Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
01-27-2013, 09:21 AM   #31
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
paulh's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 33,086
QuoteOriginally posted by NitroDC Quote
Ah, so that doesn't mean that the viewfinder is always affected by the aperture setting? Only when pressing the green button/shutter?
Right. The lens is wide open to aid in viewing & focusing. Pressing the green button closes the aperture momentarily to your setting on the ring. The camera then takes a light reading, and calculates shutter speed.

01-27-2013, 09:24 AM   #32
Veteran Member
NitroDC's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 342
QuoteOriginally posted by paulh Quote
Right. The lens is wide open to aid in viewing & focusing. Pressing the green button closes the aperture momentarily to your setting on the ring. The camera then takes a light reading, and calculates shutter speed.
Ah. I was just confused because I've seen multiple posts say that metering is more difficult with an M lens because of stop-down metering (and I didn't know what that meant ). I always thought it was pretty easy and quick to use the green button.
01-27-2013, 09:28 AM   #33
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
paulh's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 33,086
QuoteOriginally posted by NitroDC Quote
Ah. I was just confused because I've seen multiple posts say that metering is more difficult with an M lens because of stop-down metering (and I didn't know what that meant ). I always thought it was pretty easy and quick to use the green button.
Well, for some folks, that extra step of using the green button is a hassle - but it doesn't trouble me much at all. And if your lighting hasn't changed, you don't need to press it again from shot to shot. For action shooting, I could see where it could be a problem, though.
01-27-2013, 10:18 AM   #34
Veteran Member
Mike Cash's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Japan
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 6,950
If you don't even understand how to shoot in manual exposure and don't really get the difference between an A and an M lens, then for God's sake don't go butchering perfectly good lenses. Spend a little time learning how to use the gear instead of destroying it.

01-27-2013, 01:03 PM   #35
Veteran Member




Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,356
in my opinion there's no difficulty associated with using and lenses at all. Virtually every picture I've ever taken was with an M lens.
01-27-2013, 02:28 PM   #36
Pentaxian
mikeSF's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: East Bay Area, CA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 6,610
I didn't know anything about anything when I bought my first camera, but I really wanted to learn exposure, so I bought an M50/1.7 and set my camera to M mode and spent about a week just figuring it out. These days, I far prefer to shoot in M for the maximum control it affords me. Green button and/or the exposure meter bar are going to be very useful for you, just dig in, you will learn it and then you'll never forget it.
01-27-2013, 02:41 PM   #37
Veteran Member
edgedemon's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London
Photos: Albums
Posts: 309
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by fuent104 Quote
in my opinion there's no difficulty associated with using and lenses at all. Virtually every picture I've ever taken was with an M lens.
I will let you know how I get on trying manual, thx for all the suggestions, I have a lot to learn..

01-27-2013, 02:45 PM   #38
Veteran Member
Na Horuk's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Slovenia, probably
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 11,186
It takes you like.. a day of shooting manual to get the hang of it. A little longer to master it. Maybe a couple different manual lenses (all manual, A-contact, preset..) to find all the quirks and get a wide knowledge on manual lenses.

On the other hand, there are some Pentaxians on these forums that take really amazing photos with old manual lenses and sometimes I think I'll never reach their skill.

Last edited by Na Horuk; 01-27-2013 at 02:51 PM.
01-27-2013, 03:54 PM   #39
Junior Member




Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Posts: 45
More often than not I find M lenses underexpose somewhat, even if there's uniform lighting in the subject field.
01-27-2013, 04:13 PM   #40
Veteran Member
aleonx3's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Brampton, Ontario
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,996
QuoteOriginally posted by arcturus Quote
More often than not I find M lenses underexpose somewhat, even if there's uniform lighting in the subject field.
If you use a m42 lens, then you can use Av mode and using +/- EV to adjust accordingly. Also, if you want to use the manual lens a couple of stops down (for example, f2 on f1.4 lens, then m42 lens also give the advantage. If you want to use the manual lens for video, then obviously not having to press "green button" would be an advantage as well. Note, not all m42 lens has the A/M switch, some adjustment has to be made to the ones without the switch to put it in M (aperture opening) mode.
01-27-2013, 07:32 PM   #41
Veteran Member




Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,356
QuoteOriginally posted by arcturus Quote
More often than not I find M lenses underexpose somewhat, even if there's uniform lighting in the subject field.
I prefer to make all image-related decisions myself, so I very rarely use the green button - almost never, actually. I usually just snap a shot, check out the image, and make exposure decisions based on my emotional response to the image / the histogram. The process of deciding on exposure never takes a long time. It does add a step or two to the process, but it is well worth it for me to have access to my M50 f1.4 and my M85 f2.

It is also worth noting that I expect to spend a lot of time doing post work on my images, so I don't expect to create finished images in camera.
01-28-2013, 12:28 AM   #42
Closed Account




Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 227
Manual exposure is not difficult but you need to invest some time in learning. I don't use the meters in my K-5s. If they didn't work, I'd never know. I do use a handheld meter to measure incident light but more and more, I guesstimate and adjust with the histogram aka "the modern Polaroid". Its is easier with a lot of experience and constant use. Also have a flash meter but that's a different kettle of fish.

If you learn the Sunny 16 Rule as an anchor point and understand it's based on an EV of 15, it's easy to mentally calculate the exposure. Here is a free, detailed explanation. Ultimate Exposure Computer

Manual focus is a different issue. There was a reason for the phrase "f8 and be there" Knowing depth of field and pre focussing made a lot of photojournalist work possible. The new digital cameras do give you a focus confirmation but there is also use for split screen prisms. A lot of this depends on what you're shooting.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
aperture, camera, cosina, focus, im, jump, k20d, lenses, pentax help, photography, price
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Zenitar-M 50 1.7 is it nice or just mine is :) simbon4o Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 5 04-02-2012 09:46 PM
Just bought used K-m, displays "DEBUG MODE"? skid2964 Pentax DSLR Discussion 2 12-15-2011 06:03 AM
Just how good is the K5? Billgscott Pentax DSLR Discussion 44 12-03-2011 11:51 AM
K-7 owners: how hard is it to remove an SD card? Northern Soul Pentax DSLR Discussion 33 02-04-2011 05:52 AM
So, how hard is it to use Manual lenses? cputeq Pentax DSLR Discussion 19 04-18-2008 03:27 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:57 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top