Nikon D610 and Vintage Lenses.

acolic · Mar 18, 2025

Hi

I’m really trying hard to get into vintage lenses.

The first lens I have is the Zeiss Sonar 135mm f3.5.

And I’m using it with a Nikon D610.

I just want to make sure I have this set up properly.

I bought a M42 to Nikon adapter.

Urth Lens Mount Adapter: Compatible with M42 Lens to Nikon F Camera Body (with Optical Glass)

I then set up the lens as a non-CPU lens in my camera.

So it looks like the lens works in aperture priority mode.

When using the lens, the aperture which I manually select, does not show up in my viewfinder, but it looks like it is still working in aperture priority mode.

Depending on the aperture, which I select manually by rotating the aperture ring, it looks like the shutter speed is automatically selected by the camera.

Is that the right behavior?

...I select the aperture manually, and even though the camera does not seem to know what the aperture is, based on the light coming into the body, it seems to select the shutter speed.

Appreciate the guidance.

Alex

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koraks · Mar 19, 2025

acolic said:
Is that the right behavior?

Yes, that sounds good.

acolic said:
...I select the aperture manually, and even though the camera does not seem to know what the aperture is, based on the light coming into the body, it seems to select the shutter speed.

Exactly.

Have fun with the Sonnar lens! Looking forward to any pictures if you have some to show us. And welcome to Photrio!

reddesert · Mar 19, 2025

You can look in the section of the manual about "Non-CPU lenses," although you have to read it with care.

For a normal Nikon manual focus lens with auto aperture, the lens tab indicates to the body the difference between open aperture and the taking aperture that you have set on the ring. In aperture priority mode, the camera meters at open aperture, and figures out the right exposure for the taking aperture, even though it doesn't know the absolute f-number. (Unless you tell it the max aperture f-number in the non-CPU lenses menu.) It can do this because it knows the difference, how many f-stops will be lost on stopping down.

For your adapted lens, there's no coupling between lens and body, no auto-stop-down. The lens is set to the taking aperture, the camera meters at that aperture and sets the shutter speed accordingly, in A mode. If you read the table in "Non-CPU lenses" for the PC-Nikkor lens and the corresponding footnote, that tells how the camera should handle your lens, because the PC-Nikkor lenses similarly have no auto-stop-down. (I'm looking at the D700 manual; the D610 should be the same.)

Clearly, you can only use such lenses in A and M mode. If you want to play with vintage lenses, there are also plenty of older Nikon manual focus lenses, which also work in A and M mode and offer the convenience of automatic aperture like it's 1959.

Chan Tran · Mar 19, 2025

If you already have the lens then it's good otherwise the M42 to Nikon F adapter has a lens element in it which may affect quality. Also experiment with the meter because in my experience that the matrix meter isn't accurate when use with such a lens. The camera needs to know the actual brightness of the scene and not just how much light reaches the sensor. This is part of the matrix algorithm. I used the my Nikon (Df and D850) a lot with bellow and I found the meter tends not right.

acolic · Mar 19, 2025

reddesert said:
You can look in the section of the manual about "Non-CPU lenses," although you have to read it with care.

For a normal Nikon manual focus lens with auto aperture, the lens tab indicates to the body the difference between open aperture and the taking aperture that you have set on the ring. In aperture priority mode, the camera meters at open aperture, and figures out the right exposure for the taking aperture, even though it doesn't know the absolute f-number. (Unless you tell it the max aperture f-number in the non-CPU lenses menu.) It can do this because it knows the difference, how many f-stops will be lost on stopping down.

For your adapted lens, there's no coupling between lens and body, no auto-stop-down. The lens is set to the taking aperture, the camera meters at that aperture and sets the shutter speed accordingly, in A mode. If you read the table in "Non-CPU lenses" for the PC-Nikkor lens and the corresponding footnote, that tells how the camera should handle your lens, because the PC-Nikkor lenses similarly have no auto-stop-down. (I'm looking at the D700 manual; the D610 should be the same.)

Clearly, you can only use such lenses in A and M mode. If you want to play with vintage lenses, there are also plenty of older Nikon manual focus lenses, which also work in A and M mode and offer the convenience of automatic aperture like it's 1959.

OK

so at this point it looks like the best option is to try out vintage Nikon lenses. I won't need an adapter and I won't need to deal with the glass in the adapter impacting the exposure.

Robert Ley · Mar 19, 2025

I have a D600 and love the camera because it can use all my older Ai and Ais lenses (have shot Nikon since '68) and my F4, FA, and FE2 can use all the same lenses including all my AF and AF-D auto focus lenses. The big advantage that you have is that a lot of the older Nikon glass is getting cheap on the used market and thanks to the great "revolution" of mirror less cameras, AF-D lenses are going for a virtual song.
If you want to shoot vintage glass, Nikon has a lot to offer. I have two older lenses, some might even talk of them as classics, a 35mm f:2 Nikkor-O, and a very sharp 105mm f:2.5.

Chan Tran · Mar 19, 2025

Robert Ley said:
I have a D600 and love the camera because it can use all my older Ai and Ais lenses (have shot Nikon since '68) and my F4, FA, and FE2 can use all the same lenses including all my AF and AF-D auto focus lenses. The big advantage that you have is that a lot of the older Nikon glass is getting cheap on the used market and thanks to the great "revolution" of mirror less cameras, AF-D lenses are going for a virtual song.
If you want to shoot vintage glass, Nikon has a lot to offer. I have two older lenses, some might even talk of them as classics, a 35mm f:2 Nikkor-O, and a very sharp 105mm f:2.5.

But those pre AI lenses may damage the AI coupling of the D600 or D610.

Robert Ley · Mar 19, 2025

Chan Tran said:
But those pre AI lenses may damage the AI coupling of the D600 or D610.

That is true but all the older lenses that I use have all been Ai'd and work just fine on my D600. So don't use a Nikon lens that has not been Ai'd on your D610.

acolic · Mar 19, 2025

Ok, how will I know if a lens has not been AI'd?

Kino · Mar 19, 2025

Here's a good article:

Old glass: Nikkor non-AI, AI, and AI-S lens differences

As regular readers know, I've come to enjoy using quite a variety of older, manual-focus lenses on my Canon EOS bodies. This may seem like ...

blog.prairierimimages.com

Robert Ley · Mar 19, 2025

acolic said:
Ok, how will I know if a lens has not been AI'd?

The article that Kino posted should answer your question pretty well.

acolic · Mar 19, 2025

Thanks I understand now.

Nikon D610 and Vintage Lenses.

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