minolta MD 50mm 1.7 aperture problem?

Question

I got this minolta X300 with the minolta MD 50mm 1.7 lens..
When the lens is attached to the camera, the aperture ring wont work.. even you turn it, the aperture won't get smaller... it sticks to 1.7

but when it's not attached to the camera, the aperture ring works...the aperture changes..
I don't have any other MD mount lens or Minolta MD mount cameras.. so I've no idea what's wrong with this.. HELP PLEASE? did I attach it wrongly? or should I go fix it? my dad's friend give this to me, he said he bought it on ebay...

Answer 1

Minolta 50mm 1.7

Answer 2

i'm particular the lens will connect with the NEX digital camera, no remember in case you may surely use the meter interior the digital camera at an identical time as manually adjusting the MD lenses aperture, which you will would desire to ask Sony The NEX technologies is purely too new to have all that information available to maximum persons. call Sony and ask them. 800.222.SONY

Answer 3

Its working exactly as it was designed to work. Its called "meter coupled" and was quite a major advance when introduced. Here's a basic description of how it works. The lens is "coupled" to the light meter by a mechanical linkage. Suppose you choose f16 on the aperture ring of your lens. As you turn the aperture ring to f16 it actuates a variable resistor or rheostat that causes the meter to meter the scene at f16 although your lens remains wide-open at f1.7. Once you've decided on your composition as you press the shutter release the lens stops-down to f16 - the taking aperture you selected.



In the bad old days before meter coupling you would compose with the lens wide-open and then stop-down to the f-stop you wanted to use and then set the shutter speed indicated by the meter. As you stopped-down the lens the viewfinder got darker and darker the more you stopped-down. Even in bright daylight it was difficult to view your scene at f16. This is called stop-down metering and, as you've probably guessed, its quite a pain to use.

Answer 4

Open aperture TTL metering.



If your camera has a depth-of-field preview, you can use that to check if the aperture's working, but it seems to be.



Try taking the lens off the camera, stopping down, and then flicking the stop-down lever (mechanical lever at 6 o'clock on the lens' rear face), to demonstrate the principle.



The camera body holds this lever in the, 'Open,' position, releasing it only when the shutter is fired (or the photographer presses the depth-of-field preview button).



Movement of the aperture ring does, however, send input to the camera's meter so the meter thinks you're stopped down - even when you're viewing at full aperture.



If you've ever used a screw mount camera (or any other body with stopped-down metering) you'll understand just how useful this is.

Answer 5

The aperture stays open on the camera to give a bright image in the viewfinder. It closes to the required value when you activate the shutter then opens up again.



Set it to f/22 and 1 second - fire the shutter while looking down the lens - you will see it close then open again