A little automation...really not so bad!

[Dave Wilkinson]

I've been buying and selling, chopping and changing cameras and gear for well over forty years!, but I think - like a lot, several items of gear have stuck around, and would never be disposed of. Looking at my gear this morning, the thought came that every camera I'd acquired over the years was a simple, fully manual, mechanical machine - needing everything setting by me, and I reckon I've got pretty good at doing this, I will quite happily go out with a roll of colour print or B+W film and no meter, and most times have a set of usable negatives. I think that over the years I was conditioned to think that this was what 'proper photographers' did and this new fangled automation was for the novice. About a year ago I had been reading posts here by Nick Trop - on the benefits of shutter priority automatic on his Yashica r/f cameras, and if it worked as well as he said - made a lot of sense.
Well, to cut a long story.......I bought (very cheaply) a Konica FT1 slr and a few AR lenses, and though having a manual setting is a shutter priority camera with built in power wind, in a very neat and compact body. This camera has become my most used film cam. - and yes, It hardly ever comes out of auto mode, and apart from needing a little plus or minus compensation occasionally, the exposures are amazingly good, and I feel so relaxed and comfortable shooting this way. Talk about old dogs, and new tricks! - hell, next I'll be getting autofocus lenses! 😀
Happy Easter all! Dave.

 

[MCTuomey]

a lot of automation is not so bad either, for me. i'm getting older, eyesight and reflexes deteriorating. autofocus and autoexposure now allow me to shoot things like sports and will in the future allow me to continue shooting when i'm not physically capable of using all-manual gear. no luddite here.

and same to you, dave, over the holiday!

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Yes, sometimes exposure automation can be useful when moving people are involved, and even auto focus! Portraits of playing children come to mind... Happy Easter too!

Cheers,

Juan

 

[oftheherd]

Yep, I got into SLR photography with the Yashica TL Super. Nothing automatic, but it did have a built in match needle finder. I ususally set the shutter speed to whatever I thought was a good one, and then adjusted the aperture, and settled for that as long as the dof was acceptable. Then I decided to get another camera, and auto-exposure was a big thing in the magazines.

I ended up with my Fujica ST 901. I love it and always have from the moment I got it. I still have my original and two more as backups. I love the aperture preferred exposure, and being able to see the selected shutter speed displayed by led. I mean the shutter speed in numbers, not just a moving led light with no idea of the shutter speed.

I never got tired of using it. Shortly after that I got my Super Press 23. Having used many cameras without a built in light meter, but having a hand held light meter by then, it was no stretch to use it for the big negatives. But I still love the aperture preferred of the Fujica. So I understand your sudden conversion. A few years ago I put together a kit with the Yashica FX 103. Yeah, I still love that auto-exposure that I have some simple input to. Not total AE, even though the FX is capable of that with a program mode.

I have no problem using a camera with no auto exposure. It can be a fun retro experience. I like the size of the 6x7 negative, and the look of the Zeiss-like lenses with my Kiev. But the Fujica and Yashica remain fun and comfortable users.

BTW, I am sure you have discovered you have a camera with some of the most under-rated lenses out there. Konica, like Fuji, has always had some of the best lenses you can use. For some reason, they just never got the mainstream popularity in their time. Glad you are enjoying them.

 

[Jamie123]

The biggest difference I notice between using cameras with automation and cameras without it is the way people react to it when you do portraits. The process of metering and focusing slows things down and because the ''lag'' between focusing and clicking the shutter is usually bigger than with AF, there's this ''don't move'' moment for the subject. These aspects very much influence the mood of a photo. The portraits I used to take with my Hasselblad had a very calm, relaxed feel to them.
Now that I partly switched to a Canon 5DII I feel it's difficult to get that same kind of look. The slowness can only be simulated up to a certain degree but it's not the same. The subject reacts differently if he/she feels that you're just stalling as opposed to being really absorbed in the task of adjusting the settings of your camera.

 

[Haigh]

I just bought a Contax G1 as I will be taking shots in very low light and can no longer read the M4 meter. I use an old Hasselblad , a Nikon F100, a digital P&S and DSLR. They are all fun but automation really helps when I need it.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I've always been in favour of auto diaphragms and auto-return mirrors on SLRs. Anything else runs the risk of over-egging the pudding.

Cheers,

R.