New to d3100, have comp issue w/ older (~1987) Nikon series E Zoom 75-150 mm lens

kp1989

New member
Nikon support and salesperson said they were compatible in M mode, however my Photos are blank. We are in Cooperstown for baseball tournament...so wanted to get close-ups of my son playing baseball. I'm sick over my missed opportunities!
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
What are your settings? ISO, aperture, shutter speed, light conditions? Does the camera see the lens or does it refuse to take pictures?
 

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
You got it in one Marcel. I did not get the question until I put a old manual lens on my D3100.

They will need to put the aperture to F22. Then everything should work properly.
 

kp1989

New member
OK. I reformatted the memory card.

I set it to Manual.

I set my aperture to 22.

Camera (using viewfinder) acknowledges lens (it ignores it in A, S, P modes).

Camera takes photo.

Photo is completely dark.

Any other ideas.
 

kp1989

New member
Oh I also saw the other questions.

It was outdoors in bright (but not overly bright) light. iso is whatever the default is set at: 100? Shutter speed (I don't know how to change that). As I said, I'm new to digital SLR's. My old 2020 wasn't so "complicated."
 

PavementPilot

New member
Ok, when mounting a Series E lens, and I have one, you need to take full control of all settings manually. The D3100 will not meter at all with this lens. You should start with the Sunny 16 rule and adjust from there. If you are not fimiliar with the exposure triangle, them please read Bryan Peterson's book 'Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition' or later. Now that you have the ISO at 100, shutter to 1/125 and the aperture at 16, once you adjust one value, you need to compensate for it with one or both of the others. You will also need to understand the adjustments from the Sunny 16 rule for other lighting changes.

I would start with the Sunny 16 Rule, and take a picture. Then look at the histogram and adjust from there. Once you attain the correct exposure, but want to have a different capture effect (motion or freeze) then adjust the shutter speed to your preffered selection, and compensate for it with the ISO or Aperture. Same goes for changing aperture (DOF) and compensate with ISO or shutter speed.

I have a prime lens, so my aperture remains where it is set, but with the zoom, you will have to constantly compensate for changing zoom effecting the aperture, unless the lens is a constant in all zoom ranges.

You will need to change the aperture on the lens as there is no control from the camera for it.
 
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kp1989

New member
Thank you so much for all of the advice. Once I figure out the camera settings a little more and in how to adjust my shutter speed - need to read the info on the CD about manual settings. I've only had the camera 4 days! I'm learning; I just didn't realize how much "menu" I'd have to go through to get to the settings I was used to on my old film Nikon.

I'm just glad I'll eventually be able to use my old zoom; eventually I'll upgrade, but for now that is my only hope to get some "close-up" shots at the ballfield.

Thanks again!
 

PavementPilot

New member
You will find manual focusing with the lens is very touchy. I am talking a finger twitch or even just the slightest lean foward or backward will get your focus light going on and off.

What is the f/stops on that zoom you are using. Is it a constant or varying f/stop with zooom?
 

kp1989

New member
My lens is:
Nikon Lens Series E
Zoom 75-150 mm 1:3.5
3061280

3.5 to 32 are my aperture choices
I guess the manual focus sensitivity is good and bad (much like my aging eyes!)

(Remember, I know NO photography terms - all I know is from playing around with things)
 

PavementPilot

New member
Ok you have one great advantage with this lens, and that is it is a constant f/stop through the zoom range, indicated by the single f/stop number in the specs. That means once you get proper exposure, you will not have to change it, unless the lighting changes, when you zoom. If a lens reads for example like my lens, 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6, then the aperture changes with the zoom. That makes for issues when using it without the camera metering for me.

Your lens going all the way to f/32 is nice for distance scenery. As for terminalogy, it is easy to pick up. I would strongly suggest you read the book I indicated earlier. I came from a PAS (point and shoot) and this book taught me the three key elements to correct exposure, and how the relate to each other. This is known as the exposure triangle.

To start you off, DOF is Depth of Field, and that is controlled by the aperture, known as f/stop. The smaller the number, the shallower the DOF, so your subject is in focus but behind and in front will be Out Of Focus (OOF), meaning blurry. The larger the number, the more DOF you have. One other thing to remember is the smaller the f/stop number the larger the opening is, the larger the number the smaller the hole is. But do not get confused by it. Shutter speed controls the speed of the shutter, and with slower shutter speeds, you will get blur if you move, but sometimes you want this, to imply motion, such as following a speeding car. A faster speed will freeze motion, with crisp detail. Think jogger with both feet off the ground, frozen and in crisp detail. ISO is the same as film, it is the sensitivity to light. Think of your sensor as film, and ISO makes sense. With the D3100 you can shoot at 800 with practically no noise (grain in film), and 1600 is starts to show up and can be corrected in post production (PP) (editting you shots on the computer). At 3200 it is very noticable but still correctable. Higher than that you can correct in PP, but it is still noticable.
 
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kp1989

New member
It worked. Maybe I can try and post some sample photos I took. I'm just tickled pink!
DSC_0019.JPGDSC_0027.JPG
 
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