50mm f2 Chip or Not? Unable To Decide

[mncorrado]

I currently shoot with a d7100.  Perhaps someday I will add a full frame body.  If and when I do I am leaning toward the d750.  In any event I have been plagued by gear syndrome.  When I got my d7100 a few years ago I still had a few lenses from my Nikon FE days.  Long story short I have a small collection of decent lenses per Mr. Rørslett's lens evaluations online.  I finally purchased a dandelion chip and temporarily attached it to my vintage AI modified 50 f2 lens.  I still have the FE body as well and once in a while will shoot a roll of film.  I enjoy the idea of merging the vintage glass on my newer d7100 body.  Perhaps it just is a reminder of time when I was a teenager learning with that FE body shooting Kodachrome.

I am trying to decide if it worth it to of course permanently attach it to the lens or not.  I appreciate there are some benefits.  I like the idea of being able to further fine-tune the front/back focus on the lens.  I have not played with that at all yet.  I also appreciate there are some negatives.  Such is the chip failing or perhaps breaking.  I also have to dial in 1.5+ EV to get the proper exposure on my camera with the chip attached.  I suspect I could use U1 or U2 to remember that if I decided to chip any of my other lenses perhaps.  I have entertained the idea of chipping some of my other lenses but they would require some machining and I am completely the wrong person to do that.  So perhaps a couple of questions.  Any insight or thoughts would be most welcome.  I currently use Lightroom for my post processing but I am open to change in the future.

Am I reading the pros and cons incorrectly for chipping my vintage 50mm f2?  (the lens recently been cleaned, lubricated and adjusted)
Generally speaking do the pros outweigh the cons for chipping some of my other lenses?
Is there someone in the USA that can do the machining and mount or program the chips for some of my other lenses?

It all is a bit of a mystery for me.  I was all for it a few months ago and now I seem to be on the fence.  I need a bit of a nudge one way or another.  The other part of the hesitation is that I don't have a lot of dollars and need to spend them very wisely.

Help?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Sounds like you are using a Dandelion chip. They are known to be flaky in conjunction with AI or AI'd lenses.

The 50/2 AI was among the first lenses I CPU-modified when my own chips finally emerged after a long gestation period.  I use it setting the aperture directly on the lens, which is the only recommended approach for this class of lenses having non-linear aperture movement.

[mncorrado]

Yes of course.  I suspect for me at the moment my inclination is not to use the chip.  I should have added I was able to purchase a Katz Eye focus screen for the d7100 before they shut down the company.  I have yet to install that in my camera body.  Perhaps that will do more to help eek out the best possible outcome with my lens then adding a chip.  I still find the mating of old and new technology together fascinating in many ways.

Thanks!