Nikon D5000 with AF-S

Pixbarmy

Pixbarmy

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I have seen plenty of 300mm telephoto lenses for the above and they seem to be much more expensive than the manual focus Nikon lenses. I am used to manual focus anyway (previously had 35mm cameras) so is it OK to use a manual focus lens on an AF-S Nikon D5000, or should I just bite the bullet and buy an all singing all dancing auto focus lens? I'm a bit old fashioned and see lots of the modern electrickery stuff to have built in obsolescence (ie they break!). Are the manual lenses less likely to fail and will they work on the D5000?
 
IMO

The thing with using MF lens on a modern AF camera body is that the the VF does not have the focusing 'aids' on the Fresnel screen that you get on 35mm SLR so focus confirmation is more difficult......unless the body has a built in "aid" for manual focusing. I have no idea if the D5000 has such an "aid"?
 
Box Brownie said:
IMO

The thing with using MF lens on a modern AF camera body is that the the VF does not have the focusing 'aids' on the Fresnel screen that you get on 35mm SLR so focus confirmation is more difficult......unless the body has a built in "aid" for manual focusing. I have no idea if the D5000 has such an "aid"?
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Many manual only film SLR cameras had no focus aids and that was never a real problem. The main difficulty with manually focusing on a modern camera is that the focus ring has a very short throw in order to speed up autofocus and human hands do not have enough finesse to make the small movements required. A lens designed to be manually focused will have a much longer throw usually and that makes them much easier to focus manually than a modern autofocus lens.
 
Of course it’s ok, but you are making life more difficult for yourself. The d5000 viewfinder is pretty small, so getting spot on focus manually isn’t easy. Lenses certainly don’t have built in obsolescence so that’s not an issue. There are many cheap 70-300 lenses available on the used market from tamron, sigma and even Nikon themselves.
 
john.margetts said:
Many manual only film SLR cameras had no focus aids and that was never a real problem. The main difficulty with manually focusing on a modern camera is that the focus ring has a very short throw in order to speed up autofocus and human hands do not have enough finesse to make the small movements required. A lens designed to be manually focused will have a much longer throw usually and that makes them much easier to focus manually than a modern autofocus lens.
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The focusing aid I was referring to the 'split image microprism focus screen' found on manual focus SLR bodies. Auto focus cameras dispensed with them though you could get a variant for the Canon bodies that included that structure but as I recall you had to change a setting on the menu to tell the camera it was that type of screen in use.
 
Box Brownie said:
The focusing aid I was referring to the 'split image microprism focus screen' found on manual focus SLR bodies. Auto focus cameras dispensed with them though you could get a variant for the Canon bodies that included that structure but as I recall you had to change a setting on the menu to tell the camera it was that type of screen in use.
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I have just over 20 film SLR cameras and around half of them just have a plain ground glass focus screen. My Nikon Nikkormat EL from 1975 - a very respectable camera for its time - does not have either the split image nor the micro prisms.
 
john.margetts said:
I have just over 20 film SLR cameras and around half of them just have a plain ground glass focus screen. My Nikon Nikkormat EL from 1975 - a very respectable camera for its time - does not have either the split image nor the micro prisms.
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I stand corrected that not all older 35mm SLR had such 'helpers' but that not withstanding, using an MF lens is not as straightforward to those that maybe have never or not used them for a while and been used to AF ;)
 
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You can use manual lenses, but you might lose more than the autofocus. You may also lose any program modes, shutter priority and at worst, you'll get no light meter either. It depends on the lens. They are still useable, but not in a hurry!
 
Many thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. If the autos are reliable I shall just have to dig a little deeper and get "with it"!
 
Pixbarmy said:
Many thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. If the autos are reliable I shall just have to dig a little deeper and get "with it"!
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I can only suggest that once you have chosen the lens(es) that you are looking at that you ask for some user feedback and/or look at the user reviews such as at Fred Miranda reviews.
 
Pixbarmy said:
Many thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. If the autos are reliable I shall just have to dig a little deeper and get "with it"!
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Before going crazy on a new af-s lens ....
I’d consider upgrading to at least a d7xxx series. These (along with the ff Nikon bodies) have better compatibility with the older lenses and the af-d lenses.
There’s both a 300 f4 and 300 2.8 af-d lens that are much more affordable than their contemporaries and imo better in the long term re reliability etc.
 
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I managed to bag a Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens from Ebay with all the AF and VR and SWM, so hopefully, should be shooting long distance soon! (Assuming it arrives safe and sound!).
 
Pixbarmy said:
I managed to bag a Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens from Ebay with all the AF and VR and SWM, so hopefully, should be shooting long distance soon! (Assuming it arrives safe and sound!).
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On a D5000 it doesn't have an inbody motor so won't drive the AF system in older Nikkor lenses. You need to buy AF-S lenses for it to have autofocus.

That applies for any Dxxxx bodies bar D7xxx bodies. The Dxxx and Dxx and Dx all have in body motors to drive the AF motor in the older lenses.

Hope this helps.
 
I have recently purchased the D5000 with an AF-P 18-55 lens. Am I correct in thinking that this lens doesn't autofocus either.
 
mikehenfron said:
I have recently purchased the D5000 with an AF-P 18-55 lens. Am I correct in thinking that this lens doesn't autofocus either.
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Yes it does, AF-P is the latest version of Nikons autofocus lenses.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Yes it does, AF-P is the latest version of Nikons autofocus lenses.
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Thanks for the response, in that case I've either got a setting wrong or there is a problem with either the camera body or lens. Any thoughts for my next step?
 
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