Question about the Nikon D5100

G

ghoti

Messages
1,355
Edit My Images
Yes
Sorry for leaping straight into the forum with a question, but it's an earnest one and this looks like a place full of people who know what they're talking about.

My question is: before I go off and buy one, does anyone know if the Nikon D5100 will shoot video without a lens attached? If the camera wants to set, for example, aperture automatically, it may well throw an error at me if it can't detect a lens. I've heard talk of this happening with other makes and models.

Thanks!
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum.

In short, the answer is no. The D5100 is a digital SLR and it will need a lens attached to achieve focus to take stills or shoot video.
 
Northstander said:
Hi, and welcome to the forum.

In short, the answer is no. The D5100 is a digital SLR and it will need a lens attached to achieve focus to take stills or shoot video.
Click to expand...
In principle, you can take stills on any dSLR without a lens attached in manual mode. You could - and people do - take blank frames with the body cap on, if you wanted, as long as you're using a setting where the camera does not need to speak to a lens.

What I want to do is attach the camera to a large telescope via a t-ring and shoot video. Now, this can potentially be a problem because some cameras want to automatically set aperture when shooting video, become somewhat confused when they get no response from the "lens", and return an error message. What I want to know is whether the D5100 is such a camera. If it is, it's of no use to me.
 
Last edited:
ghoti said:
In principle, you can take stills on any dSLR without a lens attached in manual mode. You could - and people do - take blank frames with the body cap on, if you wanted, as long as you're using a setting where the camera does not need to speak to a lens.

What I want to do is attach the camera to a large telescope via a t-ring and shoot video. Now, this can potentially be a problem because some cameras want to automatically set aperture when shooting video, become somewhat confused when they get no response from the "lens", and return an error message. What I want to know is whether the D5100 is such a camera. If it is, it's of no use to me.
Click to expand...

Would have been a good idea to explain all that in your original post! ;)

I don't know what the D5100's controls are like when it comes to video. Someone who owns one will be able to tell you.
 
Northstander said:
Would have been a good idea to explain all that in your original post! ;)

I don't know what the D5100's controls are like when it comes to video. Someone who owns one will be able to tell you.
Click to expand...
The D5100 is attractive to me because of the flip out live-view screen, which makes it easier to monitor and adjust the image when the telescope is at angles best suited to a contortionist. But this is obviously moot if it's going to take a huff in video mode when it can't find a lens.

Anyway...bump.
 
Someone? Anyone?

Am I just going to have to phone or visit a specialist? "Jessops" won't have a clue.
 
ghoti said:
Someone? Anyone?

Am I just going to have to phone or visit a specialist? "Jessops" won't have a clue.
Click to expand...

Blimey, show some patience. :shake:

Maybe someone will answer your question(s) when they get in from work!
 
If anyone cares, or the question ever comes up again, the answer is: yes, it does work, but only in manual mode. Same with the D3100 and the D7000, it seems.
 
putting a telescope on a DSLR is like attaching old manual lens on your camera, i.e M42 lens.

Just attached the telescope to your camera using a T adapter then set your camera on "Manual" mode and click record on the live view mode.
 
i own the nikon d5100 as i borght it when it first come out, i borght it mainly for still photography and for that purpose it is great the hd movies on it are okay but the auto focus on the videos isnt amazing as i find it is very sensative and took alot of getting used to unlike other dsrl i have used video on this one kept finishing recording when i focused, but on the manual focus it was alot easy to do, but you do have to have the lens attached as it wont allow you to film or captor a photowith out the lens attached. hope this helps x
 
i do still s mainly but do video at work. I can tell you, auto focus on the DSLR is ok even with face detect etc. Is not too bad but don't expect great focus for film or major video work etc.

Manual focus is the key when doing video, the above poster mention the film is finish by the time the focus is adjust but thats down to technique. Abit of practice on manual focus you should be fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top