Folks: In response to a lot of questions from readers, I have drafted an attempt to explain the entire Nikon digital SLR camera system in one page. Please comment with suggestions/improvements/corrections.
Thanks in advance.
4 thoughts on “Nikon Camera System Explained”
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Nice article! I think your comment regarding “G” lenses is incorrect. It only means that the lens does not have an aperture ring; instead the aperture must be operated with the front command wheel on the camera. That means these lenses are incompatible with older non-AF cameras (FE, FM, F2, F3 etc.) as well as with older and/or cheaper AF cameras (F601/N6006, F90/N90 and a whole bunch more). The 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR, 12-24mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S DX and 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX lenses are examples of professional lenses carrying the G designation.
Good summary. One obvious mistake: Nikon have discontinued all their film bodies apart from the F6 and FM10. Still plenty of stock left in the retail channel (and secondhand market!) though.
I understand your desire to have a single source for prices, and amazon.com may be as good as any. Even so, without human intervention, some of the prices are weird. For example, the AF Nikkor 85/1.4 shouldn’t be more expensive than the MF Nikkor 85/1.4, especially since the AF lens has an updated optical design. Of course, the MF lens is no longer available.
Also, some of the lenses that you mentioned are discontinued, such as the AF 28/1.4, which is why it has a ridiculous price from amazon.com Market price for this lens in eBay is still high, but more like $1700. If you are going to mention discontinued lenses (many of which are still easily available), why not mention the Noct-Nikkor 58/1.2, which has much higher optical quality than the Nikkor 50/1.2?
Also, I would suggest that the 28/1.4 is a competitive lens to the Sigma 30/1.4, except that the optical quality (as well as price and weight!) of the Nikkor 28/1.4 is much higher. The AF Nikkor 35/2 is a competitive lens also, as is the AI-S Nikkor 28/2, which is of superb optical quality, and while discontinued is still easily available. I’ve tried the Sigma 30/1.4, and while I like the idea, and appreciate the “HSM” the optical quality isn’t up to snuff. I would probably recommend that a beginning DSLR user mount a 35/2 — that lens is cheaper and better than the Sigma 30/1.4, although you do loose a stop.
I also think this review suffers a little bit from not having tried some of the lenses. For example, I am not a fan of zoom lenses, but the Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX is really quite good. I don’t own one, but I’ve used one and I’m impressed. By contrast, the Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR, is not so good, despite looking nice on paper.
Also, there is one Nikon zoom lens that is a real Macro lens, the AF Zoom Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6 ED — although it does experience more distortion than the .
Also, you might want to introduce people to the used film bodies — AF bodies as well as MF bodies that will function with post-AI lenses. And the previous
poster is correct that G type lenses simply don’t have an aperture ring — some are high quality and some less so, but none of them can be used with full functionality on older bodies.