D5100 and AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D

[bilgebay]

I have a monofied D5100 camera but no lenses for it yet. I want to dedicate it to widefield Ha imaging. The crucial thing is I must be able to focus the lens via BYN as I will be imaging remotely. Could any of you confirm that this lense can be focused via Camera Lens Drive without any problems ?

 

Thanks and clear skies

 

Sedat

[admin]

1 hour ago, bilgebay said:

I stand corrected. It appears Nikon's Camera Control Pro is able to control every aspect of this lens except for the zoom function.. In live view mode you can focus the lens by selecting AF-S mode then you switch back to MF and proceed with the captuure via BYN. This way lens remains focused and AF is not activated during shooting. During all this, the switch on the lens remains at M/A position.This is a real game changer for me.

That is great Sadat.

I wish Nikon (and Canon) would provide real support and real documentation for their SDK in situation like this.  I'm sure is not that complicated to do but without any real documentation it is like looking for a needle in a haystack in a barn full of haystacks... and then some.

Regards,

[admin]

This has been discuss many times before.  

Driving a lens is not a camera function, it is a lens function.... that is where the lens motor is.

In order to drive the lens, it must have the ability to be driven by the SDK and the camera must also be capable and handing over the command to the lens.  It's been long documented and talked about here on the forum.  It's the same for Canon.

The other issue is that most lens must be put in AF mode to engage the motor... but when you want to take a picture at night you want/need it to be set to MF.  It's one of those features that is simply not meant to work in the dark, and even if it would work you would need to touch the camera between focusing and imaging to move it from AF to MF.  It's a lose-lose situation to begin with sadly  

Regards,

[astroman133]

Another issue is that with the short focal length, the stars will be so small that the focus metrics will likely not work.

I have a manual focus 16 mm Rokinon lens that I have used to shoot widefield nighttime images. One of the reasons that I bought it was because it has an accurate infinity mark on the focus ring. I adjusted the focus on the infinity mark and taped the focus ring in place so that it could not accidentally shift. I was able to shoot 1300 20 second images of the Milky Way rising and setting over nearly an entire night. The camera was mounted on a vixen Polarie camera mount. The Polarie is usually polar-aligned, but I oriented it horizontally and let it pan across the southern horizon.

[bilgebay]

1 hour ago, admin said:

This has been discuss many times before.  

Driving a lens is not a camera function, the is a lens function.... that is where the lens motor is.

In order to drive the lens, it must have the ability to be driven by the SDK and the camera must also be capable and handing over the command to the lens.  It's been long documented and talked about here on the forum.  It's the same for Canon.

Sorry for asking it again. I tried to find the duscussions but somehow they didn't come up in my searches.

I guess I'm lucky to be able to control a Canon 100mm f/2 lens on a EOS 70D at MF setting. It works perfectly. This is what gave me courage to ask the question. Maybe there is a similar lucky combination on the Nikon side too ?

Were you able to get good results with your monofied D5100 ?

Cheers

[bilgebay]

37 minutes ago, astroman133 said:

Another issue is that with the short focal length, the stars will be so small that the focus metrics will likely not work.

I have a manual focus 16 mm Rokinon lens that I have used to shoot widefield nighttime images. One of the reasons that I bought it was because it has an accurate infinity mark on the focus ring. I adjusted the focus on the infinity mark and taped the focus ring in place so that it could not accidentally shift. I was able to shoot 1300 20 second images of the Milky Way rising and setting over nearly an entire night. The camera was mounted on a vixen Polarie camera mount. The Polarie is usually polar-aligned, but I oriented it horizontally and let it pan across the southern horizon.

Thank you Rick. I see your point and appreciate your tip regarding the 16mm Rokinon lens. I can consider that lens as well. However, I remember  my 35mm Rokinon, despite having the infinity mark like yours, requiring several  focus adjustments through the night. Not having to deal with focusing the lens is great but I hate bloated stars.

Clear skies

Sedat

[astroman133]

If you can drive your lens when the switch is in the manual focus position, then the lens is not typical. Usually the MF position disengages the motors so you can easily move the focus ring manually and so the camera will not be able to adjust the focus when you take a picture.

[bilgebay]

It is this lens. A friend of mine is able to operate his 24-105L f/4 lens in MF mode. So, I understand this is a hit or miss...  or maybe Canon updated their SDK to allow this, I don't know. Today I will receive a friends 10-24mm Nikkor lens. I will give it a try anf share the result here.

 

Clear skies

[bilgebay]

in 2015 I put together a lens focusing system for my Moravian 16200 and Atik 460EX cameras. If my Nikkor lense trials fail I will revert to that system. Here are some photos of the system.

[bilgebay]

On 6/30/2020 at 11:29 AM, bilgebay said:

It is this lens. A friend of mine is able to operate his 24-105L f/4 lens in MF mode. So, I understand this is a hit or miss...  or maybe Canon updated their SDK to allow this, I don't know. Today I will receive a friends 10-24mm Nikkor lens. I will give it a try anf share the result here.

 

Clear skies

 

I can confirm that Nikkor 10-24mm lens is not letting me have focus control via BYN at any setting. Ascom control via my belt drive seems to be the safest option.

[bilgebay]

I stand corrected. It appears Nikon's Camera Control Pro is able to control every aspect of this lens except for the zoom function.. In live view mode you can focus the lens by selecting AF-S mode then you switch back to MF and proceed with the captuure via BYN. This way lens remains focused and AF is not activated during shooting. During all this, the switch on the lens remains at M/A position.This is a real game changer for me.

[bilgebay]

I fully understand the difficulties involved without proper support from the camera manufacturers. I'm not very experienced with BYN but BYE does a great job and it was my main capture tool for many years until I switched to CCD imaging. Maybe there are some other members who already discovered this trick for focusing the lens. Thanks to this method, not accessing the lens focus controls via BYN is not a show stopper for me. Yes, it's an extra step but not that much... 

Thank you for the great software and your excellent support as always.

Clear skies

[bilgebay]

 

On 7/4/2020 at 2:48 PM, bilgebay said:

It appears Nikon's Camera Control Pro is able to control every aspect of this lens except for the zoom function.. In live view mode you can focus the lens by selecting AF-S mode then you switch back to MF and proceed with the captuure via BYN. This way lens remains focused and AF is not activated during shooting. During all this, the switch on the lens remains at M/A position.This is a real game changer for me.

 

 

I can confirm that Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 G lens is also fully controlled via Camera Control Pro. Just so you know.