Bought a lens over eBay - who screwed me, seller or Ken Rockwell?

I bought a Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens over eBay for my Nikon D40. It was advertised as "Nikon 50 mm F/1.8 [...] original packaging". Photo taken straight out of eBay is attached. You can clearly see the "AF" on the package. So, according to Ken Rockwell's lens compatibility guide, an AF lens should not have autofocus on my camera, but it should meter. Alas, the lens I bought DOESN'T. Makes great pictures if I set up everything manually by guessing, but does not even recognize the lens. I think I'll just sell the lens again, but who told BS here? The seller with his AF packaging? Or Ken Rockwell, whose compatibility site I trusted?

Edit: Added a bigger photo of the lens. Can anyone confirm if this is an AF lens or not?
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The Nikkor 50mm F/1.8E series does not meter nor will it autofocus on the D40/x/60. However, the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D is a metering lens. That is the copy that you want for your D40. You still will have to manual focus, but at least it meters.

Did the eBay seller list this as a Nikkor 50mm F/1.8E? If so, he is not at fault.

Ken Rockwell is somewhat correct saying that the 50mm F/1.8 lens will meter, because the D version will, but he did leave out that the "E" version is non-metering. So, I can see how that was misleading.

 

My understanding (as a fellow D40 owner) is the same as yours and Ken Rockwell's, although I'm not 100% on all of the compatibility issues. If the lens was sold as an AF lens then it should meter and the seller is in the wrong. Do you have a link to the auction?

This link also agrees --> http://d40xd60.wikidot.com/lens-compatibility

 

Thanks for your quick responses! The seller listed it as "Nikon 50mm F/1.8, good condition, in original packaging", with the photo above. The (as he says original) package clearly says "AF", so I bought it. It also came in the AF package, but as it doesn't meter, I suspect it isn't a AF but an AI or E. Can anyone identify it on the picture I posted?

 

Apparently I was mistaken, the E series is a MF lens, not an AF lens. From the sounds of it, you might have an E series. The E series requires you to change aperture on the aperture ring as well, you can't set it to F/22 and change from the camera with the E series.

The best place to ask your question is probably here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/d40slr/
There are people there with good knowledge on the D40/x/D60 lenses including the E series 50mm F/1.8.

 

So if it was a NON-E-Series, I should be able to set the Aperture to 22 and change it from the camera?

Thanks for the link. I didn't want to post it on a specific photo forum right now as the seller might be browsing them.

 

That is my understanding, yes. Give it a try. I will say that I thought the e-series said e-series on the front, which I can't tell if yours does or not.

 

Camera doesn't do anything on f22. It says "Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1 : 1.8 4170623" on the front. Nothing about E series.


Edit: Looking at the pictures that Ken Rockwell has of various lenses, it surely isn't an AF version. Grrrr!

 

Here's the deal. Nikon repackaged the E-Series lens as their normal 50mm 1.8 sometime in the late 80s / early 90s, which is why yours doesn't say E-Series anywhere on it. I have one of the lenses (S/N 4048268). It's a decent lens, but It's certainly not the 50mm 1.8 D-Series AF lens, which would meter but not autofocus on your D40 (as you state). If this was sold to you as an AF lens (as the box suggests), then you certainly did get screwed by the seller. The easiest way to identify a D-Series lens is by the five electrical contact points on the inner flange. As much as I'd like to blame Ken Rockwell, it's not his fault.

 

Can I ask how much you paid for this lens?
the D version typically runs 80-90 dollars, I have one and picked it up, with box and rubber hood, for $80 last year.

 

44€. I outbid everyone in the last 2 seconds and already thought I got a steal. Apparently, it wasn't. Does anyone know what the lens I got sells for nowadays? Before entering the hassle of dealing with that bastard of a seller, I might just sell it (correctly described, this time) if I can fetch the same money for it.

dinodan, the lens has no contacts at all. So it is without doubt NOT an AF type, right?

