nelson cotrim

The camera uses it in low light situation. Whenever it "needs" more light to focus. You can turn it off with one of the CFs. The same CF can be used to allow only the flash or the AF assist light to be used, both with the built in and accessory flash (420 and 550 - don't know the others). I just turned it off. If I need the AF assist, i will need the flash also, so I'll just use the 420 and it's red AF assit (which is great, btw).

This Christmas I handed over my camera - Elan 7e, 50mm 1.8 and 420EX - to a 8 years old cousin, because he was realy impressed with the camera. The camera was on full auto, including AF. I just told him to beware of the focus, with the 1.8 it's easy to notice. His family (I was with my cousin's family) acted much more naturally than they would for me, because they found him holding the cammera to be funny. He took some 10-15 shots, and his bigger sister (10-11) took a few more. The pictures turned out great. And not just for a 8 year old, but above average. I was pretty surpised when I picked them up at the lab.

 

That was an exception, of course. What I usually do is I hand the camera, full auto, to someone I know is used to taking pictures. If I don't know anybody around, I try to compose first and hand the camera, and if necessary, crop the final picture. And I also chose the background - don't want a tree sticking out of my head, right :) Auto focus or not, depend's on the person. If it looks like someone who willl not see any difference, I focus then set it to manual, but usually just leaveit in AF.

Bob Atkins (www.bobatkins.com) , feb 11, 2004; 11:48 p.m.</br>

<i>ALL EF lenses work fine with ETTL II bodies, it's just that some

(most non-ring USM lenses) won't be able to take advantage of ETTL II

technology. Otherwise they'll work fine, even if you are using

flash.</i></br></br>

 

Okay, so all of them are. But which ones will be able to use distance

information?</br></br>

 

and what about bounce flash? The system reverts to good old E-TTL?

E-bay is rather complicated... Besides border taxes, shipping would be too expensive if I had to return it. I´d rather buy a used one over here. I´ll only buy from the US if it´s a new one. Even KEH used are out. What I actually want to know is if I may need to spend 1/2 the price of a new camera to fix it now, only to spend some more $$$ later to fix other stuff, or if it´s safe to fix it. I´m not a heavy user (2-3 rolls a month average - sometimes more) and do take good care of it, dry box and everthing, not banging it around, leaving it in the sun...

My Elan II had a problem I cannot diagnose. I took it to a Canon

repair center here in Brazil, and they´ll charge around US$230 for

repair - change of the main circuit. A used one here goes for some

US$250-300, regardless of the condition, but they´re hard to find. A

new Elan 7e goes for US$600-750. Not worth ordering from B&H or any

other (B&H US$ 380+100 shipping = no warranty). Have any of you ever

had the main circuit changed? I´m worried that maybe I´ll have to

change/fix some other stuff - motor drive, focus sensor, dials, LCD,

whatever and spend some more $$$. What I mean is, is it worth

repairing or should I just trade it for a new/used one?

That's it John, you got it right. It did make sense after all :)

 

And I guess you're right about the temperature fudge factor too. Glad we made it.

Again (silly me): "reflected by the filter" to be read as "reflected by the mirror"!!!!

Chris, based on what John said about counting notches, and what you said, I have an idea: why don't you mark the focusing ring at position oo, focus to whatever it is you want (ie 70 ft) and place a mark on the lens, besides the focusing ring. When you need to focus, turn the focusing ring until the mark matches the oo (as they turn freely) then turn (this time focusing) until you align the two marks... It might be similar to what you used to do... Or maybe two marks on the focuisng ring, one for oo and one for the distance you want, to match the mark of the distance scale... If this is too complicated (mark one aligns to mark two, mark two connects to the leg bone, leg bone connects to... :), write me and I'll try to be clearer.

By "if you can't see the mirror" I meant "if it is completely black"... That's because the polarizing element will block the "scrambled" waves reflected by the filter.

Sorry about that, just sounded rather weird now I read it again...

