How do you use OLD Manual Focus Nikon Lenses on the D3300?

GaryBod

New member
I'm new to the group.

I have a question for the people more experienced with DX DSLRs.

I have seen the video by the "Angry Photographer" on YouTube regarding the same topic, but the camera he used was a DX D7000 series, which has more capabilities than mine.

How do you use OLD Manual Focus Nikon lenses on a D3300?
I have several OLD, but pristine, Nikon AI Manual Focus film lenses that I would like to use on my D3300. I checked the interface on each that fit my Nikon film SLR and they all fit the DSLR camera F-mount.
My question is when I attach a lens like a Nikon 50mm F1.8 AI, do I set BOTH the lens aperture ring and camera aperture to the same aperture value? Or do I leave the lens open at maybe F8 or F11 and just adjust the camera aperture to the F stop I need for distance, or do I instead leave the camera open and adjust the lens aperture ring, likewise? I do understand that some of this just isn’t possible or realistic to do, but there are so many possible combinations for lens and camera settings from my perspective, I wouldn’t know which direction to take to get the best exposure.
I do have several lenses to use, a 50mm F1.8, a 28mm F2.8 Wide Angle/Macro, and an 80-200mm F3.9 Telephoto/Macro. I really want to use all of these lenses, just for the quality of the glass. I know that the DX camera’s crop factor will increase the lens reach by 1.5X’s. I just need to be educated on how to properly use them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I'm new to the group.

I have a question for the people more experienced with DX DSLRs.

I have seen the video by the "Angry Photographer" on YouTube regarding the same topic, but the camera he used was a DX D7000 series, which has more capabilities than mine.

How do you use OLD Manual Focus Nikon lenses on a D3300?

I have several OLD, but pristine, Nikon AI Manual Focus film lenses that I would like to use on my D3300. I checked the interface on each that fit my Nikon film SLR and they all fit the DSLR camera F-mount.

My question is when I attach a lens like a Nikon 50mm F1.8 AI, do I set BOTH the lens aperture ring and camera aperture to the same aperture value? Or do I leave the lens open at maybe F8 or F11 and just adjust the camera aperture to the F stop I need for distance, or do I instead leave the camera open and adjust the lens aperture ring, likewise? I do understand that some of this just isn’t possible or realistic to do, but there are so many possible combinations for lens and camera settings from my perspective, I wouldn’t know which direction to take to get the best exposure.
I do have several lenses to use, a 50mm F1.8, a 28mm F2.8 Wide Angle/Macro, and an 80-200mm F3.9 Telephoto/Macro. I really want to use all of these lenses, just for the quality of the glass. I know that the DX camera’s crop factor will increase the lens reach by 1.5X’s. I just need to be educated on how to properly use them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
With a non-CPU lens mounted on your D3300 you will need to set the aperture ring on the lens to f/22. You will need to shoot in Manual exposure mode and of course you'll need to focus manually. You will control exposure using the Exposure Compensation button and/or Command Wheel on the D3300, just like you would with any lens when shooting in Manual.

As for learning how to shoot in Manual mode without benefit of in-camera metering, start by learning the Sunny 16 Rule and from there experience will be your guide.
 

STM

Senior Member
My first question is, how many MF lenses do you plan to use with this body? If you plan to use several or use this lens frequently I would suggest getting an inexpensive hand held incident light meter. Since the D3300 lacks the meter coupling follower around the lens mount, you will not be able to full aperture meter. The lack of a depth of field button also precludes the use of stopped down metering. You can no doubt find a simple incident meter on a site like Ebay for $50-$100, though you can go much higher if you want one that reads flash exposure as well. Your last alternative would be to use one of your AF lenses and get a manual exposure, mount the MF lens and just transfer the aperture setting to it. That is cumbersome and time consuming. I would recommend the incident meter.

I own only 1 AFs lens, the rest of my 23 lenses are MF AI/AIS so I have lots of experience using these older but still superlative lenses! I am not really familiar with this body, but if you plan to use the MF lenses a lot you might also want to look into getting a microprism/split image focusing screen from focusingscreen.com. I just checked and they do have one for the D3300. It runs about $75 plus a little for shipping. DSLR screens, even the one on my otherwise superlative D850, are not very well suited for manual focusing and it is too cumbersome to use the focusing indicator if you need to focus quickly. I have found that they are also not as accurate or discriminating as a microprism/split image screen.
 
Last edited:
Top