What?--No Half Stops on Nikon AIS Lenses?

Vanishing Point Ent. · Apr 25, 2009

1/2 Stop Clicks = 1/4 Stop Accuracy.

FilmOnly said:
I appreciate all of the replies. I suppose I was a bit thrown by the half stop thing, as the FM2n I just bought (to use with the aforementioned 35/2.8) is such a nice, fill-featured camera. Hence, I was expecting a half-stop-clicking lens...

The advantage of a 1/2 stop clicking lens, is that you can set it in between the 1/2 stops to get 1/4 stops.

If all you can set are whole stop clicks, then the best you can do is set the lens in 1/2 stops.

Mick Fagan · Apr 25, 2009

V.P.E, I'm not so sure that with ½ stop clicks you can easily set ¼ stop increments.

I run Nikkors and I've often used 1/3 stop settings which have been obtained with my Gosson Profi-Six meter which shows 1/3 stop values.

I have at least one non Nikkor lens with ½ click stops, my Sigma f2.8 24mm Super-Wide lens. It is very fiddly to set a ¼ stop increment, I've just tried. It appears to be more of a guestimation than with any of the three Nikkors I have just tried, 85 1.4, 105 2.5 and 180 2.8.

No guessing system is dead accurate, however you can be reasonably accurate with a bit of a fiddle with the Nikkor full click stopped lenses, I know as I've been doing this for the last 25 + years with them.

Eventually with enough practice and getting into the groove, you should be able to be very proficient at ½, ¼ or 1/3 stop settings, without a click stop setting built in to the lens.

Mick.

stealthman_1 · Apr 26, 2009

Vanishing Point Ent. said:
The advantage of a 1/2 stop clicking lens, is that you can set it in between the 1/2 stops to get 1/4 stops.

If all you can set are whole stop clicks, then the best you can do is set the lens in 1/2 stops.

You can set any Nikon lens to any of the infinite apertures between full aperture and closed down. The aperture doesn't work in clicks, your mind does. I hate half stops, I just bought a Zeiss 21mm ZM and it has 1/3 stops! What a terrible thing to do to a lens...make it nearly useless to someone not shooting with a meter without taking the eye away from the place the eye is supposed to be looking! I set my D3 to full stops after about 3 months, what a huge waste of time rolling through every 1/3 aperture when trying to shift from an f8 shot to an f2.8 shot. Unfortunately D lenses don't offer you infinite aperture precision if that is what you need, that's a loss.

Pumal · Apr 26, 2009

Clicks are only a Guide. The Diaphragm and your Mind are Continous.

Vanishing Point Ent. · Apr 29, 2009

stealthman_1 said:
You can set any Nikon lens to any of the infinite apertures between full aperture and closed down. The aperture doesn't work in clicks, your mind does. I hate half stops, I just bought a Zeiss 21mm ZM and it has 1/3 stops! What a terrible thing to do to a lens...make it nearly useless to someone not shooting with a meter without taking the eye away from the place the eye is supposed to be looking! I set my D3 to full stops after about 3 months, what a huge waste of time rolling through every 1/3 aperture when trying to shift from an f8 shot to an f2.8 shot. Unfortunately D lenses don't offer you infinite aperture precision if that is what you need, that's a loss.

If you have no click stops on a lens, I agree with you.

But if there are full stop clicks, on the aperture dial,
then if you try to set in between, IT WON'T STAY.

I went through this with my Mamiya RZ. I had one
of the older 90 mm lenses, that did not have 1/2 stop
clicks & I couldn't set in between the stops. I got rid
of this 90 & got a newer one to match my other lenses.

By the way, I agree with you, about 1/3 of a stops.
I do believe in 1/2 stops, because I know most of them. There's also the issue,that only my EOS 1n RS
can do 1/3 stops, so for consistency, all of my 35 mm's & RZ are good to the 1/2 stop.

John Koehrer · Apr 29, 2009

Vanishing Point Ent. said:
If you have no click stops on a lens, I agree with you.
But if there are full stop clicks, on the aperture dial,
then if you try to set in between, IT WON'T STAY.

Gosh I hate to contradict such a definite statement but my pre AI lens which has clicks at full stops allows me to set it wherever I want, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 1/8, 1/16. Yeah I know it's not practical but it's just as accurate as saying you can't do it.

bdial · Apr 29, 2009

I've worked with various Nikon bodies, and numerous pre-AI and Post-AI Nikon lenses. No problems whatsoever in setting in setting the lens between stops, or in having it stay at the setting.

John_Nikon_F · Apr 30, 2009

Sekor != Nikkor. In other words, the aperture rings on Mamiya lenses are not the same as the ones on Nikkor lenses, functionally. Yes, they may have full-stop click stops, but, every single Nikon lens I've owned has been very easy to set between the click stops on the aperture ring. I've owned lenses as old as 1965, and lenses as new as 1999 or so. All of them were the same. Didn't matter if they were manual focus or autofocus. I've also had a pretty wide selection, ranging from 18mm to 300mm over the years.

-J

Rol_Lei Nut · Apr 30, 2009

Just spent 5 minutes checking the between-stop behaviour of some lenses:

Nikon: Full stops: Allows almost continuous adjustment
Zeiss (Rollei): Half stops: almost continuous adjustment
Leica M: Half stops: almost continuous adjustment
Various Ukranian, Schneider & Mamiya-Built: Half stops: almost continuous adjustment
________________________
Leica R, Pentax 6x7, Zeiss Jena: Half stops: Clicks rigidly into place

________________________

Finally, an older M42 17mm Vivitar has half stops which allow continuous adjustment and a newer Nikon-mount Vivitar 17mm has whole stops which click rigidly into place.

Goes to show that you can't be an automatic dog about such things...

(Dogmatic)

nicefor88 · Apr 30, 2009

Frank said it all. It's so easy to place the aperture ring between two stops. There must be something like a 5mm space before reaching the next stop we can play with.

What?--No Half Stops on Nikon AIS Lenses?

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