Nikon lenses on the 7D - Quick Question

PerroneFord

PerroneFord

Deals in Lead
Thanks for indulging me for a moment. I just have a very basic question on this.

If I use a Nikon Manual lens on the 7D/550D, will the camera give me metering information. If so, what kind of metering will I get? Matrix, center-weight, spot, an option of more than one?

Thanks kindly.
 
I'm shooting nikon manuals. Best way is to take a still, flip to playback mode and look at histos.
 
Thank you, that helped some. At least now I know it meters. I just need to now figure out HOW it's metering.
 
shaocaholica said:
All the metering methods should be available. You'll just need to stop down the lens and meter at the desired aperture you want to use.
Click to expand...

That's PERFECT! Exactly what I wanted to know. Ironically, my new to me, Nikon F65 cannot do this, though the F4s I had a while back could meter with non-CPU lenses. I wasn't sure if the Canon acted more like my crippled consumer cam, or more like a Nikon Pro cam.
 
PerroneFord said:
That's PERFECT! Exactly what I wanted to know. Ironically, my new to me, Nikon F65 cannot do this, though the F4s I had a while back could meter with non-CPU lenses. I wasn't sure if the Canon acted more like my crippled consumer cam, or more like a Nikon Pro cam.
Click to expand...

Double check this first, I'm just going off of memory as my camera is out for service at the moment.
 
shaocaholica said:
Double check this first, I'm just going off of memory as my camera is out for service at the moment.
Click to expand...

If you think of it, update this thread when you get it back. I have a friend with a 7D, but I don't have an adapter to put my Nikon glass on it at the moment.
 
I have the Nikon 50 and 85mm. They meter just fine on my 7d. As was already mentioned you just have to meter at the desired aperture and adjust the ISO to get the proper exposure.
 
Woaah woaah now I'm gonna have ta learn about this. How do you tell the camera's metering what aperture when its a manual lens?
 
J Davis said:
Woaah woaah now I'm gonna have ta learn about this. How do you tell the camera's metering what aperture when its a manual lens?
Click to expand...

You don't. The camera doesn't know and it doesn't care. When you turn the aperture ring on your manual lens, the aperture will close. When it closes, it lets in less light and as such, less light hits the meter. Just like how an ND filter will cause the camera to adjust exposure. The camera compensates for this by adjusting the shutter speed/ISO since as far as the camera is concerned, there is no lens attached it can control.

The only time the camera needs to know the max aperture of the lens is for wide open metering. This is when the camera meters with the aperture wide open but it knows the aperture will change to some other value for the actual shot. This is all irrelevant when using adapters since there is no linkage between the lens and camera. The aperture on your manual lens is already closed down to what you want it to be and no extra exposure adjustments are necessary. This used to be normal a few decades ago before fancy pants metering came along.
 
Last edited:
shaocaholica said:
You don't. The camera doesn't know and it doesn't care. When you turn the aperture ring on your manual lens, the aperture will close. When it closes, it lets in less light and as such, less light hits the meter. Just like how an ND filter will cause the camera to adjust exposure. The camera compensates for this by adjusting the shutter speed/ISO since as far as the camera is concerned, there is no lens attached it can control.

The only time the camera needs to know the max aperture of the lens is for wide open metering. This is when the camera meters with the aperture wide open but it knows the aperture will change to some other value for the actual shot. This is all irrelevant when using adapters since there is no linkage between the lens and camera. The aperture on your manual lens is already closed down to what you want it to be and no extra exposure adjustments are necessary. This used to be normal a few decades ago before fancy pants metering came along.
Click to expand...

Well thats as I thought. And when I swtiched from the GH1 to the 7D back last september I was relying on the exposure meter and it really sucked. I don't know what I was doing wrong. I even started a thread about it. The thread link I put in an earlier post on the page previous to this. In 5 months of shooting with the 7D and manual lenses the only thing I found I could count on was looking at the histos on a still.
 
Let me bring this back around a bit.

My concern with whether or not I can meter with manual lenses has only to do with whether or not I get information in the viewfinder or not. With my rather poor Nikon film body, I get nothing. This means to use that body, I have to meter myself. With the pro bodies or better amateur bodies I get metering.

For the purposes of shooting video/digital film, I always meter independently. I don't rely on a histogram, or the LCD. But, when I want to use my 7D or whatever with my Nikon lenses, I was really interested in whether I could get metering information. Sometimes, I'd like to use it to take portraits or shoot sports. If I got no metering, I'd have to meter manually, and that can be a royal pain at a game.

Ok, now off to ask my last 2 questions about the Nikon lenses...
 
I think you are just gonna have to try for yourself. I used my nikon AIS primes on my GH1 and I loved the metering on that cam (for video). With the same primes on the 7d it didn't work for me. Maybe you will have better luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top