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DSLR/Mirrorless suggestion for vintage lenses?

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 17:23:36 No.3374571 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>3374581 >>3374635 >>3374662 >>3374795 >>3374800 >>3376228 >>3376238

I have a D5100, apart of using the 35mm 1.8g it's not friendly with lenses that don't have any contacts on them, I'm talking about the full manual kind of lenses. Like the Samyang and the Pre-Ai Nikkor lenses.

The D5100 don't have the "No CPU Lens Input data" so I'm not sure how will the vintage lenses work on my d5100.

The crop factor is also a thing to consider, so I'm thinking about buying:

Nikon D7100
Nikon D700
Fujifilm XT-1
Sony a7

I'm trying to make it as much as value-for-money possible. What are your thoughts?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 18:02:40 No.3374581 Report

Quoted By: >>3374587

>>3374571
sorry i cant give you the answers you want but ive been looking at a used nikon d5100 and would like to hear what are your thoughts on it, experiences, problems, etc if you dont mind sharing a bit

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 18:24:27 No.3374587 Report

Quoted By: >>3374602

>>3374581
I've been using it for more than 8 months,

It's a very versatile camera, people mostly use it for vblogging because of the tilting screen and the abilty to record external audio, and it shoots 1080p @ 24/25fps which is essential what you need.

As for photography, it has what you would expect from a Nikon DSLR as long as you know how to use it, but this is an entry level camera.

It lacks the commander mode, the flash sync port, the No-CPU Data input, it only has 3 metering modes (Matrix, Spot, Center) and it shoots slower than the professional grade SLR's.

If you only invest into crop sensor lenses, and don't plan to use off-camera setup, the nikon d5100 will support most Full Frame lenses and basically any speedlight flash will work on the D5100.

I don't think I will sell my D5100. It's pretty good.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 18:40:21 No.3374597 Report

Quoted By:

nikon z6 and whatever lens you want.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 18:50:48 No.3374602 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374587
thanks for the writeup, sounds solid

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 19:48:32 No.3374635 Report

Quoted By: >>3374723

>>3374571
A7 would be the best choice, full frame for the wider field of view and less reliant on lens sharpness, EVF with focus peaking and magnification for manual focus, and the flange distance is short so you can use lenses from any other mount as well.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 20:42:09 No.3374662 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374571
Any of the all metal, all manual, Vivitar short focal length lenses are pretty good. Nikkor stuff is usually excellent. I highly recommend the Nikkor 35-200mm f/3.5-f/4.5. It does really well at all focal lengths, unlike most zooms with that large of range. It is ten times better than the shit 70-300mm kit lens Nikon is shitting out every where now.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 23:00:29 No.3374723 Report

Quoted By: >>3374725 >>3374728 >>3374744 >>3374795

>>3374635
Worth buying a7ii? Or is the a7 good enough?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 23:09:06 No.3374725 Report

Quoted By: >>3374728

>>3374723
You get stabilization with the a7ii, works great for anything not super telephoto but you have to let the camera know what focal length you're using anytime you switch lenses

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 23:13:30 No.3374728 Report

Quoted By: >>3374744

>>3374723
>>3374725
As that guy said, the main difference is IBIS which can be useful to some people but does requiring some setting up for each lens. The other advantages are an extra custom button, a larger grip, better video, and on-sensor PDAF with adapted lenses (depending on what adapter is used).

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 14 Oct 2018 23:58:52 No.3374744 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374723
>>3374728
IBIS is cool with old lenses
if you get the original ilce-7, you may consider upgrading the mount to an all metal one

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 15 Oct 2018 00:57:54 No.3374795 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374571
>Pre-Ai Nikkor lenses.
You mean pre-AF Nikkor lenses.

I mean, it applies to pre-AI lenses, but it also applies to AI lenses, since those are also manual focus lenses without electronic contacts.

>thinking about buying
If you really want the best camera for shooting vintage manual focus glass, get the Sony.
1. XT-1 has a crop factor
2. D7100 has a crop factor, plus manual focus with a modern DSLR viewfinder sucks
3. D700 is old as shit, plus manual focus with a modern DSLR viewfinder sucks

A7 will mount all of the Nikon (or Minolta or Canon or Olympus or whateverthefuck) manual focus glass with cheap adapters, uses the full output of the lens, can be set up with focus peaking and such for a much better manual focus experience than what you get with a modern DSLR, and has a sensor that's several generations newer than the one in the D700.

