correct exposure/ shutter speed

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ross7310

Winger
I'm being lazy I know , and have looked at the beginners guide posted at top.
I used a pentax spotmatic for years 35mm film and it was simple to vary aperture size and shutter speed in any combination and get correct exposure by getting a swinging needle in the right zone.
Had a digital pentax k5 for few years but despite reading thru the 1000 page handbook my brain gets tired before I can work out how to use any other setting but automatic
Any one got a simple suggestion to help
I'm not dedicated to photography but feel like I should be getting more from the camera
 


Thats like asking what's the correct speed for a car, there isn't one. It depends what you're shooting, where, what lighting setup you have, lenses, cameras. Best way to learn is to experiment in different situations. It's still the holy trinity of exposure, aperture and ISO and the balancing of the three.
 
I am not familiar with the Pentax - someone here must be. But typically in full manual mode with a modern dslr its just the same as it used to be except instead of the swinging needle, you will have some lights or an indicator of some sort visible in the viewfinder.

You will also have Av (aperture priority) and Tv (shutter priority) modes which are semi-automatic in that you set either the aperture size or shutter speed and the camera automatics set the other one automatically for the "correct" exposure - you can then tweak this up or down slightly (because the camera guesses wrong) with exposure compensation.
 
I am not familiar with the Pentax - someone here must be. But typically in full manual mode with a modern dslr its just the same as it used to be except instead of the swinging needle, you will have some lights or an indicator of some sort visible in the viewfinder.

You will also have Av (aperture priority) and Tv (shutter priority) modes which are semi-automatic in that you set either the aperture size or shutter speed and the camera automatics set the other one automatically for the "correct" exposure - you can then tweak this up or down slightly (because the camera guesses wrong) with exposure compensation.

Well turns out to be very simple as you say,as the airshow was on I had a go at the weekend using the tv priority .
The F no. blinks if the aperture can't achieve correct exposure and that was what I didn't realize before.
Job done-thanks
 
I loved (and used) my faithful Canon Ftb 35mm SLR for years with it's simple (but accurate) swing needle metering (no automatic option of any kind available) ....I've just gone Micro 4/3rds and my newly purchased Olympus PEN Lite has a raft of alternative metering options - buried in a unfathomable menu system! however I've finally got to grips with it and am determined to road test it at the week-end in manual mode if only to remind me of how things used to be! The Olympus's picture quality is class by the way!
 
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