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I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should stick
with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to be used
with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How do they
differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Bill Crocker

In article <>,
says...
>
>
>I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should stick
>with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to be used
>with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How do they
>differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?


You can use either DX lenses or regular 35mm full frame lenses with the D70S,
no problem. I have a D70S and I have the 18-70 DX, the 18-200 DX, and the 60mm
macro (full frame) and the 50 mm f/1.8 (full frame). They all work fine on
the D70S.

The DX lenses are not better, actually, technically they could be said to be a
bit worse, however it doesnt matter to the digital cameras.

The design of DX lenses doesnt cover (doesnt illuminate) a circle as large as
full frame 35 mm film. They are designed to only cover the smaller area of
the digital sensor, about 2/3 size, about APS film size. That is all the
digital camera needs it to cover, any more would be wasted. The DX lens is
smaller and lighter and cheaper - except maybe the 18-200. But they
probably couldnt build a full frame 18-200 that good.

However, the digital would only be using the central portion of the larger
lens, and the central portion could be consided a better quality image.

Bottom line, it wont matter which you use on the digital. However 35 mm film
models CANNOT use the DX lenses, because the DX lens wont cover the full
frame, and a large area of the corners of full frame would be cut off.

--
Wayne
http://www.scantips.com "A few scanning tips"

"Bill Crocker" <> wrote:
>I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should stick
>with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to be used
>with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How do they
>differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?
>
>Thanks in advance for your response.
>
>Bill Crocker

In the future there may be a DX series lense designed to replace
each and every current non-DX lense. They may, and probably
will in most cases, be at least slightly better lenses too.
Perhaps with only very slight advantages optically, but for
example with significant added features like Vibration Reduction
too.

I'll enjoy that *very* much, because with dealers making such
claims there might be mass movement towards buying the new
lenses... and that would also cause the old ones to show up on
eBay at prices greatly reduced from what they are today!

For the budget minded buyer not only are non-DX lenses going to
continue to be great lenses, but equally so are many of the
even older non-AF lenses! Auto Focus is a *great* feature... for
shooting fast moving sports action, children, and other high
velocity subjects. But for anything that will stand still long
enough to focus manually, there is an old lense which can be
purchased today for a dime on the dollar, which makes them worth
collecting just for fun too.

One hitch is that the Nikon D50 and D70 cameras do not couple
the light metering to AI lenses, so only the higher end camera
models can make use of the older lenses. (Which means that
_obviously_ you should have bought a D2x, so that you could save
money on new lenses??

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

Bill Crocker wrote:

>I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should stick
>with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to be used
>with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why?

That's completely false.

You do not need to stick with DX lenses.

> How do they differ?

The Nikon DX series is like the Canon EFS group of lenses that have a
smaller image circle that more closely matches the size of the sensor
frame. They should only be used on digital bodies.

Since most digital bodies have a sensor that is smaller than film, the
lenses for these cameras can be smaller and lighter, and hopefully
cheaper, yet still perform the same.

> Will non-DX lenses work at all?

Yes. Most Nikon lenses will fit on your camera, and pretty much any
autofocus lense will work just fine.

There are many sites that explain the various bits of Nikon lenses, and
this one has a chart:
http://www.bythom.com/lensacronyms.htm

This site gives pretty good opinions about performance:
http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_zoom_00.html

Some salesmen will try to tell you that you should only buy "digital"
lenses for your camera because they have special coatings or designs
that work better for digital, but that's a load of crap.

There are no special requirements for digital cameras - any lense that
fits and functions properly will provide great images for the digital
sensor to capture.

And since most 35mm lenses have a "sweet spot" around the center of the
image, using a regular full-frame lense on a FOV crop factor DSLR means
you're using the best part of the optics.

So...use whatever works and have fun.

Bill Crocker wrote:
> I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should stick
> with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to be used
> with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How do they
> differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?
>
> Thanks in advance for your response.
>
> Bill Crocker
>
>

The other replies have already stated that your salesman is wrong. I'd
just like to add that you don't even have to stick to the Nikkor brand.
Brands like Sigma and Tamron make excellent lenses especially fit for
digital bodies and those are usually way cheaper than what you get from
Nikon.

I'm using my D70 with a "legacy" 28-105 Nikkor and an even older Sigma
70-300. Works great! I have the equivalent of a 450mm. telezoom now!

