will this lens work

[Corwyn]

Nikon ED 300mm f/4 AF

I am pretty sure this will not af on a d40. my question is how hard is it to mf
this size lens?


C

[Prospero]

Nikon ED 300mm f/4 AF

I am pretty sure this will not af on a d40. my question is how hard is it to mf
this size lens?


C

No, this lens will indeed not autofocus on the D40. The only lenses that can do that are Nikon's AF-s and AF-i lenses (the latter type is rarely used anymore), Sigma HSM lenses and one type of Tamron lenses (I forgot the name they use to describe lenses with a built in motor).

If you are shooting subjects that are standing still or stay at a more or less fixed distance from the lens, the lens should be pretty easy to focus manually.
The lens has a pretty wide aperture (for such a long lens) and a long focal length and has therefore a shallow depth of field. This makes it very easy to judge wether or not the subject is in focus.

Also, your camera has a focus indicator that also works on lenses that cannot autofocus. This can help a lot as well in determining wether something is in focus.

If you shoot sports, fast moving wildlife, kids running around, etc. I would go for the 70-300VR instead or the AF-s version of this lens. It is very hard to keep up with movement when focussing manually.
Also, especially at f/4, if you are off just a little bit, the image immediatly looks out of focus.

[coldrain]

No, this lens will indeed not autofocus on the D40. The only lenses that can do that are Nikon's AF-s and AF-i lenses (the latter type is rarely used anymore), Sigma HSM lenses and one type of Tamron lenses (I forgot the name they use to describe lenses with a built in motor).

If you are shooting subjects that are standing still or stay at a more or less fixed distance from the lens, the lens should be pretty easy to focus manually.
The lens has a pretty wide aperture (for such a long lens) and a long focal length and has therefore a shallow depth of field. This makes it very easy to judge wether or not the subject is in focus.

Also, your camera has a focus indicator that also works on lenses that cannot autofocus. This can help a lot as well in determining wether something is in focus.

If you shoot sports, fast moving wildlife, kids running around, etc. I would go for the 70-300VR instead or the AF-s version of this lens. It is very hard to keep up with movement when focussing manually.
Also, especially at f/4, if you are off just a little bit, the image immediatly looks out of focus.
It also makes it easy to just miss focus, which will show more with a wide aperture (if you use the wide aperture of course).
But with the camera's help, you can get some good photos. But yes, with such a tele lens with manual focus you will be somewhat limited to static subjects.
What will this lens cost you?

[Rooz]

Nikon ED 300mm f/4 AF

I am pretty sure this will not af on a d40. my question is how hard is it to mf
this size lens?


C

there is an af-s version which i have tried a couple of times which is pretty well priced considering its a prime lens that performs very well. its a nice enuf lens but i find it a little too restrictive.

[dxrocnxj]

af-i lenses also autofocus on the d40?

[Prospero]

Yes.
AF-i lenses were the predecessor of AF-s lenses, they also include a built in motor. They were made at the beginning of the 90's. They included f/2.8 versions of the 200, 300 and 400mm primes.

I highly doubt that these lenses will be very affordable, though.

[Rooz]

are you sure Denis ? i didn;t know that. didn;t they make old 85mm and 50mm AI-s lens' aswell ? :confused:

[Prospero]

My comment is based on the list of lenses at PBase, which is generally quite complete. The only AF-I lenses listed are long primes that have now been discontinued.

My comment was about AF-i lenses, by the way, not about AI-s lenses. AI-s lenses are manual focus and this type can of course be found in almost any focal length.

I found this on kenrockwell.com (so you never no wether it is true or not :) ), about AF-I lenses. apparantly they are also quite a lot slower than AF-s



1992 - 1996: For the first time since 1986, Nikon put a focus motor into the lens, and for the first time since 1977, Nikon updated the optics. Nikon calls these lenses AF-I (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikortek.htm#afi), for internal-motor autofocus. The 300mm f/2.8 AF-I (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/30028afi.htm) focuses more closely than the previous AF versions, down to 8' (2.5m).
The AF-I were the forerunner of AF-S lenses, which use a different kind of motor. The AF-I should work and focus perfectly even on the D40 (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm).
Sadly, the Nikon AF-I 300mm f/2.8 (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/30028afi.htm) was also a slow focuser, confirming to all the pros who moved to Canon that they made the right choice. The good thing about the AF-I version is that it adds extremely helpful focus lock buttons on the front of the lens.
The Nikon 600mm f/4 AF-I (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/6004afi.htm), also introduced in 1992, is as slow as the 300mm AF-I. In 1994 Nikon introduced the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 AF-I (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/40028afi.htm) which has a much better AF-I system and is very fast. (The 300mm AF-I was unchanged.)

[Rooz]

interesting. thanks for the info. i never even heard of that before. :)