Thursday 1 March 2018

lens - Why is the aperture ring removed from new Nikon lenses?



Maybe I'm wrong, but I notice that Nikon's newer lenses don't have an aperture ring. For example, an older AF 35 mm f/2D is now replaced by AF-S DX 35 mm f/1.8G, or AF 50 mm f/1.8D is replaced by a newer AF-S 50 mm f/1.4G.


I never used a D-type lens, but I believe that it is much easier to rotate the aperture ring on the lens than pressing a specific button then rotating the wheel on the DSLR body when you need to adjust the aperture (and it always annoyed me to do it this way, since I often change aperture and I can't do it while keeping the camera at my face with a finger on a shutter button).


So why is the aperture ring removed more and more from the Nikon lenses?



Answer



It's now more common to control aperture through the camera.


The mechanical aperture ring adds cost, mechanical complexity which can lead to equipment breaking, and it can be confusing to users (if it's set to something other than the smallest aperture many cameras will give a confusing error on a lot of modes).


It also prevents Nikon from putting a seal on the lens mount, which helps weather sealing.


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