D700 with a 80-200mm f/2.8 lens

[2BeCalifornian]

Hello,

This morning I decided to experiment finding the No Parallax Point on my D700 + an old 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. Nothing has been typical so I decided to post my findings, with the hope it would help someone, someday.

1- the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 is a very heavy lens. In fact it has its own anchor for the tripod. So, I figured that's where the camera plate would be mounted, instead of underneath the camera. Then, surprise: when connected together, the bottom of the D700 and the lower part of the lens tripod attachment are NOT leveled. Put the combo on a table and the camera body is lifted up by 1mm. So, to compensate this offset, the positioning of the vertical rail on the lower rail should be at 61mm, not 60mm. By the way, even with this heavy lens on, I found the stability of the loaded NN5 quite amazing (note: I am using an EZleveller 2...Fantastic device!)

2- I ended up with 62mm @ 80mm focal, 65mm @ 105mm (with the Camera Plate mounted on the lens) - Just FYI.

3- Going further (200mm) is a challenge because the depth of field prevents getting the 2 stands / 1 stand + 1 referential in focus to find the Point of No Parallax. That got me thinking. This may be a big leap of faith in assuming this, but here's my theory: if someone was to create a panoramic picture using a 200mm lens, I would then assume the scene would be distant and therefore, and with nothing in the near field, there wouldn't be any fear of parallax. Therefore the positioning on the upper rail of my NN5 would be irrelevant. Has anyone had any similar experience? let me know!

Thanks,

Philippe

[hindenhaag]

Hello Phillippe,

yes, over all you are right, with long lenses you do not have so much trouble with the NNP. Hyperfocal distance for a 200mm lens changes from f2.8 with 400m to f16 with 50.1 m. You should look for a calculator to find out.

You can find some information for your lens on http://www.swissarmyfork.com/lens_table_1.htm. Use entrance pupil as described. Be aware, that zoom 165 ends up with -8,5, and 200 ends up with -29,8. This means the NNP lies behind!! your sensor plane. This means, you have to turn over the upper rail to the front to bring the camera to the right position.

The D3 with 70-200mm/f2.8 has an upper rail setting for 200 at 135mm, upper rail turned forward, with data of -5.5 behind the sensor plane. I suppose, also for your lens you should use the upper rail backwards till zoom 105, from 135 or even earlier you have to use the upper rail to the front.

You are right to use the lens connection. The 70-200mm/f2.8 VR has two holes on it. So you have to try and write down which connection you are using. My lens has two hole. The one to the camera i use to call hole 1. I connect CP1 to hole 2 long side to the lens. For zoom 135 the rail setting is 66mm.

I will send a photo,

good luck

Heinz

[hindenhaag]

the photos:

[Bill Bailey]

The camera/lens should be mounted in this manner:




see also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0pwqc-lwQ

[nick fan]

The camera/lens should be mounted in this manner:




see also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0pwqc-lwQ

For some tele lens at some focal length, the NPP is located behind the sensor plane.
Heinz has just illustrated the case for 80-200mm F2.8 at 200mm.


Nick

[2BeCalifornian]

Bill, Nick and Heinz, Thank You so much for your answers! This is really appreciated.

Philippe

[2BeCalifornian]

Hi guys,

More research...

I really enjoyed the link provided by Heinz: http://www.swissarmyfork.com/lens_table_1.htm

The NPP for most lenses are referenced to the film plane, or sensor plane for digital cameras.

For the D700, the Nikon user manual actually provides the distance between the lens mount (also called lens flange) and the sensor (which Nikon refers to as Focal Plane) - there is even a mark (called...focal plane mark) on the body of the camera. That distance (focal plane mark to lens mount) is 46.5mm/1.83in for the D700.

We're almost there...using the Camera Mounting Plate and its indication of the tripod mount axis, I measured 43.5mm to the lens mount.

Therefore, on a D700, the tripod mount axis is located 3mm away from the focal plane.

I tried to confirm this value with Nikon...they told me they did not have the tools to measure it , but my measurement must be close (how shameful, Nikon, really)...

SO... for D700 users who have lenses mentioned in the http://www.swissarmyfork.com/lens_table_1.htm website, take the NPP value referenced to the film plane and remove 3mm (add 3mm if the NPP value is negative), you're done!

Cheers!

Philippe

[hindenhaag]

Hi Philippe,

the link to the swissarmyfork site is already mentioned in the upper part of the of the camera settings site of nodal ninja as well as some others.

Anyway, i used this data in the same way as you for the 70-200mm/f2.8 VR lens. The day before yesterday i was discussing this problem with a friend, and my question was : "When there is nothing in between the last lens of the lens and the cameras sensor, and the distance lens flange / sensor and lens flange / tripod mount is the same in different cameras, all the upper rail settings for each lens should be the same for all the cameras."

Wow?!! D3, D200 and your D700 have the same sensor / lens flange distance of 46.5mm. Being eager to know, after i found out the D200 17-55mm/f2.8 DX settings, i tested the D200 with 14-24mm/F2.8 and batterygrip!!!

Settings of the D3 did not work with the D200 combination. Still parallax with the D3 settings with the D200. Cause you Philippe mentioned the tripod mount, i checked this with the D200: URGENT : The tripod mount of the camera and the one of the battery grip differ in vertical position!! The mount from the battery grip seems to be something about 7 mm in front of the one of the camera. Cause i lost my battery cover for the D200 i could not test the D200 without battery grip. I will do soon.

Please ladies and guys out there, test the camera mount positions for the battery grip of the D300/D700 as well.

So my conclusion is, the rail setting for the upper rail with and without battery grip can not be the same, cause we mount the camera with the grip round about 7 mm behind the NNP. For me this is the reason why i found parallax with the D200batterygrip 14-24mm/f2.8 upper rail settings to the D3 settings.

Following me, there should be now differences between FX and DX sensors according the NNP.

So please, send the measurements lensflange / tripod mount of your nikon camera and the distance of the sensor plane. I know sensor distance is for D3 D700 D200 is 46.5mm. I will check the D3 and D200 tripod mounts measurements tomorrow.

By the way, i think we should not use the rail settings without testing them with the own camera lens combination, cause there might be differences in mounting lenses and cameras during fabrication and serial numbers.

When i use zoom lenses, my rail settings are always tested with the white strip in the middle of the two numbers e.g.

I am looking forward to your reactions out there,

and as Phillippe says

Cheers, and till soon

Heinz