hmm since aperture control is so key for macro work (working wide open at f2.8 at macro distances is possible, but its very very hard, especailly if you are working handheld and with a moving subject (moving can be anything from gentle wind to a fly washing its head)) how to the older macro lenses on the Nikon system stand up with controling the aperture blades? I know that most of those older nikon lenses did come with aperture setting controls on the lens itself (an aperture ring) so selection of the aperture is not a problem, but triggoring the control of the blades so that they close when the shutter is pressed would be my main concern.
This would most certainly be a problem with the highly cheap extension tubes - whilst its a cheap option - it does give limitations in that have to shoot with the lens wide open at f2.8 or you have to close the blades manually on the lens itself (taking away time as well as increasing the demand to use a tripod so that closing the blades does not cause the frame to move too much) or you have to use the lens with the blades closed before you start to focus on the subject (giving you a dark image to work with through the viewfinder)
Nikon is very different from Canon in terms of aperture control; all "conventional" Nikkor lenses and all lenses in Nikon F-mount have automatic diaphragms, with a mechanical diaphragm actuation system in each and very Nikon body. Every Nikon SLR and d-slr body controls the diaphragm with an actuation arm in the camera, and every F-mount lens that has a diaphragm has a small,mechanical actuation lever at just above the 3 o'clock position when viewing the lens from the rear. This is the complete, polar opposite from Canon EF mount lenses. Also, a complete polar opposite is that Nikon lenses stop down to minimum aperture when removed from the body; Canon lenses open UP, to maximum aperture.
Even though older Nikon lenses have aperture rings on the lens barrel, and the newest Nikon mount, the G-type mount has no aperture ring, ALL conventional Nikon F-mount lenses rely upon a mechanical aperture control system that premiered in the 1959 Nikon F body, and which is used in every single Nikon SLR and D-slr body made since. The aperture is actuated at the moment of firing mechanically, by every Nikon body; the Nikon body holds the lens wide-open as soon as it is mounted,and the camera's diaphragm actuation arm moves with each shutter release, "allowing" the spring-loaded lens diaphragm system to stop down to smaller apertures. In every single Nikon SLR, with every single conventional lens.
So, as stated, the five "baby Nikons" can mount, shoot, and use EVERY conventional F-mount lens made since 1959,with full mechanical control over the lens f/stop, and full automatic diaphragm control; this is the hidden feature of the five baby Nikons! Over 50 million F-mount lenses made by Nikon will work, as well as untold millions of third-party lenses made by Sears, Quantaray,Tamron,Tokina,Sigma, Spiratone, etc. The Nikon F-mount incarnation used on the five "baby Nikons" makes them the perfect camera for the person who wishes to be able to use old,cheap,oddball lenses that are all over the world in pawn shops, second hand stores, and sold at garage sales for $5-$25.
With a Nikon camera, there is never any need to shoot with the aperture stopped down--that is a Canon system quirk. Canons use electronic control and actuation of the lens diaphragm. Nikons from 1959 to 2010 use a purely mechanical diaphragm actuation system built into **every body**, and into every "conventional" lens (defined as every lens with an iris diaphragm, excluding a handful of rare collectible early fisheye Nikkors and the 21mm f/4 MLU lens). This fundamental difference is one of the main advantages Nikon has over Canon in terms of reverse-mounting lenses, bellows, and oddball macro lash-ups.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/32/32782-7f10503454a2a8eeff8b554e3b081c86.jpg?1734162474)
