The Crayford telescope focuser design – developed in 1971 by John Wall and named after the Crayford Manor House astronomical society – has a number of important advantages over rack-and-pinion and can be home built out of wood by almost anybody with a bit of patience and the right tools at hand.
Although some prefer to build the design in metal, with the associated advantages, that approach requires specialized metal working tools, generally out of scope for most home builders.
The 2” woodshop design presented here is scalable, has proven to be sturdy, reliable and, most importantly, when built to tight enough tolerances, allows for very precise focusing, even under heavy loads.
I designed this focuser specifically to carry the weight of a Nikon D7100 camera (± 800 gr) on prime focus, which is considerably heavier than even the largest eyepieces. So far, it is holding up admirably.

Even though building this design is probably possible utilizing hand tools only, for tight tolerances the following specialty tools are recommended:
Electrical table saw and/or
Miter saw: electrical table top (enhanced precision wood cutting) and/or manual (PVC cutting)
Jigsaw
Belt sander (80 grit belt)
Vertical drill stand
Drill press vice
Glue clamps
Hole saw, 54mm (2 1/8”)
Wood drill bits: 1mm, 3mm, 4/4.5mm, 5/5.5mm and 8mm
Thread tapping set

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When I started this blog, over seven years ago, the camera industry was in the middle of an authentical revolution, that started with the launch of the 2,7 Mp. Nikon D1, almost ten years earlier.
I bought a digital compact in 1999 and a Nikon D1X in 2003, and soon became part of a small, but quickly growing learning community of digital camera users.
With falling prices and the rise of the entry level DSLR, some three years later, came the opportunity to help out others, a cause that I embraced with much enthusiasm and frought virtual friendships that last until this very day.

Those were exciting times. With every – rumor laden, feverously awaited – camera launch, something new happened.
Vastly improved low-light performance, radically improved AF, full frame, dramatically improved resolution, life view, incorporated video, far better battery life and, last but not least, a rapidly expanding assortment of very necessary, crop-sensor UWA and motorized (AF-S) lenses, among others.

Not any more.

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Latest articles:
Is my camera motorized or motor-less, compatible with NAI, AI, AI-S, AI-P, AF-D, AF-I, AF-S lenses and GPS or not? Answers.
The Nikon F-mount. Manual focus NAI, AI, AI-S, AI-P, Series E and auto-focus AF-D, AF-I, AF-S, D- and G-Type lenses. A compatibility inventory

This month’s most read. Last month’s position between ( ):
1 (1) Compatibility chart for Nikon DSLR and Adobe Camera RAW & DNG Converter (Updated)
2 (-) Can I use Nikkor AI and AI-S manual focus lenses on my Nikon DSLR? Yes, you can!
3 (3) Geotagging test of the Nikon D7100 and the Promote GPS N-90
4 (-) Nikon EN-EL3e false low-battery warning problem. Possible solutions.
5 (5) Got a new camera? Problems with Photoshop or Camera RAW? Check out Nikon Capture NX-D. FREE!

Quite a few people end up here to try to get answers to their million-dollar questions, such as: “Is my D50 motorized or not?”, “Can my D100 focus and meter with manual focus lenses?”, “Is my D3100 geo-tagging (GPS) capable?”, and so on.
I have concocted a compatibility table that pretends to answer these questions all at once. One-stop shopping to solve your Nikon DSLR doubts, so to say.
It is so large that it does not fit my standard blog page, which is why I’m providing the table both in HTML and PDF.
Because to err is human and to forgive divine, I would greatly appreciate you dropping me a line if you find any errors.
Thanks!

For the HTML version click here, for the PDF version click here.
Note that cameras are ordered chronologically by launch date.

I’m writing this post nearly 5 years after Can I use Nikkor AI and AI-S manual focus lenses on my Nikon DSLR?, because the interest of Nikonians for legacy lenses is undeniable, while my research into the topic has added some – hopefully worthwhile – facts.
At the same time, the value of manual focus NAI and AI(S) lenses is clearly on the rise, which is good for everyone who has a few of grannies F-lenses lying around, either for proper use or sale.

The Nikon F-Mount was launched with the Nikon F camera in 1959 and has remained virtually unchanged since, making it the only camera mount still in production over 5 decades after its introduction.
The F-mount can be found in five versions: F, AI, AI-S, AF and Non-MF (Fig. 1).
The latter made its debut in 1987 on the F-401 (N4004), is used on the D40 to D100, D3000 and D5000 series and essentially a downgrade back to the original F-Mount, because it lacks the meter coupling lever to interface with non-cpu lenses. This is why none of these cameras exposure meter with MF lenses.

The F-mount has only seen two major updates.
The first from the original Auto-Nikkor to Auto-Indexing (AI), with the addition of the meter coupling lever – introduced on the Nikon F2 Photomic A in March 1977 – and the second from AI-S to AF, with the launch of Nikon’s first flagship auto-focus camera, the F3-AF, in April 1983, followed by the popular Nikon F-501 (N2020), two years later.

Where the manual focus system update from F-Auto to AI was basically oriented at making existing technology (aperture indexing) more user friendly, the update to AF may be considered break-through.
With it, Nikon replaces mechanical camera-lens coupling with a cpu-driven, electronic camera-lens interface, allowing for many posterior innovations such as aperture control from the camera body, electronic range finding, distance metering (with D and G-type lenses), EXIF data recording, AF-S, VR, iTTL flash, etc.

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