As like everyone else I"m thinking of buying a dslr for some very specific purpose, there's not a hair on my head thinking it will replace my xh-a1 but that might change. :)
I want to start with a small investment to see if it will work for my purpose and after all that reading here I decided to buy a 550d.

The main purpose of the camera will be to do some creative shots with a small dof and for filming at dark receptions where my xh-a1 would need the cameralight to get some decent images.

I also want to buy 1 lens to start with, but a good one, I saw this video from bruce : Canon T1i with Nikkor lens on Vimeo and was thinking of getting a Nikon lens to go with the Canon, now I don't have any experience with shooting with a dslr but is it a fact with Nikon nikkor lenzes that you can have full manual controll over iris and focus? (and not with canon lenzes?)
I also noticed that Nikon nikkors are a lot cheaper that Canon primes, a Nikon AF-D nikkor 50mm F:1.8 costs 149euro and a Nikon AF-S nikkor 50mm F:1.4 G costs 349 euro.
Would both lenzes fit the 550d and what kind of adapter would I need to make it fit?

You can only use Nikons with aperture rings and get aperture control - so no "G" lenses.
Most people like the manual focus Nikons because the focussing is nicer and they are a lot cheaper secondhand.
New Nikons and Canons should be around the same price.
Steve

Thanks Steve for your reply, so the AF-D and AF-S nikkon lenzes do allow manual iris controll?

the af-d and af-s are also body controlled aperture (wont work with canons)

Actually its better to just skip anything AF as you will be using it all manual anyway and the older all manual lenses can be found cheaper..

Have a look for the AI and AIS series.. Some of the series look great, are extremely solidly built and have wonderfully smooth focus rings (something you just dont have anymore in modern lenses..)

Good luck!

No Manus, that's not correct. All Nikons have aperture rings except "G" lenses.
Steve

Hey Steve..

apparently 'All AF-S lenses are AF-D. They still work great on manual focus cameras, too, unless they are G. and all the G series are also D..

confused?!?

basically whatever lens youre considering to buy, google a picture and if you see an aperture ring you'll be fine.. :)

I can see the room for confusion, but it's not that complicated.

The G lenses are only a very recent addition to the Nikon stable - came in mainly as an economy thing I think, ie it's cheaper to make servo apertures than mechanical ones. It does also allow better weather sealing though.

All lenses from about 1960 or so have aperture rings and are useable. ONLY lenses with a "G" in the name do not have aperture rings. This includes latest versions of lots of lenses that do have rings, so even going back just 1 generation will be OK. For example, only the recent image stabilised long telephotos like the 300 2.8VR, 400 28.VR, 500 f4VR and 600 f4VR are G lenses (so no aperture rings), but the previous versions of 300, 400, 500 and 600 are AF-SII, so very very recent and almost certainly virtually identical to the VR ones, and they DO have aperture rings.

Incidentally the same goes for a lot of the independent lenses in Nikon mount, most used to have rings, but current ones do not even though they might be otherwise identical (like Sigma 120-300 2.8, Sigma 300-800 5.6 etc.)

Steve

Hello all. I too was interested in Nikon lenses on the T2i and was asking in the forums the other day about an adapter and was refered to ebay where I bought for a total of $11 an adapter that works perfectly. Photos below.

Steve.. youre right about the 'G' but Noa was asking about AF-S and AF-D lenses.. most of these are in the 'G' series, in otherwords not usable with a Canon..

No Manus, actually there are loads of AF-S and D lenses are G lenses, as I said the G designation is only a very recent thing. It is true that they are updating most of their lenses to G type, but the vast majority of lenses already out there will be non G, so especially if you're looking secondhand most will have aperture rings, everything from 14mm upto 600 f4 and almost everything in between, including most independents.
And current 20,24, 28, 35, 50 1.8, 85 1.8 and 1.4, 105, 135 and 180 are all D but not G. Same for 17-35 AF-S and 300 f4 AF-S.
But as you say, it is worth checking before you buy.
Steve

also interesting - Nikon G - Canon EOS Adapter (http://www.16-9.net/nikon_g/)

no idea if/how well it works if anyones really desperate to use g series!

Thanks a lot all for the replies so far but now you got me really confused :)
if you would look at following 2 lenzes, do you think they will give me full iris and focus controll?:
Nikon AF-D nikkor 50mm F:1.8 SPECIAL DEAL (http://shop.studio73.be/nikon-af-d-50mm-f-1-8-special-deal)
Nikon AF-S nikkor 50mm F:1.4 G SPECIAL DEAL (http://shop.studio73.be/nikon-af-s-50mm-f-1-4-g-special-deal)

With the 1.4 lens I do see a "g" as reference in the title, might refer to the g-lenzes that you were talking about?

Also, is there such a big difference between the 1.4 and 1.8 lens when it comes to low light performance?

hehe apologies for my part in that..

1st one yes ok, second one no, unless you use some kind of special adapter.. if you see a G anywhere in the title it'll be a 'G' lens without aperture ring..

But i would really recommend you check ebay for 2nd hand 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 nikkors (AI or AIS series)..

theyre soooo much better optically (imo) and build wise and theyll cost you much less..

I agree, I'd go for Ai or Ais too, but only for build and handling. Optically you'll likely find the modern lenses as as good and usually better.
The difference between 1.8 an 1.4 is almost a whole stop.

Steve

Thanks guys for your patience :)

so a lens like this would be perfect?:
eBay.be: NIKON NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 AI PRIME LENS 50 1.4 (object 280514100965 eindtijd 05-jun-10 23:16:16 CEST) (http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/NIKON-NIKKOR-50mm-f-1-4-AI-PRIME-LENS-50-1-4-/280514100965?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item414ff17ee5#ht_4220wt_1138)

yes.. i love that lens, said to be a little soft at wide open f1.4 but i love the look! I may have a spare one for sale shortly Noa if youre not in a huge hurry you can let me know..

Remember that your 50mm on the T2i will effectively be an 80mm due to the 22.3mm x 14.9mm sensor size.

said to be a little soft at wide open f1.4.

Well you own one - is it soft at 1.4 or not? You should know.
Steve

Remember that your 50mm on the T2i will effectively be an 80mm due to the 22.3mm x 14.9mm sensor size.

Is the focal length indication from a photocamera the same as with videocamera? F.i. my xh-a1 starts at 32,5mm so the 80mm is less wide?

if youre not in a huge hurry you can let me know..

Yes, if the lens is in good shape and if the price is right I would certainly be interested, and I"m not in a hurry depending what you define under "shortly":)

Is the focal length indication from a photocamera the same as with videocamera? F.i. my xh-a1 starts at 32,5mm so the 80mm is less wide?

Yes. With your 50mm lens, you will already be zoomed out 80mm. I chose a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 and it is around 35mm I am assuming..correct me anyone if I am wrong.

The Canon XH-A1 has a 1/3" chip, which makes lenses about 7.2x more powerful than a 35mm stills camera at the same focal length. So a 50mm standard lens willbe equivalent to 370mm or so on the XH-A1! The same 50mm lens will equate to about 80mm on the 550D as it multiplies by around 1.6x.
Steve

Alright, so the 28mm is actually a 44.8mm.

To be pedantic, as is often said, a 28mm lens is always a 28mm lens, on the 1.6x crop body it'll be equivalent to 44m.
Steve

That looks like a decent model of lens for the T2i. It is the more modern style of lens with the rubber focus ring grip and doesn't have a large flange that might protrude into the camera body. The older lenses with the metal focus grip are apparently non-coated so tend to have more objectionable internal reflections.