V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 407
• If you use teleconverters or extension tubes, the effective
aperture must be f/5.6 or faster. Again, sometimes an
effective aperture of f/8 works, but don’t count on it—at
best, autofocus will be slow to lock on.
In both of the above cases, you must not be manually stopped
down (e.g. have set an aperture of f/11
on the lens aperture
ring
).
Depth of Field Preview
The D300 features a Depth of Field Preview button that closes
down the aperture of the lens to the one that will be used
during exposure. This allows you to see the approximate
depth of field of the final image.
Note: Immediately after you’ve taken a picture, the Depth of Field
Preview button doesn’t always work (you can hit it too soon
after the previous exposure was taken). Press the shutter
release partway to establish an exposure, and then retry the
button.
Many D300 users question whether depth of field on a D300
is the same as on a 35mm film body or the FX sensor on the
D3 (assuming the same lens, focus point, and aperture
settings). After dealing with this issue for years on previous
Nikon DX DSLR models, I can state conclusively that the
answer is “no.”
Depth of field in the 35mm film world is often calculated as
follows:
NearFocus
=
Distance
1
+
Distance *
Aperture
1000
* FocalLength
FarFocus
=
Distance
1
Distance *
Aperture
1000
* FocalLength
