Old school lenses

realdutchie

I don't know if I can ask this question here, but I'll try.

I have the D5300. My father in law left me some old analogue lenses from Praktika. Can I use them with the D5300 with an adapter? Will I damage the camera?

bruto

Sorry, you cannot use Praktika lenses on a Nikon with anything but a very expensive adapter which almost certainly won't be worth it if you could even find one.

EDIT TO ADD:

Actually, I just looked it up and the adapters are not terribly expensive, at least for some Praktica mounts. You can get one from B&H for about 40 bucks. I rather doubt that this will be worth it, as it involves an added lens of dubious quality, and results in a 100 percent manual lens, but it does exist.

Nikon has always had a longer "registration" distance than others, and what this means is that any other brand of lens will be too far from the image plane to focus at infinity. The only adapters you can use require an added optical element to change the focus. Since praktika mounts come in more than one type, you must be careful to get the right one if you do this.

This is one area where other brands like Canon have an advantage. It's quite possible to use other brands of lenses (fully manually) with an adapter on a Canon, which has a shorter registration distance. My son, a Canon man, can borrow my Nikon lenses, though fortunately he does not care to.

You can, however, use just about any old Nikon lens that exists (manually only), if you want to experiment with older glass. Old Nikon lenses won't meter with your camera, but they will function.

If any of the old Praktika lenses are manual or preset lenses using a replaceable T mount, you can get a Nikon T mount adapter for them. T mount lenses have a thread similar to that on thread mount lenses, but it is a different pitch, and the mount itself removes. This is unlikely, but if you have a lens that is entirely manual (no aperture actuating lever or pin) and on the camera end of the mount it says "for Praktika" it's possible.

But even a T mount will cost a few bucks, and will leave you with a lens that does not meter, and does not even have an automatic diaphragm. It may not be worthwhile unless you're feeling adventurous.

realdutchie

Thanks for your advice. I think I'll put them in a museum then. :)

bruto

I think that's the best solution. But if you want to play with primitive lenses on the Nikon, there are a fair number out there. Consider the old Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 prime lens. An indifferent performer on full frame, it turns out it's splendid on DX if you don't mind manual operation without a meter. You can still get them pretty cheaply. I have one of these, and it's one of my favorite lenses, a slightly wide normal perspective on DX. Mine dates from about 1962.

http://jmp.sh/ToPX0Jh

realdutchie

I will look around op Marktplaats, a second hand dutch site for it. I love searching and puzzling on that site.
Often good deals there.