# Nikon D5100 Only one Dial?



## DGMPhotography (Apr 16, 2012)

Okay, so I have a dial that controls shutter speed, but what about aperture? I thought aperture control could be independent of the zoom level of the lens,  but it appears I can only change my aperture by zooming in and out. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be? I'm not sure, I'm new to photography, but I've handled other cameras which have a dial for both. Help? 

Thanks!


----------



## Derrel (Apr 16, 2012)

You press a small button and hold it in, then use the thumb wheel to shift aperture wider or narrower. When the small button is released, the thumb wheel goes back to adjusting the shutter speeds.

A variable maximum aperture lens when zoomed in and out will often (but not "always") cause the aperture to shift. But rest assured, there *is* a system that allows the thumb wheel control to adjust the aperture on lower-level Canon and Nikon bodies!


----------



## MTVision (Apr 16, 2012)

DGMPhotography said:
			
		

> Okay, so I have a dial that controls shutter speed, but what about aperture? I thought aperture control could be independent of the zoom level of the lens,  but it appears I can only change my aperture by zooming in and out. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be? I'm not sure, I'm new to photography, but I've handled other cameras which have a dial for both. Help?
> 
> Thanks!



Reading the manual is super helpful. 

In manual mode hold done the +\- button and spin wheel to change the aperture. In aperture priority model the wheel controls aperture. 

You can change the aperture by zooming in ad out because the lens has a variable aperture - meaning the aperture changes based on the focal length.


----------



## KmH (Apr 17, 2012)

All of the 'compact' Nikon entry-level cameras - D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000, D5100 only have the one Command wheel.

As mentioned holding down the +/- button there near the shutter release, while turning the command wheel adjusts the lens aperture.

When you read the user's manual be sure and make note of the 3 metering modes, 3 auto focus modes, 3 auto-focus area modes, range of white balance settings, flash control settings, and picture control settings you have available. In addition, your D5100 can display a histogram on the rear LCD you can use to evaluate the exposure distribution in your photos.


----------



## DGMPhotography (Apr 18, 2012)

Thank you all so much!!!


----------



## greybeard (Apr 26, 2012)

The ISO selftimer custom mod is easy and very useful.


----------

