Nikon coupling prong on newer lenses?

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carrrrls

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Hi everyone, I'm kind of a newbie to photography and to this forum, so pardon me if my question has already been answered before.
I recently found my dad's Nikon F Photomic ftn and I decided to use it to learn the basics of photography. I also found some lenses, among which some have the coupling prong ("ears"), while others (I think newer ones) don't.
I was wondering whether there is a way to couple the lenses without ears to the Photomic. Do I need some kind of an adapter that has the prong?
Thanks in advance.
 

RDW

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The 'ears' can be added to many lenses, but as they are normally fixed in place by screws, the holes need to be drilled to attach the prong. Some lenses (even early AF lenses with aperture rings) have 'pilot holes', indentations in the right place to guide the drill, but not complete holes unless you have a lens that used to have the prong and it has been removed for some reason.

https://radojuva.com/en/2020/01/nikon-rabbit-ear/

John White is one technician who offers this service, a 'Type C' conversion:

http://aiconversions.com/PricesAndShipping.htm

Perhaps a prong could be glued in place with the right adhesive, but that would be a bodge job.

You could consider adding a second body for full compatibility with the lenses without prongs. This may well work out cheaper than having prongs added to a few lenses professionally. If you want it to work with all your lenses, you need to determine whether the lenses with prongs are 'pre-AI' or AI/AI-S:

https://vintagelens.nl/2018/02/19/differences-non-ai-ai-ais-nikon-mounts/

Most cameras made after Nikon switched to AI will only accept AI/AI-S lenses, and will be damaged if you attempt to mount a pre-AI lens. In the transition period, Nikon made a few cameras that can accept both types, like the original FM and FE (but not the FM2 or FE2). In these cameras, you can lock the AI follower tab out of the way, then mount a pre-AI lens, but you have to meter in stop-down mode. The F2 has alternative metering prisms designed for pre-AI and AI use; the AI versions have the same limitation as the FM/FE (stop-down metering only with pre-AI). Pre-AI lenses can still be converted to AI spec (see the John White link above), and this won't prevent you using them normally on pre-AI cameras, but it won't be as neat a job as when the official conversion kits were available from Nikon.

Incidentally, which lenses do you have without prongs? Nikon didn't make many manual focus lenses this way; most of them were entry-level 'E' lenses made for the EM and FG, and oddities like the 45mm f/2.8 made to match the FM3a. Even the AI lenses that were sold until quite recently kept the prongs.
 
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gone

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The prongs actuate the meter tab on those cameras. You can't use G lenses on them either, except wide open. But, all Nikon manual and autofocus lenses will safely mount on the camera, as well as all 3rd party F mount lenses, it's just that the meter won't work, you'll need to use a handheld meter.

You're better off using the older lenses w/ tabs, they're some of Nikon's best lenses. Here's a chart that shows which lenses work on which Nikon cameras.
https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm
 
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