[Don Hoey]

With the introduction of the D7000 and its ability to meter with AI/AIS lenses the number of digital cameras capable using these lenses will grow. In fact with the introduction of movie ability then add a Follow Focus and you have the perfect setup as a/f is not used in those circumstances. Given that there are lots of these on the second hand market, and they make an attractive purchase in cases where autofocus is not a prime requirement. I thought it worth posting an explanitory.
In terms of image quality, these lenses are in a lot of cases well up there with even the latest a/f offerings, and I use a range of AIS lenses for most of my photo's.

This post is really intended for those who have only had experience of AFS lenses which have no seperate aperture control or depth of field scales, so would be unfamiliar with what they are looking at.

Other than the depth of field scale the most obvious other stand marking is a smaller secondary engraving of the aperture scale. This is of no consequence on DSLR's as once the camera is programmed for a specific lens, the aperture will be displayed electronically. However in cameras made before 2000 the only way of relaying aperture info into the viewfinder was by directly reading this smaller aperture scale though a window at the bottom front of the camera prism. I will do a seperate post covering this feature.

Another obvious physical difference is the 'rabbit ears' screwed to the aperture ring. This is a feature to give compatability with early metering systems on cameras such as the Nikon F, Nikkormat's and and Nikkormat EL's, and was dropped on the introduction of the first autofocus lenses.

Don