Nikon f1.8 50mm prime with T2i issues

[dawicka2]

I have been using my nikon 50mm prime with my t2i for the last few days and there were no issues.

Because this is a manual lens, i am aware that camera can't sense AV. I have been shooting in manual mode while using the dial on the lens and viewfinder to focus.

When i went to use the lcd screen today.... it was dark. I can no longer use this screen to focus like the last few days. The only thing i have done differently was use the flash last night.

Could this have something to do with it, even though it makes absolutely NO sense?

Thanks in advance,

John NY

[Lori Hill]

OK call me stupid for this, but isn't the T21 a canon camera.......I didn't think the lenses would work with the different brands

[dawicka2]

Yeah. I have a china adapter on it. Sorry left that out.

John NY

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by dawicka2

I have been using my nikon 50mm prime with my t2i for the last few days and there were no issues.

Because this is a manual lens, i am aware that camera can't sense AV. I have been shooting in manual mode while using the dial on the lens and viewfinder to focus.

When i went to use the lcd screen today.... it was dark. I can no longer use this screen to focus like the last few days. The only thing i have done differently was use the flash last night.

Could this have something to do with it, even though it makes absolutely NO sense?

Thanks in advance,

John NY

maybe it's just a coincidence...did you charge/replace the camera battery? if using a battery grip, is the grip tight? If both those check out, take off the Nikon and put on one of your canon lenses and see if anything changes... I am with you - no reason for it to work then not work so i suspect another issue...

[inkista]

Originally Posted by dawicka2

Because this is a manual lens, i am aware that camera can't sense AV.

Actually, Av is the one automated mode you CAN use with a manual lens. The camera simply can't change the aperture for you. In Av mode, you're asking it to shift the shutter speed around, so the camera can still handle it. In Tv, P, or full auto or the scene modes, you may be requiring the camera to shift the aperture, and that's why those modes don't "work" properly.

I have been shooting in manual mode while using the dial on the lens and viewfinder to focus.

I note that you do not mention the aperture ring.

When i went to use the lcd screen today.... it was dark. I can no longer use this screen to focus like the last few days. The only thing i have done differently was use the flash last night.

Did you stop the lens down? If you did, open it up again to f/1.8.

With an EOS lens on a Canon camera, the camera can control the lens aperture. By default, when you focus/compose the lens, the lens's aperture is held wide open all the time. In this case, at f/1.8. If you've set the lens to be stopped down at f/8 or something, the camera will only close the aperture to f/8 right before taking the picture, and then will open the lens back up again. When you change the aperture setting, the camera's system compensates the metering information, even though the actual amount of light hasn't changed.

However, with a non-reporting manual lens, where there's no electrical contact between the camera and the lens, the camera then switches into "stop-down metering" and the camera no longer compensates for the aperture setting, and in fact you won't be able to change the aperture setting on the camera at all. The metering is then based solely off the amount of light coming through the lens, so to get accurate metering, you have to actually close down the aperture. As the aperture gets smaller, less light is coming in, and your viewfinder gets dimmer and dimmer as the aperture goes down. By f/22, you're unlikely to have enough light to see by to focus correctly. Which is why the general advice when using a manual lens is to focus and compose first, then stop down and deal with the metering and exposure settings.

This is what was meant by "you have to use stop-down metering" in the advice that you probably read, but didn't quite fully comprehend when you first started researching using adapted lenses.