Starter slr question

On Dec 19, 8:09 am, Paul Furman wrote:
Scott W wrote:
On Dec 19, 7:53 am, Paul Furman wrote:
Scott W wrote:
How do you know he is not shooting film, my film SLRs have both Tv and
M settings.
Of course I don't really see much difference in how I set up a DSLR
from and SLR, do you?

Many of my 'DSLR lenses' won't do shutter priority :-)

I assume older lenses where the aperture is manually set?

Yep. Newer ones: you lock the ring at max, newer still have no ring.

My first SLR was a fancy one, it had a build in light meter. Of
course you had to set the shutter and aperture manually, but there was
a little needle that you can center and you might get close to the
right exposure.

Me too, that was sooo advanced!

It really was at the time. The lens had to let the camera know what
it was going to stop down to when the photo was taken, using a
mechanical link. As I recall when first putting on a new lens you had
to run through the range of f/stops to let the camera know what the
max f/number of the lens was. At the time it seemed pretty
impressive. I had a friend who scorned the fancy new cameras with
build in metering.

Scott

Scott W wrote:
On Dec 19, 8:09 am, Paul Furman wrote:
Scott W wrote:
On Dec 19, 7:53 am, Paul Furman wrote:
Scott W wrote:
How do you know he is not shooting film, my film SLRs have both Tv and
M settings.
Of course I don't really see much difference in how I set up a DSLR
from and SLR, do you?
Many of my 'DSLR lenses' won't do shutter priority :-)
I assume older lenses where the aperture is manually set?
Yep. Newer ones: you lock the ring at max, newer still have no ring.

My first SLR was a fancy one, it had a build in light meter. Of
course you had to set the shutter and aperture manually, but there was
a little needle that you can center and you might get close to the
right exposure.
Me too, that was sooo advanced!

It really was at the time. The lens had to let the camera know what
it was going to stop down to when the photo was taken, using a
mechanical link. As I recall when first putting on a new lens you had
to run through the range of f/stops to let the camera know what the
max f/number of the lens was. At the time it seemed pretty
impressive. I had a friend who scorned the fancy new cameras with
build in metering.

I almost forgot how mine worked:

http://www.photoethnography.com/Clas...html~mainFrame

Interesting quirks

Canon chose to make this camera shutter speed priority rather than
aperture priority. Fortunately, Canon was intelligent enough to put the
shutter speed on a large dial right by the front right corner of the
camera. This lets you dial in the shutter speed without taking your eye
away from the viewfinder. This makes the camera as easy to use as if it
was program full automatic, but allows for the flexibility that
professionals and students of photography need.

The aperture needle in the viewfinder is great. It reacts in real time,
allowing you to "visualize" the light quantity over the scene. If you're
working with the zone system, it's great. Even though it uses
center-weighted metering, the AE-1 received rave reviews for its
accurate and flexible metering abilities.

Scott W wrote:

On Dec 19, 7:53 am, Paul Furman wrote:
Scott W wrote:
How do you know he is not shooting film, my film SLRs have both Tv and
M settings.

Of course I don't really see much difference in how I set up a DSLR
from and SLR, do you?

Many of my 'DSLR lenses' won't do shutter priority :-)

I assume older lenses where the aperture is manually set?

My first SLR was a fancy one, it had a build in light meter. Of
course you had to set the shutter and aperture manually, but there was
a little needle that you can center and you might get close to the
right exposure.


Whereas with later film SLRs with sophisticated matrix multi-pattern
metering, you would never know how close the camera had got to the
correct exposure until the negatives or slides were developed.

And when you looked at the results, you realised that often, you would
have been better using a camera with a little needle that you could
centre and get close to the right exposure, rather than using
something far more sophisticated that got it so badly wrong.

Auto: Should be used only if you are in an absolute rush to take a picture.
Will give similar result or sligthly better than a point-and shoot.
Tv: priority to speed. To be used if you want to decide the speed and let
the camera decide the aperture. Good for sports when you need minimal high
speed. Or you want to provoque an artistic blur to suggest movement.

Av: priority to aperture. Usefull to control depth of field. usfull for
portrait, macro. With a shallow DOF, you can have you subject clear while
the rest is not clear. Put an emphasis on the subject. Use full in macro
to force maximum DOF and dont care the speed since you are on a tripod.

M: You are in total control. You hav found your gray spot in the picture
and you want that spot to be well exposed. You control the DOF. You decide
the speed to make a good balance between DOF and artistic blur if wanted.

Some poit and shot have these modes : Av Tv and M, but they dont have the
objective you want in order to get the DOF you want.

This is very succint and a few good books could help you to discover the
utilities of the Av, Tv and M modes.

One book I like very much: Understanding Exposu How to Shoot Great
Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) by Bryan
Peterson
Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography
(Updated Edition) by Bryan Peterson

I am not paid by Bryan Peterson.


"Luke Carroll" wrote in message
...
What is the most popular setting?
Some people on Flickr say TV or M

Is it possible to stay on Auto and still get good quality shots?

Luke

"Luke Carroll" wrote in message ...
What is the most popular setting?
Some people on Flickr say TV or M

Is it possible to stay on Auto and still get good quality shots?

Luke


As far as "starter" SLRs, I would hold the value of learning the true basics without
a camera that has any automation at all. I suggest something like a Nikon EL2...
which has every feature a photographer needs, such as mirror lock-up and exposure
compensation dial. A Pentax KX is also a good example, pure manual. Another
is the older '70s Canon F1 which is how I started, but the KX has a better shutter
and takes a battery for it's more modern and accurate light meter, which is a currently
made silver oxide button cell, or two.

