Manual camera metering

[grainbelt]

This website is evil. I bought a K200D a few months ago, really enjoying it. In the meantime I've been poking around the film SLR section, as I find the entire concept mystifying. Born in '81, my only 35mm experience is a couple of my parent's point and shoot 35mm zoom cameras from the 90's that they rarely let me use. I also had an olympus at one point around 2000 that had the goofy cartridges with ability to switch from C/H/P, whatever that was.

But I digress. I keep finding manual Pentax cameras on the local craigslist and kijiji, for minimal $$. Some bizarre nostalgia has me wanting to try it out. I understand the controls for the most part, aperture is on the lens, manual focus on the lens, shutter speed on the camera, but the metering escapes me.

Does the light meter in these older cameras take into account your film speed and aperture to suggest a shutter speed, sort of like an Av mode, or what is the protocol there? I honestly don't have the ambition to manually calculate exposure stops at different apertures and shutter speeds.

Appreciate any insights or links to a tutorial. Thanks much!

--Mike

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by grainbelt

...Does the light meter in these older cameras take into account your film speed and aperture to suggest a shutter speed, sort of like an Av mode, or what is the protocol there? I honestly don't have the ambition to manually calculate exposure stops at different apertures and shutter speeds...

It depends on the camera. Most Spotmatics meter through the lens with the lens stopped down. You center a needle between two marks. Film speed is set via a dial on the camera. No manual calculation is required. The most recent Spotmatics allow similar manual metering, but with the aperture full open. For the K-mount cameras, I would refer you to Dmitrov's K-mount Web site. It is enough to say that you can pretty much get any mix from metered manual, Av, and Programmed exposure depending on K-mount camera model.

Steve

[grainbelt]

Originally Posted by stevebrot

It depends on the camera. Most Spotmatics meter through the lens with the lens stopped down. You center a needle between two marks. Film speed is set via a dial on the camera. No manual calculation is required. The most recent Spotmatics allow similar manual metering, but with the aperture full open. For the K-mount cameras, I would refer you to Dmitrov's K-mount Web site. It is enough to say that you can pretty much get any mix from metered manual, Av, and Programmed exposure depending on K-mount camera model.

Steve

Thanks much! Exactly what I was curious about.

[Ratmagiclady]

Well, Av mode is nothing new: there are plenty of older cameras that add some automation to an otherwise-manual camera: most of the manual metering you will find in older cameras will be coupled to the lens and shutter speed dial: you match up a combination that the meter indicates is good, (there's usually a needle or scale of lights or sometimes a digital display, they take a few different forms,) Older cameras still will have stopdown metering: the meter is coupled to the shutter speed and ISO settings just like more modern cameras, but turning on the meter actually stops the lens down to shooting aperture and thus changes the light that gets to the meter (instead of mechanically calculating it. )

If that didn't confuse you more.

[Nesster]

First, buy or borrow from a library a good book on exposure and metering.
Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition): Bryan Peterson: Books
is an excellent book on the topic.

The TTL metering SLRs are pretty easy - there are a couple of metaphors used in the view finder for manual metering.
1) 'center the needle' and its equivalent 'light the center LED' or some such.
2) 'match needles' and its electronic equivalents. One needle shows shutter speed and the other follows aperture.

The camera uses as input: ASA speed (you set when you load the film), aperture and shutter speed. I.e. the meters are 'fully coupled'. You change aperture or shutter speed to center or match needles. With match needle, changing shutter speed moves the shutter needle, and changing aperture moves the aperture needle. When the two are over each other, you have metered.

With the aperture priority automatics, you set the aperture on the lens and the camera sets the speed accordingly.

[grainbelt]

Thanks all - makes perfect sense. I do need to pick up that book, it has been recommended a few times.

I just spent some time on the K-mount website, and now I have a vague understanding of what is going on. The K and M models are particularly intriguing.

Thanks again for all the comments.