DSLR lens compatibility

[penuttmman]

Hi, so my grandfather gave me his old camera gear and was wondering if any of these could fit on my DSLR Nikon D3400? And if i would have to buy any lens mount adapter?

Thanks in advance

 

[snowbear]

No, Minolta MD mount lenses will not fit Nikon bodies, unless you are able to find an adapter. I don't know if there is one, or what limitations there would be if an adapter exists. Honestly, just get some film and play with the Minolta gear, though you may have meter issues if it uses the old mercury batteries. There are a couple of light meter apps that work on smart phones (or take the Nikon and meter with that)

 

[penuttmman]

No, Minolta MD mount lenses will not fit Nikon bodies, unless you are able to find an adapter. I don't know if there is one, or what limitations there would be if an adapter exists. Honestly, just get some film and play with the Minolta gear, though you may have meter issues if it uses the old mercury batteries. There are a couple of light meter apps that work on smart phones (or take the Nikon and meter with that)

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What about this would it work?

 

[480sparky]

You'll be paying for the added glass it contains in terms of image quality.

 

[ac12]

That Minolta to Nikon F adapter is a 1.4x tele converter.
What that means is your 50mm lens = 50mm x 1.4 = 70mm
And you loose about a stop of light. f/1.4 x 1.4 = f/2

Might be interesting to play with, but everything will be manual; manual focus, manual aperture.
The manual aperture will be an issue. As you stop down (higher numbers), your viewfinder will get DARKER, and difficult to use.

 

[petrochemist]

Nikon's DSLR mount is about the least adaptable of all, having a rather long rear focal distance of 46mm, most other SLR lenses are shorter so even with a zero depth adapter infinity focus is lost. Minolta lenses like these have a rear focal distance of 43.5mm so very few DSLR can be adapted to use them normally. Most mirrorless cameras however will have no issues, AFAIK the only mirrorless exception is the Pentax K-01 (which uses a normal DSLR mount).

The mirror lens almost certainly has a T2 mount with a MD adapter fitted, if you unscrew the adapter you will be able to adapt it to nikon instead using a T2-F mount adapter which you can usually find on e-bay for under £5 (T2 was designed to adapt to all common mounts having a rear focal distance of 55mm). A search for 'nikon t2 adapter' should find them.

Mirror lenses like this can be challenging to use but under the right conditions can work quite well. Getting a conventional AF lens to match the FOV will set you back the best part of £1000, so IMO it's worth trying out. If the bokeh/focusing/camera shake prove too much for you there's very little lost

 

[ac12]

Using a 600mm on an APS-C camera will be challenging, as that is effectively a 17x telescope.
I CANNOT hand hold a 17x telescope steady.
When I used my 500mm mirror on my D7200, I used it on a tripod.
If not a tripod, then a sand or bean bag, to rest the lens and camera on.

Again, everything is manual on all the lenses, so will be more than a bit more time consuming and difficult to use.

 

[Rickbb]

You could make some good images with that set up. It will not be action shots, unless you get real good at total manual shooting like grandpa did.

As has been said you’d lose the widest f stop and so on, but for less than $50 you’d have some nice kit to play with.

I say go for it.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I use a couple of Pentax base mount lenses with my Canon DSLR and an adapter. These lenses mount and perform well, but it is all manual set up and operation.

good luck

 

[petrochemist]

Using a 600mm on an APS-C camera will be challenging, as that is effectively a 17x telescope.
I CANNOT hand hold a 17x telescope steady.
When I used my 500mm mirror on my D7200, I used it on a tripod.
If not a tripod, then a sand or bean bag, to rest the lens and camera on.

Again, everything is manual on all the lenses, so will be more than a bit more time consuming and difficult to use.

Challenging but not impossible, I've used a 600mm mirror lens on MFT via a focal reducer which is effectively the same 900mm equivalent FOV. (Hand holding it on MFT without the reducer - 1200mm equivalent - was beyond me, but it was just about possible with a monopod)
Here's the result (with the reducer) handheld but well braced:
Supermoon pre-eclipse by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Here's one with a 500mm mirror on an old APSc DSLR
BSB Brands Hatch 1 by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

 

[Soocom1]

The route I took was to go mirrorless on all my old glass.

I also collect older glass with adapters for just that reason.

but like what petrochemist pointed out, is that the distance of the Nikon is 44mm. The Minolta is shorter in flange distance (registration distance) and as a result doesn't really work well.

I adapted my Minolta onto my Canon once and it didn't go well.

 

[petrochemist]

but like what petrochemist pointed out, is that the distance of the Nikon is 44mm. The Minolta is shorter in flange distance (registration distance) and as a result doesn't really work well.

I adapted my Minolta onto my Canon once and it didn't go well.

it's worse than that Nikon is 46mm, Canon's EF is 44mm the best of common DSLRs (their old FD mount was 42mm) while MD is 43.5mm

Mirrorless cameras are mainly 20mm or shorter, making them ideal for adapting

 

[greybeard]

Trying to use Minolta MD with Nikon F mount would be (imho) more trouble than it's worth.

 

[greybeard]

You can adapt Minolta lenses with most mirrorless cameras. I use a 50mm celtic (minolta) macro with both a Sony A6000 and a Nikon Z50. They will not adapt to any dSLR that I know of.

 

[edgephotography]

While lenses are interchangeable – in that a camera can use different kinds of lenses (standard, wide angle, macro, etc), they aren't completely interchangeable, across brands and types of cameras. So finding the right lens can be much more complicated than picking one and attaching it to your camera.