Can I use old Nikon primes?

[Matt Buys]

Forgive the ignorance of my question. I have not used a modern DSLR. I have a bunch of old Nikon and nikkor primes from the 80s. Can I use these with T2I if I get an adaptor? Any thoughts or comments on this would be much appreciated. How might these lenses compare in quality to modern lenses?

[Fei Meng]

Yes. Nikkors (or any other good, old prime) offer more than sufficient quality for video recording.

[J. Chris Moore]

There are some great thread in the 5d and 7d forums that talk about this. From what I understand there are some very inexpensive adaptors that will allow you to use the Nikon lenses, around $16.00. I'll try to find those threads for you later on, but try searching first.

[Skye Giebink]

I'm interested in this, as well. If one were to put together a set of fast primes, what focal lengths would be most beneficial (taking the crop sensor into account)?

[Steve Phillipps]

This has always been an interesting bit of irony in photo circles - you can use Nikon lenses right from the 60s onwards on a Canon EOS film or digital body BUT you could never use a Canon manual focus (FD) lens!!! The flange focus distances don't allow it.
Steve

[Matt Davis]

PMJI, but there is a snag - or a snagette - that I bumped into.

I have a couple of Nikkor G series lenses, ones WITHOUT aperture rings, a detail I overlooked in my initial enthusiasm to leap from Nikon to Canon. I bought a couple of cheap adaptors from a UK supplier, and of course they did not work.

I needed to get the rather more expensive ones (£160-£190) which have both electronics and mechanics to create an aperture ring so they will function on a Canon body. Historically, they've been a little hard to get hold of, but the v3 should be in good supply soon.

Nikon G - Canon EOS Adapter

Can hardly wait.

[Cees van Kempen]

However, when I started using old manual Nikor primes on my first Nikon D-SLR (So a Nikon-Nikon combination), it turned out the the light metering did not work in this combination. It does with later Nikon D-SLR's, at least with the D200. Might similar problems occur when using an older Nikor lens on a Canon body?

[Steve Phillipps]

Cees, I seem to recall that was another part of the irony - metering worked fine with all the Canons. On some of the earlier and cheaper AF models the metering would not work at all as you say, on others it would work but not in Matrix metering - then some folks came up with a way of putting matrix chips into older lenses so it would work. Very convoluted, and again so weird that they all seemed to work perfectly on the "enemies" bodies!
Steve

[Ruben Colin Gama]

Do all Canon EOS have the same mount type and thread size??...

I just want to buya Nikon lens adapter ( Nikon Lens to Canon EOS Adapter ), but in the list below the EOS T2i, isn't there, there is only the T2...

[Bryan Harley]

Yes, that adapter will work for you. As it says at the bottom of the page, it will work on all Canon cameras that accept EF lenses. The T2i does.

What you want to avoid is anything that says Canon FD, that would refer to the old style Canon mount.

[Terry Lee]

This is interesting because I have a Nikkor 50mm 1:2 and a 28mm 1:2.8. Instead of paying $100 for the canon 50mm 1.8 I can just buy a cheap adapter and use these lenses??

[James Donnelly]

No, that 50mm f/2 just won't work I'm afraid. You can swap it with me for my Canon 50mm f/1.8 though.

Seriously though, congratulations on just discovering you have a wonderful lens for your Canon. The great thing about the EF mount, which I believe is by design, is that it is one of the most adaptable mounts out there. It's because it has a naturally short back focus distance.

I have adapters for OM and M42, but you can find adapters for practically anything apart from, ironically FD, as has been stated. Actually, you can adapt FD lenses, but you need an adapter with glass in it to achieve infinity focus, and most of the available ones are sh*t. Canon did make some good ones, but only a handful, so you'll never find one.

FD lenses are going up in value again though, and I suspect this is much to do with the possibility of mounting them on micro four thirds cameras ... like the GH1.

PS: Get adapters with "focus confirm" chips. This is a simple chip to send an acknowledgement message back to the camera that there is a lens mounted. It means you will still get the red focus point dots illuminated in the viewfinder.

[Terry Lee]

Hmm. I see. Now that 28mm should have much better results in low light correct? Or will it be hindered by the slower Fstop?

Thanks for the help,
Terry.

[Leonard Levy]

With nikons or probably any old manual lenses, on the T2i there is a glitch shooting stills in manual mode where the final image is about 1.5 - 2 stops brighter than the image on the LCD or the meter readout. Weird. However the it works fine in aperture priority or any other semi auto modes, and fine in movie mode.

[James Donnelly]

Originally Posted by Terry Lee

Hmm. I see. Now that 28mm should have much better results in low light correct? Or will it be hindered by the slower Fstop?

Thanks for the help,
Terry.

f/2.8 is par for the course for 28mm lenses, and pretty much good enough. Anything faster and it gives you such a narrow depth of field to work with, that it can only be beneficial in controlled or static shots.

It's also true that lenses are almost always sharper stopped down a click or two, so an f/1.4 lens will typically start getting sharp at f/2 upwards. Some top lenses are sharp wide open, of course.

Shooting video is much less demanding of the lens resolution wise than shooting stills, so I tend to be grateful for an extra half a stop or so in a demanding situation, despite the slight softening effect and razor thin depth of field.