Iīd say the Canonīs exposure automation is better - a lot - than the sunny 16 rule - and it is not always sunny - inside a building for example. Better way to good exposures is to observe what the meter sees and use exposure lock,
Except on sunny days where F16 "rules" AFAIK, you're right. This is the best way to use the camera meter once you take in account the meter's angle and its limitation (18% reflection).
it can read and use half stops very well.
I'm not sure the aperture escapement in auto mode is as precise as you think, Raimo. Look at the lens on auto and depress the shutter half way, slightly changing the orientation of the camera each time. You'll see the aperture that will be used each time. It seems to me that it cannot use that much different positions (unlike "aperture preferred auto" where the speeds can vary precisely and be set at 1/137 or 1/154 for example).
Years ago, when I first used a QL17 (before Pentax got me) I was taking slides, mostly on auto and I remember that sometimes very similar photos (a slight change of angle between them) produced slides that were sometimes a full stop apart.
But I might be wrong. To ascertain what I think, I should bring a QL17 to a repair shop and ask them to test the auto exposure at, say, EV12, EV12.5 and EV13, and see what the camera gives.
As we are here, there is another QL17 specification that makes this camera (and its sibling QL 19 with a 45/1.9) a superior product: for flash photography, once you set the GN on the camera, it closes down the aperture in reaction to the focusing distance, arguably the best way to control flash output as it does not take in account the reflectivity of the scene. What is more impressive here is that the dedicated Canon flash for this camera has two contact so that it will react differently (and accordingly) if the flash is not fully charged.
Cheers,
Andre
