Nikon camera/lens compatibility

StewartR

StewartR

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Can anyone explain, or point me to a source which explains, which types of Nikon lenses are compatible with which Nikon cameras?
 
You won't want to know from the begining of time till now will you ?
All Nikon lenses fit all Nikon cameras, there has never been a mount change, a 50 year old 50mm mf lens will work on a D3, with limited functionality, autofocus being the obvious one.

Recent times ?

AFD lenses offer all functions to all DSLR cameras, except autofocus on the D40 D40x & D60

AFS lenses offer all functions to all DSLR cameras, including autofocus on the D40 D40X D60

DX lenses offer all functions to all DSLR cameras, except fulframe cameras, that would be the D3 then.

Lenses before 92 gets more complicated as to what functions are available for what.
 
what joxby said, plus....

the older nikkor lenses...Pre AI lenses will fit any nikon but you will get no metering, AI and AIS lenses you will only get metering on higher end cameras such as the D200/300, D3 etc.
 
There should be a chart of compatible lenses printed in your cameras documentation. That is of course if you own a Nikon, not sure.
 
Basically any Nikon lens will fit on any Nikon camera as they have not changed the lens mount from their early cameras to the ones which they are making now.

Which lenses work on which camera is a different matter. Basically what joxby said.

All the "D" lenses also have a backwards compatibility as well as they have a apeture ring ;)
 
Thanks for the help guys. Especially joxby - I had found the whole issue terribly intimidating, but by concentrating on the most recent equipment you made it much much simpler. Thanks.

Now here's a follow-up question.

As I understand it, the D40/D40x/D60 rely on the lens having an autofocus motor (i.e. AFS lenses), whereas other bodies such as the D80 have a built-in autococus drive for lenses that don't have one (i.e. AFD lenses). So if you fit an AFS lens onto a D80, how does the autofocus work? Is it the in-lens or in-body motor that does the work? And as a corollary, if the autofocus motor in an AFS lens has failed, is there any way of finding that out if your body is a D80?
 
StewartR said:
As I understand it, the D40/D40x/D60 rely on the lens having an autofocus motor (i.e. AFS lenses), whereas other bodies such as the D80 have a built-in autococus drive for lenses that don't have one (i.e. AFD lenses).
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Correct - basically the D80 upwards has the ability to use older lenses, I would expect that you'll probably want to stick to AF-S lenses anyway they are the ones most people will want to hire.

StewartR said:
So if you fit an AFS lens onto a D80, how does the autofocus work? Is it the in-lens or in-body motor that does the work? And as a corollary, if the autofocus motor in an AFS lens has failed, is there any way of finding that out if your body is a D80?
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The body "knows" the lens is AFS (I think there are extra contacts on the lens 9 instead of 7 IIRC) and therefore the body doesn't attempt to use its A/F motor and the lens does the work.

If the AFS motor breaks then AF doesn't work. I'm guessing there may be an error code shown on the camera but I don't know.
 
SimonTALM said:
StewartR said:
So if you fit an AFS lens onto a D80, how does the autofocus work? Is it the in-lens or in-body motor that does the work? And as a corollary, if the autofocus motor in an AFS lens has failed, is there any way of finding that out if your body is a D80?
Click to expand...
The body "knows" the lens is AFS (I think there are extra contacts on the lens 9 instead of 7 IIRC) and therefore the body doesn't attempt to use its A/F motor and the lens does the work.

If the AFS motor breaks then AF doesn't work. I'm guessing there may be an error code shown on the camera but I don't know.
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OK, if you're sure about that, then in order to test that an AFD or AFS lens is fully functional, I don't need anything more than a second-hand D50?
 
StewartR said:
OK, if you're sure about that, then in order to test that an AFD or AFS lens is fully functional, I don't need anything more than a second-hand D50?
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correct
or just plain AF lenses
life must be so much easier if you knacker your customer base up with a mount change every once in a while:LOL:
 
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