Use a mirror. Look at the mirror through the filter. If you can't see the mirror, it's a circular pol. If you can still see the mirror, only darker, it's a linear pol. That's because circular polarizer "scrambles" the polarized light, as previsously metioned, and will filter whatever light is left, and linears do not, so all the light waves are reflected by the mirror. Any mirror will do. I don't remember which side of the polarizer you'll have to face (the "scrambler" element is only on one side of the filter, I guess the side that faces the film - this is the side that must be towards the mirror), but just in case, try both sides.

:( filter ring is back on... The glass element does hit the filter when focusing closer...

What about the metal element? Should it protutrude too, like the D version? I'm afraid there might be something wrong there...

 

PS: filter ring already removed :)

I just bought a used 20mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor, non-D - at least does not

have a D engraved, though it looks just like one, except for this:

the first metal element (were you attach the hood) has a little play -

it's kinda little loose (sp? - lose?), and does not protrude when

focusing like the D version, instead, just the first glass element

protrudes, while the hood piece stays put, just turning. AF works

normally, noisy, but the camera is a F501, all the AF lenses are

noisy, and this is the quietest of them all. Manual focusing is

smooth, no gripping or gritting or scraping or anything. Also, it has

something like leather in the focusing ring, which the D version did

not.

 

So, is my lens Ok, it is just slightly different from the new version

and I have nothing to worry about?

 

Another question: the lens came with a UV (thin ring :) and another

filter ring, without glass, probably a spacer. It vignettes a little,

but is this necessary? Will the front glass element hit the filter

without this spacer ring? As far as I could see when I removed it,

the glass apparently did not touch the filter, but one never knows...

 

Thanks again to all those who helped me choose a wide-angle lens -

actually, this was a great find, the same $$ as a MF 24mm in the

store next door, so I figured, "If I don't like it, I'll just sell it

and buy the 24mm". Turns out I LOVED it!!!

I was recently given a Nikon F501 (N2020?), and as I wanted a

mechanical camera, I bought the FM also. I already had a Vivitar 285

HV. With the F501 I was given a small lightweight Rollei flash. I

don't think they were ever used together, my grandpa just found them

and gave to me, as he doesn't shoot anymore due to his back :(

 

Vivitar 285 HV: apparently, this one rates (how do you say this? :)

at 4.5v, safe to use with both cameras? I have been using this with

the FM, as far as I know it's safe, what about the F501?

 

Rollei: more than 100v, will not fire when plugged to the PC contact

of FM with a PC to hot-shoe adapter, though the flash works (tested

on different camera in repair shop - leaky batteries). I don't think

I can use this with the F501, but will it be OK to use it with the FM

in the hot-shoe?

 

Thanks a lot, from a EOS guy who's pulling hair about Nikkor lenses

compatabillity...

 

PS: thanks to all the posters who helped me with the Wide-angle lens.

Just found a 20mm 2.8 AF (non-D) and LOVE IT!!!

I had the same thing happening to my Elan II a few weeks back (post new year), but using the BP-50 (with four AA alcaline cells) or Panasonic 2CR5 (without the BP-50) - never had the battery problem before - but only in continous mode. It happened after I set the camera to take 9 multiple exposures, right after the first one. I was using a Canon lens, and it kept locking even after removing the BP-50 or the 2CR5, removing the lens and turning the camera off. The problem would only occour with the film loaded. The shutter looks clear, and the camera still works normally when it's in the mood... :(

I had almost the same problem with mine, just last week, for the fisrt time since 97.

 

What I did was to set the ISO to 3200 and the multiple exposure to 9 (I wanted to get 40-50 pics in one frame of ISO 100 film) but it locked up on the first shot, even before I reset the counter to another series of 9 multiple exposures. I had the BP-50 and relatively new AA alcaline batteries (showed like full on the LCD) and a Canon lens attached. The mirror would only come down when the rewind button at the back was pressed and the fim rewond (with the mirror down!!!) or the shutter was pressed again, even half way. And it kept happening until there were no more exposures on the same frame. Turning it of, removing the BP-50 or removing the lens wouldn't help. The same thing happened when using normal 2CR5 cells (Panasonic - never had to use paper), and only if there was film in the camera, and the camera was set to M. Any suggestions? Should I take it to a technician to get it repaired?

