poppa: yep* that's why mightmarmite said the viewfinder image is brighter with faster lenses.
* (on modernish lenses anyway. Ancient lenses may have an aperture ring which you set before the shot)
Chat Forum
DSLR Camera question - Lens performance
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Ok, I get it now, being stupid.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Graham, even my old 80s Chinon left the aperture open whilst you twiddled the ring and looked through the VF, and there was a lever it flicked to actually close it when you took the shot.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Some cameras have extra AF sensors which need f2.8 or faster to come into play, but even cameras without those will focus better if they have more light (below a certain level of light).
Posted 1 year ago # -
Graham, even my old 80s Chinon left the aperture open whilst you twiddled the ring and looked through the VF, and there was a lever it flicked to actually close it when you took the shot.
Well my 50mm f/1.8D AF NIKKOR is still available new and has a manual aperture ring on it:
Posted 1 year ago # -
Does that support camera control too or do you have to use the ring?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yer I am saying it had a manual aperture ring, but the camera left it open until you pressed the shutter like my DSLR does. Or flicked the preview lever.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yer I am saying it had a manual aperture ring, but the camera left it open until you pressed the shutter like my DSLR does. Or flicked the preview lever.
That was pretty standard, wasn't it? I could do that on my old Praktica!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yer I am saying it had a manual aperture ring, but the camera left it open until you pressed the shutter like my DSLR does. Or flicked the preview lever
Sorry, should have used quote. I was replying to GrahamS.I've used old auto-stopdown lenses so I know what you mean.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think this depends largely on what kind of shot you're trying to get.
If you quite like highly processed looking shots and you tend to shoot abstract or detail shots where composition and subject are the most important things, then I think you can get away with virtually any lens.
See the huge growth of iPhone photography for eg.However, I've found that the majority of my shots are as wide an aperture as possible - it's just what I prefer.
I also prefer my processing to look natural - no surreal HDR photos for me.You don't have to spend huge amounts though. I get by with just 2 fast lenses:
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 (cost £250)
Canon 50mm F1.8 (cost £60)Posted 1 year ago # -
I know 5e I was replying to Graham too
Not sure if it was needed though.. anyway as you were My Dad bought that Chinon when we were little kids and really looked after it so it stayed mint. He decided it was too much faff after taking it to my Sister's graduation and taking loads of pics only to discover there was no film in it, so he gave it to me for I think 20th or 21st birthday. Best present ever to be honest, because as a kid that thing was like a holy item with which I was utterly fascinated.. endless questions asked on my father's knee, demonstrations and supervised picture taking.. a symbol of the whole father-son relationship
Then someone burgled my shared house in Didsbury and nicked it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
5th: yeah it supports camera control (you set it to f22 then flick that little lock switch) then it will function like a normal modern lens and only stop down when the shutter is pressed.
grips: I'm pretty sure that on this one the aperture ring manually moves in the aperture blades so it stops down as soon as you turn it and the preview button has no effect (but I never actually use it like that so I'm not certain).
The only time I've ever really used the aperture ring is with the lens off the camera when I'm explaining aperture to someone new to photography.
i.e. showing them something like this:
Posted 1 year ago # -
5th: yeah it supports camera control (you set it to f22 then flick that little lock switch) then it will function like a normal modern lens and only stop down when the shutter is pressed
That's very neat. I must admit, I do like aperture rings. Seems a sensible place to put the control.Posted 1 year ago # -
Well again on my old stuff, when you took it off the camera turning the ring moved the aperture. However there was a little lever in the mounting plate that the camera flicked up when you attached it, keeping the aperture wide open until it needed to be moved.
You could jiggle the lever and see the aperture open and close with a lovely snicky snicky snick. Your lens might also have one.
Posted 1 year ago # -
It does have a certain amount of logic to it - and it makes the aperture scale much easier to understand when you can see it all in front of you, where one stop is literally one clunk of the ring.
But...
It means every lens has to have the additional weight, size and mechanical complexity required for the aperture ring and your apertures are limited to full stops, rather than half or third stops on most modern bodies.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You could jiggle the lever and see the aperture open and close with a lovely snicky snicky snick. Your lens might also have one.
Hmm.. maybe it does then. I'll have a play tonight.
Posted 1 year ago # -
your apertures are limited to full stops
Mine had half clicks...
Posted 1 year ago # -
"I thought that when using the viewfinder (i.e. when not acutally taking a photo) the camera uses a large aperture, and the aperture only actually closes when you take the photo? Non?"
Correct. But it can only give you the largest aperture (hole) it is capable of.
So a 1.4 aperture lens will let in more light to the viewfinder and the sensor than a 2.8 or a 4.0
Posted 1 year ago # -
My camera has a Fn button that you can assign to one of a load of things. Lots of the functions I would quite like to have quick access to, and I've programmed them before, but it's currently on aperture preview and I suspect it might stay there...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Nikons have a dedicated preview button AND a programmable Fn button
Posted 1 year ago # -
Oh right.. anyone wanna buy a load of Oly kit then?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Rent one and try for yourself
http://www.lensesforhire.co.uk
and let me know what you think - I amseriously tempted by a 17-35 f2.8!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Lensesforhire. No Olympus.. buggers.
Posted 1 year ago #
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