Do you only use manual metering?

"Matt Clara" wrote in message . ..
"Frank Pittel" wrote in message
news
Matt Clara wrote:
: "Lionel" wrote in message
: ...
: Kibo informs me that (Michael Scarpitti)
stated
: that:
:
: Lionel wrote in message
. ..
: Anything I don't need is an impediment, dumbass.
:
: I suppose that could be true, if you're the kind of person who's
very
: easily confused or distracted.
:
: I shot 4 rolls of Fuji NPH last weekend of some friends' kids playing
: lacrosse and soccer, using the Telyt 560mm on the Leicaflex SL2. All
: but 2 or 3 are in perfect focus. All are perfectly exposed. Why the
: hell do I need autofocus or autoexposure?
:
: shrug Good for you. I learned photography on fully manual cameras,
but
: I prefer more automated camera. That doesn't make either of us wrong.
:

: More importantly (if any of this is important), this is a change in the
: position that he usually takes, and which started this little
conversation,
: which is that of urging the whole world (and specific newbies) to switch
to
: manual because (in Mr. Scarpitti's opinion) it's superior for everyone
in
: every instance.
: That's what stinks like manure, Mike, get it?
: --
: Regards,
: Matt Clara
: www.mattclara.com


: I'll never forget my first encounter of Mr. Scarpitti. He was over at
the
: large-format group, complaining that Ansel Adams sucks, and that in fact
his
: own photographic skills, particularly in candid street photos, are
superior
: to those of Ansel's. Certainly a characterizing event if ever there was
: one.

My favorite thread was when he was lecturing the people in the LF group
about
replacing the LF lenses with Leica lenses.

HUH? I didn't do that!



I missed that one--sounds priceless!

In article ,
says...
Kibo informs me that (Michael Scarpitti) stated
that:

Alan Browne wrote in message . ..
The EXP COMP knob as we have neen trying to tell you for two days.

The big knob on the back of an EOS camera controls several things,
depending on the mode. I found the manual he

http://www.canon.de/images/pro/fot/s...HS_eng_toc.pdf

You have to remember, I have not had my hands on one of these in 8
years, so I forget what was where. The point is, that merely opening
half a stop is quicker than this dial.

And I keep on telling you that it isn't. I *own* one of these cameras,
so I think I'm in a better position to know this than you are.


Both points of these viewpoints can be valid. I know for about at least
a year after I changed to EOS after 20 years with manual Nikons, I would
have said it was easier to open the lens a half stop. Now my thumb would
go to the dial on the back and I finally think it IS easier than the old
way but maybe I'm just a slow learner.

I have a 1970 Nikon Ftn which is totally manual and has a center weighted
meter. It works fine. I also have 4x5 and panoramic camera with no light
meter. I use a hand held reflected spot, incident, and flash meter. The
Nikon Ftn is a wonderful camera and mechanically can hold its own against
anything out there today. I have found the center weighted meter to be
geneally pretty good. In very contrasty conditions I can "fool" it into
being a spot meter by walking right up to the subject and metering on it
closely. If you use a zoom lens, be sure the light transmission qualities
don't change with the focal length or the metering will be off if you try to
zoom in for a "spot" reading. I also use my hand held meter. Under a lot
of conditions, the built in camera meter works well. This and some other
camera of that vintage used mercury cells for the meter. These cells are
gernerally unavailable in the US due to pollution regulations (mercury), but
some similar size cells with a lower voltage can be found. This will
probably require recalibration of the light meter. I did this on two Nikon
Ftns with no problem.

I would strongly urge you to try a fully manual camera (and a good book or
two on basic photography). Understanding the mechanics and impacts of
metering and adjusting for light will allow you more control over
composition. It will even make a difference if you then go to an automatic
camera. I also use a Nikon F4, but almost exclusively as a manual focus,
manual exposure, motor drive camera. Rarely do I use it as a "totally auto"
camera.

"Mike Henley" wrote in message
om...
(Mike Henley) wrote in message
. com...

I'm wondering though what you
guys, well, the expert ones of you, use. Do you only use your
experience and choose all exposure settings? do you prefer a manual
camera and the option of a separate handheld light meter if needs be?
Do you often use automatic exposure features in cameras?


I guess the question i should've asked was... can i hope to become
experienced enough soon so as not to need to use an automatic exposure
camera?

The camera i'm considering buying is a manual 1970s one and its
light-meter is probably primitive and to make it even worse the
mercury batteries it used are no longer available, therefore it is
only automatic, which is good and appeals to my wishes, but could i
realistically hope that i can rely on something like sunny-16 and the
tolerance of print film?

can i learn how to operate a camera fully manually with not even a
handheld meter? (i don't using a handheld meter initially to learn,
but i would hope that i would learn enough so as not to need to carry
it any longer)

or would you recommend that i just stick to some AE of some type and
not bother learning manual?

Michael Scarpitti wrote:
: Frank Pittel wrote in message ...
: Michael Scarpitti wrote:
: : Frank Pittel wrote in message ...
: : Michael Scarpitti wrote:
: : : C J D wrote in message ...
:
: : :
: : : Just to jump in here - metering grass, or asphalt, gives near enough to an 18% gray for most purposes, and will
: : : give the same result as an incident meter. It falls down if the lighting is against the camera, since the
: : : subject will then be in shadow.
: : :
: : : Colin D.
: :
: :
: : : That's where experience comes in. No auto-exposure system would cut it.
: :
: : Wrong. An autoexposure system properly used will take the shadow into account.
:
: : No, it would be fooled by the light or dark color of what's in the
: : shot ANF by the bright background. That's where selective reading
: : comes in, but even that must be used 'intelligently', which Mr. Pittel
: : is of course incapable of.
:
: Keep dreaming. It's also interesting to not that you've changed you mind about the
: importance of the color of the subject in determining proper exposure. Earlier in
: the thread you claimed that the color of the subject was not a determining factor
: of the exposure. Now it is.

: No, it's not, but if you use autoexposure it will affect the exposure,
: which requires you to override it.

What color does a light meter see the world as??

: You haven't explained how your reflective metering of the grass takes into account
: the color of the subject and the presence of a bright or dark background.

: It DOESN'T, dumbass! I said that if you're NOT CAREFUL, the background
: CAN influence the reading.

You claim to be metering of off the background.

: You also
: forgot to consider the last sentence of my post were I point out that it's faster
: to spin a compensation dial then to reset the shutter speed.

: No, it's not, because I DON'T change the shutter speed AT ALL based on
: subject reflectivity, only the relation to the sun, in other words,
: based on my angle to the subject and the angle of the sun to the
: subject.

That right you claim to set the exposure based on the reflectivity of the background.

:
:
: : It's also faster and easier to spin a compensation dial then to change the shutter
: : speed.

: It's slower than NOT changing anything, dumbass!

--




Keep working millions on welfare depend on you
-------------------