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Combined exposure metering and focussing


helged

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Please bear with me folks - but I (still) belong to the those without experience with autofocus. I have played with manually focussed M- and R-lenses on the SL for some time, a combo I really enjoy. No problem there. The question is how you AF-folks typically shoot.

 

On SL with a manual focus lens, I typically use spot exposure metering. You can move the position of the spot exposure metering (the cross hairs) around in the image by means of the joy stick. That's fine. Alternatively you can move the body to a point where you make an exposure reading, press the shutter half down to lock the metering, and then move the body back on the image, similar to a digital M.

 

The question is how to seamlessly combine spot exposure metering with spot focussing, given that the point where you do the exposure metering typically will be different from that of the focus.

 

Yes, I could likely read myself up on this from the manual. But it's much appreciated if you can share your experience/favourite method for combined exposure and focus metering - to guidance for the AF-novices among us.

 

Thanks...

 

 

 

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That's what keeps me using manual lenses. With the SL 24-90, I need to use exposure comp to get what I want OOC. And this involves a long press of the FN button. Not as good as just immediately dealing direct.

 

With fiddling you can separate AE and AF and use the joystick for AF and the shutter button for AE. For me that's topo much thinking. Like you, with manual, I focus then expose lock by moving the camera until I get the exposure I want, compose then shoot. my OOC shots need very little Lightroom adjustment

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I don't use spot metering very often. Most of the time I leave the meter set to evaluative pattern exposure and have the EV Comp accessible on TR button. Meter pattern is on BL button, so I can change metering pattern when needed quickly. I can see overexposure issues with the histogram/blinky view enabled.

 

If I want to use spot focus, I set the camera to Manual Focus and have AF Lock on the AE/AF button. Tap button to lock focus on my target, then meter with exposure simulation on. Release shutter. 

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How do you then lock exposure before recomposing per your AF

 

The focus is locked when you let go of the AF/AE button since I'm in MF mode. Exposure is locked by holding the shutter release at the half press. The focus can still be adjusted at the last moment, manually or with the AF/AE button.

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so if I get this straight, you have the camera sert to MF, the joystick is AF and the shutter AE.

 

Pressing the Joystick will Autofocus and retain the setting when you release, then the shutter is used ate half press to capture exposure.

 

And when FW 1.2 is released, and the joystick is set to magnification, I wonder what will happen?

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so if I get this straight, you have the camera sert to MF, the joystick is AF and the shutter AE.

 

Pressing the Joystick will Autofocus and retain the setting when you release, then the shutter is used at half press to capture exposure.

 

And when FW 1.2 is released, and the joystick is set to magnification, I wonder what will happen?

 

Yes. 

 

FW v1.2: I'm sure the AF/AE button will be somewhere and (hopefully) just as convenient. I also hope we'll be able to assign where we want the magnification button. My choice would be to swap the image review with the magnification on the four main buttons and leave the AF/AE button on the joystick, that seems the most convenient set up. But whatever, it'll work out one way or another ... I'm not all that unhappy with magnification on the BL button where it is with fw f1.1, although others don't like it. 

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  • 2 months later...

Like some of the other posters here I'm an auto-focus ignoramus.  I've just rented the 24-90 for a few days and am flummoxed by this problem of locking focus without locking exposure.  Is the MF route, with AF-L on joystick and AE-L on shutter release the only way to go, or are there others?

 

Also, if one wanted to go on full auto, is there a way to lock focus, point the lens elsewhere to change the auto-exposure, lock that, then return to the original framing with focus still locked?

 

??

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I've never bothered with all this complex palaver .........

 

I have EV compensation set to the FN (front) button and just long press ..... adjust with wheel till ok ....... and shoot with the focus point wherever you want it .......

 

.... keep it simple  :rolleyes:

Edited by thighslapper
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Like some of the other posters here I'm an auto-focus ignoramus.  I've just rented the 24-90 for a few days and am flummoxed by this problem of locking focus without locking exposure.  Is the MF route, with AF-L on joystick and AE-L on shutter release the only way to go, or are there others?

 

Also, if one wanted to go on full auto, is there a way to lock focus, point the lens elsewhere to change the auto-exposure, lock that, then return to the original framing with focus still locked?

 

??

 

 

If you're going to all that re-pointing and locking, it's hardly "full auto".  :mellow:

MF, autofocus on demand with AF-L on the joystick, use AE-L on the shutter half-press to lock an exposure: this works pretty effectively and is simple. You can also switch the metering system to a spot pattern and steer that around the scene until you get the exposure you want; it depends on what you're shooting. 

 

Thighslapper's methodology works well too, as long as you don't have to change the EV compensation too often. It would be easier if there was "direct" EV compensation without the mode swap. (I assign the EV Comp button to the UR long press, I found FN was a little hard to reach quickly.)

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Sounds reasonable, G, but if you've tapped the joystick to lock focus, you can still use it to place the spot exposure?  I'll have to check that.

 

 

You're not actually 'locking focus'. You're enabling AF-S when you press the joystick, the camera is in Manual focus mode. When AF-S locks in, you let go of the joystick and the focus stays where it locked in. 

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You're not actually 'locking focus'. You're enabling AF-S when you press the joystick, the camera is in Manual focus mode. When AF-S locks in, you let go of the joystick and the focus stays where it locked in. 

This method works nicely.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is there a method to use AFc with the joystick? 

 

It seems that when I am in AFc:

The joystick will not activate AFc, only AFs. The shutter will activate AFc.

 

When I am in MF (my preferred setup):

The joystick will not activate AFc, only AFs. The shutter of course does not affect the AF.

 

I would like to stay in MF mode, so the shutter never affects AF. I would like to have the joystick activate AFs or AFc dependent on how I've set the joystick. Page 223 in the English manual leads me to believe that if I set MF mode to AFs I should get AFs with the joystick. If I set MF mode to AFc I should get AFc with the joystick.

 

Is anyone else seeing the same issue? Does the joystick always activate AFc if you're in AFc mode, or if you're in MF and have the MF mode setting for the joystick set to AFc? 

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