Nikon F4s Lens help

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Fred Latchaw - 09 Mar 2008 04:53 GMT

I acquired a NIkon F4s last year, a fascinating camera, but I've been
a Canon guy all my life and frankly do not understand the bewildering
array (alphabet soup?) of Nikon lens offerings. The only thing of
which I am sure is that the G series is not at all compatible with the
F4 as it does not have an aperture ring and the F4 has no rear wheel.
I was looking at an online retailer's used lenses, and some of them
said something like FOR N90 OR LATER.

Swell. So what lenses will work with the F4? Or, more to the point,
which lenses should I avoid? As far as future needs are concerned I
see myself picking up an F3, and perhaps an F100, but that's it.

Thanks for your help!

Fred

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William Graham - 09 Mar 2008 07:57 GMT

>I acquired a NIkon F4s last year, a fascinating camera, but I've been
> a Canon guy all my life and frankly do not understand the bewildering
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Fred

There are several good tables one can find that address this issue.....Here
is one:
http://www.aiconversions.com/compatibilitytable.htm

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Tony Polson - 09 Mar 2008 12:33 GMT

>I acquired a NIkon F4s last year, a fascinating camera, but I've been
>a Canon guy all my life and frankly do not understand the bewildering
>array (alphabet soup?) of Nikon lens offerings. The only thing of
>which I am sure is that the G series is not at all compatible with the
>F4 as it does not have an aperture ring and the F4 has no rear wheel.

It's a nice camera. I had an F4S and an F4E and still miss them!

You can use G lenses on the F4 in P and S modes as the camera will
control the aperture. AF-S lenses focus quickly and accurately. Any
AI, AIS, AF, AF-D, AF-S lenses will work with the proviso that you use
G lenses only in P and S modes.

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Fred Latchaw - 10 Mar 2008 05:27 GMT

Thanks for your help guys, and Nicholas too. The G series are no good
to me because I shoot either aperture priority or manual. I see I
have some studying to do.

Fred

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Tony Polson - 10 Mar 2008 12:11 GMT

>Thanks for your help guys, and Nicholas too. The G series are no good
>to me because I shoot either aperture priority or manual. I see I
>have some studying to do.

You're in a good position at a good time, because Nikon is expanding
its range of AF-S lenses.

The AF-S lenses work particularly well on the F4, especially compared
with the slow and often hesitant autofocus with the "screwdriver
drive" AF lenses that rely on the focusing motor in the camera body.
The AF-S lenses have an ultrasonic motor in the lens, controlled
electronically from the camera, and they focus surprisingly rapidly,
decisively and accurately on the F4.

The F4 had a reputation for poor AF performance, but you now have an
opportunity to improve on that by making sure that you buy AF-S lenses
in your most important focal lengths. Just make sure that they cover
full frame, which the DX lenses don't, because DX optics are designed
for the smaller APS-C sized digital sensors used in all Nikon DSLRs
other than the full frame D3.

On the other hand, if you use manual focus, none of this is a problem.
The F4 was the best manual focus SLR body that Nikon ever made. ;-)

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Fredrik Sandstrom - 12 Mar 2008 09:01 GMT

> You're in a good position at a good time, because Nikon is expanding
> its range of AF-S lenses.

But will they expand their range of non-G lenses? I think not.

Signature

Fredrik Sandström
fs@iki.fi

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Tony Polson - 12 Mar 2008 20:22 GMT

>> You're in a good position at a good time, because Nikon is expanding
>> its range of AF-S lenses.
>
>But will they expand their range of non-G lenses? I think not.

That's true. There is no reason why they should, because the vast
majority of Nikon users have camera bodies that control the lens
aperture with no need of an aperture ring.

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Fredrik Sandstrom - 13 Mar 2008 07:19 GMT

>>> You're in a good position at a good time, because Nikon is expanding
>>> its range of AF-S lenses.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> majority of Nikon users have camera bodies that control the lens
> aperture with no need of an aperture ring.

But the thread is about the F4. It works with G lenses only in P and S
mode. So I don't think the OP is "in a good position at a good time";
the new AF-S lenses will be crippled on the F4.

Besides that, I disagree that there's no reason to continue with non-G
lenses. System compatibility is a good thing. A Nikon F from 1959 will
be usable with basically any Nikkor F-mount lens ever made, including
those in current production, EXCEPT the G lenses. There's also cameras
that have been in recent production (FM2, FM3a, ...) that won't work
with them.

Signature

Fredrik Sandström
fs@iki.fi

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Robert Brace - 13 Mar 2008 19:29 GMT

>>>> You're in a good position at a good time, because Nikon is expanding
>>>> its range of AF-S lenses.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> that have been in recent production (FM2, FM3a, ...) that won't work
> with them.

Frederick:
It depends on what your definition of "won't work" is.
I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or F4E
configurations) and take a photo with it no problem. I can do the same with
the FM2n.
If you are getting at the fact that the lenses and body are from a
different era -- so be it!
However, "won't work" doesn't even come close to describing their
functionality.
Do a little research -- better yet try the combinations yourself.
Then you will know.
Bob

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Fredrik Sandstrom - 13 Mar 2008 22:12 GMT

> I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or
> F4E configurations) and take a photo with it no problem.

Yes, but as I said, only in P or S mode. Acceptable perhaps, but a
serious drawback.

> I can do the same with the FM2n.

Not really. You can "take a photo" but the aperture will stop down all
the way. Not very usable.

> However, "won't work" doesn't even come close to describing
> their functionality.

F4 - works but crippled.
FM2n - won't work acceptably.

> Do a little research -- better yet try the combinations yourself.
> Then you will know.

I do know, and I stand by my previous statements.

Signature

Fredrik Sandström
fs@iki.fi

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Robert Brace - 14 Mar 2008 01:25 GMT

>> I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or
>> F4E configurations) and take a photo with it no problem.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> I do know, and I stand by my previous statements.

Of course you do!
Bob

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Father Kodak - 17 Mar 2008 18:28 GMT

>> I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or
>> F4E configurations) and take a photo with it no problem.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>Not really. You can "take a photo" but the aperture will stop down all
>the way. Not very usable.

Certainly not on my F2!

Father Kodak

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Fredrik Sandstrom - 17 Mar 2008 22:39 GMT

>>> I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or
>>> F4E configurations) and take a photo with it no problem.
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Certainly not on my F2!

Yes, also on your F2. Or at what f-stop do you think the picture is
taken? Remember we're talking about G lenses here with no aperture
ring, and thus no way to control the aperture on these manual cameras.

Really, this is very easy to verify: mount a G lens on a manual body,
press the DoF preview button and watch the aperture close all the way.
The same will happen when you take a picture, and there's nothing you
can do about it. (Except perhaps mess around with the pin in the lens
mount and try to jam it in some way.)

Signature

Fredrik Sandström
fs@iki.fi

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Father Kodak - 18 Mar 2008 16:39 GMT

>>>> I can mount any of my Nikkor G lenses on my F4 (or its F4S or
>>>> F4E configurations) and take a photo with it no problem.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>can do about it. (Except perhaps mess around with the pin in the lens
>mount and try to jam it in some way.)

And since I won't try to mess around with the lens mount pin, my only
choice is to do stop-down metering. Problem is, that forces me into
f16 of f22 or whatever, and I rarely shoot at those f-stops. Thus, a
G series lens on my F2 would be very slow to use, at best.

Too bad, no one has made an adapter that fits into the F2's lens mount
opening that provides compatibility of some sort with G-series lenses.

:) Of course, if someone does want to make such an adapter, I will be

glad to provide "customer requirements."

Father Kodak

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