5 replies to this topic

[SimoninBS7]

Hi folks, am super excited to join the Nikon Owner's Club many years after first hankering after a Nikon.  Bought a second-hand D40 and what a little peach it is! Seller threw in a neat little E series 50mm, which fits onto the D40 body OK, of course, but the LCD screen reports, 'no lens fitted' Obviously I'm not expecting the E series lens to auto-focus (as there's no motor in a D40 and no motor in the lens!) but I would expect the camera body to recognise a Nikon lens that fits and to measure exposure - and even let me go on to take a photo! Am I wasting my time trying to make an E series work on a D40 body.

[Merco_61]

The D40 won't meter with a lens without a chip. You can still use it, but you will have to do everything manually by trial-and-error. I think it will fire in M mode, but there might be a menu item that needs to be set before it will fire without a recognized lens.

[morticiaskeeper]

The D40 will fire in M, I used to use mine on T mounts.

Metering will be trial and error, or get yourself a handheld meter, I still use my Weston Eurosix with the Incident cone.


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[SimoninBS7]

Cheers, chaps! I didn't think to move off of the P setting!

[Marcus Rowland]

The 40 unfortunately has little backward compatibility - it doesn't support earlier lenses such as the E or the first-generation autofocus, so it's advisable to be cautious when buying lenses..

 

There's a compatibility chart here:

 

http://www.kenrockwe...bility-lens.htm

 

You can get your lens chipped so that focus confirmation and metering work, I think, but I doubt it would be cheap.

[Merco_61]

The 40 unfortunately has little backward compatibility - it doesn't support earlier lenses such as the E or the first-generation autofocus, so it's advisable to be cautious when buying lenses..

 

There's a compatibility chart here:

 

http://www.kenrockwe...bility-lens.htm

 

You can get your lens chipped so that focus confirmation and metering work, I think, but I doubt it would be cheap.

It is one of the easier lenses to chip, if you want to get a dandelion and experiment yourself. OTOH, the 50/1.8D is optically similar, but with better coatings and can be found cheap. You will still not get AF with the D40, but the rendering of out-of-focus areas is quite nice.

 

If you want to try the old manual lenses on a D40, there are light meter apps for most smartphones.