[yangfilo]

Hello I'm new to DSLR's I just purchased A K-30. I strictly shoot video. I have purchased a Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 Wide Angle Lens (manual focus, manual aperture ring with the "A" button. My Main goal is to capture video and control shallow depth of field. I will not be shooting with a shutter speed less than 1/60 of a second. My video capture will be HD 30fps. The last time I used a camera was 30 years ago and all I had to do was enter the ISO film speed (which was usually 100) the Shutter speed which was usually around 150, and set the aperture ring for bright days, overcast or sunset, 16,8, or 4. Now it seems these new camera's check 4 things before they shoot. I have tried what other on-line have suggested, but I can't seem to manually adjust my aperture ring without the camera over riding it. Even when I set it to the "A" button and attempt to adjust the aperature manually in the camera (not on the lens) I can't achieve the deep shallow depth of field, or for that matter any darkening of my image. Please be sure to look at my only goals here to :be able to control my shallow depth of field in video.
Thanks

[grispie]

1. make sure you have set the camera "to allow other aperture than A" (somewhere in the menu at the end) Then it will accept manual aperture besides "A". Might be the best in your case.
2. Are you sure you've set the camera in M mode in de video! menu (push "info" while in video mode and select M)?

[yangfilo]

1. make sure you have set the camera "to allow other aperture than A" (somewhere in the menu at the end) Then it will accept manual aperture besides "A". Might be the best in your case.
2. Are you sure you've set the camera in M mode in de video! menu (push "info" while in video mode and select M)?

When I click Info, the first box is M with the rear dial (Exposure Setting Manual Exposure) Second Box is (Custom Bright Image) Third box is (Digital Filter No Filter) Fourth box is (AE Metering Multi-segment) Fifth Box is (Contrast AF Face Detection) This lens is Manual focus only, Sixth Box is (Highlight Correction Auto) Seventh Box is (Shadow Correction Auto) Eighth Box is (Recorded Pixels 1920 x 1080), Ninth Box is (Framerate 30fps rear dial) Tenth box is (Quality Level) *** rear dial, Eleventh Box is (Recording Sound Level) rear dial, Twelfth Box is Movie SR (shake reduction on) rear dial

[grispie]

that is fine,
set lens on A
normally you should be able to select the three variables on the bottom of the screen

if not: try this:
select menu / go to "C" / last option : using aperture ring: 2: enable

Now try again but not by putting the lens on A but by changing the F stops manually
?

[yangfilo]

that is fine,
set lens on A
normally you should be able to select the three variables on the bottom of the screen

if not: try this:
select menu / go to "C" / last option : using aperture ring: 2: enable

Now try again but not by putting the lens on A but by changing the F stops manually
?

The visible light on the screen changes, but not the depth of field.

[grispie]

The visible light on the screen changes, but not the depth of field.

so the visible light is changing when you open or close the aperture ring manually? correct.
if so, it means it is working.

if you focus on sthing close to you, a bottle or glass, at F of 1.4, you should see a very small depth of field? correct?
to check whether your depth of field changes (becomes bigger) by closing the aperture, you'll have to film sthing (preferably daylight..) and see it on your pc screen.
the lcd simply gets too dark indoors to verify that your depth of field increases when closing down the aperture. With a dslr you have to seriously close the aperture to increase depth of field.