No metering

[MiningGold]

I am going to buy either a 53200 or a d5100 and will get a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor lens with either. I posted a question about compatibility with old lenses I've acquired and it was brought to my attention that I will not be able to use autofocus or metering with the AI-S lenses I have. I'm new to photography, but am thinking having to manually focus wont be that big of a deal for shooting landscapes and wildlife. Just wondering if the lack of metering will make it so I wont use the lenses? Is manual metering possible/hard to do?

 

[tirediron]

Not at all - you have two options. You can buy a hand-held light meter (That's just an example; there are many types, and many for much less money), or you can use the Sunny 16 rule to estimate exposure and fine tune it using your rear LCD and histogram.

 

[Derrel]

There will be NO metering functions available. Flash will also have to be controlled manually when using Ai or Ai-S lenses with the D5xxx series Nikon bodies.

It's not all "that" difficult to set the right f/stop and shutter speed, once one has a bit of practice, and some idea of what exposures are supposed to be.

 

[SEMiller]

Would having his lenses chipped allow for metering with that camera? If so that old be another option.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, having a set of contacts and ribbon cable added can be done on many lenses. There are a number of different camera repair services that do "chipping" of manual focusing lenses. I own exactly one aftermarket "chipped" manual focusing Nikon lens, a 400mm f/3.5 ED-IF, Ai-S series model made in 1982, and it works pretty well on all Nikons it has been shot on...chipping is one option, but there are actually a decent number of Nikon bodies that will meter with Ai and AI-S lenses in their unmodified state.

 

[Gavjenks]

Note that you can turn any cell phone into a pretty decent reflectance meter (same kind as in a modern DSLR) by just downloading an app that uses the camera to measure reflected light levels. This doesn't require you to buy anything new if you have a smart phone already. You put in an ISO, and it will usually give you a little sliding chart of which shutter speeds should go with which apertures at that ISO for whatever scene you're pointing the camera at (be sure to read the instructions as to whether the app uses the front or rear camera in your phone!).

My cell phone is usually accurate to what my DSLRs measure within about 1/3 of a stop. The differences probably result mostly from lens imperfections and slight mismatches from the advertised actual apertures, more so than from a failing of the cell phone hardware and software, which is actually a much more stable/known situation. Also can result from "evaluative" software in the DSLR that tries to intelligently interpret some situations.

Some apps will even let you select which portion of the image the camera sees is used for metering (similar to spot metering versus center weighted, etc.).

 

[sm4him]

Is there any particular reason you're not considering something like the D7000, that *would* meter these lenses (I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong).

You can get a used D7000 for as little as $650 or $700 these days.

That said, if you get a camera that won't meter with those lenses, it'll be a learning curve to figure out how to expose correctly for different scenarios, but soon enough, you'll likely find you just "know" what settings to dial in. Take a test shot or two, adjust your settings until you like the result, and you're good to go.

 

[Gavjenks]

...wait what? Those are DIGITAL cameras that won't meter through a lens?

What ridiculousness is that? My digital cameras all meter through anything in front of them, and they do just fine. And by "anything" I don't just mean different generations of Canon lenses, I mean:

*Canon modern lenses
*Any other company's modern lens
*Any random company's manual lens attached with an adapter
*Homemade lenses made out of plumbing pipes and surplus glass screwed into the tube
*Air
*Pieces of cellophane
*Tilt shifted glass, homemade and otherwise (does poorly occasionally as expected, but usually still nails it)
*Another camera held in front of it.
*Large format lenses held a foot in front of it with random light leaking in from the sides (still usually meters correctly as possible!!!)
*granite blocks
*filters--including perfectly successful metering in live view even through 13 combined stops of neutral density at the smallest aperture available (equivalent metering light availability of about f/2,867

There's no good reason for a digital camera to refuse to meter anything, other than a company just wanting to spitefully kick its customers in the teeth as punishment for not buying their own newly manufactured lenses, or something.

