Lens Doesn't Open to 3.5 - Nikkor 18-140mm

i have a Nikon D5100 and a 18-140mm 3.5-5.6g

in manual mode, aperture priority, doesn't matter, I can't open to f3.5.

the camera shows (view finder/lcd display) 5.6 as the lowest

what am i doing wrong?! can someone help, plz?

thanks!!

 

Zoom out to 18mm and it will. That's why it's listed as an 3.5-5.6.... the maximum aperture available depends on the focal length it's set at.

 

At 140mm the lowest aperture setting is 5.6, at 18mm it is 3.5

 

And the maximum aperture you can use varies in between the 2 extremes.
Which is why any zoom lens having a range of maximum apertures is called 'variable aperture' zoom lens.
If you set f/3.5 @ 18 mm and then zoom the lens the maximum aperture will automatically stop down (get physically smaller) until it reaches f/5.6 shortly before the zoom reaches 140 mm.

FWIW - f/3.5 is a bigger number (because it's a fraction), and a more open (wider) lens aperture than f/5.6 is.

 

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