getting AF/.AE setup on Elan - new to Eosland 7

[frank_gross]

I have just bought an Elan 7 - it's my first autofocus system camera

after 30 years of manual camera photography with various bodies over

the years.(Nikon F3, Pentax67, Rollei TLR) and I'm trying to

customize the functions to more or less what I was used to on a

manual camera but with the benefits of AF (& AE).

CF4 seems to be the control I'm trying to master, but it's an

either/or situation it seems....

 

First of all the AF - it can either be activated by the shutter

button 1/2 depressed or the * button on the back. The Shutter button

activation is great for point & shoot or street photography or

journalism or action etc. But you "lose" the focus setting each time

you lift your finger. For portraits, or landscapes or still life

where you may wish to hold the focus after it's been set, in order to

do several frames, the focus activation must be reset to the * button

on the back, where pressing it once will focus and lock it there,

until you press the * button again.

 

Now for exposure. Once the chosen metering method has been set (CW,

partial or matrix), the exposure can also be read by either the

shutter button 1/2 depressed or the * button. Depending on what has

been set for the AF in CF4. If I move the AF to the back * button

then I can activate AE with the shutter button 1/2 way down, but how

can I lock/hold it in - I guess I can't. And if I move AE to the *

button I am able to hold/lock the exposure, until the * button is

pressed again, but then I can only operate the AF with the finger on

the shutter 1/2 way.

I cant set and lock/hold both AF and AE and have free fingerss -

correct ?

 

It seems that the closest thing to having the benefit of AF while

being in control of and holding the AE is to set the AF to the * and

only do exposures in Manual mode ? It is a pity not to benefit from

Aperture or Shutter priority modes.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong and have not got a "handle" on the

Elan. Any simplified clarification is welcomed.

Sorry if this seems really basic/naive to the experienced users.

 

thanks

Frank

[bbc]

I kind of got lost in the exposure part, but I think I know what you mean, and I think you're absolutely right.

<br><br>

You said "I move the AF to the back * button then I can activate AE with the shutter button 1/2 way down, but how can I lock/hold it in - I guess I can't.".

<br><br>

Well, on the EOS 5, if you move AF to the * button, the * button locks exposure at the same time. I don't know if the Elan 7 does this, but it sucks! It means that you cannot AF without locking AE! It's quite a disadvantage. :-(

<br><br>

It would be good for me if I could have this:

<br><br>

- AF on the * button, without having to lock AE when I focus<br>

- AE lock on the shutter button

<br><br>

That way, AE lock and AF would be separate from eachother, and there'd be no need for AF lock because pressing the shutter button would not start AF with this configuration.

<br><br>

What I have to settle for is set AF lock and AE lock to the * button, and have AF and AE on the shutter button. This way, if I do not need to re-focus, I can just press the * button. The only problem is, this will lock AE too, so I have to be sure to press it when the selected focus point is covering the area I am metering. Argh!

[eosdoc]

<a href=mailto:uce@ftc.gov></a>

You are making this too hard. My <a href=

http://yahoogroups.com/group/elan7e

>Elan 7E</a> is quite easy to use.

<P>

Set CF4=0. Then use the "*" button to activate exposure lock.

Now push the shutter button halfway to activate autofocus, and

push all the way to shoot.

<P>

If you need to "hold" the focus, switch the lens to manual focus.

[bbc]

"If you need to "hold" the focus, switch the lens to manual focus."

<br><br>

Julian, doesn't the Elan 7 have an equivalent of the EOS 5's CF6? On the EOS 5, CF6 adds AF lock to the * button when CF4=0. This means you have AF lock <b>and</b> AE lock on the * button when CF4=0. This would eliminate the need to switch to manual focus when you need to 'hold' focus.

[bbc]

I just read <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005Ssd&unified_p=1" target="_blank">this</a>... there is no EOS 5 CF6 equivalent on the Elan 7.

<br><br>

When you set CF4 to 1, does the * button AF <b>and</b> lock AE at the same time, or does it just do AF? If it just does AF, then I suppose that means you'll have to choose between:

<br><br>

a) CF4=1 - using * for AF, but not being able to lock AE (like you suggested), or

<br><br>

b) CF4=0 - using the * button for AE lock, and the shutter for AF, then either holding the shutter or switching to manual focus if you need to hold focus (like Julian suggested), or<br><br>

c) CF4=2 - using the shutter for AF, and the * button for AF lock (and probably not being able to lock AE).<br><br>Pity the custom functions aren't that tiny bit more comprehensive... you'll just have to live with it.

[lsaavedra]

I agree with julian CF4 default setting (=0) is great. First foucus on the object you want to photograph, only for seeing it clearly. The measure the exposure by the way you better want (parcial, evaluative or CW), press * to lock AE, focus on the object agin to be sure and finally recompose the scene and shoot. If you need the same focus point for a series of different photographs switch the lens to MF.

And if you have USM lenses you can have the aoutsading feature of full-time manual focus wich I think is great.

Regards

[j._d._mcgee]

I always understood it as if you set CF4=1 then you can start AF with the * and it will find focus and stop if you are in one-shot AF mode, then AE will lock when you press the shutter button 1/2 way. In the manual it says AE lock is achieve by pressing the shutter button half way when CF4 is set to 1.

 

I believe that is how it works. No, I don't think it is like the EOS-5 where when CF4=1 you lock AE with AF when hitting the *. I think this is how it works, but personally I perfer CF4 at 0 just like Julian and Luis, I use CF4=0 almost exclusively.