Non Auto Indexing Lens Conversions
Bryce Wilson
Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
I had a really good experience and thought I'd share in case there is anyone else that could use the information.
I had picked up an old Nikkor 24mm lens at a garage sale. ($20.00, I love garage sales) Upon bringing my purchase home and doing some online research, I found that the lens was made around 1975 and designed for Nikon F mount cameras. This is referred to as a Non AI lens. The problem this presented was that because of the way the lens was made to mount on the old Nikon body styles, mounting it on my current Nikon bodies would most likely result in damage to the camera.
Asking around as to a solution to this problem, I was directed to a gentleman by the name of John White. John does conversions of old Nikkor lenses so they are compatible with today's cameras. I packaged the lens and sent it to John on a Thursday morning and the lens was converted and waiting for me when I returned from work the following Tuesday. It works perfectly used in both manual and A modes! (conversions won't work in program modes)
As I have been mostly a "portrait type photographer" I had not used or felt a need for wide angle lens before. I certainly couldn't justify spending well over 1.000.00 for one of Nikon's latest zoom wide angles or over 2,000.00 for their latest 24mm prime. The conversion cost 35.00 added to the 20.00 I already had invested. Doing test shots against a brick wall, as well as landscape applications, I'm pretty darn impressed with this vintage lens. It gives me an opportunity to play with wide angle with very little invested.
If you have any interest in a conversion, John's site is certainly worth a look. He has a pretty handy chart detailing what lenses need to be and can be converted. He is a real gentleman to deal with!
http://www.aiconversions.com/
Regards
I had picked up an old Nikkor 24mm lens at a garage sale. ($20.00, I love garage sales) Upon bringing my purchase home and doing some online research, I found that the lens was made around 1975 and designed for Nikon F mount cameras. This is referred to as a Non AI lens. The problem this presented was that because of the way the lens was made to mount on the old Nikon body styles, mounting it on my current Nikon bodies would most likely result in damage to the camera.
Asking around as to a solution to this problem, I was directed to a gentleman by the name of John White. John does conversions of old Nikkor lenses so they are compatible with today's cameras. I packaged the lens and sent it to John on a Thursday morning and the lens was converted and waiting for me when I returned from work the following Tuesday. It works perfectly used in both manual and A modes! (conversions won't work in program modes)
As I have been mostly a "portrait type photographer" I had not used or felt a need for wide angle lens before. I certainly couldn't justify spending well over 1.000.00 for one of Nikon's latest zoom wide angles or over 2,000.00 for their latest 24mm prime. The conversion cost 35.00 added to the 20.00 I already had invested. Doing test shots against a brick wall, as well as landscape applications, I'm pretty darn impressed with this vintage lens. It gives me an opportunity to play with wide angle with very little invested.
If you have any interest in a conversion, John's site is certainly worth a look. He has a pretty handy chart detailing what lenses need to be and can be converted. He is a real gentleman to deal with!
http://www.aiconversions.com/
Regards
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