A friend loaned me a Nikon MF 500 F4 lens to go with my Nikon D300 camera. But try as I might, I couldn't load the non-CPU data of the lens to my camera. The shutter clicks only when I set the aperture to its minimum value - f22. At any other aperture value, the shutter just doesn't click.

I entered 500 for focal length and 4 for maximum aperture values in the non-CPU data section.

Do you guys have any idea on what might be the problem? Is the camera or the lens defective?

Neither lens or body are defective actually.

The 500 f4 AI-P has a cpu. Therefore, your D300 can use all the standard metering modes without you needing to enter the non cpu lens data.

Physically set the lens aperture to f22 (the smallest) and control the aperture via the camera like any modern Nikon lens.

If you really want to control the lens aperture via the aperture ring then go to setting f7 "Customize command dials" and change Aperture setting to "OFF" which corresponds to Aperture ring.

Just saw this post and was wondering what happens when you use a 1.4 converter on this lens? I guess that the newer tc's will not work without modification. Do you lose the cpu's information with a tc?

No, why should one? It will work. Not absolutely sure about correct aperture and focal length reporting in the exif, though.

a compatible (important word here) teleconverter will adjust the exif data for the camera automatically. The aperture you see on the camera will be adjusted and correct for what's happening on the lense.

I can't tell how the lense mount on the 500mm f4 is notched or if it can be used with an older non-electronic teleconverter. If you can use one of those, you will have to set the camera up manually for focal length and max aperture, but you should then be able to use the aperture ring on the lense.

You can use an older converter like the TC-14B, too. That is what we had in the late 1980s when the lens was new.

EBH

Works well with the TC-300/301 too.

Works excellent (image quality) with the TC-301 but lose the cpu data and have to set the non-cpu lens option for 1000mm with max f8 aperture.

Samy

dsphootog2 wrote:
Works well with the TC-300/301 too.

Thanks man! I missed the obvious. Do I feel stupid or what?