Any experience with adapting Nikon F lenses to Fuji?

I'm wondering how good it would work to adapt Nikon F lenses to the newer Fujifilm bodies. Explicitly, I have a Nikkor AF-S 300/4 PF, currently mounted on a Nikon 1 V3 or a Z7, mostly pointed at my garden birds, the backyard squirrels, and other wildlife. The Nikon 1 V3 body is ageing and I'm thinking of replacing it mid-term. One option would be M43, which I'm not really convinced off. Another option could be one of the higher-MP Fuji bodies, which I wouldn't object to after getting some good output from my X100F. I'm not planning to replace my Nikon glass with other brands.

Can you share any experience that you might have with Nikon tele lenses adapted to Fuji? I'd need AF for the birds - would the Fringer or any other adapter work reliably and fast enough for sitting targets? Is this approach worthwhile to follow? Thank you for your thoughts and help!

The Fringer adapter is the only way to go in my opinion. I held off buying it until I got a great deal on the Sigma 150-600 Nikon mount. The fringer AF speed is pretty fast and is capable of birds in flight to some extent. Sitting birds is no problem. Take a look at the compatible lens list on their website.

I have the Fringer and it works perfectly with the three Nikon ‘professional’ zooms on an X-Pro 3 - but I have no experience of BIF and landscapes aren’t very fast moving!

Unlike many, my experience with the Fringer NF-FX adapter and the Nikkor 500mm PF have not been good. I went thru 3 of these adapters in order to find one that would talk to the Fuji camera body at all, and NONE of them properly operated the 500mm PF lens. The last adapter I purchased directly from Fringer a few months ago, and all have/had the current firmware installed, 1.7.0.

Testing on both a Fuji X-H1 and an X-H2 gave the same results; lens is stopped down to somewhere between f/11 and f/16 (verified both by comparing metering of the same scene and by looking down the lens barrel and watching the aperture blades) regardless of camera body settings, forcing the Fuji cameras to resort to C-AF rather than PD-AF making focusing excruciatingly slow and erratic.

This lens operates flawlessly on a Nikon D300, D750, and two different D500s, four Nikon F-mount bodies in total. After about 6 months of experimentation, I gave up on using the 500mm PF with the Fuji camera bodies and picked a good pre-owned D500 body, which allows me to at least use this excellent piece of glass.

All Fringer's approved list means is that they (possibly) tested it against one copy of that lens; it is merely a suggestion and does not mean that the adapter will work with YOUR lens.

I have engaged in lengthy emails with Fringer regarding this; they have admitted that the adapter isn't compatible with my Nikkor 500mm PF but insist that it is compatible with the Nikkor 500mm PF. An interesting study in how the human mind can hold two diametrically opposed concepts in apparent harmony.

Is your problem limited to small apertures? I have no experience of the NF/FX but the Fringer Canon/FX adapter also has trouble focusing lenses a small apertures like f/11. At wider apertures not a problem though.

Thank you all for your replies so far! The experience from @RussBecker with the Nikkor 500 PF is discouraging (that is the lens I have an eye on as a future purchase), whereas the experience regarding zooms from @Feugi and @WolfsHead is rather encouraging. So it sounds as if the limitation is not so much on the Fuji side but rather on the adapter/Fringer side.

I'll monitor the progress on the adapter side and will keep Fuji as a valid option for replacing the N1 V3, should it really kick the bucket soon...

Thanks again!

I have used my XH2s with mainly a Fringer and Nikon lenses especially the 500 PF and the 300 F4 Pf without any problems at all They work exactly as on my Nikons Birds in flight have not been a problem Here are a couple of shots The first shot is taken with the 500PF and the second picture of the bee was taken in poor light following rain using the 300 PF lens Regards Peter

That's even better news, thank you for sharing! That definitely puts Fuji on my wildlife roadmap!

Here is another shot which was taken with the Fringer and the 500 PF lens and a nikon 1.4 TC 111( worked as a total of 700mm working at F8 ) It was hand held ( I have a 79 year olds tremor ) I think the results are very acceptable cosidering the use of the TC The camera focussed without hesitation. Regards Peter

There was a user on DPR called ‘Morris0’ who regularly produced stunning BIF photos with a Fuji and the Nikon 500mm. I suggest that you look at the DPR site and search for his photos to see what is possible in the hands of an expert.

It was the stunning pictures from Morris0 which inspired me to go along this route He has posted his settings for BIF on the fredmiranda fuji forum site and these are the settings I use for my BIF Here is a recent picture taken using these settings and a second hand Fuji 100-500 i purchased to fill a gap in my zoom lenses regards Peter

In my experience the Fringer adapters provide a native glass experience for both Nikon and Canon lenses. Here are a few recent images with the Nikon 500 PF on the X-H2s taken at 40 FPS. I love using the high framerate as it allows me to choose from many well focused images for the very best moments. I used to use the lens on an X-T3 and that also worked well yet the X-H2s is a much better camera for action.

Morris

I have used the Fringer on both my XT3 and XH2s along with the 500PF and the 300PF without any problems

Well unfortunately I have used the Nikkor 500mm PF on two different Fuji bodies with nothing but aperture problems using the Fringer adapter. This is completely unlike my experience with the Fringer EF-FX adapter and Canon L glass, which has been nothing short of remarkable.

There are those who have insisted there is a problem with my copy of the 500mm PF. However, I have tried it on 4 different Nikon F-mount camera bodies and it performs flawlessly on each of them so there is nothing for Nikon Service to examine.

The Nikkor 500mm PF is a modern Nikon lens, released in 2017 or so as I recall. There are no firmware updates that I have found, so nothing to try there.

I acquired this lens specifically to use it on my Fuji X-H1 and possibly on an X-H2 or X-H2S; this was based on results posted by other users on various photo websites. I have been extremely disappointed with its actual performance with Fringer's adapter, and even more disappointed with my experience dealing with Fringer (who have never offered to either examine it or replace/refund it). As I have stated before, I cannot recommend the Fringer NF-FX adapter as you will be playing roulette.

Caveat emptor.

Hi Russ,

What Nikon bodies have you tried the 500 PF on?

Morris

D300, D750, and two different D500s including the one I currently use.

I have also attached the Nikkor 1.4X iii extender to the 500mm PF and mounted that to the Fringer adapter with exactly the same results -- lens stops down to f/11 or f/16 (now f/16 and f/22) and stays there.

According to the top plate on the X-H1, the lens is at f/5.6 and if you rotate the front command dial, the indicated aperture changes but the physical aperture does not.

If you look down the lens barrel while powering the camera on, the aperture opens up fully for a half second or so, and then stops down. I have explain all of this repeatedly to Fringer support and gotten the response that it works for them so buzz off. I have even asked them to provide a modified version of their adapter firmware with a switch I can set to fully open the lens and leave it there (since it does actually receive some sort of aperture commands from the adapter). No response.

Hi Russ,

Are you in continuous autofocus or single autofocus? I only use continuous. Possibly this is the issue.

The request for custom software dose not make sense as the aperture dial works as designed for everyone except you. My guess is your issue is probably something in your settings. Try backing up your settings and then resetting the camera to factory and see what happens.

Good luck,

Morris

I doubt that it is anything to do with single point autofocus, as I regularly use it with absolutely no problems on both my 500PF and 300PF

Alan