On Jul 20, 2005, at 10:07 AM, Shel Belinkoff wrote:
Frankly, it would be great to learn about the features these new
cameras
have, but, in all honesty, their usefulness is sometimes elusive.
However,
there's probably some feature or two that can be helpful at times.
:-)
I worked with mostly manual cameras for many years. What did I need
automation for? I can estimate exposure very accurately, all I need
is an accurate shutter, a good lens, and a way to focus the lens.
The benefit for me is that I now think in different terms: I learn my
camera, set it up, and think about exposure not from the absolutes of
what aperture and shutter speed to set but from the point of view of
"what does the camera see and how do I need to push it in the
direction I want". I find it faster and easier to think in terms of
"it needs an extra stop, or one less stop, exposure" ... less to
think about, and find it produces more reliably consistent results. I
spend more of my time concentrating on seeing and capturing the
moments I want, less time estimating exposure setting and bracketing
to be sure I got what I wanted.
The Pentax DS has delighted me in being an extremely effective
working tool ... It's easy to learn and easy to remember the controls
and features, and most of the features are actually useful things
that do make a difference. The automation works very well *most* of
the time. And it's not dumbed down ... you have access to everything
if you want/need full manual control. As far as I'm concerned, it's a
brilliant design.
I can still appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of an MX, but
the features in the DS work well to make my photography more
enjoyable and satisfying.
Umm, what's Image Review - the screen on the back where you see
what you
shot? Why turn it off? To further the manual film camera
experience, or
does turning it off do something else, perhaps wrt how quickly the
camera
will react or process pics?
Image Review as I'm referring to it is the auto-display on the LCD of
the exposure you just made. Normally I have it set for 3 seconds of
display with the highlight saturation blinkies on so that I can see
the hot spots in my image. The camera blinks areas of saturation *in
its JPEG rendering* ... Looking at it, I can estimate accurately
where the exposure has placed Zone X exposure, what's at that level
in the RAW file I'm capturing, and make a decision as to whether I
feel the AE has gotten the exposure where I want it or if I need to
instruct the camera to do otherwise.
I turn it off, not so much to speed anything up or save power (the DS
is extremely power efficient in my opinion and I haven't found the
LCD to consume power extravagantly), but to simply stop it from
distracting me once I've gotten the exposure settings where I like:
when it flashes on, it tends to draw my eye which might distract me
from the next shot I wanted to make. It's also handy to turn it off
when working in dim surroundings so that it doesn't present a bright
flash of light that will draw attention to me and the camera.
Godfrey
