Manual lenses on the D3200

ali123

New member
Have bought myself my first digital camera - well serious one I mean ...a D3200 . No lens , body only as I had read some place that this could be used with Manual metering functions retained with MF lenses . Think I am quickly realising I misread that !

I really want to use this camera with some older independant make Mirror and Tele lenses I have acquired .

All manual N-A1 don't register - the camera claims "LENS NOT ATTACHED " unless set to M on the mode dial .
Then and only then I can get slower/faster speeds with the thumbwheel , but the F stop sign shows only " F - - " . With NO adjustment ?

As expected it works well with a AF-D tele lens in all metering modes ...and I can see the viewfinder enough to focus .
[ oddly I have a smaller AF-D zoom by another maker and that is locked out - as if it was a Manual lens , with the same info given to the LCD screen ] .

I there anything I can do to make this camera work with AI mounted lenses ? Don't mind using a handheld meter ...but anyway software wise to unlock the F stop 's ?
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Have you tried setting the aparture ring to the highest number? Then you should be able to set your aperture through the D3200.
Also AI or AI-S lenses won't meter on the D3xxx and the D5xxx bodies.
 

eidian

Senior Member
I have a 50mm 1.8 Series-E from the mid-seventies that works great with my D3200, the problem is that it takes me at least thirty seconds to get a shot right because it's completely manual.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 

ali123

New member
thanks for the input guys ...reading this and the link ( where's it gone - for'Fitting manual lenses to the D3200 ' ) - there was somebody else asking this back in 2012 when these came out .

I really don't like staring at a screen - so film based it has to be a viewfinder , BUT i was able to focus just 5 mins ago using the lcd screen and also the Magnification key symbol -with an old MF tele- allows one to zoom in on the central area to fine focus . Thrilled ! Although this will be for tripod work only .....now only I need a nice D200 to get out and about .
 
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Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
Have bought myself my first digital camera - well serious one I mean ...a D3200 . No lens , body only as I had read some place that this could be used with Manual metering functions retained with MF lenses . Think I am quickly realising I misread that !

I really want to use this camera with some older independant make Mirror and Tele lenses I have acquired .

All manual N-A1 don't register - the camera claims "LENS NOT ATTACHED " unless set to M on the mode dial .
Then and only then I can get slower/faster speeds with the thumbwheel , but the F stop sign shows only " F - - " . With NO adjustment ?

As expected it works well with a AF-D tele lens in all metering modes ...and I can see the viewfinder enough to focus .
[ oddly I have a smaller AF-D zoom by another maker and that is locked out - as if it was a Manual lens , with the same info given to the LCD screen ] .

I there anything I can do to make this camera work with AI mounted lenses ? Don't mind using a handheld meter ...but anyway software wise to unlock the F stop 's ?

Have you tried setting the aparture ring to the highest number? Then you should be able to set your aperture through the D3200.
Also AI or AI-S lenses won't meter on the D3xxx and the D5xxx bodies.

I don't think the D3200 will control the aperture at all on any non-CPU lenses. You can, of course, only use such lenses in “M” mode. You set the shutter speed using the thumbwheel, and you set the aperture using the aperture ring on the lens itself. The camera doesn't have any control over the aperture, nor does it have any way of knowing what the aperture setting is.

Two useful points regarding the use of old lenses on the D3200…

First, Nikon claims that non-AI lenses (those made before 1978) cannot be used at all on this camera. My D3200, the three ancient non-AI lenses that I own, and I, very much disagree. As far as I can tell, they work just fine, albeit with exactly the same limitations as any other non-CPU lenses.

Second, you can significantly improve the ability to focus with manual focus lenses, by installing a Bresson focus screen in place of the stock focus screen in the viewfinder.
 

ali123

New member
I don't think the D3200 will control the aperture at all on any non-CPU lenses. You can, of course, only use such lenses in “M” mode. You set the shutter speed using the thumbwheel, and you set the aperture using the aperture ring on the lens itself. The camera doesn't have any control over the aperture, nor does it have any way of knowing what the aperture setting is.

Two useful points regarding the use of old lenses on the D3200…

First, Nikon claims that non-AI lenses (those made before 1978) cannot be used at all on this camera. My D3200, the three ancient non-AI lenses that I own, and I, very much disagree. As far as I can tell, they work just fine, albeit with exactly the same limitations as any other non-CPU lenses.

