Sigma lens with D70

[Alex]

A friend of mine wants to buy a D70s (he has a film Nikon SLR) and he gave me a Sigma UC Zoom 70-210 4-5.6 lens to see whether it will work with it. Will auto focus, TTL metering, etc work on this lens with D70. How do you mount one of these things? Do you align the red dot on the mount with the white on D70?

Thanks
Alex

[gstark]

Alex,

What film SLR does he have?

Mounting should be the same as for any other lens, and depending upon the capabilities (= age) of the lens, it could have anything from 100% to zero.

[Alex]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the reply. He has Nikon F601. Any help?

Cheers
Alex

[gstark]

Alex,

Yes, thanx. Basically, any features that the lens had, when mounted on the 601, will carry through to the D70.

I'm not familiar with the Sigma lens but this basic procedure should still hold true.

Mount the lens as you would any other. Set the aperture ring to maximum aperture (f/22, f/32 etc) and if possible, lock it there. This will setup the lens for exposure control from the camera, and M, A, S, and P modes should all now be available.

If the lens has auto-focus, this should work on the D70.

[Alex]

Gary, Thank you. I understand. It sure has auto focus as it's written on the lens. I just can't find how the zoom works. I can't see a zoom ring - call me stupid

Alex

[gstark]

It'll be a push-pull lens then.

Hold the lens mount end in one hand, and hold the focussing ring in the other, see what happens if you try to pull them away from one another.

[Alex]

I see, Gary. Thanks. Will give it a try tonight.

Cheers
Alex

[Alex]

Gary,

Thanks for your help, just tested it out. The lens is certainly recognised by D70. Metering seems to work Ok as does the i-TTL flash, but AF is really bad. It is very hard to focus. It hunts for focus a lot. It also claims to have macro mode on the focusing dial but I was not able to focus in AF or manual at less than 1 m distance.

I made a mistake and tried to do manual focus using the focusing ring while I had AF switch on on D70 and it was a bit hard to rotate (this lens is not AF-S). Could I have done any damage trying to turn focusing ring whilst the D70 was in AF and not manual mode. In maual mode it rotates very freely, as it should.

Thanks
Alex

[gstark]

Alex,

How much ambient light was there when you tested focus? You'll find that the better the available light, the better the focus response. this is an old, and a slow, lens, and thus the performance cgaracteristics you're describing come as no surprise.

Does the lens have a limit switch on it? I don't expect it to, but if it does, you may be able to restrict focus travel to "far" or 'near" subjects, and thus improve apparent response.

I doubt that you'll have damaged anything by trying to focus manually with the AF engaged; I've done that tons of times - particularly on the F801 - with no ill effects.

[Alex]

Gary,

Thank you for the prompt and helpful response. I take your point. The available light was dim ambient and that's probably why the focus was the way it was. The exif data show Built-in TTL for flash data as they do muti-pattern metering, so I guess that means both work with the lens.

Cheers
Alex