Nikkor G on Analogue (Flim) Cameras
Every once in a while I write articles in English because I think they are important to everyone, not only us Germans. This is one of those.
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! EVEN THEN YOU PROBABLY SHOULD NOT DO IT! IT WILL MOST LIKELY NOT WORK, ANYWAY! I WILL NOT COVER ANY DAMAGES! This is an UNTESTED HACK; if you damage your lens or camera or your house burns down, I am not responsible! Use common sense!
Today I want to talk about how you (and I) can use one of those newfangled Nikkor AF-S G lenses on older film cameras that do not have the second wheel found on recent Nikon cameras that can be used to set the aperture. (I think the F4 was the first to have such a wheel and is therefore probably the first camera to be somewhat compatible with G lenses. Or maybe it was the F5. Not sure.)
Anyway, the G range of lenses is the newest method of saving (and at the same time making more) money invented by Nikon. They lack the aperture ring found on any other F mount lenses. In a way it makes sense: One less moving part that can break, it simplifies the design considerably and so makes the lenses cheaper. Well, that, and producing them in China.
The main drawback is, such a lens won't work properly on older analogue film cameras like my trusty old F601. (That's an N6006 for you Americans. Heaven knows why they changed the name for the US. Maybe they had to because it sounded too much like a Ferrari or something... 
)
So, if I mount my new AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 G on my F601 and set it to anything but manual I get a blinking "Fee" error message in the display because it thinks I forgot to set it to the minimum aperture (f/16 in this case). Which is bulls*it, because I couldn't even change it to anything else even if I wanted to; it defaults to f/16 while it is not mounted. You can see this if you look inside while twisting it on: The blades only open up to minimum (wide open) once the aperture prong inside the camera engages.
Turns out, Nikon did not only save some money by getting rid of the aperture ring, they also made some money because this is a deliberate incompatibility, I guess to force people who want to go back in time and shoot film or slides have to get the more expensive, older AF-S (without the G) design. "What makes you think that," I hear you ask? Weeeell, it turns out they could have made the design far more compatible with older cameras just be adding some small protrusion to the rim of the lens so the aperture sensing lever on the outside of the camera gets to the place it should be when the (missing) aperture ring is set to fully closed. Which technically it is, see above.
What to do? Well, I don't know about you but I just took a paper clip and bent it into a hook that fits nicely around the lever. Now I can manually move the aperture sensing lever to the desired position whenever I want. It is small enough so it doesn't interfere with regular AF, AF-S, AI and AI-S lenses, so those still work normally. Only when I mount my AF-S G lens I give it a tuck. Only thing missing is a way to somehow fasten it in this position; the spring pulling the lever back is quite strong.
As you can see, there is no more blinking "Fee" in the display, even in S mode (Shutter Priority). By selecting an exposure time, the camera automatically selects the correct aperture and when I push the button all the way, it is set (you can see the blades closing inside the lens) and the camera releases the shutter. In mode P (Program Mode) you can use the settings wheel to shift through the program as intended. (Technically P and Pm work without my modification, but the blinking "Fee" is somewhat irritating and I don't know if program shifting actually works. I would have to test this with an actual film inside the camera. Which, needless to say, I didn't do, because that would cost money.)
The downside is: A (Aperture Priority Mode) and M (Manual) still won't work correctly, instead it has only gotten worse. By pulling the lever you don't actually set anything on the (missing) aperture ring, even if the camera believes you did. The only way to use A or M mode is to let go of the clever contraption I build (aka the bent paper clip), let the sensing lever snap back to its original position and use f/1.8 (or whatever your G lens' wide open aperture is). For A and M modes, basically nothing has changed. (I guess this is the rationale for Nikon not to include that little pin or protrusion or whatever you would call it that I mentioned above, because, well, you can't just remove it whenever you want or need to. And anything more complicated than a fixed thingy on the base of the lens and they could have included an aperture ring from the start.)
Even though, I think this simple trick makes a G lens much more usable on my F601. Now all I have to do is get me a film and try it out "in the field"! But I guess I will wait until spring until I do so, because it's winter now and the weather is bad and overcast and dark and I would shoot mostly wide open anyway, so no need for my little mod.
Oh, and by the way: No, auto focus does still not work with G lenses mounted to old cameras. They use an internal motor and lack the little spindle that turns the focus ring on normal AF lenses. But, come on, you can use your eyes to focus, we did it all the time before AF was invented...
