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Nikon for D and F series

yudis_asnar

New Member
Hi Folks,

I'm newbie in the Photogaphy world.
sorry for my ignorance.

Actually, I choose NIKON because they maintain the lens mounting since 60's until now.

But I read in their website we shouldn't use DX Lens in 35mm Camera.
Is there any real reason?
and if it is true? which lens can be used in Digital Camera and 35mm Camera

Thanks
 
With a Nikon Digital you may use most any lens with that camera.

With a 35mm Nikon the "DX" lens is focused on a smaller area so you'll see vignetting in the view finder and on the photograph.

vignette |vin?yet| noun 1 a brief evocative description, account, or episode. 2 a small illustration or portrait photograph that fades into its background without a definite border. • a small ornamental design filling a space in a book or carving, typically based on foliage. verb [ trans. ] portray (someone) in the style of a vignette. • produce (a photograph) in the style of a vignette by softening or shading away the edges of the subject.
 
So can I assume that it is better not to buy DX Series since we will to use it the 35mm camera besides the digital one?
 
> You cannot use DX lenses on film cameras, no. They are made for the > smaller sensor of a digital camera. HOWEVER, you can use the old lenses on > the higher end digital SLRs such as the D2X and D2H. I have the D2X and > I've been having a ball with an old Nikkor 55 micro I used to use reversed > on my 105 for macro work when I had the D100 (which the lens did not fit > on). Hope this helps.
 
> Only AF lenses will work on Nikon's SLR group from the D50 to the D200.
 
> Only AF lenses will work on Nikon's SLR group from the D50 to the D200.

That is not quite correct. There are limitations (different on different cameras), but you can use AI-S lenses.

For ex&le, the D70 lets you mount and use AI-S lenses, but auto exposure is disabled. Autofocus is also disabled, of course, but you do get focus confirmation.
 
There is a reason in both directions. The DX lens, as others have pointed out, is for an APS-sized sensor 23.7 x 15.7 mm much smaller than the 35mm film size of 24mm x 36mm. Since they are optimized for the small sensor, they may not even cover the larger frame and if they do, the quality in the corners may be severely compromised.

On the other hand, film lenses over the sensor may be compromised as well. To the best of my knowledge, the DX sensor is not highly reflective. However the sensor that Kodak used in their Nikon-based 14n was, and many of the Nikon lenses were disasterous when mounted on this camera. The rear element of some lensese is also reflective and it set up reflections bouncing back and forth, between sensor and rear of lens creating ghost images of anything bright within the image.

The basic nature of film and sensors are quite different. Film has sensitized layers one above the other that respond to the only certain frequency bands of colour. While there may be some fall-off in the corners with superwide lenses, film really does not care what angle light hits it.

Quite the opposite with sensors. They have minute photosites covered with filters sitting side by side as in a mosaic. They function best when light hits them perpendicularly. DX lenses are designed to do this, while film lens designers never needed to consider angle. Thus a film lens on a digital camera may perform magnificently or it may be a disaster or it may be just a bit less than optimum. It depends upon the individual lens itself when mounted on the specific camera.

Of course there are other considerations. Since the DX sensor only crops out the centre portion of the image, a 1.5x cropping factor comes into play. A 24mm superwide lens is in effect converted to just another 35mm wide angle lens (36mm actually). With most lenses, the centre of the image benefits from the highest resolving power of the lens, while it may fall off a bit toward the edges. With film lenses on digital cameras, the image comes from the "sweet spot".

larry! http://www.larry-bolch.com/ ICQ 76620504
 
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