Mark, bad news: I have the 75-300 USM (non IS) and sometimes I use a Vivitar 2x 7 elements Series 1 (non pro) TC. I have to stop down at least to f/11 (actually f/22 with 600mm) to get a sharp picture, otherwise the image will be terribly soft, even on a sturdy tripod, protected from the wind. So she will get pretty slow speeds, and probably blurry pictures anyway. I use the Elan II too with this combo, and the AF might work if there´s a lot of light (or it may not), but it will hunt a lot, and is useless for moving subjects - even if they are still and the camera is rocking on a boat.

 

What about a manual outfit? Get one fast long prime (much cheaper than an AF, if not german made :^), stack a 1.4x or 2x TC and find a cheap body to match it.

This is a nice online calculator.

 

http://members.rogers.com/jul.loke/jlcalc.html

 

BTW, I have another question: is it better to stack filters with greater factors closer or farther from the lens - lens, +3, +1, subject or lens, +1, +3, subject? And the same for TCs and extension tubes - camera, TC, tube, lens or camera, tube, TC, lens? I still have not found Shaw´s book in any library around here.

Read this article on the EOS flash system and decide if you E-TTL or plain TTL (EZ x EX series).

 

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

As I said, I´m new to PN. I guess I belong to category (2) because I´m really interested in feedback for my pictures, and specially of my critique skills, because I want to improve them and be able to critique my own work. Although i´ve been shooting for over 6 years now, I still consider myself a novice when it comes to the artistic apsect of photography, and this is what I´m most interested. I´ve never joined the circles because I have no means of sistematicaly uploading new pictures (no scanner, have to organize my negatives, lost due to several movings in the last five years), but I was an outside observer, and learned a lot just y looking and eventually critiquing. I think this is one of the best features on this site, and hope Carl and the other volunteers will figure out how to make them work properly.

 

I´m glad to see some real good ideas that have been posted in this thread, mainly the ones on and after Christopher´s first post. I also don´t care about ratings, just the comments, and wouldn´t be sad to see them go, at least not in the critique cirles, as suggested. I also like one of Marc´s idea: critique of the week. This is one of the only features I found usefull in Photsosig, although the only "thumbs down" I rated was considered a bad comment, and not even by the author of the picture, who´s a friend of mine and found it very usefull. Go figure...

 

Fact is, I think lots of the ideias can be extremelly usefull, others not so much, as they may drive away some of the people who just want their egos boosted. But these are probably not the ones who are subscribers anyway...

 

Maybe you could charge for the privilege to join a critique circle. Guess it would solve both problems, circle members would have reasons to participate, after all, they´re paying for it, and they´re also paying, so more $$$. You could also reduce the quota of non-subscribers, to say, 50 pictures. If they really want to have more pictures commented upon or rated, pay for it. I would, if I found the critiques were usefull. The way they are now, I haven´t got a single usefull critique on my pictures, so I see no point paying for something I don´t get. Maybe when I join the circles...

I´ll probably become a subscriber as soon as I can find some way to upload my images and join one of the circles, because that´s the part of the site I´m really interested in. I agree with Seven, the foruns are great, and I do use them a lot, but I can only grow from shooting and getting feedback, not from just reading how to use 43 different flash setups or what´s the best camera and lens...

www.photonotes.org and www.eosdoc.com

<i>Admittedly, the "rankings" are of absolutely no interest to me whatsoever, and never have been.</i></p>

I couldn´t agree more with Carl. I am pretty new to PN. One of the first threads I read was about the abuse on comments and ratings, and the subsequent creation of the Critique circles. Although I did not join the circles, as I don´t have a scanner and a way of uploading pictures, I did spent much time around them, reading the comments. I did find lots of people whose comments were really helpfull, at least in my opinon, saw their portfolios, and ended up making them my "favourites", not because of their pictures, but because of their coments!! People like Carl, Marc, Jeff, Philippe, Doug and lots of others. I spent lots of time going to previous comments made by these people, instead of going through new or top rated pictures, simnply because I could learn something with those pictures. I think my pictures have improved a lot since I joined PN, or at least I think I know how to make them look better the they did. All this because of the comments.