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! EVEN THEN YOU PROBABLY SHOULD NOT DO IT! IT WILL MOST LIKELY NOT WORK, ANYWAY! I WILL NOT COVER ANY DAMAGES! This is an UNTESTED HACK; if you damage your lens or camera or your house burns down, I am not responsible! Use common sense!
Today I want to talk about how you (and I) can use one of those newfangled Nikkor AF-S G lenses on older film cameras that do not have the second wheel found on recent Nikon cameras that can be used to set the aperture. (I think the F4 was the first to have such a wheel and is therefore probably the first camera to be somewhat compatible with G lenses. Or maybe it was the F5. Not sure.)
Anyway, the G range of lenses is the newest method of saving (and at the same time making more) money invented by Nikon. They lack the aperture ring found on any other F mount lenses. In a way it makes sense: One less moving part that can break, it simplifies the design considerably and so makes the lenses cheaper. Well, that, and producing them in China.
The main drawback is, such a lens won't work properly on older analogue film cameras like my trusty old F601. (That's an N6006 for you Americans. Heaven knows why they changed the name for the US. Maybe they had to because it sounded too much like a Ferrari or something... )So, if I mount my new AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 G on my F601 and set it to anything but manual I get a blinking "Fee" error message in the display because it thinks I forgot to set it to the minimum aperture (f/16 in this case). Which is bulls*it, because I couldn't even change it to anything else even if I wanted to; it defaults to f/16 while it is not mounted. You can see this if you look inside while twisting it on: The blades only open up to minimum (wide open) once the aperture prong inside the camera engages.
Turns out, Nikon did not only save some money by getting rid of the aperture ring, they also made some money because this is a deliberate incompatibility, I guess to force people who want to go back in time and shoot film or slides have to get the more expensive, older AF-S (without the G) design. "What makes you think that," I hear you ask? Weeeell, it turns out they could have made the design far more compatible with older cameras just be adding some small protrusion to the rim of the lens so the aperture sensing lever on the outside of the camera gets to the place it should be when the (missing) aperture ring is set to fully closed. Which technically it is, see above.
What to do? Well, I don't know about you but I just took a paper clip and bent it into a hook that fits nicely around the lever. Now I can manually move the aperture sensing lever to the desired position whenever I want. It is small enough so it doesn't interfere with regular AF, AF-S, AI and AI-S lenses, so those still work normally. Only when I mount my AF-S G lens I give it a tuck. Only thing missing is a way to somehow fasten it in this position; the spring pulling the lever back is quite strong.
As you can see, there is no more blinking "Fee" in the display, even in S mode (Shutter Priority). By selecting an exposure time, the camera automatically selects the correct aperture and when I push the button all the way, it is set (you can see the blades closing inside the lens) and the camera releases the shutter. In mode P (Program Mode) you can use the settings wheel to shift through the program as intended. (Technically P and Pm work without my modification, but the blinking "Fee" is somewhat irritating and I don't know if program shifting actually works. I would have to test this with an actual film inside the camera. Which, needless to say, I didn't do, because that would cost money.
)The downside is: A (Aperture Priority Mode) and M (Manual) still won't work correctly, instead it has only gotten worse. By pulling the lever you don't actually set anything on the (missing) aperture ring, even if the camera believes you did. The only way to use A or M mode is to let go of the clever contraption I build (aka the bent paper clip), let the sensing lever snap back to its original position and use f/1.8 (or whatever your G lens' wide open aperture is). For A and M modes, basically nothing has changed. (I guess this is the rationale for Nikon not to include that little pin or protrusion or whatever you would call it that I mentioned above, because, well, you can't just remove it whenever you want or need to. And anything more complicated than a fixed thingy on the base of the lens and they could have included an aperture ring from the start.)
Even though, I think this simple trick makes a G lens much more usable on my F601. Now all I have to do is get me a film and try it out "in the field"! But I guess I will wait until spring until I do so, because it's winter now and the weather is bad and overcast and dark and I would shoot mostly wide open anyway, so no need for my little mod.
Oh, and by the way: No, auto focus does still not work with G lenses mounted to old cameras. They use an internal motor and lack the little spindle that turns the focus ring on normal AF lenses. But, come on, you can use your eyes to focus, we did it all the time before AF was invented...