A Basic Nikkor Lens Question (telling DX from FX)

capitoljayhawk

I just picked up a new Nikon D700 (yes, ludicrous splurge). I am digging through all my old film-body lenses, which I know will work with the full-frame sensor. I haven't had these out in years, since I made the transition to DX a while ago.

I think I may be confusing some of the lenses. How can I tell a DX lens from an FX lens?? I read somewhere that all DX lenses say "DX" on the barrel. I do see "DX" on some of my lenses, but not others --- including ones I was shooting on my old D70.

Is it possible that I was just shooting my old FX/film lenses on my D70 (DX) camera??

Even lenses that I picked up recently don't bear the "DX." For instance, I just bought about a year ago a Nikkor 50mm:1.8D. It does not say "DX." Does that mean it will work without the cropping effect on my D700?

Sorry. I know this question is very fundamental, but I didn't pay attention to these things until I started to get more serious about shooting, and by then I had already transitioned to the digital cameras.


Thanks in advance.

Mitchell

You probably don't have any DX glass. They all say DX on the barrel.

Your old Nikkor manual lenses will meter on the D700 if they are AI. Any autofocus lens will work on the D700. Even the DX lenses will work fine, but will only utilize the center of the FX sensor and will produce a photo less than 5mp.

ziggy53

If a Nikkor lens has the "DX" designation that is a sure indication, but if you mount a lens on the D700 and you see "severe" vignetting (I mean it looks like looking through a tube) that is another sure indication. Very old manual focus lenses are almost always FX lenses.

I do think that non-AI lenses should "not" be mounted as I think they can cause damage.

The DX lenses may be safely mounted and used in DC mode on the D700. The main ramification is that you will be limited to around 5 MPix of detail, still enough for very nice 8" x 10" prints.

rookieshooter

As Ziggy said, a DX lens will show heavy vignetting. However, if you set it to use Auto DX Crop mode it will still look like that, but there will be a box in the middle of the frame showing you what will be captured.

To set this mode go into the menu named "shooting menu" (has a camera symbol" and under image area select auto DX crop. This does not affect FX lenses at all.

Also, congrats on the new body. I'm sure you will love it!

Tim Kamppinen

To answer the other side of your question, yes, it seems you were using FX lenses on your D70. FX lenses will work fine on DX bodies, but using DX lenses on FX bodies imposes the limitations that everyone else has mentioned. The FX sensor is larger, so if the lens is designed to cover an FX sensor it can also cover a DX sensor. And yes, the 50mm 1.8 is an FX lens.

Cygnus Studios

The crop lenses are marked:

Nikkor DX
Tamron Di II
Sigma DC
Tokina DX

capitoljayhawk

Thanks everyone. Very helpful.

Cygnus Studios wrote:

The crop lenses are marked:

Nikkor DX
Tamron Di II
Sigma DC
Tokina DX

ghinson

Here's a useful link:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm