Can I use vintage lenses on a Nikon D3200, and will image quality suffer?
Asked 2/21/2015
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I’m considering using older manual-focus lenses on a Nikon D3200 to save money. Can vintage lenses be adapted without losing image quality? I’ve read that some adapters add optical elements and may reduce sharpness.
What should I know before buying older lenses for a D3200? Which types of lenses or adapters are practical, and are there limitations with focus, aperture control, or image quality?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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You cannot adapt lenses to Nikon F without quality loss without modifying a lens mount. You can use an adapter with an optical element that will act like a short teleconverter, but that will increase the focal length, reduce the max. aperture, and probably add softness, particularly if it's low-cost. (See: Can I use lens brand X on interchangeable lens camera brand Y?).
This is because the Nikon F mount has one of the largest registration distances of all the old film SLR mounts. This is the distance the lens is held away from the image plane and is crucial for the lens to achieve focus capability across the entire range. You push the lens out farther, and it's like using a small macro extension tube--you lose the ability to focus at the farther end of the range, and for Nikon F, this often means not being able to focus past 10'. So, you either have to use a small teleconverter-type adapter, or reduce the mount depth on the lens.
Unless you have €100 or so to spend on a Leitax kit, but most of the lenses those will fit are going to cost you decidedly more than €200 if they're in good working shape. Stick with older used Nikon F-mount lenses.
Quality is in the eye of the beholder. Older vintage lenses have older optical designs, older coatings, and have been used for much longer. They may exhibit softness, chromatic aberration, coma, or spherical aberration that you won't find in newer designs, and of course, new lenses come with warranties and return policies older lenses don't. But sometimes the older "flaws" of vintage glass are prized for a specific character they can lend. The opinion on whether it's better or worse to use them is in the eye of the beholder.
What is without argument is that older manual vintage lenses from the '60s and '70s (which, btw, are much too old to have VR) are much more inconvenient to use--particularly on an entry level body. Even if you manage to find some bargains in pre-AI vintage Nikkors (but if you ever plan to upgrade above the D3x00/D5x00 bodies--go for AI or later lenses. Pre-AI lenses, if unmodified, can cause damage to the higher-end bodies), remember that you won't have any electronic communication from the lens to the body. No lens EXIF. No accurate metering (until you get up to the D7x00 bodies). No autofocus. No aperture control from the camera body. No way to judge accurate focus without putting the camera on a tripod and using liveview and magnification. And, of course, all these lenses will be designed for full frame, not crop, so finding wide angle glass or fast glass is liable to be just as expensive as with new lenses.
This is a harsh thing to say, but dSLR photography is expensive and there is no way around that. If you can't afford the native-mount autofocusing lenses in a camera's mount, then you can't afford the camera. Bodies come and go on a regular basis. They're the single most transitory part of the system. It's the lenses that are your permanent purchase and where the majority of your money will go. Save up and budget accordingly.
Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27440
11y ago
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Using adapted vintage lenses on a Nikon D3200 can work, but the mount matters a lot. Nikon F has a long flange distance, so many non-Nikon vintage SLR lenses cannot be adapted to infinity focus with a simple mechanical adapter. To keep infinity focus, adapters often need a glass element, which acts a bit like a teleconverter: it increases focal length, reduces effective aperture, and can soften the image—especially cheap adapters.
If you use vintage lenses designed for Nikon F mount, they generally don’t need an optical adapter, so there’s no extra image-quality loss from the adapter itself. Image quality then depends on the specific lens, not just its age. Some older lenses are excellent; others are not.
Expect manual focus and manual exposure control with many vintage lenses. One user reports the D3200 works fine this way through the viewfinder.
Practical advice: look first for older Nikon F-mount lenses rather than adapting other film-SLR mounts. Be cautious with inexpensive optical adapters, since they’re the most likely source of quality loss.
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