"Floyd L. Davidson" <> wrote in message
news:...
[clipped]
> One hitch is that the Nikon D50 and D70 cameras do not couple
> the light metering to AI lenses, so only the higher end camera
> models can make use of the older lenses. (Which means that
> _obviously_ you should have bought a D2x, so that you could save
> money on new lenses??
>
> --
> Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
> Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

Thanks Floyd...I'll try that line on the wife!

Bill Crocker

"Bas v.d. Wiel" <> wrote in message
news:44bba57f$0$31653$...
> Bill Crocker wrote:
>> I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should
>> stick with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to
>> be used with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How
>> do they differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your response.
>>
>> Bill Crocker
>
> The other replies have already stated that your salesman is wrong. I'd
> just like to add that you don't even have to stick to the Nikkor brand.
> Brands like Sigma and Tamron make excellent lenses especially fit for
> digital bodies and those are usually way cheaper than what you get from
> Nikon.
>
> I'm using my D70 with a "legacy" 28-105 Nikkor and an even older Sigma
> 70-300. Works great! I have the equivalent of a 450mm. telezoom now!

When I had a Canon 10D, all the Cannon experts(?) were really ripping on
Sigma claiming they were junk and in many cases wouldn't even work with
Canon's cameras. There were constant flame wars regarding Canon/Sigma. Is
there any justification in their claims, or is it a case of
more-money-than-brains?

Thanks,
Bill Crocker

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:22:18 -0400, "Bill Crocker"
<> wrote:

>
>"Bas v.d. Wiel" <> wrote in message
>news:44bba57f$0$31653$.. .
>> Bill Crocker wrote:
>>> I just purchased a Nikon D70s. I was told by the dealer that I should
>>> stick with using Nikon's "DX" series lenses because they are designed to
>>> be used with Nikon's digital cameras. Is this true, and if so why? How
>>> do they differ? Will non-DX lenses work at all?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for your response.
>>>
>>> Bill Crocker
>>
>> The other replies have already stated that your salesman is wrong. I'd
>> just like to add that you don't even have to stick to the Nikkor brand.
>> Brands like Sigma and Tamron make excellent lenses especially fit for
>> digital bodies and those are usually way cheaper than what you get from
>> Nikon.
>>
>> I'm using my D70 with a "legacy" 28-105 Nikkor and an even older Sigma
>> 70-300. Works great! I have the equivalent of a 450mm. telezoom now!
>
>When I had a Canon 10D, all the Cannon experts(?) were really ripping on
>Sigma claiming they were junk and in many cases wouldn't even work with
>Canon's cameras. There were constant flame wars regarding Canon/Sigma. Is
>there any justification in their claims, or is it a case of
>more-money-than-brains?
>
>Thanks,
>Bill Crocker
>

I have friends with Canons and Sigma lenses.
It appears that Sigma can rechip many of their lenses to work with
newer Canons, and will do so once for a given lens for free.
However, some (many?) older Sigma lenses can't be re-chipped at all,
and it's up to the user to determine which lenses these are; Sigma
won't help here, evidently.
So, the wisdom seems to be: only buy Sigma lenses new (and newer
series lenses at that), unless you *know* it will work on your Canon.
From what my friends say (and show), many Sigma lenses are pretty
good.
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

Floyd L. Davidson <> wrote:
>
> One hitch is that the Nikon D50 and D70 cameras do not couple
> the light metering to AI lenses, so only the higher end camera
> models can make use of the older lenses. (Which means that
> _obviously_ you should have bought a D2x, so that you could save
> money on new lenses??
>

Or get a used F100 and use the savings to buy more film

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <> wrote:
>Floyd L. Davidson <> wrote:
>>
>> One hitch is that the Nikon D50 and D70 cameras do not couple
>> the light metering to AI lenses, so only the higher end camera
>> models can make use of the older lenses. (Which means that
>> _obviously_ you should have bought a D2x, so that you could save
>> money on new lenses??
>>
>
>Or get a used F100 and use the savings to buy more film

I don't know what the cost of film processing is where you live,
or how many frames you shoot in a year... but for me the cost
saving in in storing images to DVDs rather than negatives in just
*one* year is enough to pay for a D2x.

Ymmv, of course.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)