My full manual camera w/o a meter just cost me a great shot.

[gone]

I was on my bike today w/ theNikkormat when I saw this large white heron out the corner of my eye. He was making this unusual evasive maneuver in mid flight about 15' from the ground. I stopped, and saw to the heron's left a huge, darker bird that had splayed his wings and tail out while heading to a low lying tree limb. At first I thought it was an osprey, but the markings under the tail and wings looked more like a hawk. An osprey won't go after a big heron anyway, or at least I've never seen one do that. Once he got up on his limb I saw that it was possibly an eagle. No hawk could have been that big. He also had a much bigger beak, and what looked like lighter colored feathers on his legs all the way up to his body. The legs were very large, and much bigger in diameter than an ospreys.

I had recently fixed the meter on the 'mat, but in the rush of the moment had forgotten that. Meanwhile, he was still sitting on that limb, but now he was eying me. I took my eyes off him JUST long enough to set the aperture, which took about 2 or 3 seconds at most, and when I looked back up all I saw was the tree limb. No bird.

From now on I'm putting that H 50 2 lens on my N8008s (once I hack it to shoot the non AI lens).That camera will automatically set the shutter speed w/ its AE, even in stop down metering mode. As much as I love the 'mat, when I'm out and about I'd better take the AE camera. Of course I could still take the 'mat, and hopefully remember that the meter works, but it still won't be nearly as fast to shoot w/ match needle metering vs a camera w/ AE.

 

[binglebugbob]

Or, you can adjust the camera ahead of time anticipating the light you are in so that you're ready to shoot at the drop of a hat. You can also set the lens to the hyperfocal distance so you can point and shoot without re focusing if you don't have time to focus. May not be perfect, but beats no shot at all. It's the way it was done "back in the day".

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Don't worry momus. Because it was such a great shot you likely would have put the fixer in before the developer for this roll. At least that's what I would have done.

 

[fotch]

Before auto exposure, photogs would keep their camera at a preset for the lighting conditions available. Of course, as lighting would change, for example, a large dark cloud that reduced light, the photog would change setting to match. It takes discipline to continually make changes to settings to be ready, and its why auto everything is popular.

Our brains can handle this, if you want to, then again, technology makes life easier sometimes.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

One of the reasons I love the F5 on program. But I've missed shots with a full auto camera as well. Sometimes it's just palin dumb luck.

 

[BrianShaw]

What a shame, but I'm sure that we've all shared your disappointment... At least I know I have; more than once. But don't osprey eat fish rather than birds?

 

[Carriage]

What's the saying? f/8 and be there?

 

[snapguy]

always

Yeah, I always blame the camera when I miss a shot. I missed a great photo of Elvis once and have blamed my Rolleiflex ever since. Of course, I wasn't there at the time but it is the camera's fault every time.

 

[j-dogg]

Or, you can adjust the camera ahead of time anticipating the light you are in so that you're ready to shoot at the drop of a hat. You can also set the lens to the hyperfocal distance so you can point and shoot without re focusing if you don't have time to focus. May not be perfect, but beats no shot at all. It's the way it was done "back in the day".

this......do it all the time with my Soviet FED-2 and my Nikkormat.

Dont fret that Nikkormat will still be working long after Im gone......I got 2 of them. It's all the heavy-metal "kerchung" of the Nikon F without the hipster tax.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

And you don't need to "hack" a perfectly good camera to make it work with your Non-AI lens. Just buy a Series E 50mm or something like that. They ought to be cheap enough.

 

[Lamar]

It's a bummer when you miss'em, but it feels extra good when you do nail those shots with a manual body.

 

[benjiboy]

The shots I miss are always my best shots .

 

[Sirius Glass]

Preset your camera or use this as an excuse to buy more camera equipment.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I've never used an automatic exposure mode in my life and rarely get an exposure wrong. In fact, I probably get a far higher percentage of exposures correct than someone letting the camera think for them. And when it comes to 35mm, my cameras are fully functional with no
battery in them at all. "Manual" cameras were all there was for over a hundred years, and an awful lot of good pictures got taken anyway.