Safe to Shoot with Lens already Stopped-Down? (Canon New F1)

I remember someone (forget where) mention that you should not fire the shutter with the lens already stopped down...I suppose this wears on the cameras aperture mechanism?

Anyway, there have been times when I was shooting and accidentally left the aperture stopped down (the New F1 locks the stop down button) several times. (mostly at like f2.8 so I didn't notice)

I figure its just paranoia but I'd rather not find out the hard way. Is this truly bad for it?

can't think why. With most cameras -- the nikon slr is one of them -- the lens stops down when you fire the shutter because the camera releases a lever holding the lens open. On other cameras, such as m 42/Pentax screw mount type cameras, the lens stops down when the camera pushes in on a button on the lens, stopping the lens down.

In either event, the mechanics stopping the lens down are separate from the rest of the camera action and unaffected by whatever else is going on. Stopping the lens down ahead of time just takes that action out of the process ... the shutter fires as normal, light passes through the lens, the picture gets took.

So, no worries, firing with the lens stopped down causes no problem.

LMI said:

I remember someone (forget where) mention that you should not fire the shutter with the lens already stopped down...I suppose this wears on the cameras aperture mechanism?

.... Is this truly bad for it?

Click to expand...

No. I cannot think of a single camera where this would be a problem - nor any reason why it would.

The New F-1 has a stopped down metering mode, so it's designed to work that way.

The only reason I can think of not to shoot in stopped down mode is that meters tend to be less accurate in low light, so if you're stopped down and reducing the amount of light hitting the sensor, it may be in the range where it isn't entirely linear, and your exposure could be less accurate than it would be if you were metering wide open.

LMI said:

I remember someone (forget where) mention that you should not fire the shutter with the lens already stopped down...I suppose this wears on the cameras aperture mechanism?

Click to expand...

FD-lenses with the breech-loock ring typically allow one with the lens OFF the camera to set the aperture ring off from "A" and to arrest its automatic diaphragm lever at its end of way. One then can put the lens on the camera, by this stopping it down. In succession one can take photographs in the stopped down position. It will not harm the body, its automatic diaphragm actuator just will run into the empty.
BUT the lens now is stopped down and that will make the metering misfunction as the body does NOT know that the lens is stopped down. However the body kows that it should work in manual mode. (As long as the resp. body allows for manual mode.) So if you do not rely on the internal meter you can work with that setting.
If you push the stop-down button at the body after mounting such "cocked" lens, metering will be fine again. (But then the premature stopping down makes no sense anyway.)

This procedure will not work with new-FD lenses (with "true bayonet" mount).


If you mean mounting the lens normally and just then stopping down by means of the aperture ring and the stop down button at the body, there will be no issue. There will be no harm at the mechanics and the body knows that the lens is stopped down. Just keep in mind to meter correctly (as for the stopped down indicator at the AE-1)



With the automatic diaphragm lever of the lens pushed to the right (either by "cocking" it advance or by pushing the stop down button after mounting) the majority of that load is taken off the body mechanics, thus it not only would not harm the body but even relieve it.