Rick S. Newton wrote: > > > P.S. Although ditch lights are good for the railroads, as far as the > autofocus (and autoexposure) photographer, its the devils doing.
Well, not really. It's been my experience with the EOS-1, that you can get perfect exposure on a nosy shot w/ditch lights, headlights blaring away by using the spot metering function and actually spot metering the area inside of the triangle of lights. The cover shot in Trains I had a few months back of the BNSF units in Marias Pass was spot metered that way. This has been an interesting thread. A couple of things I have done since going to the EOS system in 1993, that might be good for anyone in the situation of learning a new camera system: 1. When shooting, use a pocket tape recorder to record all settings, etc....quite useful when you process your stuff and want to know what you did right or wrong. 2. Shoot a lot of stuff experimentally. This includes non-train stuff! Keep the same kinds of notes and I guarantee you will understand the strong points and weak points of your camera system much faster. 3. Read everything you can in current literature (magazines, 3rd party manuals, manufacturer tech. data) about your system. You can always glean a new tidbit that you'll find helpful someday. 4. Don't substitute your vast knowledge of photography for anything mechanical/electronic, but "challenge" the system. John L. uses two cameras, I often do it, too...with one camera completely manual, the other camera completely auto (as far as metering is concerned). I consider my expertise with cameras a bit above average, but it's getting harder for me to "beat the machine" when it comes to tricky exposure calculations, etc. 5. Don't ever think you know it all. That just indicates you are on the verge of making a really stupid mistake. --Dave Busse --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
