by Jack and Sue Drafahl

Today's auto-everything 35mmSLRs are great for point-and-shooters, and even serious

photographers can appreciate the speedand convenience of automation. Butserious shooters understand focusingand exposure, and know when theyneed to override the automation. Point-and-shooters just get bad pictures inthose situations.

There are a number of good (andlow-priced) SLRs on the market thatdon't have a fully-auto (i.e., program)mode. They require you to set (andthus think about) focus, shutter speedand lens aperture. These cameras aretherefore great learning devices, popularwith photo schools. Sure, you can setfocus, shutter speed and aperturemanually with an AF SLR, but toomany users don't, because it's so easy touse the camera in auto-everythingmode. The manual SLRs force you tolearn about focusing, exposure, and theeffects of different shutter speeds andlens apertures on your photos.

Some of the cameras included hereprovide only manual exposure control.Others offer aperture-priority AE alongwith manual exposure control, butthat's OK, because with aperture-priority, you have to set the lensaperture (and think about why you'resetting that aperture). You have to learnabout focus and exposure when usingthese cameras, and that's a good thing,even if you're going to use a fullyautomatic camera in the future.

The manual 35mm camerasincluded in this article offer theadvantage of being mechanical ratherthan electronic devices. If the batteriesdie, you lose the built-in meter, but youcan still shoot, with access to all yourshutter speeds. With automaticelectronic cameras, if the batteries die,

Minolta X-370S

you either are limited to one shutterspeed, or can't shoot at all. Of course,mechanical cameras don't have built-inmotor drives, so you have to manuallyadvance the film and recock the shutterafter each shot, generally via a thumb-operated film-advance lever atop thecamera. (Some of these cameras willaccept accessory motor drives, andthese are a handy option—but be awarethat you can run through film veryquickly in continuous advance mode.Use single-shot advance unless you haveto shoot a rapid action sequence.) Mostof these cameras also lack automaticDX film-speed setting, so you have toremember to set the film speed eachtime you change to a

faster or slower ••'MflHV Nikfilm. Fewphotographerswho learnedon suchcameras cansay they'veneverforgotten toset the filmspeedcorrectly, or never missed a shotbecause they forgot to cock the cameraafter the previous shot.

Lenses for manual-focus cameras

usually have the same type of high-quality glass, but are in some casesmore compact as they lack theautofocus motors and electroniccontacts necessary to communicatewith the camera body. With somecamera manufacturers, their manual-focus and autofocus cameras use thesame lenses. Manual cameras possessall the features necessary to produceprize-winning photos, but the key toit all is the knowledge and capabilityof the photographer behind thecamera eyepiece.

The basis of photographicknowledge is achieving accurate focusand exposure. Sounds simple enough,huh? Let's tackle the easier one first:focus. Now, you might think thatfocusing a camera is almost a no-brainier. All you have to do is turn thering on the lens until the subject is infocus and press the shutter, right? Well. . . not exactly.

There's depth of field to consider.Depth of field is the zone ofacceptable sharpness in front of andbeyond the focus point. Every timeyou change an f-stop setting, the

depth of this "sharp" area changes.Shooting at wide

apertures producesminimal depth offield: Anything closer

Nikon FM2N

74 PHOTOGRAPHIC | DECEMBER 2000

Low-costlearning toolscan teachyou a lot

to or farther from the camera thanthe point focused upon will appearout of focus. This is especially truewhen using long focal lengths, andclose shooting distances.Conversely, small apertures, wide-angle lens and great shootingdistances increase depth of field.

Hyperfocal distance is a focuspoint for a given f-stop on a givenlens that gives maximum depth offield. Each change in f-stop gives aproportional change in thehyperfocal distance. The depth offield for any hyperfocal distanceruns from half the hyperfocaldistance to infinity. It even getsmore complicated since the zones ofsharpness in front of and beyondthe focus point is not equal. Theactual ratio is M in focus betweenthe subject and camera to 2A fromthe subject and beyond.

Once you understand thisrelationship better, you can shiftyour point of focus to a differentposition to get all the criticalelements in your scene in focus.With a manual-focus camera youcan practice manipulating thisdepth of field and hyperfocal focuscombination by using the depth-of-field preview on the camera. Keepshifting your focus point until thefocus is everything you ever wanted.

Now we come to the mainreason the best of photographicintentions are lost to the round file.Obtaining good exposures hasalways been a problem forbeginning photographers. Evensome pros have come to rely on thepopular auto-bracket feature. Color-negative films have a 6-7-stoplatitude, so missing exposure is lesslikely. But if you wander too far

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from the correctexposure, even the qualityof color-negative film deteriorates.Color slides usually have less than %-stop latitude, so if you exceed that, theround file comes into play.

Exposure meters have becomeincreasingly sophisticated and cananalyze most lighting situations, butthey still cannot read your mind. If youwant to expose for a specific subject in ascene, autoexposure systems may notconsider your subject important andgive you an incorrectexposure level. Withmanual cameras youcan't just point andshoot, you actuallyhave to think aboutwhat you are doing!They force you tolook at the shutterspeed and f-stopcombinations on your camera.As you adjust your settings,you will be thinking of the depth offield created by the selected f-stop andwhich shutter speed will stop the action.

