1/3 stop shutter speeds on a F90/N90 with MF lenses

Hiya all,

 

I just got my Nikon F90 (N90) body that I bought to replace my trusty F-801

(N8008) camera. I have only manual focus lenses and I love the fact that these

old bodies meter with them and allow aperture-priority (AP).

 

But as I put my Series E 50mm on the F90 body, I was quite surprised to see that

the shutter speeds in AP were still only full stop speeds (1/30, 1/60, 1/125,

1/250,...). This had been my biggest problem with the F-801, that it didn't

offer intermediate shutter speeds, which is especially annoying with slide film.

 

But the F90 is supposed to offer these speeds. Why does the camera still

show/use full stop speeds? Is there a custom setting I must change to get the

1/3 stop speeds or has my camera a real problem?

 

Thanks for your help!

I think the camera may display only full shutter speed stops, but choose the correct one in between, when in A mode. Did you try the camera in Manual mode? I remember my FE2 also had stepless shutter speeds in A mode, and I am sure newer bodies are the same.

 

Dave

I believe it might be only the F90<u>x</u>/N90<u>s</u> that offers 1/3 stops (shutter priority and manual).

<p>

But ... in aperture priority the shutter speeds are *stepless*, so you are getting 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 2/3, 4/5, 1/10 etc. stops - it just isn't showing in the finder display.<p>

In manual exposure mode, your aperture is stepless (you don't need to set the ring on the full click stops).

The F90, like the F801, has 1 EV steps for shutter speed. The F90x offers 1/3EV steps, this is one of the advantages of the F90x over the F90.

Thank you for your answers. But I seem to get conflicting opinions here, now has the F90/N90 a stepless shutter in aperture-priority, or is it true that it just has full stop shutter speeds like the F-801/N8008?

Any Nikon body with an electronically controlled shutter is stepless when the camera is controlling shutter (P,A and canned modes). The F90 can only change shutter speeds in 1EV steps when the photographer is controlling shutter (S and M modes), the F90x can do 1/3EV steps.

Bueh - as Adam indicated the shutter has stepless speeds in those modes, but the viewfinder of the F90 will only display full stops. So if you are in AP mode with your aperture set to f/5.6 for example, the camera may set the shutter to 1/100 or 1/135, but the viewfinder will display the nearest full stop value - 1/125. You see 1/125 + f/5.6, the camera shoots at 1/100 + f/5.6.

Thank you, Michael.