Second, you can significantly improve the ability to focus with manual focus lenses, by installing a Bresson focus screen in place of the stock focus screen in the viewfinder.

Thanks for the advice and info .

Odd thing I need to ask - I have a indep. make zoom AF-D ,the camera seems to allow some auto function which is weird unless I am missing something . The d3200 forces me to set to F32 before allowing me to see anything on the lcd screen . Then it seems to meter and well on the smallest setting of 100mm but if I zoom to max. [ 300mm ] or anywhere just above 100mm the images are washed out - by more than a small amount . I know that without a constant aperture rating there would be an increase / slowing down of the min. f stop but this appears to be 2-3 full stops worth of overexposure . Any input ?
 

Sandpatch

Senior Member
I mention this with some hesitation ali123, but if the difficulty in using the lenses without any auto-assist becomes too frustrating and you lose shots while working the settings, your vintage lenses could bring high prices if you seek to sell them. They are all of 'DX' size in Nikon's DSLR world and are sought after. I sold a number of my Dad's Nikkor AI-converted lenses and was able to raise more than enough money to purchase my D5100 Kit and 55-200mm Zoom. (I kept his Nikkor AI 55mm Macro because the manual set routine is not as troubling in a macro setting.)
 
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Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
Thanks for the advice and info .

Odd thing I need to ask - I have a indep. make zoom AF-D ,the camera seems to allow some auto function which is weird unless I am missing something . The d3200 forces me to set to F32 before allowing me to see anything on the lcd screen .

With CPU lenses, the camera wants to control the lens' aperture setting. It does so via a lever on the back of the lens. In order for the camera to have this control, the aperture ring, if present, needs to be set to the smallest aperture. As it happens, I had occasion just a short time ago, in connection with another thread, to take and post a picture showing this lever, albeit on an ancient non-CPU, non-AI lens.

CSC_9749a.jpg


Then it seems to meter and well on the smallest setting of 100mm but if I zoom to max. [ 300mm ] or anywhere just above 100mm the images are washed out - by more than a small amount . I know that without a constant aperture rating there would be an increase / slowing down of the min. f stop but this appears to be 2-3 full stops worth of overexposure . Any input ?


I suppose that would depend on the lens. The stock 18-55mm lens that comes with the D3200 has an aperture that varies by a bit more than one ƒ-stop as the lens is zoomed from one end of its range to the other. It does, of course, know how to communicate its correct aperture setting with the camera, accounting for this change. I'm assuming that the lens to which you are referring does not communicate this variation to the camera, and possibly has a much bigger variation to begin with. You may just have to figure out how to compensate manually for this variation.
 

rcflyer729

New member
Hi
I just got my friend a nikon series e f1.8 lens for her d3200 camera. I already have one of these lenses that I use on my sony nex 5t and I absolutely love it. Everything works great with it on my nex. I put it on the nikon and put it in manual mode. I also turned live view on. It works but when changing the aperture the live view does not update leaving you to guess what the picture will be like until you actually take it. On my nex the live view updates automatically and works perfect. Is there a way to make it work properly or am I stuck with the none updating live view.
 
The D3200 does not have that feature. Any changes in any of the exposures does not show in live view. You will have to use the meter to set the exposure.

Hi
I just got my friend a nikon series e f1.8 lens for her d3200 camera. I already have one of these lenses that I use on my sony nex 5t and I absolutely love it. Everything works great with it on my nex. I put it on the nikon and put it in manual mode. I also turned live view on. It works but when changing the aperture the live view does not update leaving you to guess what the picture will be like until you actually take it. On my nex the live view updates automatically and works perfect. Is there a way to make it work properly or am I stuck with the none updating live view.
 

Samo

Senior Member
Set camera on auto iso and picture review to show blown highlights. Move shutter or aperture until only a wisp of blown highlights flash and you'll have a correct exposure. This is a work around meter of sorts but you have to chimp. Believe it or not once you become proficient with this method it is fairly fast. Remember once upon a time photographers had to get by with much less and they did just fine. There are very few Nikkors that will not work on the 3200.

Additionally I would suggest not trying to use any other brand of legacy glass on your camera. Nikons are not like mirrorless cameras in this regard.
 
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