Nikon D80 and 28 mm PC lens

[richard_ilomaki7]

I have checked the archives and can not find a direct answer.

Can I use the 28 mm PC lens with the D80? I know AF, Program, Aperture and

shutter proirity will not work but can I use stop down metering and manual

focus?

 

Thanks

[ilkka_nissila]

You can use a hand-held meter or guess the exposure and use the LCD playback with histogram to check it. Manual focus is possible.

[oskar_ojala]

The PC lenses have an aperture ring that directly, steplessly change the aperture, so metering will be stop-down regardless of which body is being used.

[bjørn rørslett]

You can do direct metering (not stop-down) if the PC lens is equipped with "G"-type CPUs (all my 28 & 35 PC lenses have this). But also then you need to rotate the aperture ring after having set the exposure.

 

The benefit of doing full-aperture metering is that you potentially get more accurate results and/or can extend metering to dimmer lit scenes.

[ilkka_nissila]

On those bodies where metering of manual focus lenses is enabled (not the D80) stop down metering is not the most accurate way of metering.

 

My experience with Nikon built in meters is that they underexpose when the light is low and overexpose when photographing in really bright light. I believe it's deliberate. My two hand-held meters agree to 1/10 stop and they don't have this "feature". Anyway, the result is that if you meter at f/2.8 on e.g. a 35 PC and then remeter at f/11 the exposures will be different by about 2/3 stop if I recall correctly. So on a PC lens if you don't use a hand-held meter (which is best since then you don't need to return the shift back to zero to meter between shots), you should at least meter wide open to get consistent exposures. I bought my first hand-held meter for use with my PC Nikkor since I felt using the lens was such a hassle with the in-camera meter.

[ronald_moravec1]

You may find it necessary to meter the scene the way you deem best and then shift the lens. Leica recommends working this way. You do not proper meter readings with the lens off axis no matter how you do it. Tip camera up for meter readings.

 

The shift lens focal length is a little long for small sensor cameras, so I use the perspective control in photoshop. Not as elegant, but works for medium to small shifts.

[bjørn rørslett]

There is the added complication with PC (and tilt) lenses *of any make* on any SLR that in-camera metering only is guaranteed accurate if the lens is in the neutral position. This becomes even more critical when the lens is stopped down.

[oskar_ojala]

Ilkka, I did a quick test and didn't see this problem; for each stop stopped down, the exposure time halved, so the the reading at f11 was the same as it would have been when calculating from the widest aperture.

[ilkka_nissila]

Oskar, how controlled were your measurements? Tripod & constant light source? Did you use the spot meter or centerweighted?

 

I did this test using my film bodies several years ago, probably were F3 and F90x. I haven't checked it with a digital body.

[oskar_ojala]

Evenly illuminated white wall, not in focus, tested with F100, center-weighted measurement. The measurements go exactly as they should, so there should be no practical consequence whether the measurement is taken wide open or stopped down. The actual aperture might vary a bit from the number on the lens, but this should be less than 10%.

[ilkka_nissila]

Maybe 2/3 stop is my bad memory. But there was a difference. It's also present if you look up old ColorFoto tests of Nikon in camera light meters. The most striking difference was in really low light, comparing it to an external meter.

 

Well I am happy for you that your F100 does this.