Nikon AI lens working better with digital than analogue camera...

[Tom Pinchenzo]

I recently got a Nikon 50mm 1.8 AI lens which I’m using with both a Nikon D610 and F80. On the D610 the body does a fair job at knowing the aperture although it thinks it’s about 2 stops slower (when the lens is set to 1.8 the body thinks it’s 3.5). But the F80 cannot get any aperture data at all so have to use it in manual. It seems odd that an old lens is more compatible with a newer body? Any idea why this would be? (Both the inaccurate reading from the D610 and the apparent incompatibility with the F80).

 

[ancient_mariner]

Nikon lens mount compatibility is not especially joined up. I'd guess they were trying to 'encouage' users to move across to newer lenses at the time of releasing F80.

 

[myotis]

I recently got a Nikon 50mm 1.8 AI lens which I’m using with both a Nikon D610 and F80. On the D610 the body does a fair job at knowing the aperture although it thinks it’s about 2 stops slower (when the lens is set to 1.8 the body thinks it’s 3.5). But the F80 cannot get any aperture data at all so have to use it in manual. It seems odd that an old lens is more compatible with a newer body? Any idea why this would be? (Both the inaccurate reading from the D610 and the apparent incompatibility with the F80).

This was a cost cutting exercise with some low cost Nikon bodies (the current D7500 is the same) which excludes the mechanical aperture coupling with the metering needed by the manual focus lenses. Unless they are "chipped" to provide the electronic connections needed (CPU).

The D610 has the mechanical coupling, but you still need to manually tell the camera what the maximum aperture is. This is done through the set up menu, where you can set the "non-CPU lens data" for focal length and maximum aperture of up to 10 lenses. If you only have the 50mm f1.8, you can set it up for this lens and ignore it. Any modern lens with CPU will override these settings. If you have more than one non-cpu lens, then you need to change these settings when you change lenses.

You can speed this up by setting this adjustment to a function key, or the quick menu tools.

 

[Tom Pinchenzo]

This was a cost cutting exercise with some low cost Nikon bodies (the current D7500 is the same) which excludes the mechanical aperture coupling with the metering needed by the manual focus lenses. Unless they are "chipped" to provide the electronic connections needed (CPU).

The D610 has the mechanical coupling, but you still need to manually tell the camera what the maximum aperture is. This is done through the set up menu, where you can set the "non-CPU lens data" for focal length and maximum aperture of up to 10 lenses. If you only have the 50mm f1.8, you can set it up for this lens and ignore it. Any modern lens with CPU will override these settings. If you have more than one non-cpu lens, then you need to change these settings when you change lenses.

You can speed this up by setting this adjustment to a function key, or the quick menu tools.

That's really helpful - thank you.