Cheap Manual Nikon Lens?

[Dave.]

Hi all.

Looking to get a cheap manual lens for my D3200, but I'm not sure what I need.

Basically, I bought some Macro Extension Tubes, which don't work with any of my current lenses (drunken/late night purchase) due to no contacts for the aperture to work.

Would one of these work? Or is the adjust ring just to tell the camera what to do, rather than adjusting the aperture manually?

https://www.nikon.co.uk/en_GB/product/nikkor-lense...

Would this lens be considered an upgrade to the 18-55mm VR kit lens?

Cheers

[brman]

have a look in the back of the D3200 manual but I think it will work fine except no auto focus (and maybe some limits to auto exposure modes). Basically though yes, it will work.
Positives: Sharp, much larger max aperture, less distortion etc
Negatives: not as flexible (ie no zoom), no auto focus and manual focussing on the cheaper DSLRs is a bit of a pain to be accurate. Try this with your kit lens to make sure you are happy with it.

[Simpo Two]

Unless your extension tubes carry all the connections to link lens to body, the lens will work physically, but be manual only (exposure and focus). That's fine if you have plenty of time, but not so useful otherwise.

A 50mm f1.8mm lens will be better optically that the 18-55mm, and also much faster (bigger aperture) - but the trade off is no zoom, if that's important to you. The one you link to is not a 'G' lens which means you can control aperture with the aperture ring.

The ideal option is of course a true macro lens, but that may be more than you want to spend.

[brman]

ah, ignore most of my last comment, I missed the point that you want to use it with your extension tubes.

If you want cheap macro then consider a reversing ring. This is what I have used for macro work - a pentax smc lens reversed on my D300 and a tissue diffuser for the built in flash.
macro rig by Toby, on Flickr
It takes a bit of getting used to as you need to use one finger to push the aperture lever to shut it down before taking a shot but it does work suprisingly well.
eg.
Bluebottle 2 by Toby, on Flickr
or
Black Aphids by Toby, on Flickr

[brman]

Oh, and if you think a reversing ring is not up to the job, have a look at this video:
about 1m to see the kit he uses (not exactly sophisticated...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRn3at0H60

Google "thomas shahan" for images if you like spiders
eg.

[Simpo Two]

Nice work, some real belt and braces stuff there! Yep, a reversing ring on a 50mm prime is a very cheap way to get excellent macro. But as above, it will be manual only.

The longer the lens you reverse, the more magnification you get.

[GravelBen]

Simpo Two said:

The longer the lens you reverse, the more magnification you get.

I thought it was the opposite? From memory I got more magnification from reversing an old 28mm than my 50mm. Reversing the 50mm onto the front of a 200mm gave crazy magnification too, but very difficult to use!


OP - as others have said that lens should work fine for you as a manual lens. Being a -D lens rather than -G it has a mechanical aperture ring which is what you want, but won't autofocus on your camera as it doesn't have a focus motor in the lens.

I used to do a lot of macro using the same lens with a reverse adaptor and/or extension rings and got some good results.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 20th May 21:45

[Simpo Two]

GravelBen said:

Simpo Two said:

The longer the lens you reverse, the more magnification you get.

I thought it was the opposite? From memory I got more magnification from reversing an old 28mm than my 50mm.

You may be right, it's a long time since I tried it - back in the Pentax K-mount days!

[Dave.]

Cheers all.

I can put up with manual focus, as it's only for a bit off messing about indoors til all this bks is over.

I did see a trick of attaching string to the aperture adjuster on the lens, so might give that a go too.

I'll have a look at a reverse ring too.

Thanks.

[brman]

tbh, I borrowed a 100mm macro lens from a mate and found auto focus useless for macro work. When your depth of field is a mm or so you tend to focus by moving the camera, not changing the lens.

So yes, I don't think you are missing much by not having auto focus

[Simpo Two]

Dave. said:

I did see a trick of attaching string to the aperture adjuster on the lens, so might give that a go too.

What does that do?

[brman]

Simpo Two said:

What does that do?

