Pairing Manual Film Lenses With A Digital Slr

There are a number of very fine macro lenses available for a relatively reasonable price. I think particularly of some of the Nikon macro lenses. The 55 macro and the 105 macro are reputedly two of the finest macro lenses ever made. They are very sharp all of the way to the edges and very fast. I have been watching these lenses on ebay. The 55 macro lens can be had for not much more than 50 dollars and the 105 macro can be had for around 100 dollars. I would think that the quality of the lenses in these lenses are the equal of the high end lenses available today.

I understand that when these lenses are used with a digital camera they are actually more powerful because the image sensor is smaller than the area of film on a 35 millimeter camera.

Hi, I know a bit about Nikon, as I have all that gear. I have a D70S with the newer Nikkor 60mm macro lens, which works very well for coin photos. For macro lenses, I consider AF a rather superfluous convenience; you can easily focus on stationary objects by eye alone. In terms of lens to dSLR compatibility, I believe that older AI-S lenses will fit, but you might have restrictions on how it meters, depending on the camera. For the D70S, if those macro lenses you mention are AI-S, they will meter fine, except that "3D metering" is disabled. Personally, I'd recommend the D70S because it's a solid workhorse, and I never need resolution over 6MP anyway. And, they can be found at good used brokers like KEH.com for around $500 in great condition.

Dark Sider
the 55 macro is an excellent lens, but its max magnification factor is 1:2. To get to 1:1 you have to use an extension ring
(the Nikon PK-13) to get to 1:1 (life-size).

I believe the 105 also requires an extension ring to get to 1:1

Be sure to check the compatibility of your Nikon body with extension tubes.(See note on the BR-2a below)

If you want to try macro on the cheap, try the 50mm 2.8 reversed using a Nikon BR2a reversing ring. Strickly manual operation
a 28mm has even higher magnification.

The "A" in BR2-A is very important if you using a DSLR the older BR-2 will do a number on the metering contacts on your body

Don't forget a good copy stand or tripod. O' yea Lights

7070, that's an interesting comparison, as the newer AF Nikkor 60, 105, and 200 micro lenses now all have a 1:1 ratio (according to Nikon's catalog)

By way of an example of the 60mm Nikkor, here's a shot at near 1:1 (click for full-size)

Good point! Personally, I think macro 1:1 is more important if you're into die varieties or errors on coins, where the small details count. For for normal coin photography, I think 1:2 would work just fine.

Hi, Darksider...going back to your second post. It is my understanding that dSLR's come in two general formats: DX and FX. FX cameras are "full frame"...and equivalent to a film 35 mm camera. These FX cameras are typically at the high end of the price range. Lenses will yield results in FX equivalent to what they would yield in film.

The DX format sensor is smaller, however. So there is an approximate 1.5x increase in "magnification" or crop factor compared to the FX format. In practical use, this means a 60 mm macro lens on a DX camera will give you results similar to a 90 mm lens on an FX format camera. This is very nice for nature photography, because the DX photographer can use a relatively affordable 300 mm lens to achieve results similar to a much more expensive 450 mm lens in FX. At the wide end, however, it means that an 18 mm wide angle lens on DX isn't so wide at all, you need a 12 mm to get the same effect.

At any rate...you are dead right about putting "old" 35 mm film lenses on the DX format dSLR's. Works great, but, depending on the lens series you may lose autofocus, TTL metering, etc. This may be a problem for walkaround photography, but is at most a minor inconvenience for specialized studio photography such as shooting coins.

I thought this would be a good topic for those who might consider getting a digital slr but don't really know if they can justify spending almost as much again for a lens specifically for taking pictures of coins.

For coins, it is more important to have the capability to do manual focus and exposure than it is to have automatic focus and exposure. I would not be surprised if some of these older, cheaper lenses have glass as good as anything except maybe the highest end today.

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I would not be surprised if some of these older, cheaper lenses have glass as good as anything except maybe the highest end today.

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With the exception of the cheap Nikkor E-series, the build is superior to current lenses. Those older lenses had all-metal lens barrels, and are virtually indestructible in normal use. Generally the optics are very good, especially on the faster AI-S lenses.