New member query: Old Vivitar lens on a new D7000?

[Songe]

Hi everyone! Glad to join this forum. I am Lyne from Gatineau, Québec, Canada. My main hobby is making glass beads to include in jewelry pièces but I also need to take great pictures of my creations to sell them. So ... I treated myself to a brand new camera this weekend; a Nikon D7000.

Many years ago, when I graduated from University, my parents gave me a Nikon EM as a graduation gift. I still have this camera and a Vivitar 75-205mm (F3.8) macro lense. It does fit on my new Nikon but I am wondering if it is ok to use it (manually of course) without damaging anything my new D7000.

Thanks for any advice you may give me.

Lyne

[Donald]

Lyne posted this message in the 'New Member...' thread and I've copied it here so that people looking in this section will see it and, hopefully, be able to answer Lyne's question.

[GrahamS]

Many years ago, when I graduated from University, my parents gave me a Nikon EM as a graduation gift. I still have this camera and a Vivitar 75-205mm (F3.8) macro lense. It does fit on my new Nikon but I am wondering if it is ok to use it (manually of course) without damaging anything my new D7000.

Thanks for any advice you may give me.

Lyne

Lyne, welcome to CIC. Your Vivitar lens will work on your new D7000 but without auto-focus. You will have to focus manually and you may find the exposures somewhat inaccurate if used in P, A or S modes . However, that lens will not do your investment in the D7000 any justice apart from snapshots. The Nikon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR II is a very inexpensive "kit" lens and will out-perform your Vivitar lens for close-up work as it has a useful "macro" or "close focus" capability. You do not say whether you purchased the D7000 with the Nikon 18-105mm kit lens but if you did, that lens does not have a close-focus capability. Ideally, I would advise you to purchase one of the Nikon macro lenses, such as the AF-S 40mm f2.8G DX Macro or the Nikon AF-S 60mm f2.8 G Micro-Nikkor to fully take advantage of the potential image quality of the D7000 sensor.

[PhotomanJohn]

Lyne - My favorite lens for close focus work on my D7000 is the older Nikkor 60mm, f/2.8D micro lens which can be purchased used for a reasonable price. You will get the full function of the lens including auto-focus since your camera has a focus motor in the body. It also works well as a short telephoto for general photography. Excellent lens.

John

[ajohnw]

if I want to get some idea of what an early lens in particular is capable of rather than making assumptions I google it. They vary just like they do today. This lens came up with these 2 sites but there will be others.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/userrevi...-focusing.html

http://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=6067

I have never heard of an instance where fitting a manual lens to a camera would harm it. It might pay to study the back of the lens and makes sure that nothing sticks out that could foul on the mirror. That sometimes does happen when trying to adapt none canon lenses to eos types.

Looking at the lens a tripod bush on the lens would be a good idea as it sounds like it's both big and heavy. Not so sure that having AF would be an advantage in some ways but it depends on the reproduction ratio the camera is set up for. Some finally focus by moving the camera. Some people also use lenses of this focal length range to gain working distance which makes lighting a lot easier.

Really it's a bit difficult to recommend any particular lens without some idea of distances to subject and sizes. Your Tamron could be very useful for that and enable you to get a feel for that aspect. There are some good macro tutorials linked to on the top this page. It's how I found this site looking for good macro tutorials for some one else. It's a strange world as terms like 1:1, 1:2 or even 1:6 etc are used. These relate to the size of the image on the sensor 1:1 is life sized, 1:6 is 1/6 of life size. There are a calculators linked to from the tutorial so it's possible to get some idea of what might be needed but remember lighting. Short focal lengths usually offer more at the 1:1 end than longer focal lengths. but long lenses can also be used at 1:1 ................

Lenses can also be made to focus closer by using extension tubes. These can also be AF types and might be a suitable option for the lens that came with your camera. One thing I don't like about them is that the camera may hunt about when it's switched as it tries to focus the lens and find it can't because there is nothing at a suitable distance. Where I have tried this they simply work fhrough the full focus range a couple of times and then stop and focus correctly when something is bought into range. Might be best to hope that some one on here uses a similar camera and extension tubes. This might explain why some use manual focusing as well. I think I intend to. At least the aperture will stop down automatically when the shot is taken. A big help as that aspect is no fun when using a manual lens on insects for instance. It's best to focus wide open and then stop down for the shot.

John
-

[GrahamS]

I have never heard of an instance where fitting a manual lens to a camera would harm it.
John
-

There are many instances where fitting a heritage MF lens to a modern DSLR will damage the camera, too many to list here, but two examples are: mounting a pre or non-Ai lens on a for e.g. Nikon D90 and mounting a Cosina/Sears/Makinon PK mount lens on a Pentax PKA2 mount DSLR such as for e.g. a K10/K20/K7/K5. Both will result in an expensive repair.

[ajohnw]

There are many instances where fitting a heritage MF lens to a modern DSLR will damage the camera, too many to list here, but two examples are: mounting a pre or non-Ai lens on a for e.g. Nikon D90 and mounting a Cosina/Sears/Makinon PK mount lens on a Pentax PKA2 mount DSLR such as for e.g. a K10/K20/K7/K5. Both will result in an expensive repair.

It's a pity you didn't include the qualifications I mentioned as well - mirror fouling. I should have mentioned shorting out contacts as well but that is highly unlikely.

Actually as I used to be a Nikon fan on film I am pretty sure that pre A1 will not mount on the later cameras such as the EM. Very unusual change for them. Looking on the web looks like I am correct. eg

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

or but not so easy to use

https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/...ail/a_id/19026

John
-

[Songe]

Thanks everyone for such great advice and links. Unfortunately, my camera did not come with the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR. It came with the 18-105mm lense. Well ... I am glad Santa is coming soon! By the way, I tried my old vivitar lense (about 30 years old ... the lense, not me!) and I am not impressed with the results. I certainly would not use it as a macro lense for the jewelry photography needs I have as one has to be way too far away from the objects to get good results.

Thanks again.

Lyne

[xpatUSA]

Late to the party but I had a micro-Nikkor 60mm macro f/2.8 on a Nikon D50 for watch photography and it was excellent.

[rpcrowe]

Another lens you might consider if you can get one at a good price is the 90mm f/2.9 Tamron AF SP DI Macro....