Canon EOS 30

[cs0rpc]

Hi there,

I'm shooting on a Canon EOS 30 today, but have a couple of minor issues before I progress with a day's shooting:

The Ultrasonic lens I'm using is having issues with auto-focus. Will this cause me a problem when in fully automatic mode as far as the setting of the camera's aperture and shutter speed are concerned?

If it does, I can manually override and set the everything via a light meter app on my phone. I did this recently, however a lot of the images came out very dark. This was negative film, so I assume this means they were actually over-exposed. When I scanned the negatives in Silverfast, I had to up the exposure to 2.0 or 3.0 (the maximum) to render enough detail. Would the best way to address this be to shoot with a narrow aperture to reduce the amount of light coming in? if so, by how much?


Thanks,

R.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Hi there,

I'm shooting on a Canon EOS 30 today, but have a couple of minor issues before I progress with a day's shooting:

The Ultrasonic lens I'm using is having issues with auto-focus. Will this cause me a problem when in fully automatic mode as far as the setting of the camera's aperture and shutter speed are concerned?

If it does, I can manually override and set the everything via a light meter app on my phone. I did this recently, however a lot of the images came out very dark. This was negative film, so I assume this means they were actually over-exposed. When I scanned the negatives in Silverfast, I had to up the exposure to 2.0 or 3.0 (the maximum) to render enough detail. Would the best way to address this be to shoot with a narrow aperture to reduce the amount of light coming in? if so, by how much?


Thanks,

R.

Well how long is a piece of string mate? Your lens is playing up, without looking at it exactly what it's doing will be difficult for us to say. You'll have to check it yourself to work that out. Does the 30 have a depth of field preview button? If it does: set the dial to Av and, holding the DOF button in, rotate the wheel to fully open and close down the lens. If you can see the aperture size adjusting correctly I'd say that is probably OK.

As far as exposure is concerned this should be almost independant of focus. I say almost because with some lenses as the focus adjusts it could impact the amount of light reaching the lens. I don't know if that model Canon is smart enough to think about the focus distance it is set to when it is calculating exposure (as distinct from the zoomed focal length of the lens, if it is a zoom, which, even the oldest EOS, the 650, will take into account as the effective maximum aperture alters). In any case unless you're using a lens with a wide zoom and focus range (and how would we know, because, you haven't told us what your lens, is) I doubt it will be much of a consideration for you.

As far as exposure accuracy is concerned, I suppose the easiest way to check for this is to get a good mid tone and see if you get a Sunny 16 reading, or close to, with the sun behind you during the day. If you do and the lens is closing down correctly then you may be in luck. Although I'd point out that unless you will be focusing the lens manually, I don't know why you would bother using it at all, if the autofocus is playing up. Unless your Holga is broken, I suppose.
Cheers
Brett