I assume it is to shut down the aperture if you have a reversed lens or extension tubes with no connection?
That is one thing I found with my reversed lens setup. I could not just fix the lens with a closed aperture as it was then too dark to focus accurately. So I had to operate the aperture lever with my finger. It took a bit of practice but wasn't that much of a deal.

[Dave.]

On the lenses I have, the aperture closes to its smallest when disconnected. The string allows you to hold it open.

I've bought a reverse ring, should be here in the next few days.

[brman]

Dave. said:

On the lenses I have, the aperture closes to its smallest when disconnected. The string allows you to hold it open.

I've bought a reverse ring, should be here in the next few days.

you are right, I got it the wrong way round.

[GravelBen]

Dave. said:

On the lenses I have, the aperture closes to its smallest when disconnected. The string allows you to hold it open.

I've bought a reverse ring, should be here in the next few days.

You won't have that problem with the -D series lens - just flick the little catch on the aperture ring and the ring will mechanically control the aperture. If you want to use it normally with the camera controlling aperture, leave the catch locked with the aperture ring on 22 (colour coded orange to remind you) and then the wee spring loaded tab controls aperture like your -G lens.



From memory for even more magnification you can use the extension rings combined with the reverse adaptor. But remember the more magnification you have the more light you need.

Edited by GravelBen on Friday 22 May 07:10

[Dave.]

Cheers Ben,

Got my eye on a few, hopefully I can get one cheap enough.

Reverse ring should be here early next week too.

Should keep me entertained for a while.

[GravelBen]

Good stuff - I know what you mean about staying entertained while stuck at home, I got into macro photography while I was recovering from a disk prolapse and resulting surgery and had to give up my more active hobbies for a while. Certainly helps pass the time!

[brman]

GravelBen said:

Dave. said:

On the lenses I have, the aperture closes to its smallest when disconnected. The string allows you to hold it open.

I've bought a reverse ring, should be here in the next few days.

You won't have that problem with the -D series lens - just flick the little catch on the aperture ring and the ring will mechanically control the aperture. If you want to use it normally with the camera controlling aperture, leave the catch locked with the aperture ring on 22 (colour coded orange to remind you) and then the wee spring loaded tab controls aperture like your -G lens.



From memory for even more magnification you can use the extension rings combined with the reverse adaptor. But remember the more magnification you have the more light you need.

Edited by GravelBen on Friday 22 May 07:10

yes, but.....
the aperture ring will set the stopped down aperture. With macro you are likely to want all the depth of field you can so you will want it pretty stopped down (eg f16). If you just leave it like that you cannot see what you are doing to focus unless you have some very bright lights.
So, you still need to toggle the aperture lever to open the aperture up to focus, then let go so it stops down to take the shot.
I hope that makes sense.....

[Simpo Two]

brman said:

yes, but.....
the aperture ring will set the stopped down aperture. With macro you are likely to want all the depth of field you can so you will want it pretty stopped down (eg f16). If you just leave it like that you cannot see what you are doing to focus unless you have some very bright lights.
So, you still need to toggle the aperture lever to open the aperture up to focus, then let go so it stops down to take the shot.
I hope that makes sense.....

Yes. When the lens is on a body (the right way round!) the body holds the lens at max aperture for the brightest VF image. Then when you press the button the aperture jumps down to the set value.

If you do buy string make sure it's Nikon compatible

[Vintage Racer]

I do a lot of macro and gave up on 'rings' years ago. Nowadays, I use a Raynox DCR150 or DCR250, which simply clip on to my existing 18-55, or 70-200 lens (or any len up to 67mm filter). It also allows manual, or AF and is incredibly simple to use. In fact, I use AF 90% of the time!

Another big advantage, is that if I want to revert to normal lens usage quickly, I simply unclip the Raynox and i'm back to conventional lens in seconds!

Here's a couple of shots, using it on my 70-200f4:

DSC_3516_00009 (4) by Glynn Hobbs, on Flickr

DSC_1879 (2) by Glynn Hobbs, on Flickr


my blog: https://imageweaver.blogspot.com/

Edited by Vintage Racer on Saturday 23 May 11:58