 

I did join photsig a while ago, but hated it. People are only interested in getting their own numbers high, so they´re all rating high and saying "Nice. Now take a look at my picture". I don´t know how something like this can be usefull. Except maybe for boosting up one´s ego.

 

I´ll never forget one sentece I read here on PN, by Emre Safak: <i>I don't know about the rest, but I don't need the attention. At least not the chin stroking type; I'm not a fine art photographer. </i></p>

 

I also did´t mind the ratings. Because if you don´t like a picture, you´re bound to rate it low, at least lower than a picture you like but is not as good as that one. I just want to learn, and to get sincere opinion of my pictures and others.

 

I did post 5 pictures during the last 2-3 weeks. I said that I did not want any ratings, just comments. I did get a few ratings, but no comments!!! They weren´t great pictures, just some that I could get scanned and wanted feedbak on how to improve them. 3 of them are just awfull, I just uploaded them because I thought they were funny, but wanted to make them better. But I got no feedback at all. I don´t want to be a top photographer, just to take better pictures. I think I´ll just mail some people whose comments I trust next time I upload a picture. Not because they will praise it (which I seriously doubt they will, I´ll probably get even lower ratings) but because I want them to tell me their sincere opinions. This will help me.

 

I started rating pictures when it was suggested that ratings of people with less than 50 ratings would be disconsidered. But even so, I would only rate a picture after I commented on it. And I do try to make my comments usefull, even if I just repeat what other people said, if that´s what I also think. I try to say what I did like or dislike about it, because that´s what I want people to do with mine.

 

I´m also sad that Marc deleted all of his pictures, I did learn a lot with them. Not because they were perfect, but because they weren´t. I can´t remember a single picture where everybody agreed on everything. This was great. This is what I want (and hope) to see in Photo.net. That´s the main reason I joined this site. To learn. And I did learn a lot. Too bad there are some people who just want some <i>chin stroking attention</I>.

<i>What year is your flash? Mine is 1985, so I do believe it is quite old.</i></p>

I don´t know. As I told, I bought it used from a store, and they did ot know ow old it was. But it delivers only 4.5v, so it is safe to use it on my camera. New or old, you´d better test it anyway. It´s cheaper than another camera...

I bought mine used from a store, they did not know if it was a new or older version. Are there any outer signs that might indicate this?

 

My 285´s voltage was 4.5 at most, so I believe it is safe to use it with my Elan II. But test yours beforehand just to be sure. I use it mostly with an optical slave triggered by my built-in flash, so there´s no direct electrical contact with the camera.

I also have an Elan II, and the built in flash is supposed to fully recharge in 2 seconds. Even with old batteries it did not take much more than that to recharge, even though I was using it with +2 stops compensation, so unless you want to take two pictures in less than 4 sec, you shouldn´t have a problem.

 

About equipment: aside from the tripod, which I bought nearly 6 months after I bought my camera (it took me that long to find a decent and light one here in Brazil), I only bought my second lens, a 75-300 USM, in april, more than 5 years after I bought the camera (I really wanted a 100-300, but that would take even longer, so...). And I have only managed to buy a flash (and it was not an EX, but a Vivitar 285) two months ago, after I decided I really needed one, but one I could also use with another manual camera I have. I still want to buy the 50 f/1.8, the 28-105 and maybe the 100-300 (since I just cannot afford any of the L lenses) and definitely an EX flash, but those will have to wait. The "lack" of equipment never stopped me taking nice pictures whenever I could (of course I did miss a tele or a faster lens sometimes), so don´t worry about it. Use what you have in your hands. Glass and bodies are just like filters: they cannot make a bad picture great, but can only improve a good one. Just try to shoot good pictures, worry about getting great pictures in a few years...