Easy newbie Canon Rebel XT 1st questions

All Things Mopar wrote:
Today Paul Furman commented courteously on the subject at
hand


No, that just doesn't work. If the flash pulse hits
something reflective, it /will/ majorly underexpose the
image, much more than the flash EV +2.0 will fix. So, the
only solution is to go to full manual, for which I need to
know the distance, at least an estimate.

One thing that might help with metering is see what you
have to get something close to spot metering. The rebel
should have an option that comes close to that. I just
posted another thread 'D70 meter 'knows' when it's dark'
which discusses my confusion about similar problems.


Paul, please see my reply to Alan. I've tried to limit the
number of permutations of things I'm experimenting with, but
definitely intend to try spot metering. Thanks.


Sorry, no spot metering on a Rebel XT.

Greg

--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons

All Things Mopar wrote:

number of permutations of things I'm experimenting with, but
definitely intend to try spot metering. Thanks.

In camera meters used shot to shot are never going to result in
consistent exposures across a set of images of the same subject in a
given light. Find the right expsosure (by whatever means you fancy but
an incident meter is very useful). Set that manually and shoot all of
the shots of that subject in that light with that setting. Consistency
is the reward.

Cheers,
Alan


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-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

Today Alan Browne commented courteously on the subject at
hand

All Things Mopar wrote:

number of permutations of things I'm experimenting with,
but definitely intend to try spot metering. Thanks.

In camera meters used shot to shot are never going to
result in consistent exposures across a set of images of
the same subject in a given light.

No ****?! I didn't know that! Thanks for enlightening me!

Find the right
expsosure (by whatever means you fancy but an incident
meter is very useful). Set that manually and shoot all of
the shots of that subject in that light with that setting.
Consistency is the reward.

There you go again. An incident meter? Surely you jest? I
haven't used one of those since I was 15, even though I fully
understand what they're for and how to use them. And, yes, I
understand the really, really complex math behind calculating
correct exposure given distance and flash GN. Wow!

The idea, Alan and everybody, is to develop as best a "one
size fits all" technique to use for whatever an "average" car
picture is, then alter it according to conditions du jour,
while learning from past mistakes.

What the hell did people do when all there was were fixed
focal length, fixed focus, no AE cameras? That was when I was
a child and teenager, but I have plenty of pics taken by my
family from the 1930s to 1960s that I treasure, even though by
today's standards they are pretty dismal.

--
ATM, aka Jerry

"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the
pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre

All Things Mopar wrote:

Today Alan Browne commented courteously on the subject at
hand


All Things Mopar wrote:


number of permutations of things I'm experimenting with,
but definitely intend to try spot metering. Thanks.

In camera meters used shot to shot are never going to
result in consistent exposures across a set of images of
the same subject in a given light.


No ****?! I didn't know that! Thanks for enlightening me!

Find the right

expsosure (by whatever means you fancy but an incident
meter is very useful). Set that manually and shoot all of
the shots of that subject in that light with that setting.
Consistency is the reward.


There you go again. An incident meter? Surely you jest? I
haven't used one of those since I was 15, even though I fully
understand what they're for and how to use them. And, yes, I
understand the really, really complex math behind calculating
correct exposure given distance and flash GN. Wow!

The idea, Alan and everybody, is to develop as best a "one
size fits all" technique to use for whatever an "average" car
picture is, then alter it according to conditions du jour,
while learning from past mistakes.

What the hell did people do when all there was were fixed
focal length, fixed focus, no AE cameras? That was when I was
a child and teenager, but I have plenty of pics taken by my
family from the 1930s to 1960s that I treasure, even though by
today's standards they are pretty dismal.

I don't know why you're getting so "testy" with me. It is clear from
your posts that your main difficulty is in metering. For my part I
shoot manual focus all of the time, incident metering (available and
flash) much of the time and in-camera spot-metering the rest of the
time. For that matter in some conditions I don't meter at all as I know
precisely what the EV is and I set exposure accordingly and with
whatever biases for effect that may strike my fancy. For another
matter, my best camera does not have a meter of any kind, nor AF at all,
and yet it is by far the most pleasurable to work with.

If you call yourself a "newbie" don't be surprised at the answers.

And NO NO NO there is no "one size fits all" technique.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

Charles Gillen wrote:

The only problem Pentax DSLR owners report is that they rarely encounter
anybody else sporting a Pentax... so like Shakespeare's Henry V we can say
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

New Pentax DSLR will come out .... next time the Brits fight the French
.... on Saint Crispins.

(One of my favourite Shakespeare speeches, that...)

Cheers,
Alan



--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.

Today Alan Browne commented courteously on the subject at
hand

I don't know why you're getting so "testy" with me. It is
clear from your posts that your main difficulty is in
metering. For my part I shoot manual focus all of the
time, incident metering (available and flash) much of the
time and in-camera spot-metering the rest of the time. For
that matter in some conditions I don't meter at all as I
know precisely what the EV is and I set exposure
accordingly and with whatever biases for effect that may
strike my fancy. For another matter, my best camera does
not have a meter of any kind, nor AF at all, and yet it is
by far the most pleasurable to work with.

It is just as clear to me that you have no clue as to what I
know or don't know, and what I've done and not done.

If you call yourself a "newbie" don't be surprised at the
answers.

I didn't say that /I/ was a newbie, I said I had a newbie
question about the XT. There is a big difference. Don't
comprehend that? Take remedial reading, and re-read my OP. If
that insults you, so be it. You have been right down there in
the dirt with most of the others, taking great delight in
showing off how smart you are, while making me look as
imbecilic as possible.

And NO NO NO there is no "one size fits all" technique.

No ****?! I didn't know that! Thanks.

Reflect on this thought: Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Sony, yada,
yada, yada, all sell DSLR cameras in the same general price
category all with the same general specs and features. The
target customer is so broad that it encompasses first time
digital camera users all the way to current 35mm or large
format professional film photographers. You suppose, just
suppose, that there are shooting modes and options that might
fit a Gaussian distribution curve of all possible
photographers out past the 3 sigma deviation?

--
ATM, aka Jerry

"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the
pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...



New Pentax DSLR will come out .... next time the Brits fight the French
... on Saint Crispins.

(One of my favourite Shakespeare speeches, that...)




Shakespeare plugged Pentax? That's product placement, surely? ;-)