the same mount is to keep compatibility. Yes, there are some wrinkles but you can put a 50-year-old lens on something like a D700 and it will work perfectly. It's not that complicated, if you don't know off the top of your head it only takes a minute to look it up. That's simply not possible with any other digital system apart from Leica. I for one think the compatibility with film-era lenses is one of the great strengths of the Nikon system.
 
martsharm said:
You can't say they've kept the same mount and then say it's the most incompatible system - that's a contradiction in terms. The whole point of maintaining the same mount is to keep compatibility. Yes, there are some wrinkles but you can put a 50-year-old lens on something like a D700 and it will work perfectly. It's not that complicated, if you don't know off the top of your head it only takes a minute to look it up. That's simply not possible with any other digital system apart from Leica. I for one think the compatibility with film-era lenses is one of the great strengths of the Nikon system.
Click to expand...

I'm unaware of any Minolta AF mount lenses that will not work on a modern Sony, they even support them on their mirrorless bodies with an SLT adapter. THAT is simplicity, Nikon is a mish mash of technology hastily slapped onto an old standard. IMO Canon's move to a new mount for AF (as with Minolta for that matter) was a good one.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
I'm unaware of any Minolta AF mount lenses that will not work on a modern Sony, they even support them on their mirrorless bodies with an SLT adapter. THAT is simplicity, Nikon is a mish mash of technology hastily slapped onto an old standard. IMO Canon's move to a new mount for AF (as with Minolta for that matter) was a good one.
Click to expand...

Really....? The last thing I would think of is to put a Minolta lens on a Sony camera! Unless I knew the history of the companies! Not exactly following any logic.

As for simplicity.... I'm a new system, Abracadabra xyz but you can't use Abracadabra abc lenses - pretty simple .... dump all your abc lenses and buy our new xyz ones! Hmmmm.... business cynicism is riding high here! :rolleyes:
 
Heh. It's easy to sit at a keyboard and come up with corkers like "hastily slapped". I imagine a few engineers in Japan would rather you used the term "carefully engineered". The Nikon system works, it's capable of being upgraded with innovations like E whilst still maintaining backwards compatibility. A far more desirable state of affairs than changing the lens mount every time a new feature comes along. Yes I forgot about Minolta (easily done) although I fail to see how the situation of old Minolta on new Sony is any different to old Nikon on new Nikon.
 
chuckles said:
Really....? The last thing I would think of is to put a Minolta lens on a Sony camera! Unless I knew the history of the companies! Not exactly following any logic.

As for simplicity.... I'm a new system, Abracadabra xyz but you can't use Abracadabra abc lenses - pretty simple .... dump all your abc lenses and buy our new xyz ones! Hmmmm.... business cynicism is riding high here! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nikon haven't brought a new system out though have they, they've bastardised an existing one with a range of lenses that are only going to work on some of the system, that's what the point of the thread is if you care to read the OP again. And if you care to read my reply to it, you'd see that I believe it matters not a jot.
 
chuckles said:
Really....? The last thing I would think of is to put a Minolta lens on a Sony camera! Unless I knew the history of the companies! Not exactly following any logic.

As for simplicity.... I'm a new system, Abracadabra xyz but you can't use Abracadabra abc lenses - pretty simple .... dump all your abc lenses and buy our new xyz ones! Hmmmm.... business cynicism is riding high here! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nikon haven't brought a new system out though have they, they've bastardised an existing one with a range of lenses that are only going to work on some of the system, that's what the point of the thread is if you care to read the OP again. And if you care to read my reply to it, you'd see that I believe it matters not a jot.
 
You mean simplicity like Sony E mount that has both apsc and FE which Is FF, then there's 4 different adapters to choose from for a mount and minolta, an option of an slt adapter with limited af and then you have A mount slt cameras. Real simple.
 
Last edited:
To try and explain the original post: I read a comparison of the Canon EOS mount and that of the Nikon F, that mentioned that the latter has remained fundamentally a manually activated aperture system, and that this was something of a limitation, when compared to the EOS mount. The article can be found here: https://photographylife.com/nikon-f-vs-canon-ef

I am a long time Canon user (digital and film) who has always hankered after the view over the fence into the Nikon garden. However, most of the reason for the interest, has been related to the compilation of a system using a mixture of manual and AF lenses that could be used on both old and new cameras.

Up until the new 'E' lenses, I had the impression that most Nikon lenses were backwards and forwards compatible with both film and digital cameras. There may have been some shortcomings - i.e. VR would not work, or only certain modes (Av, Tv etc) would be available - but they would still fundamentally work. However, the new 'E' lens looks to be the first type that has a really significant limiting: it can only be used at the maximum aperture. This - at least to me - means that the lens is not really usable with cameras prior to a certain date, and is the first time that this is the case for Nikon.

Hence the question in the original post.
 
Last edited:
it strikes me as odd the number of times I've heard people give Nikon a hard time for the number of phyd=sical connections between the body and the lens. Them moan when they change something
 
pingu666 said:
i think canon got alot of stuff right with the eos mount, looking back now
Click to expand...
Yes they did. They basically bet the whole business on the beliefs that switching to a wholly new mount was necessary, and that they could get it right first time, and fortunately for them their engineers did get it pretty right. Some of the things Nikon has been bringing into its product line over the last 20 years - such as electronic control of focussing, and electronic control of aperture - were there in the EOS system on day one.

To be fair though, Canon didn't have the market share in the 1980s that they do now. There were 5 major SLR manufacturers, of which Nikon and Pentax were the leaders. So Canon had less to lose. Nikon were #1 in the pro SLR market, probably by quite some margin, so continuity and compatibility were far more important to them than to Canon.
 
As a Canon user, I have absolutely no idea what Nikon lenses will work on what bodies. All seems very confusing to me.

Physically fitting and working are different things remember.
 
Storm in a teacup. As if anyone would source a lens that didn't work on their camera. What's the problem?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top