[Kornbread]

I want to get better at shooting in full manual mode, and I have a couple of questions.

1-Are there some general guidelines to getting a proper exposure? IE - If I'm at 100 ISO, f2.8, my shutter speed should be around ...
2-Are there some 'drills' or that I can run to help me get faster at properly adjusting my settings?

[pentkon52]

To start with, I would suggest using the +- graphic in the view finder to set you exposures.

Dave Brooks

[Gooshin]

I want to get better at shooting in full manual mode, and I have a couple of questions.

1-Are there some general guidelines to getting a proper exposure? IE - If I'm at 100 ISO, f2.8, my shutter speed should be around ...
2-Are there some 'drills' or that I can run to help me get faster at properly adjusting my settings?

listen to your own advice, follow your signature line.


there is nothing "pro" or even special about using manual mode.

Question number 1 shows that you simply do not understand the fundementals of exposure, so my suggestion is for now stick to P mode, or at the very most Av (aperture priority), and read up on exposure.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understandexposure.shtml

start there.

[JonPB]

In my opinion, you're starting backwards--which is perfectly normal. Don't think about the camera. Think about the light, and the light on your subject: is it bright and sunny, or cloudy, or indoors (with what kind of lightbulbs)? Then think about exposure: where are the highlights and the shadows, and does the subject need to be compensated for? Then, the last thing to think about is ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. If you're using a Pentax DSLR, set it to manual mode and use the green button. Take pictures, checking the histogram every time; move from different subjects in roughly the same lighting, and adjust the settings to get a better exposure. Move from brighter to darker light (direct sunlight and shade), and back; move from lighter to darker subjects (white flowers to car tires), and back.

There is a rough guide in the "Sunny 16" idea. In direct sunlight, use f/16 and a shutter speed inverse to ISO speed, e.g. with ISO 100 use a shutter speed around 1/100, or ISO 400 with 1/400. I'm assuming you know how to adjust aperture and shutter speed to maintain exposure levels--if not, search for a primer on photographic exposure.

You'll develop a feel for how to move around apertures, shutter speeds, and ISOs with practice. But you'll also learn to trust the light meter--or, rather, you'll learn when you can trust it--to get the most out of the camera. I'd suggest using the spot meter for this, so you know exactly what the camera is measuring against.

[Leaf Fan]

Read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. He encourages everybody to work in Manual mode and get the exposure "creatively correct".

It helped me a lot, maybe my photos didn't get better but I have a fundamental grasp of the use of aperture and shutter speed to get the exposure that is correct for the subject.

[Gooshin]

Read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. He encourages everybody to work in Manual mode and get the exposure "creatively correct".

It helped me a lot, maybe my photos didn't get better but I have a fundamental grasp of the use of aperture and shutter speed to get the exposure that is correct for the subject.

thing is though, there has to be some sort of metering process, either external or internal

both of which are never fool proof.

given the advancements in both technologys, i personally would recomend switching to manual mode only when the camera reacts inaccuratly to the surroundings, or if you purpously want to do something that the camera would not let you.

modern, 50-cross-point-matrix-rendering-influx meters are "good enough" for quite a big chunk of regular photography.

[Marc Sabatella]

Not sure which camera you have, but my advice would be:

1) Use the Green button (pr whatever susbtitute your model offers - AE-L for some) to let the camera set an exposure for you. That gets you there quickly. But then stop and think about why the camera chose what it did, and file that info away for future reference. Basically, there are only a handful of common lighting situations, and it doesn't take *that* long to get a handle on them (eg, outdoors on a sunny day: ISO 100, f/8, 1/250"; indoors under artifical light: ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/30"). And be sure to compeltely udnerstand how changing one exposure parameter affects the others, and be able to calculate that instantly (eg, two click smaller aperture = two clicks slower shutter speed, and know exactly what those clicks represent).

2) To learn M mode well, use it exclusively.

[Leaf Fan]

thing is though, there has to be some sort of metering process, either external or internal

both of which are never fool proof.

given the advancements in both technologys, i personally would recomend switching to manual mode only when the camera reacts inaccuratly to the surroundings, or if you purpously want to do something that the camera would not let you.

modern, 50-cross-point-matrix-rendering-influx meters are "good enough" for quite a big chunk of regular photography.

Fair comments.

For me, as a beginner, gaining a full grasp of DOF, how to control it, learning the technology/physics behind it, and trying it out were a great help.

[Lowell Goudge]

I think the reason people are taught "manual mode" is to a) be taught the fundamentals of exposure, i.e. ISO, shutter speed, F-Stops and metering. and b) to slow down and thnk between shots

As opposed to telling the OP he is not competant and should stick to program mode, we should encourage him to a) read, which leaf fan did, and to b) tell him how to actually meter using his camera. hence the following:

If you have A series lenses, there is a light meter at the bottom of the view finder that shows + or - relitive to correct exposure. this will tell you over or under exposure with the settings you have, by adjusting aperture or shutter you will see this meter move right or left accordingly.

