Nikon 5700 Adapter Tubes

Adapter Tubes

UR-E8 and UR-E12

Nikon manufactures two adapter tubes for the 5700. The UR-E8 is to be used with WC-E80 and WC-E15ED, while the UR-E12 can only be used with FC-E9 fisheye converter. The adapters in the image below are UR-E8 (left) and UR-E12 (right).

The UR-E8 has a very unpopular 50mm front thread, while the UR-E12 has a 46mm thread. Many may consider to mount a filter on the UR-E8; however, this is not the case for two reasons. First, you may not be able to find a 50mm filter. Second, even though you may find one, it does not work. The left image below shows a UR-E8 mounted on a 5700 when the power is off. It does shield the lens; but, finding a cap for the UR-E8 is virtually impossible. The middle one shows the lens is at the 35mm wide angle end. The UR-E8 can still shield the lens well. When the on-camera lens is zoomed in to the 280mm tele position, it will extend out too much. Therefore, the UR-8 and UR-E12 are meant to be used only with Nikon's converter lenses.

Nextphoto Coolfix 5700

In addition to UR-E8, there is a widely used adapter tube for the 5700, the Nextphoto Coolfix 5700 aka Bernie's adapter, which is available here. The following shows a Coolfix 5700 adapter.

This adapter can be screwed on to the 5700. It has two threads for mounting lens accessaries. The outer one has a size of 62mm, a very popular one, and the the inner one has a size of 50mm. The length of this Coolfix 5700 is identical to that of the UR-E8. As a result, one can mount WC-E80 and TC-E15ED on the inner thread of the Coolfix 5700 adapter. The following images show the way of mounting WC-E80 and TCON-E15ED on a Coolfix 5700. The TC-E15ED image shows clearly that the converter lens is screwed on to the inner thread.

The Coolfix has two tubes. The outer one has a 62mm thread size and is extendable. In other words, one can pull the outer tube out for various purposes, protection included. The left image below shows a Coolfix 5700 mounted on a 5700 that is powered on. The Coolfix 5700 adapter shields the lens completely. However, when the lens is zoomed to telephoto, the lens extends (middle below). In this case, the outer tube can been pulled out to cover the lens (below right).

With a popular 62mm thread, filters and lens cap can be used. The left image below shows a 62mm filter mounted on a Coolfix 5700 when the lens is at the wide angle side, while the right one shows a fully extended Coolfix with the lens being at the telephoto side. You can use a 62mm lens cap, too.

Note that if the lens is zoomed to telephoto position without extending the Coolfix 5700 to a proper position, 5700 will show a "Lens Error" message if the Coolfix 5700 has a filter and/or lens cap that blocks the lens.

Other Adapters

There are other possible adapters. For example, the CKC Power 5700 adapter has a fixed outer ring and an movable inner ring. The inner ring has a 52mm thread for using filters and converter lenses. Click here for the CKC Power 5700 adapter.

Raynox also has two-tube set for their lenses, RT5253NW and RT5253NT. Both have a 52mm female thread for mounting filters and other accessories. However, when the RT5253NW is used with a filter or converter lens, the on-camera lens can only be in wide angle position because the filter and converter lens blocks the extending path of the on-camera lens. On the other hand, the RT5253NT is basically designed for telephoto converter lenses, and can cause slight vignetting if the on-camera lens has a focal length in the range of 35mm and 70mm (35mm equivalent). Therefore, this two-tube set is not as convenient as the Coolfix 5700 adapter. Click here for more information.