 

[cgw]

Note that you can turn any cell phone into a pretty decent reflectance meter (same kind as in a modern DSLR) by just downloading an app that uses the camera to measure reflected light levels. This doesn't require you to buy anything new if you have a smart phone already. You put in an ISO, and it will usually give you a little sliding chart of which shutter speeds should go with which apertures at that ISO for whatever scene you're pointing the camera at (be sure to read the instructions as to whether the app uses the front or rear camera in your phone!).

My cell phone is usually accurate to what my DSLRs measure within about 1/3 of a stop. The differences probably result mostly from lens imperfections and slight mismatches from the advertised actual apertures, more so than from a failing of the cell phone hardware and software, which is actually a much more stable/known situation. Also can result from "evaluative" software in the DSLR that tries to intelligently interpret some situations.

Some apps will even let you select which portion of the image the camera sees is used for metering (similar to spot metering versus center weighted, etc.).

But it's still a reflected light meter and subject to the same limitations as in-camera meters. Used incident meters(e.g., Sekonic 300-series) aren't ruinously expensive.

 

[amolitor]

The lower end Nikon bodies can't read what aperture is set on a sufficiently old lens. There's a mechanical linkage which is simply not present on the consumer bodies. This means that while it can read what the light coming through now it, it cannot read what it will be when the lens stops down for the shot.

Have you considered setting the 'arrogant ass' routine aside for a bit?

 

[Gavjenks]

The lower end Nikon bodies can't read what aperture is set on a sufficiently old lens. There's a mechanical linkage which is simply not present on the consumer bodies. This means that while it can read what the light coming through now it, it cannot read what it will be when the lens stops down for the shot.

Have you considered setting the 'arrogant ass' routine aside for a bit?

So what?

One of the whole points of having an SLR is that everything happens through the lens. So if you have a manual aperture on your lens, and it isn't controlled through the camera, that shouldn't matter! It can just read what is coming into the camera body, and that will already be taking the stopped down lens into account by definition.

Like I said, my camera meters just fine with manual lenses of all sorts with absolutely no communication with the body. Including 100 year old lenses. Including ones that are made out of plastic pipes and random bits of old binoculars and duct tape. And including lenses that aren't even physically touching the camera (just held out in space)!

So what if an Ai/Ai-S lens stops down without telling the camera how much it stops down? The camera can still meter through the lens at maximum aperture, and then you can just dial in an exposure compensation for the difference.




Edit: To be clear:
1) My lens is f/4 wide open.
2) I want to shoot at f/8, but the camera doesn't know it's set to f/8.
3) >>I<< know it is set to f/8 though, so the camera should still allow me to simply dial in a +2 EV exposure compensation, and then continue to use the metering as normal.

Disabling it entirely robs me of taking simple steps on my own to fix the issue by using my brain. There's simply NO REASON for it to do that. It would be like your car automatically disabling your gas pedal if your hand brake is engaged, because they assume you must be wanting to stop.

Also, do these cameras also disable metering for other types of lenses as well that are not modern Nikon chipped lenses? Like lensbaby, for instance, or an adapted manual lens from another company, or a microscope on a T-mount? If so, that's just flat out crippling. There ISN'T even any good solution (other than guessing and checking, lol) for a microscope for instance, because you can't put an external light meter anywhere. And to not meter for something like a lensbaby (where you should be able to just stop down prior to metering for accurate readings) would greatly reduce usefulness for no good reason.

 

[djacobox372]

Every digital camera has an awesome light meter on the back of the camera (the image review screen).

 

[Gavjenks]

Every digital camera has an awesome light meter on the back of the camera (the image review screen).

That's great if every single time you ever take a photo, your subject is going to stand still for 10 seconds without changing at all, while you check your screen, fiddle with some dials, and take the shot again, or twice.

But this won't work for anybody shooting sports, often wildlife, kids doing funny things, street photography, etc. etc.