< Vivitar 28mm f2.8
< W.Rokkor 35mm f2.8
< Rokkor-X 45mm f2
< Rokkor 50 mm f/1.4
< Sigma 60-200mm f4-5.6 @ 60mm
< Sigma 60-200mm f4-5.6 @ 200mm
All taken on an XD7; sadly missing from this exercise are a Tamron 90mm f/2.5 Macro and Rokkor 135mm f/2.8 and 200mm f/4 lenses.
For an old hand this may sound like an insane question–but, hey, I’m an idiot who does not want to relinguish ‘film’ for digital–so–enough said for what that tells–Okay, I’ve been playing with a Minolta x 700 which has both manual and automatic capability. When I stay out of the program and let the automatic setting decide things the results are good. When I try the manual settings the results reflect whatever I’m doing ‘wrong’. I suspect, in part, that I’m overthinking exposure times. Any suggestions on how I can get past this and make the most of the manual option? In other words–suggestions on how to improve ‘my’ perspective when employing manual?
Comment by 47whitebuffalo — 7 October 2009 @ 10:27 pm
First off, I have to say that I tend to use aperture priority whenever I take pictures and then I let the camera choose a shutter speed; quite often I use the camera’s exposure-lock capabilities to meter the reading in one area before composing the final shot.
If you’re using manual as an alternative to the ‘P’ programmed mode you will still face a need to choose a combination of aperture and shutter speed that gives the correct exposure and that if you adjust one setting then for the same light you will need to adjust the other to avoid over- or underexposure.
This is why many like using aperture or shutter priority – they focus on the property that’s relevant to the picture (high shutter speed for sport, shallow depth of focus for portraits, and so on) and let the camera make sure the exposure is correct for the selected speed or aperture.
Comment by Howard — 7 October 2009 @ 11:00 pm