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In general, cheap Nikkor lenses mount is in plastic (like the 18-55 provided in some bundles) and many others are in metal.

I tried to find the documentation of some lense but on the Nikon page it does not look mentionned anywhere if the mount is plastic or metal.

Is there any other web-resources where they notice this differences or if they enumerates all lenses with plastic mount?

I know the Kenrockwell site but how I can be sure all the lenses he tested are listed?

рüффп
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  • Probably a good idea to start with all of the Nikon review sites listed here: Where can I find reviews of lenses? – dpollitt Jul 18 '13 at 22:03
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    Does it matter if the mount is metal or plastic? Presumably Nikon knows if a lens can use a plastic mount without any adverse effects. – Dan Wolfgang Jul 18 '13 at 23:38
  • I'd ask both you and Rockwell: Why does it matter? Plastic can be lighter, cheaper and adequately strong. I think the "plastic is bad" phenomenon is similar to the "digital is bad" known from digital/film photography or vinyl/CD music: Based more on emotions ("when I was young we used to...") than on any measurable fact. (I remember one guy complaining about early CDs that they didn't have the vinyl scratches before the music started, which he had grown accustomed to as a sort of Pavlovian anticipatory trigger.) If you still want metal, Rockwell's site is the best that I know of. – j-g-faustus Jul 19 '13 at 00:33
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    One other thing to consider is that plastic does not expand or contract as much as metal, so in extreme weather locations, metal isn't always so nice. Couple that with weight... – Joanne C Jul 19 '13 at 01:18
  • As Dan states, it's largely irrelevant. The one time I noticed the difference I was happy they used a plastic construction, had the lens had a metal mount at that point the camera'd have taken serious damage that was now diverted to the lens, which broke away clean from the camera body rather than damaging the mounting ring on the body. – jwenting Jul 19 '13 at 05:51
  • My question is not to say plastic is bad or good or better than metal or not, I just want to know where to find the information. Anyway if Nikon does not even state it in their full specification it looks like they do not like to say it for a reason. – рüффп Jul 19 '13 at 10:26
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    What does it even matter why the OP wants to know? It's a reasonable thing to want to know when you're buying a multi-hundred (even multi-thousand) dollar piece of equipment that someone's livelihood may partially depend on. – Tortilla Jul 20 '13 at 08:18
  • "...it looks like they do not like to say it for a reason." I'd argue that reason is because it doesn't matter. They also don't say whether a body is plastic or metal or what the composition of the rubber is on the zoom and focus rings. – Dan Wolfgang Jul 20 '13 at 10:40
  • @Dan I totally agree with your point, but the question appears when I wanted to say the 18-55 have a plastic mount to a colleague but he did not believe me. I just wanted to have some documentation. Appart this I totally agree as well the value of this entry level lense is very good. – рüффп Jul 20 '13 at 11:24
  • @Dan "I'd argue that reason is because it doesn't matter.". I am not agree with that point because otherwise you can also say does it really matters if the lense is build with 17 lenses on 11 groups, but they say that on their documentation. – рüффп Jul 20 '13 at 11:29
  • How about a rule of thumb? I've never seen a metallic-painted plastic mount nor a black painted metal mount. It is always the opposite so far. – Itai Jul 20 '13 at 11:47
  • @Itai, sure if you have the lense in your hand you will easily find what kind of mount it is. As said by Tortilla, it is useful for me as well to know what I am going to buy as a second hand equipment, and the sellers are often very bad to make sharp and detailed pictures of the object they are selling on Internet. – рüффп Jul 20 '13 at 13:48
  • @ruff - You do not need the lens to find out what the mount looks like, just the model number and nikon.com or Google :) – Itai Jul 20 '13 at 14:44

2 Answers2

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I think these are the only Nikon lenses that use plastic mounts:

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (II, VR, and G)

18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

55-200mm f/4-5.6

Tortilla
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  • For the current generation of lenses, this may be a complete list, but there are obviously older lenses with a plastic mount. – Dan Wolfgang Jul 20 '13 at 10:42
  • Thanks for the list but it looks to be the DX lenses only. See my answer for a more complete list. – рüффп Jul 20 '13 at 14:14
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As an avid collector of Nikon equipment I used that link quite often to check if the mount if really compatible with my cameras (especially the D300) according to the serial numbers.

I never notice before but this site contains as well some other useful pages about Nikon lenses and their features:

On the first page (Specifications), the feature for "Plastic Mount" is PM and then all lenses in the list with PM feature have a plastic mount, all the others have a metal one.

I hope this links can interest others collector people.

рüффп
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