Non AI lens use on a Nikon F3

Hello

My new to me F3P has (as all NIkon F3s do) the ability to flip up that little aperture indexing lever so non AI mount lenses can be used.
Question - to meter one pushes in the depth of field preview button to stop down the lens in order to get the correct reading.
But does this button still have to be held down to get the correct exposure when taking the shot?

Thanks!

Huss

No, the lens will stop down automatically when you press the shutter.

bdial said:

No, the lens will stop down automatically when you press the shutter.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought but the owner's manual says:

"Meter coupling lever: Push the meter coupling lever release button and lock the meter coupling lever in the "up" position before mounting a non-AI Nikkor lens. Then perform stopped down metering in the following manner: For non-AI Nikkor lenses with automatic diaphragms On AUTO: Push in and hold the depth-of-field preview button while you trip the shutter. Caution: If the depth of field preview button is not depressed all the way, the mirror may remain in the "up" position. On MANUAL: Select a shutter speed. Then hold in the preview button and turn the aperture ring until the "- +" symbol appears in the finder. Release the preview button and take the shot."

Sometimes there are errors in translation but this suggests that you can only do it your way if in manual mode?

p.s. I appreciate your input as a real user vs. perhaps a miss-print in a manual.

edit - just tested it. As the manual mentions, the dof preview button needs to be pushed in when making an exposure in AE. Verified this by taking a meter reading wide open with my 55 1.2 non AI lens - 1.2 @ 1/1000. Turned the aperture to f16 - with the dof button pushed in the shutter speed read as 1/8 sec. No film in camera, I took a test shot at f16 w/o pushing in the dof button, and the sound of the shutter clearly was much much faster than 1/8. I'm guessing it was 1/1000! Took another test shot same scenario but dof pushed in, the speed sounded much slower with a pause - just like you would imagine it to sound at 1/8 sec..

So, while the camera does automatically stop down the lens, the shutter speed is read at the wide open setting before the lens is stopped down. Which is why this does not need to be done when shooting in manual mode as you have already picked the correct shutter speed.

I use non-ai all the time but I never tried it in A mode. I always use it in manual and stop down for metering.

You could also use the exposure memory lock button to hold the reading after letting go of the DOF preview button. This was a feature that was on the original Nikkormat EL, made it over to the F3.

http://camera.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/nikon/f3hp.html?p=2

BrianVS said:

You could also use the exposure memory lock button to hold the reading after letting go of the DOF preview button. This was a feature that was on the original Nikkormat EL, made it over to the F3.

http://camera.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/nikon/f3hp.html?p=2

Click to expand...

Good idea! As all that does is hold the shutter speed and will be easier to hold in than the DOF button.