When working with any type ofmanual or autoexposure camera, youmust understand the basic rules ofexposure to become a competentphotographer. One trick is to use theSunny 16 rule. Simply take I/film ISOas your shutter speed and f/16 as yourf-stop and you'll have a*correctexposure in full sunlight without usinga meter. This exposure rule is the basisof the exposure charts found inside theboxes of most amateur films.

You also need to understand thephotographic formula that making thelens aperture smaller or larger until thelight doubles or halves creates anotherf-number. When you change yourshutter speed by one click, or move thef-stop one direction or the other, you

76 PHOTOGRAPHIC | DECEMBER 2000

either double or halve your exposure.Once you understand this relationship,you can achieve the best action-stopping shutter speed and stillmaximize your depth of field.

Too many photographers today settheir automatic camera on program

mode and start shooting. They don'teven know what shutter speed or f-stop they are using for the shot. All

your photographic creativity will bewasted if you lose the image due tobad focus or poor exposure. If youfirst learn how to use these controls ona manual camera system, you will havean even better photographicunderstanding when you purchase anautomatic camera system. You willknow when your automatic camera isdoing something wrong, and you canconfidently override the settings that ithas selected. As you learn the basic

controls and how they all interact,

Phoenix P2

your photographywill improve becauseyou are in control, notyour camera.

To give you a head start selecting amanual SLR camera, here are a fewexamples of some camera modelsavailable today designed to help youdevelop your photo skills. We'veintentionally omitted cameras that havea fully automatic exposure mode (i.e.,program AE), or autofocusing. Thesecameras force you to set focus and atleast the aperture for each shot.

Minolta's mechanical, manual-focus X-series SLRs have long beenthe favorites of photography students.The X-370S features aperture-priorityautomatic exposure and manual focuscapability. Its aperture-priorityprovides great exposures under a widerange of lighting conditions. Simply set

the aperture you need and the X-370Sselects the shutter speed. You can alsoswitch to manual and choose your ownshutter speed and aperture. The filmcan be advanced manually, orautomatically with the optional motordrive or auto winder.

Nikon offers the FM10, a greatmechanical SLR camera for thebeginning photographer on a budget.This is a fine learning tool because youdo it all—focus, set the exposure, andadvance the film. It features a TTLcenter-weighted exposure meter toprovide accurate exposures, and acceptsa wide range of the AF and AIS Nikkorlenses that have endeared the Nikonname to pro photographers for so manyyears. The FM10 has a dedicated hot-shoe, depth-of-field preview, self-timerand double-exposure capability.

The next step up from Nikon is theFM2N, featuring a fully mechanicalshutter with a top speed of %«». This is

often a backup camera for professionalsas it is ruggedly built, not

dependent on batterypower, and accepts

all Nikkor lenses.Like its FM10counterpart, italso has a center-weighted full-aperture exposuremeasuring system.

The FM2N has abuilt-in hot-shoe, but also features a

PC terminal for off-camera ormultiple-flash photography. It featuresmanual film transport, but a 5-fpsmotor drive is available as an accessory.

For the student photographer,Olympus offers the affordableOM2000 mechanical-shutter SLR. Itfeatures center-weighted average lightmetering, which is switchable to spot

Vivitar V4000

(Continued on page 84)

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(Continued from page 76)

Yashica FX-3Super 2000

metering for greater exposurecontrol. Its mechanical shutterprovides speeds from one second toMooo, plus Bulb, even if the batteryfails. This is a solid camera withdie-cast aluminum body that evenfeatures a depth-of-field preview.

Phoenix offers two SLR cameramodels for the photographer tryingto learn the ropes. The PI is fullymanual and the P2 offers aperture-priority automatic exposurecontrol. Both provide TTL center-weighted metering and manualfilm advance. Both models accepta variety of K-mount lenses andhave a hot-shoe for flashsynchronization. The P2 alsofeatures an electronicallycontrolled self-timer. The PIcomes in black or a black-and-ti tanium finish, while the P2 onlycomes in black with a gold trim.

Vivitar offers the V4000 as itsaffordable camera for first-timeSLR users. This camera is manual-everything. It is the perfectlearning tool since it has noautofocus, no autoexposure, nomotor drive and no built-in flash.It does feature an accurate center-weighted, TTL metering system,hot-shoe, mechanical shutter speedsfrom one second to Mooo (plus B)and a self-timer.

Yashica's FX-3 Super 2000 getsits name from the fact that itsmechanical shutter has a top speedof 'Aooo. This is a basic manual-focus 35mm SLR with center-weighted TTL metering, manualfocusing, manual exposure controland manual film transport. Itaccepts all Yashica/Contax-mountlenses, including the excellent CarlZeiss T* line. •

84 PHOTOGRAPHIC | DECEMBER 2000