Nikon F (AI, AIs) SLR Bayonet Lenses

by Karen Nakamura

Other Classic Camera Lens Mounts
Canon FD/FL Breechlock Mount
Contax / Nikon RF Bayonet Mount
Leica RF Mount (M39/M)
Pentax Screw Mount (M42)

Overview and Personal Comments

The Nikon F mount is a true classic. Introduced in 1959, the mount has remained relatively backward compatible over four decades. You can still mount a 1959 Nikkor on the top-end Nikons, and use your 1959 Nikon F camera with the latest Nikkor lens (as long as it's not AF-D). There are some caveats as the F lens mount went through several revisions over its long history. You really need a compatibility chart at times.

Original F (Non-AI) Lenses: The original Nikon F mount has a throat width of 44mm, a flange-back distance of 43.5mm, and 3-bayonet lugs. Current lens aperture is communicated to the meter prism via "rabbit-ears" on the lens body. The rabbit ears are present on all but the most recent Nikkors. People refer to this original series as Non-AI lenses. You should be careful of mounting Non-AI lenses on later Nikons. According to McBroom's, only nine AI Nikons (most of them top-end ones) can use Non-AI lenses: F2A, F2AS, F3, F4, F5, FE, FM, EL2 Nikkormat, and FT3 Nikkormats. You can damage other lower models so be careful. You can have your Non-AI lenses upgraded to AI by Nikon and other repair stores. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

AI-Lenses: Released in 1977, AI stands for Automatic Indexing and is a small ridge cut into the outside of the lens mount that allows the meter to know what the maximum and current aperture of your lens is. The "rabbit-ears" of the early Non-AI lenses are not used anymore, although most AI lenses have them. There is also a second line of smaller aperture numbers printed below the meter coupling pin that reflects up into some prism viewfinders (Aperture Direct Readout).

Series E : With the Nikon EM (1979), Nikon released a series of inexpensive lenses. They didn't want to undercut their Nikkor lenses, so they labelled them Series E (Economy?). Most people think they are just as good as regular Nikkors in optical quality, although the build is often a bit cheaper (plastic rather than metal).

AI-S Lenses: Released for the Nikon FA (1983), The AI-sSlens has a small notch cut into the rear of the lens mount that relays the focal length and maximum aperture to some cameras. It's not that big of a deal, there's really no difference between AI and AIs for most purposes although for some cameras you need it for Program or Shutter-Priority modes.

Auto-focus Nikkors : I don't know much about these since I abhor auto-everything cameras. There are a couple variations: AF, AF-D, AF-I, and AF-S. I don't know much about them.

AF-I / AF-S: These Nikkors have the auto-focus motor built into the lens body (just Canon EF lenses). The AF-I uses a regular DC motor and the AF-S uses an ultrasonic motor (like the Canon USM). Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

AF-G: This series removes the aperture ring so it can only be used on recent vintage electronic Nikon cameras (i.e. not on the mechanical Nikons like the F2 or Nikkormats).

AF-D: These auto-focus Nikkors that communicate the distance information back to the camera body. This allows for the famed Nikon "2D" and "3D" matrix metering especially with flash. Only the higher-end Nikons built in the 1990s and 2000s have the CPU power for 2D/3D metering.

AF-IX: These auto-focus Nikkors were designed for the ill-fated Nikon Pronea SLR series of IX film camera. Next to no reuse or resale value.

AF-DX: These are auto-focus Nikkors designed for Nikon digital camera bodies with a 1.5x crop (currently all Nikon digital cameras). They are smaller and lighter than standard Nikkors because the lens does not have to cover the full-frame. In general, they are unusable on Nikon film camera bodies - remember the fate of IX lenses, just say no and don't buy them unless you are willing to acknowledge that you most probably won't be able to sell them except at a huge loss and that the $999 full-frame Nikon digital camera that comes out in 2007 will not be able to use them.

VR: Vibration reduction. Same as Canon's Image Stabilization (IS) feature. Reduces the effect of camera shake by about 2~3 stops. Can only be used with certain high-end auto-focus bodies.

Wide Angle Lenses

Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 UD

Nikkor-N.C. Auto24mm f/2.8

Technical Details - Wide Angle Lenses (italics = I wish I had or I sold [and regret])

Standard Lenses

The standard Nikkor 5cm (50mm) f/1.4 lens on the Nikon 'S' rangefinders is renowned for its sharpness and clarity. It had a very long production life, basically existing from the first Nikon S to the last Nikon S4. During its production, it went from chromed brass to black painted aluminum, as seen on the Nikon S3 to the right. The optical formula remained the same. It also lost the 'C' in Nikkor-S.C. which indicated coating. Nikon decided that since lenses from all manufacturers were being coated in the post-War period there was no reason to advertise it anymore.

Technical Details - Standard Lenses

Long Lenses

The standard Nikkor 5cm (50mm) f/1.4 lens on the Nikon 'S' rangefinders is renowned for its sharpness and clarity. It had a very long production life, basically existing from the first Nikon S to the last Nikon S4. During its production, it went from chromed brass to black painted aluminum, as seen on the Nikon S3 to the right. The optical formula remained the same. It also lost the 'C' in Nikkor-S.C. which indicated coating. Nikon decided that since lenses from all manufacturers were being coated in the post-War period there was no reason to advertise it anymore.

Technical Details - Long Lenses

Lens Collection Martrix

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