D60 + Lens Compatibility

Cantfeelmyfingers

I'm definitely in over my head with this lens business! :scratch I recently bought a D60, was a little scared to jump in too deep, so I stuck with the little guy! Anyway, I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out lenses.
I'm wanting a 50mm f1.4 .... or even the 50mm f1.8. Will either of these work for this camera!?!? I'm so darn confused, I've tried researching the Nikon site, and doing a search on Dgrin, but I didn't find what I was looking for.
Does anyone know if either of the 50mm lenses will work for my D60 and possibly have more information regarding the AF\MF?? Thanks in advance for the responses!

ziggy53

Cantfeelmyfingers wrote:

I'm definitely in over my head with this lens business! I recently bought a D60, was a little scared to jump in too deep, so I stuck with the little guy! Anyway, I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out lenses.
I'm wanting a 50mm f1.4 .... or even the 50mm f1.8. Will either of these work for this camera!?!? I'm so darn confused, I've tried researching the Nikon site, and doing a search on Dgrin, but I didn't find what I was looking for.
Does anyone know if either of the 50mm lenses will work for my D60 and possibly have more information regarding the AF\MF?? Thanks in advance for the responses!

Unfortunately, the Nikon D40, D40x and D60 lack the focus motor in the camera and the attending "focus screw" mechanism to drive lenses. I believe the Nikon 50mm, in both f1.4 and f1.8 versions require a body with the focus screw to autofocus. I believe the D60 will manual focus with focus confirmation.

Sigma just came out with a 50mm, f/1.4 EX DG HSM which will autofocus on the D60, but it's rather expensive ($500USD). It looks to be better image quality than the Nikon version, but I'm not sure the extra cost is justified.

I would almost recommend a Nikon D80 or even the D200 instead. The D200 will also allow aperture control with many older Nikon manual focus lenses, which I think is desirable.

Cantfeelmyfingers

Thank you for the answer!
I'm a little upset now that I bought the D60 rather than doing for at least the D80.. errrrgg. Perhaps I will have to eventually cough up the money for the Sigma . Sheesh. Or see if I'm able to exchange? Oh well! Thanks again!

jonh68

I wouldn't feel too bad. The D40 is a great camera and one of the reasons it's cheap is it doesn't have AF. Now that you know you have the camera bug, you will be able to buy more specifically, and you will have a nice little backup when you upgrade your camera. Would you have felt better if you bought the D80 but learned you didn't like photography so much?

Cantfeelmyfingers

Last night I rummaged through my receipts and all that, so there's definitely no way I'll be able to exchange it, it's been too darn long.. So frustrating, bought it just over 4 months ago, and already the D60 is $200 cheaper! My one saving grace is that it will be a good back up one day. But that day will probably be quite some time! Need to start saving for a new toy already! I've always loved photography and I probably should have just bought something a little heftier at the time, mais, C'est la Vie!
PS If anyone knows, is there a good "prime" lens that WOULD work with the D60??

Art Scott

In recent times I have become very well known at both Sigma and Nikon....don't be bashful go to their contact pages and ask them for help....I have yet to be refused and they both have been very cheerful....it is their products you are trying to purchase....then I come here for confirmational information..such as in the real world how good is such and such lens....or is anyone using such and such lens and what are your thoughts on it....
Or I just google for reviews on the lens......

Cantfeelmyfingers

Thanks Art for the response, I went to the Nikon page and tried doing some research and submitted a question, hopefully I'll get a response, or I may call them regarding a couple other questions. Hopefully I'll have good luck with them too!

On a side note, today at work I had the opportunity to play with the demo D60 and a couple lenses.. A fellow aspiring photog I work with (we work at a lab/photo store Black's for those of you with Canadian roots) and she said you can use the 50mm lens with the D60, you just have to manually focus. Will this hurt my camera If I get it and just MF??

ziggy53

Cantfeelmyfingers wrote:

... Will this hurt my camera If I get it and just MF??

You are fine to use the Nikon AF prime lenses on the D60. You would manually focus and, I think, the camera will give you focus confirmation. The camera will also coordinate exposure with the lens.

Even older Nikon manual focus lenses should work on the D60. In that case I don't believe you would have auto-exposure. I think you have to have at least the D200 for auto-exposure and focus confirmation with the manual focus lenses.

The non-AI lenses are the only lenses I would be very careful mounting on the D60. (Those are "very" old manual focus lenses.)

Tim Kamppinen

ziggy53 wrote:

You are fine to use the Nikon AF prime lenses on the D60. You would manually focus and, I think, the camera will give you focus confirmation. The camera will also coordinate exposure with the lens.

Even older Nikon manual focus lenses should work on the D60. In that case I don't believe you would have auto-exposure. I think you have to have at least the D200 for auto-exposure and focus confirmation with the manual focus lenses.

The non-AI lenses are the only lenses I would be very careful mounting on the D60. (Those are "very" old manual focus lenses.)

This is all correct. I have a D40 and was in the same boat as you, but I just picked up a manual focus 50mm 1.4 on ebay for $70 (an AI lens) to play around with. I figured since I'd have to manually focus the 1.8 on my camera I might as well just get a MF lens for $30 less... also, the older metal lenses like this have some nicer features for manual focusing, in that they feel more solid, the focus ring is larger and stays in place better, an there is a hard stop for focusing on infinity (meaning that if you turn the ring all the way it will stop on infinity, rather than going past infinity and throwing your image out of focus). This is compared not necessarily to the 1.8, which I haven't used, but to newer nikon plastic DX lenses in general like the kit lens and the 18-200VR which I have. The downside, of course, is that there is no auto exposure this way (but I shoot manual most of the time anyway) and when I upgrade in the future I still won't have autofocus with this lens. On the other hand, I have been able to take some great shots with it; it just requires a little more patience to get the focus right. You select the focus point in the finder, point it at what you want to focus on, turn the ring, and when it's in focus the green dot in the finder comes on and stays lit.