Dandelion chips?

I've recently added a J2 to my collection of digital cameras, only to find:
1. A huge proportion of the kit lenses on e-bay show as faulty - down it seems to a very cheap plastic cog in the aperture linkage.
2. Unlike all my other bodies (spread across 3 makes & 4 mounts) it refuses to meter at all with adapted lenses. Obviously camera control of aperture is not likely but Aperture priority should be simple.

Did Nikon want the 1 system to fail from the start? Both of these are things that IMO will prevent the camera being anywhere near as usable as it promised :(

A couple of web sites have referenced dandelion chips for the nikon 1 system to get round the metering issue. - I've heard of these for Canon DSLRs but I can't find any for the Nikon 1 mount.
Has anyone tried them?
Any chance of a link to a source?

I've used the chips with great success. They're made in Belarus by a Russian company. Because of sanctions, you'll have to wait a while before they become available again in the West. The chip is either sold on its own (ready for you to superglue to your own adapter) or already affixed to a decent Chinese-made adapter. The chip allows you to use AP mode and the exposure reading is accurate. Although it does NOT enable autofocus, it will allow you to magnify the image while focusing manually by simply pressing the OK button on the Nikon 1 body. The chip does create some additional battery drain.

If you (or any of the forum members) are interested in using a Canon FD or Canon EF lens with your Nikon 1, I have one brand new chipped adapter available for each of these lenses.

Thanks that explains why I'm not finding anything! I'll just have to patient (not something I'm good at) The EF adapter could make a good workaround, as half of my lenses adapt to EF, and I've used that as an intermediate in the past.

I believe Dandelion is the trade name of the chips you describe, though it may only be a common third party brand.
I've head of them most often for Canon EF mount. They've not been required on any of my cameras prior to the J2 - my various Pentax, Panasonic & Sony bodies all work in A mode & allow focus confirmation with dumb adapters (even home made ones).

The EF versions are common enough you can still see them on e-bay - presumably stock that's been outside of Belarus for months, or even used examples...

You could try www.aiconversions.com/ John White apparently still chips lenses.

There is a used NIkon F-Nikon 1 Russian-chipped adaptor currently for sale on eBay.
See www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145097309944

A search on eBay for ‘dandelion chip’ also shows various versions of such chips from Ukraine.

Yes I've bid on that, even though the only F mount lenses I have are rather long for the 1 series.

I'll have to search again all those I saw from the ukraine where Canon EF or Nikon F versions - None for the 1 series :(
It seems searching for 'AF confirm chip' gives loads from China, but these are all EF models & probably clones not the original dandelion brand.

Yes its a Gfoto chip. I have a couple and although it does enable focus magnification, I still find MF lenses on N1 frustrating and have stopped using them except for a few macro applications.

m43, in my experience is a far better platform for legacy lenses on small sensor cameras - most have mf aids incl focus peaking ( except my oly em5.1 )

However, I now use SLR and RF lenses only on FF bodies having run the gamut of m43 then apsc with and without focal refucers.

Having now got a stable working set of N1 lenses - several repaired - I just use native lenses on it and is by far my most used system. The FT1 only comes out for macro and the odd long FX fit lense.

I'm an adapting junkie, and grabbed a cheap J2 partly to fill a gap in crop factors on the bodies I have (the maddest reason ever?). I have 2 pentax Q models of different crops, a range of MFT, APSC & FF so crop factors of 4.7 to 2 seemed like an excessive step. Altogether I must have over 20 different mounts on lenses, some of the cine lenses don't work with MFT (but I don't think they'll work with the J2 either)

All my MFT bodies are without peaking, but magnified view in an EVF has usually proved adequate. I do get peaking in both the Q's as well as the nex 6 & A7ii...
At the beach tonight the lack of metering wasn't too bad because subjects gave me time to get things right.

In time my madness will no doubt cause me to get some N1 lenses - I've succumbed to some native glass on every other mount so far.

I don't use any chips and rely on the FT1 to give me focusing information. For small birds a 600 mm lens on a V1 works great for static birds, or at least fairly steady. For BIF the 100-400 C works great if there is sun enough. My manual lenses I use in manual mode, which is a bit cumbersome, so I rarely use those longer than 58 mm!

The FT1 is a smart adapter that gives just the sort of capabilities my other cameras have as soon as the 'shoot without lens' option in the menu is enabled, then adds some AF.
The chips being discussed give some of the capabilities of the FT1 (focus aids & metering) with lenses other than F mount. So far I've not tried anything longer than a 400mm via a dumb adapter, getting shot to look right on threar screen without focus aids is possible, but the chances of nailing critical focus are extremely slim.

This person does Ai conversions of old F mount manual focus lenses lenses; I don’t see any mention on his site regarding chipping a lens. Ai conversion is a much different thing. The site also hasn’t been updated since 2020.

just contact ukrainian reseller, he buys them and sells them ... it is just business

www.ebay.com/str/andreykuryanov

if it is not listed currently, ask he can procure for you

The problem with keeping old links. John did post that it was getting more difficult to obtain the Nikon chips. I guess he no longer does that service. Sorry

Yeah, it seems they are gone!
Sad to say!