GH1 / Tokina / Novovlex aperture setting

RieniO

RieniO

Well-known member
I am using my GH1 with a Tokina 11-16 lens with Nikon mount, using a Novoflex lens adapter. Changing aperture is done by turning a ring on the Novoflex. This is working ok but is there a way to see what the current aperture setting is or is this really turn and guess?
 
If you have the Novoflex MFT/NIK make sure you turn the ring all the way clockwise prior to mounting on the lens. This might result in the aperture setting showing up on the GH1. Can't really say because everything I've used it with so far has an aperture ring.
 
How would the GH1 be able to measure the manual aperture setting. That won't work. I'm afraid you can only guess the number, but does it really matter at all?
 
You're right. That won't work. Saw that the adapter was able to retain automatic metering for aperture priority mode and thought it might somehow be communicating with the camera. But it's a mechanical connection only.

I would think it would only matter if you were trying to do something like calculate hyperfocal distance. Or quickly set DOF by aperture setting.
 
Of course it matters. Maybe not for you Pailes, but you are not everybody, right?

Thanks for the reps, what I could try is mark the ring somehow.
 
Printing the f/stops on the sticky part of a Post-It note and then cutting it off and sticking it on the adapter might work for you. It sticks pretty well, yet can be easily removed without leaving any residue.

How do you like that Tokina? Have heard it's a pretty sweet lens.
 
I'm looking into buying this lens, would love to see some footage if you are willing to show.

Best regards

S
 
I think I'd mark the ring like you've suggested.

Since you know what the lens looks like at 2.8, you could get a chart, and dial in proper exposure @2.8 on ISO 100, then switch to ISO 200 (a stop faster, although you can go in 1/3 increments if you want, although this may be hard to mark on the adapter.) then adjust the aperture on the lens until you've got the same exposure as you had on ISO 100, mark this spot on the adapter as F4...go on and do this throughout the range. Certainly not a perfect solution, but if you use the histogram and a chart, this should get you pretty close.
 
Or you could try using hyperfocal distance. In theory it may be simpler than other suggestions.

Put your lens at 11mm. Set an object at 10 ft and focus on it. Then have another object at 4 ft 10". Now adjust your aperture until the object at 4 ft 10" is in focus. Go forward and backward to make sure that stop is where it first comes into focus. That should be f/2.8. Put a dot on the Novoflex aperture ring at that point.

Stopping down the lens from there should give you the rest of the aperture range. Just mark as many f/stops as you want (maybe on a Post-It sticky as I suggested before) and all you should need to do to dial in an aperture setting is align the dot on the Novoflex aperture ring with your markings.

In case you're not familiar with the term hyperfocal distance...basically, what it means is that for a particular lens focal length and camera aperture setting, when you focus your lens at a specific distance, everything from half that distance to infinity will be in focus.

Here's the calculator the attached came from: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
 

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Thanks for all the ideas, guys, I will try your suggestions later. I am in the middle of shoots now, did the first shoots with the Tokina yesterday and I had more trouble with the manual focussing than with the aperture, most of the time I was able to shoot with same aperture/shutter speed combo. What I like about the Tokina is that it's 2.8 at all focal lenghts so you can zoom in and out without having to adapt your aperture. In the evening there was some time for importing into Final Cut Pro and review the footage full screen on the Apple Book and the image quality is amazing, so much better than my Canon HDV camcorder I used to work with so far. When these shoots are finished I will try to make a clip using the Pana kitlens and the Tokina side to side. What I already can say about the Tokina is that it's large and heavy and robust and all controls have a steady feel. Physically it's absolutely a professional lens. It's heavier than the Pana kitlens but for me that's not a problem because I'm working with a dolly.
 
RieniO said:
Of course it matters. Maybe not for you Pailes, but you are not everybody, right?
Click to expand...
In case you didn't notice, there was a question mark at the end of my sentence. I wasn't even saying that it doesn't matter at all I was asking if it does matter.
 
My sentence ended with a question mark as well :-)

Knowing the aperture setting does matter when during a shoot you move around and come back to an earlier situation. You shoot with f4 on position a and you have to shoot with f2.8 on position b because there is less light, then when you go back to position a you quickly want to set your aperture back to f4 so exposure is consistant during your production.
 
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Currently I shoot with a tonkina 11-16 with no aperture control at all because its nikon mount lens on 7D. The trick I use is to wedge stems from a Q-tip to keep the aperture almost at wide open but not all the way. I'm guessing its f3-f4. Then I adjust ISO to match exposure. When I had a GH1 I was using the same trick. So long as your aperture is fairly close, the rest of the exposure can be tweaked using the smaller incremental iso settings.
 
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