Older Nikon Lens on Digital body

"Ståle Sannerud" <staale.sannerud.RemoveThis@bibits.no> wrote in message news:12eoqbccj844n8d@corp.supernews.com...

>> Of course on the other hand, for about $100 there are
>> replacement viewing screens that are *much* better than those
>> from the "old film cameras".

>> A split screen focusing aide that works down to f/11, for
>> example.

> By all means - I had one of these from Kats' Eye for my 300D for use with manual Nikkors, and it worked quite well. Even so, the
> small mirror-box viewfinders on these low-end crop cameras do not do the photographer any favours at all when it comes to manual
> focusing. It's a lot easier on my Canon 1D, with proper glass prism and a larger viewfinder all round. And I've looked through the
> viewfinder of a friend's Nikon Fwhatever, the viewfinder on that thing blows my (rather good in fact) 1D viewfinder out of the
> water altogether. The D50 viewfinder is a tiny, dark, narrow well in comparison.
>
> What I'm saying is that manual focus lenses on a digicam is doable with the right matte screen, but rather a pain in the backside
> if you have ever used the real thing. Ignorance is bliss, in this respect

I agree completely. The viewfinders of the F-series MF cameras are
GREAT, being sharp to the corners, bright, without linear distortion,
and with 100% coverage (except F100, which is close enough). If
you can tolerate some linear distortion, corner softness, and less than
100% coverage, the finders of the FE/FM/FA series are unbeatable for
ease of MF focus. Even the N8008 is pretty good - but the newest
"N" series AF bodies (and the digital bodies based on the N80) have
TERRIBLE viewfinders and data displays (look at an N8008 to see
how good these can be!). What progress.....? ;-(

BTW, my interest in having MF lenses meter on digital SLR bodies is
so that I can use my MF 8, 15, 16, 20, and 28PC lenses on them, since
"guess-focus" is accurate with these for landscape work - but the price
of admission (the D200) is still too high (and comparing the image
quality from 10-12megapixel bodies with my Sony 707 makes me
wonder if a digital SLR is worth bothering with at all, especially given
the difficulty of getting really good wide-angle quality with it and its
1.5X focal length multiplier). I won't jump yet...
--
David Ruether
ruether.RemoveThis@verizon.net
rpn1.RemoveThis@cornell.edu
http://www.ferrario.com/ruether

> I agree completely. The viewfinders of the F-series MF cameras are
> GREAT, being sharp to the corners, bright, without linear distortion,
> and with 100% coverage (except F100, which is close enough). If
> you can tolerate some linear distortion, corner softness, and less than
> 100% coverage, the finders of the FE/FM/FA series are unbeatable for
> ease of MF focus. Even the N8008 is pretty good - but the newest
> "N" series AF bodies (and the digital bodies based on the N80) have
> TERRIBLE viewfinders and data displays (look at an N8008 to see
> how good these can be!). What progress.....? ;-(

Hmpth... I have a feeling they didn't announce the demise of good
viewfinders when they rolled out the first autofocus lenses...

>
> BTW, my interest in having MF lenses meter on digital SLR bodies is
> so that I can use my MF 8, 15, 16, 20, and 28PC lenses on them, since
> "guess-focus" is accurate with these for landscape work - but the price
> of admission (the D200) is still too high (and comparing the image
> quality from 10-12megapixel bodies with my Sony 707 makes me
> wonder if a digital SLR is worth bothering with at all, especially given
> the difficulty of getting really good wide-angle quality with it and its
> 1.5X focal length multiplier). I won't jump yet...
> --
> David Ruether
> ruether RemoveThis @verizon.net
> rpn1 RemoveThis @cornell.edu
> http://www.ferrario.com/ruether
>

Well, the good news is that metering is pretty irrelevant nowadays. Snap
shot, look at histogram, adjust exposure and snap again; then you are set
until the light changes quite a bit. It takes all of five seconds. RAW gives
you a bit more leeway, as always. If you are experienced enough to get it in
the right ballpark with the initial shot this isn't much of a problem! Focus
is the big problem, exposure is no big deal.

Staale Sannerud