 

I'd keep the lens - if you ever were to switch to old school manual film photography, this would be excellent in terms of testing your settings before wasting a lot of film... But of course I don't know if you're even into photography that much

 

I'd say I'm very much into photography (although rather being a beginner) But I don't think I'll switch to film, I love my DSLR. I also love tweaking around with manual settings, IMHO, it makes you think a lot more about the picture you're going to take if you set up everything yourself. However, I'd also like to have at least the metering ability, for situations where I don't have the time to fiddle around with the settings, so I'm looking for the AF model of the lens!

 

Absolutely. No contacts = AIS, AI, or earlier. I have a Nikon lens brochure from 1986 that shows the first two AF lenses that they ever made, the 80mm f/2.8 AF and 200mm f/3.5 AF ED-IF (these are rare indeed). The contact points can be clearly seen in the photos of the lenses.

 

Thanks a lot! That really helps me!

I wrote a mail to the seller yesterday, no answer yet. Judging by the fact that he's registered since 2002 and has only made ~30 transactions yet, and left a positive rating right after I sent the money, I don't think that he's a scam artist. Rather some guy who got the packaging of his lenses mixed up, but that doesn't help me!

 

I think you're right to give him the benefit of the doubt. One time I bought a Nikon lens filter on Ebay through one of those businesses that sell stuff for people who can't (or won't) do it themselves. Anyway, when it arrived, there was nothing in the little clear plastic container; it was empty. I emailed the place, and they phoned me right back. It turned out they were so clueless about photography stuff that they thought the container was the filter! Anyway, the story has a happy ending. The agents contacted the actual seller, he found the filter, and it was sent to me. The moral of the story is that anything can happen. Good luck!

By the way, that Celica of yours is a real honey! What year is it?

 

Lol, strange story! Thanks for your good wishes. I hope the seller will be reasonable and we'll exchange money and lens again. However, that would also be a bit dissapointing as I wanted the AF lens for that price!


Thanks! It's a 1976 model. In urgent need of some work on the body and a respray, luckily you don't see that on the picture. The nutjob who owned her in the 80s decided to let her spray from blue to red in some backyard shop, and now the red paint just starts to flake. That aside, she's a great car to drive and turns MANY heads!

 

If you are looking for a 50mm AF Lens for your D40 this one should do the trick.

http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Camera-Lenses/2180/AF-S-NIKKOR-50mm-f%252F1.4G.html

It is a little bit pricey when you think of the price of a D40 basic kit but this lens is well reviewed.

 

This is the first I've heard of that one. It must be fairly new. You're right, a G-Series lens would have full metering and AF function with the D40.

 

Thanks for the link! However, I'm a student and the budget is tight - that's why I considered the (cheap) 1.8 AF in the first place!

 

The problem with with standard AF lenses is they will not work on the D40 as that body Nikon deleted the "screwdriver" AF drive from the body so you can only use AF-S or "Silent Wave" Lenses with the D40

Sigma also makes an 50mm EX HSM Lens that will AF on a D40 but it is only about $50 less than the Nikkor 50mm AF-S Lens

 

It is a new Nikkor lens. I would not mind adding one to my arsenal but i have a feeling that it will be collecting more dust than use as the majority of my subjects are in the 100-500mm distance range and that is not factoring in the 1.5X digital crop factor of the Nikon DX Sensor.

 

I know, but I don't mind the AF not working when it comes to spending 50€ vs 300€. As long as it meters correctly, that's fine with me.

 

Of course you know that the 50mm lens on your D40 is equivalent to a 75mm on a 35mm camera body, right? It makes an excellent portrait lens. On a DX camera, a 35mm lens is closest to a so-called "normal" lens.

 

Yes, I know that! But thanks for reminding me anyway

News about eBay: The seller wrote me his phone number and asked me to call him later today. Let's see what he'll say!