Originally Posted by
flyboy60
That being said, it's a pretty safe bet that someone who is buying an autofocus DSLR to work with a lens or lenses that they have, expects it to be able to autofocus with those lenses. Intentionally choosing to manually focus (particularly with old AF-D lenses that generally have lousy tactile feedback at their focusing ring) is a pretty acquired skill - I understand it, as I do it myself and I have a pretty good idea what the abilities and limitations are around it - but the overwhelming majority of folks looking to buy a DSLR are simply not looking to do it, and it does them a disservice to not make them aware that they will not have AF capability with old non-AF-S lenses and Nikon's D3x00 and D5x00 series of cameras, or to handwave around it like it's a trivial issue - it's not.
I am not suggesting to not make someone aware of a camera's limitations. In fact, I am doing the opposite, someone else already pointed out the limitation, I just said that it's not worth writing off the choice just because of manual focus. If you are happy with manual focus then why spend more bucks on a more expensive camera. My point is that the D90 is a bad investment for video. It is hard work, especially under artificial light, you get strobing and the noise is not so great. If he wants video, he should look at what he can afford new, and that means a D3x00 or D5x00 if he wants to keep expenses low. If he wants to pay more then get a D7x00.
In regards to old AF-D lenses, I have no issues with mine, and the ring is far more responsive to the G lens manual focussing, which I find is like turning a loose wheel.
I'm not doing any handwaving, but having said that, I still don't see it being an issue if he buys a D3x00 if he is happy to manual focus with older lenses.
What lenses did he say he had? 50mm and a zoom? Do we even know if the lenses he has are not compatible?