A1 metering in manual mode

[bugz619]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if you could help me? I just recently bought the A1 and I was going through and playing with all the settings. I was adjusting the metering modes in all of the settings (P,A,S,M) but it would not work in the manualsetting for some reason. I followed the directions as it says, and it shows what metering mode it is in but, it will not let me change it in the manual setting. Now I can go back and change the metering mode in any other setting and when I return to manual and check it again, it has changed. But, I am setting it for spot metering and I do not get the circle that they describe. It works in all the other settings as I said before, just not in full manual? I just got done writing to minolta but, they don't know everything... haha. Does anyone have a fix for this???

The reason it doesn't change metering in manual mode is because when you choose manual mode, you have chosen to over-ride any metering & do it yourself. As you have found out, you can go back into any of program modes & change it (& it will stay that way when you switch back to manual mode). I don't find it to be a big deal since in manual, I am basically metering the shot by my choice of aperture & shutter speed.

[bugz619]

Thanks for the reply but, I don't see why you can not use the metering mode. How am I going to use the zone system with out a proper metering mode. Yes, you can change the apature and shutter speed to adjust, this is true, but I don't know what I am metering change those settings in order to get the photo to come out the way that I have previsualized in my head. Is it metering the whole scene? A spot? What? This is my problem.

Like I said..... thank you for the reply though.

[jawz]

The live histogram works fine in 'M' exposure mode. You can use the histogram readidng to adjust the shutter or aperture for perfect picture of zone-5 toast.

It seems that the live histogram calculation is based on center weighted exposure evaluation (but I haven't done enough experiments to prove it).

[bugz619]

Thanks for the reply... It's true that I can use the histogram to set the zone 5 but it I want to spot meter I am basically it sounds like I am going to have to frame my subject as I want to, then walk up, while keeoing the same focal distance on the lens, and fill the frame to get my correct zone 5 or 18 percent gey or Normal value. Which is fine, since others have done this long before the digital revolution or adding spot metering onto thetraditional SLR's.I just firgured that I might have accidentally set something in the camera to prevent me from using this feature. Or if there is a software problem.

Please if there are any other ideas out there let me know.... Thanks

P.S. If I get an answer from Minolta, hopefully soon, I will pass it on.

bugz619 wrote:

Thanks for the reply... It's true that I can use the histogram to set the zone 5 but it I want to spot meter I am basically it sounds like I am going to have to frame my subject as I want to, then walk up, while keeoing the same focal distance on the lens, and fill the frame to get my correct zone 5 or 18 percent gey or Normal value. Which is fine, since others have done this long before the digital revolution or adding spot metering onto the traditional SLR's. I just firgured that I might have accidentally set something in the camera to prevent me from using this feature. Or if there is a software problem.

Please if there are any other ideas out there let me know.... Thanks

P.S. If I get an answer from Minolta, hopefully soon, I will pass it on.

Spot metering looks good on paper, but it was another solution for those shooting film in difficult lighting situations. I don't know one film photographer that wouldn't love a real-time histogram in camera (& I think that will be the next big DSLR advancement). You can set your A1 to spot meter using the flex focus point & spot meter to your hearts content from wherever you are. Does it bother you that much just because you need to set it before going into manual?

[bugz619]

No, it doesn't bother me if I have to set it before going to manual.... the only problem is that it doesn't engage or seem to engage. It says in the directions that a circle should appear when setting it to spot meter.But there is no circle. Nor is there any cross hairs of any kind when I change the meter setting and then switch back to manual. This circle and cross hairs appear in all the other settings as described by the directions. But it never says anything about it not working in the manual mode.I searched the directions to see if changing one of the other settings I might of made might of locked this function out... I found nothing.I need this function for the studio class I am going to take and then for the advanced digital class.Right now I am taking a advanced black and white course with traditional film, and it would be a lot of help and cheeper if I can use the spot meter function in manual for the practice.

[NHL]

Why don't you use the camera's memories?
Store the Manual mode in one location, and save the Av/Tv modes in two other locations

-> Switch to Memory (Av) for metering when you want to vary the aperture and then recall the Manual mode when you're about to shoot...
-> Switch to Memory (Tv) for metering when you want to vary the shutter... (even with an external meter you have to fix one of the parameter)

... It's like having 3 different cameras by quickly jumping between the different memories to access the various modes!