Sony Shooting A mode with adapted lenses

HeatherTheVet

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Location
Scotland
Name
Heather
Techy question for the uninitiated - my understanding of A mode is that you get to set the aperture and the camera then decides the appropriate shutter speed. If you are using non native lenses with an adapter ring, the camera body doesn't know what aperture has been set, does it? So how does it decide what shutter speed? I have been woosing out and shooting in intelligent auto which seems to do most of what I want so far.

So - am I labouring under false wotsits? Should I be in A mode all the time? Why?
 
Heather. The camera does know how much light is passing thru the lens. The meter reads the light and then tells the camera what shutter speed to use to make the exposure equation.
The camera may not know what fstop your at but it knows the volume of light.
Don...the Ex Nex Patriot
 
It depends on the lens, and the adapter ring. Is the lens manual?

I use my old MC mount Minolta lenses with an adapter on my Pentax K-5. The camera asks me what focal length they are, but they are manual lenses so the camera has to be in M mode. I set the aperture on the lens, and shutter speed and ISO in camera. Focus, naturally, must be manual. Results have been patchy, but fair, for an old lens never intended for the use its now being put to.

[edit] or, ignore me and listen to Don :)
 
Okay, got it. So what is the difference then between using the auto mode and A mode with an adapted manual lens? Is there one? And at risk of being laughed at by the other kids, is legacy glass a catch all term for lenses designed for older (film?) cameras which can be used with an adapter?

The doing stuff I'm okay at. The knowing the right words for it is...patchy. I'm like that at work, I can perform incredible surgery on your animal, but I probably can't write it up on the computer properly because the computer HATES ME.
 
Okay, got it. So what is the difference then between using the auto mode and A mode with an adapted manual lens? Is there one?
Auto mode wouldn't work with a manual lens, since the camera CANNOT adjust the aperture. Aperture priority mode works because, as Don noted above, YOU select the aperture on the lens ring. And as he also said, it doesn't have to know the aperture, just how much light is passing through it. But there's no way the camera can control the aperture, so auto mode is out, because that requires controlling the aperture. Shutter priority and Program modes wouldn't work either. Only aperture priority or full manual...

-Ray
 
But I've been shooting in intelligent auto mode quite cheerfully and oblivious for months! Will A mode give pretty much the same picture? Or is that something I'll only discover by doing it? Where does ISO feature in this?

There may be a prize for the most tolerant forum user BTW :)
 
Hmmm. Well, maybe it treats it like an iA version of aperture priority, just taking the amount of light coming through the lens as a given and taking control of all of the other parameters? I wouldn't have thought it would work, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

-Ray
 
Hmmm. Well, maybe it treats it like an iA version of aperture priority, just taking the amount of light coming through the lens as a given and taking control of all of the other parameters? I wouldn't have thought it would work, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

-Ray

[OT]
I've been afflicted with a terrible case of pedantry... the expression is actually "the proof of the pudding is in the eating", and I really wish they did NOT say "the proof is in the pudding"... wtf?
[/OT]

Sorry Heather :( and Ray.
 
Heather,
There are 3 parts to the exposure equation.
1 intensity of light...... fstop
2 speed of shutter.......shutter speed
3 ISO .................the sensitivity of the film or sensor.

So, with "A" mode you choose the fstop or the intensity of light.
The camera matches against the fstop with how long the shutter exposes the film or sensor.
The ISO setting tells the camera how much of each is required for proper exposure at any given ISO setting.

You choose A mode with MF lenses because to the camera, it's an unknown value.
The camera requires all 3 parts to make proper exposure.
Since the camera doesn't really know the fstop, it measures the light and computes exposure based on the other 2 known values.

Don
 
The advantage with MF lenses in A mode is that you can actually see you depth of field. Look closely as you go from say... F4 to f11.
With your Nex with peaking on...you'll see your range of DOF.
 
On the NEX you can also shoot in shutter priority mode. Set the aperture on the lens, set your desired shutter speed, and then select Auto ISO. The NEX will choose an ISO value between 200 and 1600 and it seems it will choose nearly any value in increments of 10 in that range. Since the NEX is so good up to ISO 1600 it is actually a pretty useful way to shoot as the resulting file will always be quite clean. The only thing to watch for is that you don't bump into the upper 1600 ISO while being under-exposed, but the histogram will let you know if you are.
 
A lot of m4/3 users seem to (logically?) choose A mode when using adapted lenses, however while everything still meters correctly it renders the camera's main control wheel redundant. Choosing P mode allows you to assign exposure comp to the main wheel which can be useful to be able to adjust quickly with adapted lenses because sometimes the exposure doesn't look quite right, particularly at smaller apertures. Dunno if the NEX allows you to do the same...
 
Nic, unfortunately the Nex interface is like uh...uh...Sony's attempt at making washing machines. There's another washing machine company that has it down on cameras but it sure as heck ain't Sony.
 
While shooting my Canon 5D with adapted manual lenses I usually shoot in manual. I would think that shooting in aperture priority would also be good, as the camera won't be able to set the aperture any way, but "will" be able to set the shutter speed automatically for the metered light coming through. ;)
Shutter priority would be a good option also, but I think will give the same effect as manual. :)
-Bruce
 
I usually shoot in Aperture priority and I'll set my ISO to 100 or lowest possible and let the camera choose the shutter speed. This is on my DSLR with Lensbaby, Subjektiv, Sima, reverse lens for macro or whatever I am using but the principle is the same. Then again I shoot aperture priority a lot anyway because I work a lot with my dof.
 
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