How do you lock the aperture on Nikon cameras? Normally the camera stops down the lens only during the exposure. This causes a major problem for timelapse photography because of aperture activation variance: it stops down to a slightly different aperture every time (varying around 1/6 to 1/3 stop), which causes a flicker when the timelapse frame rate is increased for viewing.

I recently switched from Canon, and the method I used there was to select the aperture I wanted and then untwist the lens slightly, which disabled electronic communication while preserving the stopped-down aperture that I wanted. Is there a similar workaround for Nikon?

Why not use manual mode? An older extention tube (pre-autofocus) should work on non "G" lenses. I wouldn't mess with shorting the electrical contacts...

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Thanks for the response.

>Why not use manual mode?

What does "manual mode" mean? If you are referring to manual exposure mode, I am using that already but it still opens up the lens to the widest aperture after every exposure.

> An older extention tube
>(pre-autofocus) should work on non "G" lenses. I
>wouldn't mess with shorting the electrical contacts...

Thanks, but I wouldn't want to lose infinity focus. Most of my timelapses are in fact focused on infinity (starry night skies).

>If you are referring
>to manual exposure mode, I am using that already but it still
>opens up the lens to the widest aperture after every
>exposure.

I am not a time lapse photography pro, so let me know if I am way off-base.

Are you saying that in camera Manual mode the lens doesn't open to exactly the same f/ stop on each successive frame and you are in camera Manual mode?

Is this a common problem when doing time lapse photography?

If your problem is common in time lapse photography, I have a hard time understanding why, since the aperture has an extremely precise manufacturing/calibration specification on both the camera and lens.

If you are seeing a difference, I wonder if there might be something wrong?

Is one of the aperture leaves in the lens sticking and not moving fully to the selected f/ stop?

Have you tried a different lens?

Russ
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>>If you are referring
>>to manual exposure mode, I am using that already but it
>>still opens up the lens to the widest aperture after
>>every exposure.
>
>I am not a time lapse photography pro, so let me know if I am
>way off-base.

No problem!

>Are you saying that in camera Manual mode the lens doesn't
>open to exactly the same f/ stop on each successive frame and
>you are in camera Manual mode?

Precisely.

>Is this a common problem when doing time lapse photography?

Yes. Another problem that is encountered (less frequently) is that the exposure duration (in M mode) is not exactly the same between every frame (i.e. 1/4000 could actually be 1/3856 one time and 1/4142 the next). But as far as I know there isn't any particular workaround for that (except to use more ND for longer durations since the variance is generally fixed). Personally, I haven't experienced that issue, just the aperture one.

>If your problem is common in time lapse photography, I have a
>hard time understanding why, since the aperture has an
>extremely precise manufacturing/calibration specification on
>both the camera and lens.

In theory, the manufacturers hit the extremely precise specification. In practice, they don't. I know at least that none of my $2000 Canon L lenses did not. For 99.99% of users (i.e. non-timelapse shooters), being off by 1/6 stop isn't really going to make a difference, so I think manufacturers would not be too concerned about it.

>If you are seeing a difference, I wonder if there might be
>something wrong?

Well, there is definitely something wrong in the sense that manufacturing tolerances should be tighter, but if that's too expensive or bothersome I'd be happy with the cheap workaround, which is to allow us to leave the aperture closed all the time. One way to do that would be to change the DOF "preview" from "hold-it-down" to "toggle on and off" -- a pretty simple change I think.

>Is one of the aperture leaves in the lens sticking and not
>moving fully to the selected f/ stop?

Perhaps. I didn't check for that.

>Have you tried a different lens?

Actually, I haven't tried any (on Nikon) yet, but I did try several Canon lenses. If I recall correctly, some were very just fine near wide open (e.g f/3.2, f/3.5) but inaccurate at the very bottom (f/22), while others were the exact opposite (accurate near f/22, but inaccurate near wide open).

Thanks for the help!

Daniel

If you have a a camera that will meter with non-cpu lenses and use a lens with a aperture ring, you can use the aperture ring instead of the lens electronics to select the aperture. This creates a mechanical stop for the aperture setting that should be more reliable than the variance is stop down you are describing.

To tell the camera to use the aperture ring instead of the setting from the camera dial turn the "Aperture setting" item in the Custom Settings to off. On the D300 this is CSM f7.

Also you could use a non-cpu lens. Cameras that support non-cpu lenses, will meter properly in A and M exposure modes with those lenses.

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>To tell the camera to use the aperture ring instead of the
>setting from the camera dial turn the "Aperture
>setting" item in the Custom Settings to off. On the D300
>this is CSM f7.

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work on the D800 (CSM f9). Even with that set, the aperture still opens back up to the widest aperture after every exposure (test with Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8).

Kind regards,

Yes it opens back up between exposure. The difference is that the lens is stopping down to a mechanically controlled aperture instead of an electronically controlled one. My thought is that the mechanical setting my be more repeatable that the electronic one.

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>My thought is that the mechanical setting my be more repeatable
>that the electronic one.

Ah, I get it now. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Daniel,

Is that a manual focus non-G lens/non-AF lens with an indented iris ring? (two sets of numbers on the barrel)

If so, there is a menu where the wrench is, to give the lens a number and set the camera's CPU to recognize it as lens number 1 through 9 and indicate the maximum aperture.

Not saying this will solve the problem, but it might tell the CPU to leave settings as is when you activate the time lapse in manual mode.

The little in focus light within the VF will still be lit while in focus.

Outside of that, perhaps a ten pin intervalometer which usually overrides all else for TL, at least AFAIKT.

HTH's

Rob

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>Is that a manual focus non-G lens/non-AF lens with an indented
>iris ring? (two sets of numbers on the barrel)

I have one of those, yes, but I'd prefer to be able to lock the aperture with *any* lens. It's pretty funny when I have to swap out a nice, brand new $2000 Nikkor for an old $80 used lens with tons of aberrations just so I can lock the aperture.

So far I think I'm just going to continue using the old "untwist the lens" workaround. (On Canon, you untwist to a certain point and *boom*, you lose communication all at once. On Nikon, the aperture closes down slowly as you untwist.)

>If so, there is a menu where the wrench is, to give the lens a
>number and set the camera's CPU to recognize it as lens number
>1 through 9 and indicate the maximum aperture.
>
>Not saying this will solve the problem, but it might tell the
>CPU to leave settings as is when you activate the time lapse
>in manual mode.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just tested it and it still opens back up wide even with the internal time lapse mode.

There's no Nikon 'trick' to prevent aperture flicker that I know of. If you want to use Nikon lenses, you may be better using them on a Canon body with an adapter.

If you want to use a Nikon or Canon body, you'll likely get the best results from acquiring an M42 (Contax S/Praktica/Pentax) lens that doesn't change the aperture between shots and an adapter for that.

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