old lens

[carmot]

hi have ad750 and a d90 cameras all the lens are fairly modern but just bought a Nikon af 1:3.5 - 5.6 D for £29 thought i couldn't loose at that so tried it on both cameras and its a cracker really sharp i am gob smacked anyway the lens has a dial on the bottom 22 to 3.5 if left on 22 works great on both cameras but if i turn the dial i get fault message eer none of my other lens have this dial just wondered if anyone can educate me

 

[Andysnap]

In ancient times when all cameras were fully manual, you set the aperture on the lens. Modern DSLR's set the aperture with the camera so you need to set your manual lens to f22 in order for it to work correctly.

Not sure why you're so surprised that its sharp, sharpness is definitely not a modern phenomena, look at what Zeiss and Leica were doing from the 1930's onward, stunning glass that holds up today. I have an old Thornton Packard Beck lens that is at least 100 years old that is pin sharp, although that is on a large format camera.

Andy

 

[carmot]

thanks fairly new to photography but wrongly though modern equipment would be far superior but on this and what you say i was wrong when i thought about it even in my trade its the same i am afraid i fell into the trap of more expensive was better but still well pleased it might be a bit plastic but what the hell

 

[droj]

the lens has a dial on the bottom 22 to 3.5 if left on 22 works great on both cameras but if i turn the dial i get fault message eer none of my other lens have this dial just wondered if anyone can educate me

It's the aperture ring. Set to f/22 to allow the camera to take charge of aperture variation and exposure.

 

[MatBin]

thanks fairly new to photography but wrongly though modern equipment would be far superior but on this and what you say i was wrong when i thought about it even in my trade its the same i am afraid i fell into the trap of more expensive was better but still well pleased it might be a bit plastic but what the hell

I have quite a few old lenses, albeit Canon manufacture, as they used to make 3 grades of lens, in ascending order
Kit lens - plasticky, made to a price
Semi pro - great image quality, build quality pretty decent but not able to sustain heavy use or abuse
Pro (L series) - highest quality in all senses (including price)

Sadly these days they dont seem to make many Semi Pro lenses, so buying secondhand "old" semi-pro is an affordable way to get high quality, no idea what Nikon's policy is or was but glad you found a sensibly priced lens that works well for you. Just bear in mind not all functions on Nikon lenses work on all bodies AFAIK.

Welcome to TP.

Matt

 

[Andysnap]

thanks fairly new to photography but wrongly though modern equipment would be far superior but on this and what you say i was wrong when i thought about it even in my trade its the same i am afraid i fell into the trap of more expensive was better but still well pleased it might be a bit plastic but what the hell

There are a lot of good, cheap, older lenses out there and all Nikon lenses from the 1950's onwards will work on your cameras. Have a look at some of the Vivitar lenses as well, my wife has an f2.8 28mm and an f2.8 135mm both of which are excellent, well made and very sharp. I think they were both around £30 and she uses them on her Nikon FG.

Andy