Nikon 50mm 1.8 question

[mcdaniel52761]

I read the manual that came with the lens, but could someone please explain to me the aperature lock that is on the lens? It really didn't explain it too much and it's the only lens that I have that has this on it. Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mav]

You leave the lens set to the smallest aperture (f/22 or f/16, I forget) so that your DSLR body can control the aperture electronically. If you have the lens set to another aperture then you'll get error messages. You use the aperture lock to prevent it from slipping off of the smallest aperture.

 

[JIP]

The aperture lock is designed to allow you to lock a lens that has an aperture ring into the highest aperture allowing your camera to set the aperture and avioding the dreaded "FEE" error wich would come up if you tried to mount said lens on a camera with this control and it was in any other aperture than the one required. Most DSLR'S (at least Nikon that I know of) control the aperture internally as do alot of Nikon's later auto-focus film SLR's. This was also useful when using a Program or shutter priority setting on auto-focus film SLR's.

 

[JIP]

OOOO Mav beat me to it by 1 minute. I guess my long-winded post put me behind.

 

[mcdaniel52761]

I think the max aperature is 22. So, this is a lock that isn't moved around.....it's just set to 22 and left there, correct?

 

[Socrates]

I think the max aperature is 22. So, this is a lock that isn't moved around.....it's just set to 22 and left there, correct?

What they're telling you is that you set the aperture to f/22 and then lock it there. The lock exists to prevent you from accidentally changing the aperture. The lock works only at f/22 because that's the only setting that you'd want to be permanent.

With older cameras, you would not use the lock because you would change the aperture with the ring rather than with the camera controls.

By the way, f/22 is MINIMUM aperture (smallest opening). The max aperture is f/1.8.