Canon lens twist trick for a Nikon lens?

[Andrew Garrard]

I guess the tedious answer is to balance the "exposure" of each frame in post.

 

When the hardware doesn't work, fix it in software. 'Twas ever so.

 

Regarding AF lenses with an aperture ring. I don't think you can use the aperture ring on a D5xxx camera without a fudge. I know you can't on a D3xxx. You'll get an error unless the aperture ring is locked, and there's no override as there is on the D7xxx. The only way to trick your way around this is to mechanically wedge the minimum aperture switch on the body. I have not played with this enough to determine how the meter functions then, but I think you could use the lens in manual mode this way.

 

I was actually trying to remember how this works (since I don't have a Nikon in that category). My recollection is that lenses without electronics (so not the AI-P or PC-E lenses, or autofocus lenses) just work, but the camera doesn't know what you've done with the aperture ring, so you're on your own for metering. lenses with electronics cause the camera to complain unless the EE servo coupling post (designed for the DS12!) presses a switch to tell the camera the lens is set to minimum aperture. Is that right? The D7x00 and up don't have an override so much as a way to follow the position of the aperture ring, so they know what you've set it to.<br />

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If you wedge the minimum aperture switch, I think the lens should work (I don't believe the electronics tell the camera the set aperture so that it can argue or you wouldn't need an aperture follower on an AF lens) - the camera will move the aperture lever as much as it thinks it needs to (or was asked to) for the exposure, and the lens's equivalent will just stop when it whacks into the aperture ring. So the camera's idea of the metering will be off, but you should get consistent aperture settings. Sadly, nothing current will actually set the aperture ring for you from the camera - you need an F2 (or F1?) and a DS-12 or one of its predecessors to do that.

[Matthew Currie]

Yes, the above is about right. You can use any manual lens, or a body cap or no lens at all, on my D3200 in manual mode without any meter coupling. You just meter with the histogram.

 

If you put a D lens on the D3200 with a wedge, it will work, and even continue to work in A mode, but it will confuse the meter. If, for example, you set the aperture ring at F2 and set the aperture in the camera at F8 it will meter for F8 and shoot at F2. If you match the camera's aperture reading to the lens's, it will expose correctly.

On the D7100, you need to change a menu setting in order to use the aperture ring on chipped lenses in any mode including manual. Otherwise it gives an error and refuses to shoot, just as it does on the D3200, but since there is no minimum aperture switch, there is also no way to trick it.

[Andrew Garrard]

Thanks, Matthew. Presumably (for the requirement that you have consistent exposure) you should actually dial in a 1-stop underexposure so the aperture lever definitely moves farther than the aperture ring blocking point, then set the aperture to one stop ahead of whatever the camera is telling you it's going to use - otherwise you might still have the lever controlling the aperture, just due to fluctuations in accuracy. Not that it matters if you're not using the camera's metering for anything.<br />

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Yes, the D7100 works like the other DSLRs with an aperture ring (D810 in my case) - I was just trying to say that it's not a case of persuading the camera that it has control over the aperture (like the D3200), but of telling the camera to treat the aperture ring as authoritative. Actually, peering in the D810 manual, it doesn't strictly say that if you've changed "Aperture setting" under f9 so that you're using the aperture ring on an electronic lens, P and S modes will play up. The SPAM mode description does say you should put electronic lenses to their minimum aperture (ignoring that you can change this under f9), but doesn't elaborate. I can't imagine that the aperture can go smaller than what the ring sets, but I don't know whether you're stuck in A and M modes in this case or whether the camera will actually let you try to mix and match.<br />

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"Tricking it" is harder because you'd need to stop the aperture ring connecting with the AI coupling ridge (which is how the camera knows the aperture you set and whether the aperture ring is at minimum). I can think of ways to trick it by taking an angle grinder to the camera or the lens, but nothing terribly reversible. Unless the Df's flippy aperture coupling tab has a digital sensor on it, though, I suspect you could flip it up on the Df and set the aperture ring how you wanted without it noticing. Yet another thing I don't know about the Df. :-)

[Andrew Garrard]

I can't imagine that the aperture can go smaller than what the ring sets, but I don't know whether you're stuck in A and M modes in this case or whether the camera will actually let you try to mix and match.

 

Just for posterity, I tried it, and the camera complains F-EE in S and P modes (it doesn't automatically change the mode for you).

[pete_s.]

I`m looking for a short tele (60-200, zoom or prime) to fit my D5100, so aps-c, for time lapse work. My Canon cameras have the neat lens twist trick where you hold down the depth of field preview lever while untwisting the lens. It locks the set aperture , which eliminates aperture flicker in time lapse. The few modern (af) Nikon lenses I have owned have all stopped down to a useless f22 when untwisting.

Are there any lenses for Nikon aps-c in the range I mentioned which don`t have this behaviour? (I`d consider third party lenses).

My old 28-105mm (film) works but is very soft.

I don`t want to work at open aperture btw.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Ian

 

1. Set up your camera in the menus so that you can shoot without a lens.
   
2. Then take off the lens and put a piece of tape on the aperture lever on the lens so it won't close. It's a spring that closes it.
    
   
3. Put on the lens again but not all the way. If the lens contacts aren't engaged the camera doesn't know what lens you have and doesn't try to open or close the aperture. This is what you want.
    
   
4. Set exposure and shoot in manual mode.