Originally posted by JeffJS I understand you are just experimenting but there really isn't a good reason to take an A type lens off of the A position. If you want to use a lens that does not have an A setting, then you need to set Using Aperture Ring to Permitted.
The way I do it on my K7 is that I set the camera to M mode, Set the aperture or shutter speed, pull the power switch to Preview (set it for DOF preview instead of Digital preview) which will show the meter, then set the other parameter (shutter speed or aperture) until I have the metering I want. There are other ways of doing it, I'm sure, but that one works for me.
I use the same method on my K10d. It is very much like the original KX (film camera) where the blue needle showed the shutter speed set and the black needle showed where the meter thought it should be. In a strict emergency I will just press the green button and pray that the meter is using the correct exposure, but I much prefer to analyze my manual exposure settings.
With the K10/20 the meter is a line with the exposure showing above, sort of like this i..i..l..i..i but upside down, with bright blocks above showing the setting.
With the K200 and some others, the meter is +/- 0.0 values at the extreme right of the display. It's not quite as intuitive, but definitely usable.