It has been sometime since I have been able to use my old manual focus lenses. On my prior digital SLR there was no support for either focusing or metering. With the new Nikon D300, I am once again able to use them. I did simple test inside the house this evening using my 50 mm 1.4 AI lens. With the D300 you tell it the focal length and maximum aperture of the manual lens you have attached and it works fine from that point. Focusing is not as easy as with the older cameras that had screens geared for manual focus, but there is a rangefinder indicator that works. Here is a shot I took wide open, at f1.4, 1/125 sec, ISO of 400. Lighting is all ambient. Notice the very shallow dept of field.

As an experiment I took a second shot changing it to f2.0, 1/60 second, also ISO 400.

I expected a more shallow dept of field at f1.4 compared with f2.0 but it looked about the same.

Categories: Equipment
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