View finder display

Bea

Is there a setting that when using aperture priority I can actually SEE the effects on the display screen (so I can SEE where the blurring actually is before I shoot the photo)? This was possible in the 'old days' with my SLR Minolta. :-) Thanks.

bruto

Alas, there is no depth of field preview on these cameras, a feature left to higher models only. You can get it on a D7100, but not on a D3200.

You will always be viewing at maximum aperture, so any aperture smaller than that will decrease blur and increase depth of field, but you can only guess the exact extent of it. The only way to know for sure is to take pictures and look at the results.

Back in the old days of manual lenses, you could cheat on cameras that had no DOF preview (for example the Minolta X-370), by un-locking the lens and rotating it as if to remove it. It won't work with any G or AF lens, because they will go all the way to minimum aperture rather than stopping at your setting, but you can still do it with a manual lens. That was useful in the days of film, but now it's easier to take a half dozen pictures and save the one you like.

ohyeahar

Here are two solutions for you:

Option 1
Use Liveview. The depth of field as it appears on the LCD will match your photo, however, there are limitations.
- You can’t focus as fast as you can when just using the optical viewfinder.
- It takes a while to initiate Liveview.
- The aperture doesn’t change in real-time as you rotate the dial when in Liveview. You either have to exit and reenter Liveview or press the shutter for Liveview to update itself with the correct aperture (off the top of my head, only the D810 and the D750 has power aperture so that you can see the aperture change in real-time).
- In insufficient lighting and/or if you stop down to very small apertures, Liveview gets too dark to be usable. While your photos can use long shutter speeds, Liveview needs to keep the screen refreshed at whatever frames per second (probably 30, but not sure).

Options 2
Just take the shot, review it, and adjust if necessary. This is obviously the preferred method.

bruto

@ohyeahar is right, and I had not really thought much about it, but Live View does use whatever aperture was set when it was turned on. Although it does not show changes after it's on you can toggle back and forth. I almost never use Live View except sometimes for finicky macro focusing, so I tend to forget.