Buying a used lense for my Nikon D40?

Question

It is for film..it originates from 1974 and it was dirty (lint) but I cleaned it.

My question is this..this is a very heavy lense, but boy, it takes nice pics. I cannot get info regarding my F-stops on it as it is a film lense and will not compute that info on my camera..It only shows F------. meaning its blank. This lense cost a pretty penny back then, but the gal selling it wants $49-.

Is that a good deal, considering it works and all.

actually she has 3-lenses to sell, and for all 3 she is asking $100- the nikon macro, the 500mm, and another a 300mm. All for film photography..i looked on Ebay..there is one this old at $49-. I guess what i am asking is it safe to use film lenses on a brand new Digital Nikon 40?

My hubby is worried about the lint etc; getting to my sensor.

We did clean out the Macro w. some canned, air best we could, helped a bit..but at 35yrs. old, yea they are gonna have some stuff in there !!

any tips advice or otherwise would be appreciated..!

Answer 1

are you sure a film lense will work with a nikon d40? i've never tried a film lense with my d40, but tried it with my d80 and it worked fine.

i would take the lense first to a professional camera store or watever and have them clean it. our cleaning is nothing compared to theirs, really. but i would go ahead and buy it!

50 bucks for a lense from 1974... great deal! it'd be worth having even if u didnt use it lots.

Answer 2

The word is spelled LENS.

And if the lenses will mount, they won't meter. As long as you can get by without the metering, the lenses will handle the optics part just fine.  You will have to manually stop down and focus.  You will have to meter by eye or with a handheld meter.  And make sure the lenses don't extend so far back that the mirror will hit the rear end of the lens or you won't be happy with a broken mirror and 7 years of bad luck.