(Oh, and also the two Nikons on your list won't use legit pre-AI Nikon lenses. The D5300 will because it lacks the aperture indexing hardware that could be broken by mounting a pre-AI lens, but the higher-end cameras that can meter with AI lenses don't usually play nice with pre-AI with the exception of some like the Nikon Df with a fancy mount that can handle either. The sony with an adapter can also handle either because it doesn't give a fuuuuuck what the aperture is; you'll be metering stop-down regardless.)

>>3374723
>Worth buying a7ii? Or is the a7 good enough?
If you can swing the cash for it, the a7ii is a worthwhile upgrade.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 15 Oct 2018 01:07:25 No.3374800 Report

Quoted By: >>3376235

>>3374571
"CPU lens data" shouldn't really be a concern if you plan to shoot with vintage glass. The vintage lenses will work just fine on a D5100, though it may take some getting used to if you don't use Manual mode often. Older AF Nikkors work well in A mode but there is no auto-focus since the body lacks an internal motor. The D7100/D700 do NOT have this problem. They all have focus confirmation either way.
Having said that, I do not recommend vintage glass. Early on in my photo/vid "career" I built up a sizable collection of vintage lenses, everything from Canon FDs to """excellent""" AI/AIS Nikkors, and I got to say about 90% of it wasn't worth the trouble/money. One in particular that I absolutely hated was a 20mm F2.8 AIS Nikkor that was really soft up to F8 (the fact that I paid about 360€ for it still irks me till this day). This is one of those cases where a crop sensor is an actual advantage. Anyway, if you're going for that kind of vintage "character" then more power to you, but I'd instead make investing in new, good glass the top priority.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO _DSC0404.jpg, 618KiB, 2212x1465

Anonymous Wed 17 Oct 2018 22:09:08 No.3376228 Report

Quoted By: >>3376235 >>3376238

>>3374571

I've been shooting with a D5100 for 7 years as my main rig. I installed hacked firmware for uncompressed RAW files and HD video and it makes a huge difference in quality. Overall it's been very good to me, and I use almost exclusively non-AF and in some cases pre-Ai glass, no problems. It will say "No lens attached" when you try and use old glass in any mode other than "M", but you can use pretty much anything on it. The lack of TTL metering sucks, my old D1x can do it with full manual lenses and its really helpful, but the D5100 is pretty limited. I find you get used to what exposure it can handle though. It's got pretty good low-light performance, which is made better with wide old glass.

If you're upgrading, The Fujifilm X-T1 looks like the nicest sweet spot for the $ due to being able to use any old lens with mirrorless. The D7100 isn't bad either since you can find them for under $400 these days and the image quality really is great. The D700 might be full frame but it's old and you will definitely feel its age when you use it. Don't get an A7 unless you can afford to get the mkII.

Sample shot from my D5100 using a 1961 Nikkor-S 50mm f/2

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO _DSC0659.jpg, 632KiB, 2035x1348

Anonymous Wed 17 Oct 2018 22:19:38 No.3376235 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374800

It's not a problem with old glass specifically, it's a problem with certain bad lens models. I use almost exclusively old glass. I never pay more than $50 for an old lens unless I know I'm getting something very high quality, and most of my lenses were under $20. I recommend trying out a Nikkor Series E 50mm f/1.8, they are razor sharp even wide open, and they definitely set the bar for me when finding cheap good-quality old lenses. The other two sharpest vintage ones I have are the Nikkor-S 50mm f/2 and the Nikkor-Q 200mm f/4, both sharp and impressively well-built. Don't write off old glass entirely.

I took this >>3376228 with the Nikkor-S 50mm
And I took this one with the Series E 50mm:

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 17 Oct 2018 22:26:39 No.3376238 Report

Quoted By:

>>3374571
>>3376228

OP, I take it back, after reviewing the image quality of the Fujifilm, I think the D7100 is the best bang for the buck in your list.

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