Aperture Rings - gone for good?

[Tasmaster]

Well, not yet and not for everyone. But this is where SLR lenses are heading, isn't it?

A lot can be said about aperture rings, but what got me started was a very simple fact: i use Nikon, and most G lenses are plain ugly, especially compared to their D predecessors. I can't say that i see immediate functional disadvantages to losing aperture control on the lens though; in modern DSLRs it is more intuitive and arguably smoother to control exposure with your thumb and composition/focus with your lens rings (i don't include DoF because it is not something that i usually adjust on the fly).

So what's your take on this? Will anyone miss the aperture ring, aesthetically or otherwise? Old cameras aside, is there any special application that absolutely requires it or that benefits hugely from it?



Ps: I decided to save DoF markings and IR focus dot for another thread

 

[PhotoXopher]

Good riddens

Much easier/faster using the camera dial in my opinion.

 

[Plankton]

I disagree, I'm a major fan of using the aperture rings, feels more intuitive to me. Luckily I still get to use them because I shoot Pentax with Old super-takumar lenses So I don't mind that modern lenses don't have aperture rings.

cheers

 

[dinodan]

Nikkor D-Series. Best of both worlds.

 

[dxqcanada]

I would prefer the manual aperture ring on the lens ... amd DoF markings.
I was not too crazy about it when Canon started it on their EOS line.

Not all SLR's have dual control wheels ... so this makes it awkward to control both (one of the reason's I may upgrade my camera).
... also with Nikon/Pentax, you cannot use these lenses on camera bodies that do not have electronic control.

 

[JerryPH]

Well, the old timers will say they want the rings, the newer ones will say they could care less.

Me, I am an old timer that says I could not care less. I care about the performance the lens gives me. I find it more convenient to have it in camera for advantages like having the aperture priority mode, and it is EASY to see the changes in camera as I am shooting and I do not need to take my eye away from the eye-piece as I am shooting fast. That said, both lenses with or without aperture control rings, do it for me, so on my digital camera, it really makes ZERO difference.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Yes, back in the day everything was better!

:chatty:

Buy a Leica, all those lenses have aperture rings. The R9 SLR with digital back isn't that expensive, but the lenses are a different story.

 

[ann]

when i first got my f100 it drove me crazy as i had spent a life time changing fstops from the lens. I don't remember exactly when it became more comfort, but it did.

Now with my digital equipment and lenses i don't even find myself reaching for the fstop ring.

an old dog can learn new tricks.

 

[benhasajeep]

I don't miss the aperture ring as much as I miss scales.

Apparently photographers don't need those confusing scales on lenses anymore. :er: Heck, I would be even happy if they would just put them in the manuals. But, of course they would have to print another page or two. So, they don't. :er:

 

[AlexColeman]

I have never used one, except on my 85 1.4, just to lock it to 22, I like the dial and representation in the viewfinder more.

 

[bhop]

I like aperture rings, but I don't seem to miss them when i'm using my D bodies or F100. I think it's because with the ring, you can't do half stops, while the thumbwheel lets you. I do hate it though, if I have to change from one end of the aperture range to the other, it's fast with a ring, slow with the wheel.

However, on my Leica, Electro, or FE, I love aperture rings.

 

[icassell]

I don't miss the aperture ring as much as I miss scales.

Apparently photographers don't need those confusing scales on lenses anymore. :er: Heck, I would be even happy if they would just put them in the manuals. But, of course they would have to print another page or two. So, they don't. :er:

I miss the rings but function fine without them. I do agree about the scale issue, however. I bought my Canon 50 mm f/1.8Mk I for 2 reasons ... 1) It is more solid than the Mk II and 2) It has the scale that was left off the Mk II

 

[usayit]

I find working both the index finger wheel and the thumb wheel with the same hand a bit awkward. I much prefer to work the shutter setting with my right hand via a wheel and the aperture ring with my left.

Not everything was better in the past..... As one example, the additional information in the viewfinder of modern cameras is much more convenient than past cameras. As much as I love my Leica rangefinder, I sometimes wish they would display shutter settings in the viewfinder in addition to the over/under exposure markings (manual mode). The M8/M7 display it for only in auto exposure.

 

[Tasmaster]

Not everything was better in the past

Absolutely true... we tend to revere the past disproportionally to what it was about at the time - it's nostalgia, an emotional thing. I admited as much in creating this thread.

However, a trend that has been constant throughout the decades, is that in improving a product, whoever makes it completely ignores the emotional thing - which has traditionally been an important aspect of many succesful products. So we get this "evolution pendulum" (or sine wave if you like) where you have a product - be it a camera, a car or whatever - people like it a lot, then of course you make the new improved generation, and then another, which are better on paper but alienate much of the former users because they don't feel right. Eventually they become used to it and love the actual practical improvements. After that, the original product is distant enough in time that it becomes "retro" rather than "outdated", and we inevitabely get some sort of remake, revamp, or just retro design. And it goes on and on. The downside to this is that is in phase with you growing up, so despite all the wonderful stuff available, there is always something that you really really miss from your not-distant-enough past.

A bit of a generalisation there but it is true, you know it! Or you will, in time.

...and i'm not even 30 yet, lol!

 

[Garbz]

I do not feel one way or the other about it. I use the aperture ring on cameras which need it, and the thumb wheel on cameras which don't. Which is faster? Neither. I see the aperture in both cases in the view finder. I see the aperture in both cases on the top of the camera when I look. I switch a lot between lenses with and without rings on two cameras which support and which don't support them.

I honestly don't get what people like about G lenses. It's not like you NEEDED to used the aperture ring on D lenses, or even could in many cases. It was a legacy thing. Something to allow people to use their lenses with their cameras, and G breaks all that.

Good riddens

Much easier/faster using the camera dial in my opinion.

So? You could use your dial on a D-series lens. You can NOT use your G series lens with a long history of past Nikon bodies, which is why I won't buy them. If I can't use it on my Nikon FE body it's not a lens worth owning.

Nikkor D-Series. Best of both worlds.

Not really. Modern cameras will complain bitterly when the aperture ring isn't locked at maximum.

Well, the old timers will say they want the rings, the newer ones will say they could care less.

Some old timers will say they want the rings for their old timer bodies (no I mean camera bodies).

Not everything was better in the past

Absolutely true... we tend to revere the past disproportionally to what it was about at the time - it's nostalgia, an emotional thing. I admited as much in creating this thread.

At least in the past things worked with each other. Like the Mirco-Nikkor AF 105mm f/2.8 D works with any camera dating to the early 1970s. The New Micro Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8 G works with cameras that came out in the last 10 years. Awesome technical progress there.