Plucking some message out of my backlog...
William in Utah wrote:
> I almost never use program or shutter priority myself, but I love
> aperture priority and generally fine tune exposure with a twist of the
> exposure compensation dial.
That's mostly what I do on the Super Program as well. Once in a
blue moon I find myself deciding to be lazy and use program
mode, usually in "easy" conditions (where the background is such
that deliberately limiting DOF isn't a big issue, and there's
plenty of light but I'm moving between full daylight and
shadow).
A bit more often than that (but still nowhere near as often as I
use aperture priority), I'll use shutter priority if I'm
handholding a long lens: I'll set the shutter speed to somehing
hand-holdable and let the camera choose the aperture. I'm more
likely to do that in low light, where I can't see the LCD
readout very well (and don't want to keep hitting the "drain
battery" button all the time).
What would be better still for me -- both for handholding long
lenses and for the times I wrap the strap around my forearm and
hold the camera out the window of a moving car with a wide lens
on it -- would be a mode where I could specify a _minimum_
shutter speed but let the camera choose speeds higher than that
where apropriate. But normal shutter priority works well
enough.
I don't often shoot the Super Program in manual mode -- I don't
really like the buttons, and will choose the KX, K2, or a
screwmount body to shoot manual if I have any of those handy.
Once in a while I hit a situation where I want to go manual and
only have the Super Program with me (or that's the only one with
the right kind of film in it); occasionally I'll do the "manual
mode plus exposure compensation plus TTL flash" trick for fill
flash.
> One thing I forgot to mention about the Super Program, is that the film
> speed is a pain in the neck to change. It takes two hands, and even
> then, isn't particularly easy or quick.
Uh, I don't find it difficult. I grab the camera from the
bottom in my right hand, jab what little fingernail I've got on
my left index finger into the little button, and use my left
thumb and middle finger to rotate the dial. I don't even think
about it -- it just sort of happens. (It doesn't take much of a
fingernail to do this; my left hand is my fretting hand, and the
nails on that side are trimmed close.)
Now a PITA film-speed change would be the K2, though I think
I've finally gotten the hang of _that_ one... (It seems that
the speed ring wants to be moved with a fingernail rather than a
fingertip. Either that or I just got lucky the last couple
times I had to adjust it.)
Shel Belinkoff wrote:
> This begs the question of shooting style. I'd think that a photographer
> would know what the shutter speed and aperture are set at without having
> to look.
Unless I'm switching between bodies and lose track of what speed
the Super Program was last set to, maybe.
> Of course, with the old fashioned shutter speed dial, the
> "readout" is there to be easily seen at all times, except in darkness, a
> situation in which very few photographs of the "stealth" type are made
> anyway.
#blink# Uh ... quietly rest the camera on top of a pewter
goblet (nice steady support), angle it in the direction of the
cutie across the table whose face is lit by candlelight, and
wait for a loud moment in the conversation to press the shutter
button ... "very few" doesn't match my personal experience. ;-)
(Or rest the camera on the tabletop with a lens cap propping up
the end of the lens to point it up slightly...)
> Using such a dial allows one to change the aperture and feel each change
> with the finger. With practice - and practice is necessary to some
> degree - the photographer can change shutter speeds in the dark and know
> exactly what speed has been selected. Of course, this assumes
> familiarity with the camera, and assumes that the photographer wants, or
> cares enough to, take the time to learn this skill.
If all else fails, on a camera with a dial (i.e. K2, KX), I'll
just rotate it to the shortest or longest speed and count the
clicks from there in the dark.
Bolo wrote:
> > One problem with some of the electronic designs is that you can't "feel"
> > the shutter speed settings change.
>
> That is true of some "electronic" interfaces, typically on AF bodies.
> However: The buttons on the SP give you definite ideas of the shutter
> speed. For every click you get a one-stop change in speed, no more,
> no less.
If you remember where you started from...
> Reliably time after time.
*If* the way your fingers fit the buttons gives you a reliable
button-press each time you poke at it. Note that there's no
"tactile keyclick" to let you know whether you've _really_
pressed the button. And goodness help you if you're wearing
Winter gloves!
Sorry; I've gotten used to _coping_ with the buttons, but I
don't find them anywhere as easy to use as the dial. In some
ways they _ought_ to be easier: you don't have to move your
hand from shooting position for example, just extend the index
finger a little, but between the LCD, the lack of tactile
feedback from the buttons, and how often I find myself shooting
in "available gloom", the Super Program just doesn't cut it as a
manual-mode body for me. It's a _great_ little aperture
priority camera, and I love the TTL flash, but the buttons don't
do it for me.
I'll grant that they _are_ a bit easier to use in daylight, when
I can clearly see the speed indicated in the viewfinder.
William in Utah wrote:
> Yes, I've been working on it, and either practice or exercise (or most
> likely both) I've gotten to where it's not the daunting chore that it
> once was. One thing that helps me is to face the camera towards me, and
> cradle it with my left hand, and do like you said with my right hand.
> *Much* better than the way I used to do it (though I still prefer the
> lift and turn of the ME Super). Thanks for the tip, Fred.
The lift-and-turn is easier. Unfortunately, I've also managed
to accidentally change film speed when trying to use exposure
compensation. Not often, but it's happened.
-- Glenn
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