[Pete82]

I've been shooting with K3 for maybe 4 years and always used the manual mode. Multiple times I've been reading about TAv and other semi-auto modes but never really got a hang of them. After all it just seemed much easier to make the necessary adjustments in manual mode, after few test shots. But yesterday, I think I found found the proper way for me to use the Av mode:

1. Set the exposure compensation to somewhere around +1.7 and +2.0 depending on the brightness of the scene.
2. Select thet aperture that you need

3. Press AE-L button to the brightest point on the scene. The shutter speed suggested by the camera helps to find the brightest point.
4. Change the shutter speed by changing ISO

5. Focus and take the friggin shot.

I have taken dozens of test shots In and Outdoors today and +93% of the time I've got perfect exposures.
And even though there there are multiple steps, those steps can be made quite quickly.

[marcusBMG]

Mode for me is more to do with the lens I'm using, and what I'm shooting. But it's Av most of the time.
Have you experimented with the metering modes: centre weighted/ matrix/spot? With an AF lens that the camera recognises the metering shouldn't need much compensation most of the time, certainly not as much as 2x. However my own experiments with adaptall lenses demonstrates that there are idiosyncracies and quirks in how it all works.

[Pete82]

ith an AF lens that the camera recognises the metering shouldn't need much compensation most of the time, certainly not as much as 2x.

If I am taking the metering from the brightest point in the scene, I prefer to have that point bright instead of neutral grey.

[stevebrot]

1. Set the exposure compensation to somewhere around +1.7 and +2.0 depending on the brightness of the scene.
2. Select thet aperture that you need

3. Press AE-L button to the brightest point on the scene. The shutter speed suggested by the camera helps to find the brightest point.
4. Change the shutter speed by changing ISO

5. Focus and take the friggin shot.

With matrix metering, you should not have to be going through all that effort. At least that has been my experience in the last 6 years and 3 months shooting with the K-3. Just put the camera in TAv mode and let the ISO float for you desired combination of apeture and shutter speed. The 86K pixel sensor allows the camera to determine extent of max and min brightness with high precision and calculate a decent balance between the two.

If I am taking the metering from the brightest point in the scene, I prefer to have that point bright instead of neutral grey.

If that is your preference, use spot metering in TAv with +2 exposure comp and AE lock. Doing so is equivalent to your method minus the extra steps.

Addendum: Alternatively, go back to M mode using spot metering and +2 EC and use the green button (configured to Tv shift in M mode) to get shutter speed for your chosen aperture.

FWIW, I carry a gray card for incident measurments in difficult light, either that or I use spot metering to place exposure to important shadow detail. If there is a wide range of values in the frame, I bracket as the basis for a merge in PP. That way, my highlights are bright, my shadows have detail and I have options in PP.


Steve

(...learned with the zone system on film...perfect is when what you wanted is actually captured...perfection is when what you captured translates to what you wanted to create...)

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Last edited by stevebrot; 06-13-2020 at 06:20 PM. Reason: clarity

[Sidney Porter]

Maybe I am missing something... You are adjusting the iso to set your shutter to where you want it? Why not tav set the shutter and aperture?