In matrix or center weighted metering, the camera averages values around the scene to make a best guess.

If you change to Spot metering, this meter indicates the exposure in the middle 2-3% of the viewfinder relitive to the camera settings. You can use this to get exact exposure for that part of the image, everything else will be subject to different levels of over or under exposure, but if you leave the camera settings alone, and just move to point at different objects, the meter will indicate how light or dark they will be in the finished picture.

If you have a camera with a green button, (*istD, K7/10/20) simply pressing this will set your exposure, based upon the options you set, i.e follow the program line for the lens, set shutter to match aperture or set aperture to match shutter.

Metering with older manual lenses is a little more involved.

[mtroute]

As opposed to telling the OP he is not competant and should stick to program mode, we should encourage him to a) read, which leaf fan did, and to b) tell him how to actually meter using his camera. hence the following:

yeah some on this forum have a tendency toward dickishness when it comes to neophytes...

[Gooshin]

yeah some on this forum have a tendency toward dickishness when it comes to neophytes...

neophytes are fine.

neophytes wanting to be pro in a day need to be given a little shake.

i am more intrested in WHY the OP got the idea that he has to start out with manual mode, when the greatest teaching tool at his disposal is the instant histogram.

and Lowell, switching to M mode and pressing the green button when Av would could have done the exact same thing is just a time consumption.

[Gooshin]

I want to get better at shooting in full manual mode, and I have a couple of questions.

1-Are there some general guidelines to getting a proper exposure? IE - If I'm at 100 ISO, f2.8, my shutter speed should be around ...
2-Are there some 'drills' or that I can run to help me get faster at properly adjusting my settings?

since some people think i'm hard on newbies, here


1. general guidelines at getting a proper exposure: use a light meter, either external (hand held, seikonic being a popular one), or internal (your camera)

if you have ISO 100, Aperture at F2.8, your shutter will bee.... whatever it has to, depending on how much light is falling or reflecting off your subject

since we dont know that, NO ONE can answer that question for you, except a light meter (again, external or internal)

if you dont have an external light meter, you can use the cameras built in meter while in M mode, as Lowell explain, you press the green button on your k10/20/7 or the av-lock button (i think) on your k100/200.

this will spot meter whatever the camera's center is pointed at.

only this is not fool proof because a) you are only measuring a tiny portion of the whole image, you have to understand if what makes up the majority of your image, light or dark.
b) camera meters reflected light, which is not always beneficial, an external light meter measures ambient light, which sometimes provides a more accurate result,

you have to UNDRESTAND that there is a balance in all this

so how do you check your work, look at the histogram for all of your images


i regress, dump the camera into Av or P mode, go out shooting (ps, there are no "drills"), and later study the histograms-related-to-shutter-aperture-iso parameters, and ambient lighting conditions.

annnnd GO

[k100d]

personally, i find determining the correct exposure one of the more boring and tedious parts of photography and would rather use a camera that gives me the results that i like and not worry about it.

my 30 year old Yashica shoots slide film (known for intolerance of bad exposure) like a champ and i almost never override the meter.

[philbaum]

I comment Kornbread on his quest to learn how to use Manual mode. With Pentaxes digital green button, just clicking on it gives me a initial setting in M mode to start from. Then i just move the shutter values or aperture to hone in on the actual setting you need. Its best, usually to keep ISO as low as possible until more is needed. There is a coupla neat books out to talk about fundatmentals of exposure, but i don't have the author of mine at the moment, will edit this message later.

I started getting compliments on my night exposures from the local photo club, which encouraged me to take even more. I finally gave a talk on night exposures to the club and it started it with - Go to Manual Mode on your camera. A lot of them never did try night exposures, because they couldn't get beyond Auto mode - its a shame - so easy when you know the fundamentals. The auto exposure mode can be fooled as easily as the AF feature on cameras, just try to photo a bird behind some grass or leaves, the AF will give you perfectly focused leaves.

One thing to remember about aperture and shutter, is that a change in aperture in natural or flash light will generally have more impact on the exposure than the shutter value. So start there first if you are nowhere close. Anyway, i commend your investigation into Manual, its rewarding.

[Lowell Goudge]

neophytes are fine.
Lowell, switching to M mode and pressing the green button when Av would could have done the exact same thing is just a time consumption.

If that is all you are going to do, I agree, but if you are going to then use the light meter to judge the remainder of the scene, it is a way to get the setting for what part you want and confirm the setting for other areas.

it is much harder to do this, in Av mode or any other auto mode because you are going to do a calculation or comparing numbers as opposed to the meter scale centered on the selected exposure.