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You can change the aperture in this simulation. Perhaps it was just grayed out since you were in shutter-priority mode?

by chwahoo 14y ago

tominated 14y ago
It doesn't actually do anything
- Bob_Sheep 14y ago
  The aperture on an SLR only closes once you press the shutter release (or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware). If the aperture closed as soon as you changed it the camera would be unusable because the viewfinder would become very dark, and the autofocus would stop working.
  - ben1040 14y ago
    >or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware I bought a Nikon D5100 last summer, my first SLR since a Pentax K1000 I had for decades. The lack of a DoF preview button was a little hard for me to adjust to.
    - kamjam 14y ago
      Can you expand on that a little... I'm looking to buy a D5100, is this using the LCD or the viewfinder?
      - georgieporgie 14y ago
        Viewfinder. The depth of field preview just closes the shutter to the expected aperture while you're looking through the lens. It will darken significantly, but if it's reasonably lit where you're shooting, you'll be able to get an idea of the DOF.
      - naitbit 14y ago
        I do have d5100 and I confirm that there is no DoF Preview button. You can read about it's purpose here http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dof-button.htm http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dof-button.htm If you really need this button d7000 have same sensor and does same quality photos. It allows for more control using physical buttons (in d5100 you need to use info menu to set some setting). It is also better suited then d5100 for manual lenses. That said it is also more expensive and heavier(but is also more water prove). Personally most of the time lack of DoF preview did not bother me because I either wanted as much in focus as possible(for landscapes), or only person in focus which was quite easy. Weak support for manual lenses on the other hand baited me once with out of focus picture that I did not notice until it was to late(if it is really bright outside is hard to see photo on LCD, so i just checked histogram). You can see my d5100 pictures here https://plus.google.com/100147104412340662455/photos https://plus.google.com/100147104412340662455/photos if you are interested.
        kamjam 14y ago
        Great, will read through the article and play around to see what the option does on my brothers Nikon D60 (I've been playing around with his camera before deciding whether to splash out). Great pictures, looked at them briefly, will look at them properly tonight. Thanks.
lusr 14y ago
No see you're as confused as she was :) Most zoom lenses are variable aperture, e.g. at 18mm they will open up to f/3.5 but at 55mm they will only open up to f/5.6. The simulation doesn't address this, and it can be surprising for a beginner to see the aperture changing as they zoom - they may become fixated on zooming as a way to control aperture without realising they are observing a side-effect.
- modoc 14y ago
  Better lenses are fixed aperture though, so I don't think it's unreasonable to replicate that here. My 24-70 is 2.8 across the board.
  - lusr 14y ago
    While I agree with the point on quality, constant aperture zoom lenses tend to be MUCH more expensive than variable aperture lenses. Your single lens costs more than twice her entire starting kit :) They also tend to have fairly specialist zoom ranges. I find it hard to imagine somebody with a constant aperture zoom lens would find benefit in this camera simulation. The majority of the kind of people using it will be beginners with kit variable aperture lenses.
    - slantyyz 14y ago
      >> While I agree with the point on quality It's important to note a distinction. The faster aperture tends to necessitate better glass, but the idea that only fast lenses have good glass would not necessarily be true. There are plenty of "slow" lenses that have very good optical quality.
    - thingie 14y ago
      The most common advice for them would be to get a prime lens. Especially in this simulation that offers both distance and focal length setting (which are, for this scene and 18-55mm focal length, mostly interchangeable), I'd like to have it. It'd also allow you to go (cheaply) to f/1.8 or f/1.4, which would be much better to illustrate the effect that aperture has on the depth of field. With a common f/3.5:5.6 kit lens and APS-C sensor, you won't get a shallow DOF and nice out-of-focus background easily, and that could be frustrating to a beginner. Especially when you learn to do it in this simulation.

You can change the aperture in this simulation. Perhaps it was just grayed out since you were in shutter-priority mode?

by chwahoo 14y ago

You can change the aperture in this simulation. Perhaps it was just grayed out since you were in shutter-priority mode?

tominated 14y ago

It doesn't actually do anything

Bob_Sheep 14y ago
The aperture on an SLR only closes once you press the shutter release (or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware). If the aperture closed as soon as you changed it the camera would be unusable because the viewfinder would become very dark, and the autofocus would stop working.
- ben1040 14y ago
  >or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware I bought a Nikon D5100 last summer, my first SLR since a Pentax K1000 I had for decades. The lack of a DoF preview button was a little hard for me to adjust to.
  - kamjam 14y ago
    Can you expand on that a little... I'm looking to buy a D5100, is this using the LCD or the viewfinder?
    - georgieporgie 14y ago
      Viewfinder. The depth of field preview just closes the shutter to the expected aperture while you're looking through the lens. It will darken significantly, but if it's reasonably lit where you're shooting, you'll be able to get an idea of the DOF.
    - naitbit 14y ago
      I do have d5100 and I confirm that there is no DoF Preview button. You can read about it's purpose here http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dof-button.htm http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dof-button.htm If you really need this button d7000 have same sensor and does same quality photos. It allows for more control using physical buttons (in d5100 you need to use info menu to set some setting). It is also better suited then d5100 for manual lenses. That said it is also more expensive and heavier(but is also more water prove). Personally most of the time lack of DoF preview did not bother me because I either wanted as much in focus as possible(for landscapes), or only person in focus which was quite easy. Weak support for manual lenses on the other hand baited me once with out of focus picture that I did not notice until it was to late(if it is really bright outside is hard to see photo on LCD, so i just checked histogram). You can see my d5100 pictures here https://plus.google.com/100147104412340662455/photos https://plus.google.com/100147104412340662455/photos if you are interested.
      - kamjam 14y ago
        Great, will read through the article and play around to see what the option does on my brothers Nikon D60 (I've been playing around with his camera before deciding whether to splash out). Great pictures, looked at them briefly, will look at them properly tonight. Thanks.

lusr 14y ago

No see you're as confused as she was :) Most zoom lenses are variable aperture, e.g. at 18mm they will open up to f/3.5 but at 55mm they will only open up to f/5.6. The simulation doesn't address this, and it can be surprising for a beginner to see the aperture changing as they zoom - they may become fixated on zooming as a way to control aperture without realising they are observing a side-effect.

modoc 14y ago
Better lenses are fixed aperture though, so I don't think it's unreasonable to replicate that here. My 24-70 is 2.8 across the board.
- lusr 14y ago
  While I agree with the point on quality, constant aperture zoom lenses tend to be MUCH more expensive than variable aperture lenses. Your single lens costs more than twice her entire starting kit :) They also tend to have fairly specialist zoom ranges. I find it hard to imagine somebody with a constant aperture zoom lens would find benefit in this camera simulation. The majority of the kind of people using it will be beginners with kit variable aperture lenses.
  - slantyyz 14y ago
    >> While I agree with the point on quality It's important to note a distinction. The faster aperture tends to necessitate better glass, but the idea that only fast lenses have good glass would not necessarily be true. There are plenty of "slow" lenses that have very good optical quality.
  - thingie 14y ago
    The most common advice for them would be to get a prime lens. Especially in this simulation that offers both distance and focal length setting (which are, for this scene and 18-55mm focal length, mostly interchangeable), I'd like to have it. It'd also allow you to go (cheaply) to f/1.8 or f/1.4, which would be much better to illustrate the effect that aperture has on the depth of field. With a common f/3.5:5.6 kit lens and APS-C sensor, you won't get a shallow DOF and nice out-of-focus background easily, and that could be frustrating to a beginner. Especially when you learn to do it in this simulation.