D5100 w/18-55 3.5-5.6 G lens

ziggy84

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Hi everyone,


So I just got my D5100 and I'm a converting film-to-digital guy, and had a question about the lens aperture. When I'm zoomed out to 50mm the lowest stop I can get to is 5.6.(I shoot only in manual mode) Now I know with the longer focal length light drops off, hence 5.6, but is there a setting where I can manually override the computer and bring the aperture down to 3.5? Or is that Nikon's way of limiting you and forcing you to buy more lens? Also, does anyone here use the older "D type" lens with their cameras? If so, how do you like it? It's weird not having the aperture ring...
 
The aperture is limited to f/5.6 at 55mm on that lens, hence the nomenclature that reads 18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6. Aperture increases with focal length on it, it isn't a fixed aperture lens.
 
Right, I knew that. I didn't know if there was a way you can override that at all. I'm just used to not being limited with aperture because I've always had an aperture ring on the 35mm film cameras. It's a bit frustrating.
 
Right, I knew that. I didn't know if there was a way you can override that at all. I'm just used to not being limited with aperture because I've always had an aperture ring on the 35mm film cameras. It's a bit frustrating.

Nope, it's a still a mechanical limitation of the lens itself, it's just reporting that numeric value to the firmware in the camera so there is no way to override it other than making the aperture smaller ;) You get used to it after a while, the ring is just in a different place on the camera body instead of on the lens.
 
Right, I knew that. I didn't know if there was a way you can override that at all. I'm just used to not being limited with aperture because I've always had an aperture ring on the 35mm film cameras. It's a bit frustrating.

Nope, it's a still a mechanical limitation of the lens itself, it's just reporting that numeric value to the firmware in the camera so there is no way to override it other than making the aperture smaller ;) You get used to it after a while, the ring is just in a different place on the camera body instead of on the lens.

Making the aperture smaller?
 
Racked out to 55mm, your wide-open aperture is 5.6, and that's all there is to it. It's how the lens is made. This is typical of low cost zooms. If you shot mainly with primes, or with good zooms, you wouldn't be used to this! If you have any old Nikon glass around, you can use that pretty effectively, even on the low-end bodies, though.

You can still go down to 22 or whatever at either end of the zoom range, I think, which is probably SCraig's point.
 
You can still go down to 22 or whatever at either end of the zoom range, I think, which is probably SCraig's point.

Oh, duh. lol I'm sorry. I knew that. :lmao: Yeah, I'm looking at getting a 50mm prime lens. I'm starting over with lens/accessories, I'm converting from Pentax film to Nikon digital. Thanks guys
 
Making the aperture smaller?
No. Actually it's making the aperture larger. In fact, nearly twice the diameter.

If we do the math:
At 18 mm and f/3.5 - the lens aperture has a 5.14 mm diameter (18 mm/3.5 = 5.14 mm)
At 55 mm and f/5.6 the lens aperture has a 9.82 mm diameter (55 mm/5.6 = 9.82 mm)

However we can say the lens aperture is smaller relative to the lens focal length.

Your 18-55 mm lens is a variable aperture lens.
A 17-50 mm f/2.8 is a constant aperture lens because it can maintain f/2.8 all the way from 17 mm to 50 mm.
Many el cheapo lenses have a single fixed aperture that is not adjustable.
 
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Making the aperture smaller?
No. Actually it's making the aperture larger. In fact, nearly twice the diameter.

If we do the math:
At 18 mm and f/3.5 - the lens aperture has a 5.14 mm diameter (18 mm/3.5 = 5.14 mm)
At 55 mm and f/5.6 the lens aperture has a 9.82 mm diameter (55 mm/5.6 = 9.82 mm)

However we can say the lens aperture is smaller relative to the lens focal length.

Your 18-55 mm lens is a variable aperture lens.
A 17-50 mm f/2.8 is a constant aperture lens because it can maintain f/2.8 all the way from 17 mm to 50 mm.
Many el cheapo lenses have a single fixed aperture that is not adjustable.

Ooooh okay. Thank you for clearing that up for me KmH
 

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