D5000 DSLR wont work with T Ring/Mount

[Kell]

Hi there - new here and although having been into Astronomy on and off for 10 years have never attempted astophotography.

Im about to try Astrophotography for the first time, I have a Nikon D5000 DSLR and a 10" Dob and a 90mm Mak - ordered several combinations of T rings and mount adapters for Prime focus and Eyepiece Projection however the D5000 doesnt seem to like having its Nikkor lenses pulled off and the T Ring and Eye Piece tube Adapter installed - it says Lens not attached and refuses to work even in Manual mode?

I notice several people on here have Nikon D5000s and are happily snapping away at the heavens so I guess theres a trick of some sort involved and would greatly appreciate if someone would be able to send some wisdom my way in regard to getting Nikon's to work without their lenses attached?

[ZeroID]

In my KM Dynax it's called 'Shutter Lock' in the menu. Set it to 'Off' and the camera won't check for lens presence. Nikon may call it something else but that is what you are looking for.

Cheers
Brent

[Steffen]

Attaching anything other than a CPU lens disables metering on the D5000, so you can't use any of the auto exposure modes (A, S, P, Auto, etc). However, in M the camera should work and the shutter should fire.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Kell]

Mmm interesting mine doesn't seem to want to do this I tried it several times, might be the T Ring?
Do you know if the live view works on the Nikon D5000 for the people who can get it to work in Manual mode?

[Poita]

Yes live view works in manual mode.

Set the dial to M and also select manual focus in the Info screen.

Make sure you have connected an actual lens at least once.

[gbeal]

While I don't have a Nikon, my Sony Alpha was like that. There is a submenu that you go to and select the ability to fire the shutter, without a lens attached.
Have a poke around in the menu(s).
Gary

[Kell]

Yep thanks guys - got it to work it was the manual focus select thing that worked!

Any advice for settings - ive got my ISO on auto and noticed several of the photos looked washed out shooting terrestrially this afternoon.

Im looking at tracking Aircraft at cruise altitude 35000 - 40000 feet with it as well as astrophotography, will post piccies as soon as I get some.

Thanks again for the help..