Looking to finally go digital ! HELP !

[thetooth]

i have finally decided to move up ( or is it sideways ) to a digital body .

i have been looking at and reading about the D90 and the D300s .

my only real question is lens compatibility , i have a nikon 50mm 1.8 , tamaron macro 90mm 2.8 , tamaron 70mm-300mm zoom , and a nikon 28mm-80mm zoom .

i have read that some of the nikon digital body do not read some of the older lenses ( the dreaded F--- ) and am wondering if this problem is less prevalent with the D300s compared to the D90 .

i would prefer to go with the D90 for budget reasons , but am willing to make the upgrade if there is a less chance of this happing with the D300s .

thanks for any comments of help with this matter

tim

 

[thetooth]

any comments . or is this really a minor problem ( if a problem at all ) with digital camera s ?

thanks

 

[Steen]

Just like D300s the D90 as well has a focus motor and thus it can focus with any F-mount autofocus lens - even with an older lens that does not contain its own (AF-S) autofocus motor build into the lens itself.

The difference is that D300s will meter with AI and AI-S type Manual Focus lenses while the D90 cannot meter with these lenses.

So if you intend to shoot with AI and AI-S type Manual Focus lenses from Nikon, Zeiss and Voigtländer, you will need to go with D300s.
Otherwise D90 is probably all you need.

The ergonomics (buttons and menus) are a little different.

And also the viewfinders are not exactly the same. Take a close look through both viewfinders before you make up your mind.
But again, if you don't intend to shoot manual focus lenses it's not all that important with a little difference in the viewfinders.

There's a Nikon SLR Camera and Lens Compatibility list at nikonians.org

And you can make a Side-by-Side specifications comparison at dpreview.com

Good luck

 

[thetooth]

thanks Steen

i read about the D300s ability to use the older manual focus lenses and still maintain metering .

i should have worded my question a little differently .

because of the ability to use manual focus lenses is the d300 less likely to have the ( F--- ) problem then the d90 ?

i realize this may be a intermittent problem with either camera . just wondering if any one has had that experience or am i just nit picking ?

thanks

tim

 

[thetooth]

ha ha steen just pointed out what i have written ( f--- ) this is not meant to be a curse word . that is what will flash on the camera lcd if you attach a lens the camera does not recognize or you attach a manual focus lens to a camera that is meant to use auto focus lenses .

i occasionally have this problem with my n80 .

thanks for all your help steen

tim

 

[Shac]

Just program the non-cpu lens into the D300s and voila - no F--
You can add data for up to 9 non-CPU lenses

 

[thetooth]

Just program the non-cpu lens into the D300s and voila - no F--
You can add data for up to 9 non-CPU lenses

wow . thanks shac i did not know that was possible .

is that same feature on the d90 also ? i will try and google it .

thanks

 

[thetooth]

i googled it d90 does not offer this feature .

thanks shac and steen for help answering my question .