--
Giant_Alex })))*
not my site: http://www.e-sword.net/

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:27:26 +0000, Tony Polson wrote:

Scott W wrote:

My first SLR was a fancy one, it had a build in light meter. Of
course you had to set the shutter and aperture manually, but there was
a little needle that you can center and you might get close to the
right exposure.

Whereas with later film SLRs with sophisticated matrix multi-pattern
metering, you would never know how close the camera had got to the
correct exposure until the negatives or slides were developed.

And when you looked at the results, you realised that often, you would
have been better using a camera with a little needle that you could
centre and get close to the right exposure, rather than using
something far more sophisticated that got it so badly wrong.

I prefer centre-weighted metering. Using it, I know what the camera's
doing. Complex matrix metering sounds great but it's only as good as
the person who programmed it. I trust my own evaluation of the scene
more than that of a programmer several years and thousands of miles
away.

--
Matthew Winn
[If replying by mail remove the "r" from "urk"]

Luke Carroll wrote:
What is the most popular setting?
Some people on Flickr say TV or M
Personally, I very rarely use Tv mode. Av is far more useful
- set the aperture you want, and let the camera decide on a
shutter speed. Usually, it is more important to control
Depth of Field, than controlling the length of the shutter.
And if for some reason I want a fast shutter or a slow
shutter, it is just as easy to open up or stop down the
aperture as it is to change the camera to Tv and set a
specific shutter speed (and then find it is outside the
range of apertures the lens has).
The mode I actually use most on the K10d is Sv - in this
mode I have the rear dial set to change ISO, and the front
dial set for program shift. This way I can quickly change
ISOs as needed, and if I want a fast shutter, or great Depth
of Field etc, I can use the front dial to scroll through
possible options. If I want to deliberately over/under
expose compared to what the camera thinks, I just have to
use the +/- to dial in a variation. This dial/operation
combination is unique to the K10D, but creates a very quick
operating environment that gives just as much control as
full manual, but with the speed of program auto.

Is it possible to stay on Auto and still get good quality shots?
Yep, the photos may not be ideal, but they will still be
pretty good. Depending on what camera you have, I'd
recommend using "P" or "Program Auto" rather than the full
auto mode though. "P" allows a small amount of override,
wheras full auto usually won't let you change anything.

Luke

On 2007-12-19 08:14:24 -0700, JimKramer said:

On Dec 19, 8:26 am, Luke Carroll
wrote:
What is the most popular setting?
Some people on Flickr say TV or M

Is it possible to stay on Auto and still get good quality shots?

Luke

Sure, but if you leave it on auto, why did you get an SLR? :-)

In answer to your first question, it depends. What are you shooting
and what do you want to see?

Now for, probably, the best advice you will get here...
Take an introductory or basic photography class. I'm not trying to be
mean, but you will get more out of that then you will by asking basic
questions here. It's not a matter of reading the information, it's a
matter of hands on knowing the camera and what it will and won't do.
The class will force you to do some basic stuff so that you can begin
to understand the camera and how physics of photography work.

Goodluck,
Jim

Absolutely agree. From freeform community schools, to adult education
through community colleges, to universities if you're so inclined, this
is the BEST way to build a good foundation.

For online reading (facts mixed with opinion--isn't everything?), here
are a couple of general-interest links:
http://photo.net/
http://kenrockwell.com/tech.htm#cameras
I guess Rockwell and Greenspun don't have a lot of fans in this group,
but I read a bunch of good stuff via these links.
--
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is
one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.
Sidney J. Harris

Matthew Winn wrote:

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:27:26 +0000, Tony Polson wrote:

Scott W wrote:

My first SLR was a fancy one, it had a build in light meter. Of
course you had to set the shutter and aperture manually, but there was
a little needle that you can center and you might get close to the
right exposure.

Whereas with later film SLRs with sophisticated matrix multi-pattern
metering, you would never know how close the camera had got to the
correct exposure until the negatives or slides were developed.

And when you looked at the results, you realised that often, you would
have been better using a camera with a little needle that you could
centre and get close to the right exposure, rather than using
something far more sophisticated that got it so badly wrong.

I prefer centre-weighted metering. Using it, I know what the camera's
doing. Complex matrix metering sounds great but it's only as good as
the person who programmed it. I trust my own evaluation of the scene
more than that of a programmer several years and thousands of miles
away.


That's exactly my point. My Nikon FA, which had the earliest
gestation of Nikon's Matrix metering, gave more predictable results if
used in the centre-weighted metering mode.

In my experience, the most accurate and predictable meter is that in
the Leica M6, M7 and MP, which meters from a white spot on the shutter
blind. Once you get to know what proportion of the viewfinder frame
the spot represents, it gives consistent, accurate and repeatable
meter readings.

Doug Jewell wrote:

Personally, I very rarely use Tv mode. Av is far more useful
- set the aperture you want, and let the camera decide on a
shutter speed. Usually, it is more important to control
Depth of Field, than controlling the length of the shutter.


But that depends entirely on what you are shooting. With moving
subjects it is important to freeze motion, and for that Tv (or S) mode
is best. You choose the shutter speed you need to freeze the motion
and the camera sets the aperture that gives the right exposure.