Nikon d40x lens question

[danh920]

Hello all

long story short, my wife was given a Nikon n8008 35mm camera from my aunt, which had belonged to her late husband (she got some fabulous pics of the Portland Head Light while we were up there). There were 2 lenses included and I have heard that there are issues with the autofocus with the d40 and d40x on some old nikon lenses.

1 of the lenses reads as follows:

af-nikkor
35-105mm
1: 3.5-4.5

I dont have the 2nd lens on me, but I'm wondering if anyone knows if this would work with a d40x, and if it doesn't is my lowest price option to go with a d80?

I am buying a new digital slr for her for x-mas, d80 body really pushes the wallet though

Thanks for any help

[Rooz]

no it will not AF on the d40. for a d40 you need an afs lens. the lens you are talking about is not the best lens around anyway. it's worth around $80USD so not really something you should be considering as a criteria for your dslr purchase.

another downside is that the lens' focal range of 35-105mm is for a full frame film camera. once you put it onto a dslr, (unless you want to pay around $6k for a D3), it's effective focal range is 53-158mm which is just about unusable at the wide end.

a d40 with the 18-55mm kit lens and the 55-200mmVR is a much better option than that lens on a d80.

if for some reason you MUST have those lens' mounted then maybe consider a used d70s or d50. but as with the d40, you will lose alot of the focal range that the lens' had with a full frame 35mm camera.

[fionndruinne]

Agreed with Rooz; that lens doesn't sound like something great enough to sway your decision-making. Unless the other one is a large-aperture (typically expensive) like f/2.8 or somewhere around there, I'd start a new kit.