Hi guys,
I started shopping for a new digicam and have a couple of questions. I have a bunch of lenses for regular cameras ranging from 28mm to 200mm that I've been using with my old school Nikon FG which takes amazing photos. Now I want to get a new digicam because my cheap pocket HP, just doesn't cut it anymore and I am trying to find a digicam that would accomodate those regular lenses. I've been searching the web without much luck on what works and what doesn't. So, can someone provide me with different brands and models of what would work with my lenses? From my understanding, most lenses have universal mounts, I just need to know if they would mount to digicam same way as they would to a regular cam. Also, what are some decent cams in a $500 range? I've been partial to Olympus because no matter how shitty they are, the quality is pretty decent.

From my understanding, most lenses have universal mounts, I just need to know if they would mount to digicam same way as they would to a regular cam.

Lenses for SLR cameras don't have universal mounts - well there are a couple out there but Nikon isn't one of them. You would need a Nikon SLR to use them like a D50. However, unless you get into a D200 or higher, there will be no metering with manual focus lenses. These lenses won't work with any compact digital camera.

Hi guys,
I started shopping for a new digicam and have a couple of questions. I have a bunch of lenses for regular cameras ranging from 28mm to 200mm that I've been using with my old school Nikon FG which takes amazing photos. Now I want to get a new digicam because my cheap pocket HP, just doesn't cut it anymore and I am trying to find a digicam that would accomodate those regular lenses. I've been searching the web without much luck on what works and what doesn't. So, can someone provide me with different brands and models of what would work with my lenses? From my understanding, most lenses have universal mounts, I just need to know if they would mount to digicam same way as they would to a regular cam. Also, what are some decent cams in a $500 range? I've been partial to Olympus because no matter how shitty they are, the quality is pretty decent.

Times have changed since the FG. The sensor size of Nikon DSLR's is smaller than 24x36 film which means that your lenses give you the view equivalent (in film terms) to a focal length 1.5x greater than the one marked. Your 28mm is like a 42mm, your 200mm is like a 300mm, etc. You've lost the wide-angle end.

So most people buy their Nikon DSLR with one of the kit zoom lenses (18-55, 18-70 or 18-135). Not only do these lenses go out to the wide-angle end (18mmx1.5=27mm) but also they are specially designed to work with digital sensors and usually give better results than your film lenses. The 18-135 is the equivalent of a 28-200 and hey guess what it replaces all your old lenses in one go.

However we're no longer talking about $500 here. The D80+18-135 is more like $1300. Many people ask themselves if they really need a DSLR. In the days of the FG you just had the awful point-and-shoots and the only alternative was an SLR. Nowadays there's a whole bunch of "bridge" cameras that do just as good a job as a DSLR most of the time and are much smaller and cheaper. Just don't expect things like external flash, fast focussing, usable high ISO settings, etc. I don't have one but many of my friends who used to have SLR's like your FG have gone over to bridge cameras

Charles