Photo Pros - Which Camera Lens Do You Use?

There is a new update for EOS Utility (version 2.14.31 for OS X) dated 2/16/17
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/...-xs?tab=drivers#Z7_MQH8HIC0L88RB0AMD0F1Q42K25

This is for the Rebel XS

 

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I also just set my camera to ISO100 and forget it. Av mode adjusts the Live View to simulate what the image will look like, and it is always spot-on. Manual mode does "something different", and the output at the display almost never matches the actual image, at least in my experience. Drives me crazy, which is why I use Av.

 

It must be five years since you first told me that, probably the last time I whined about this. I wonder why I haven't done it yet?

 

I'll be damned. Av Mode works; I just have to use Exposure Compensation instead of setting Exposure manually. News flash: if Ray and I disagree, he's right.

 

Glad it works now. I also occasionally have to use Exposure compensation.

 

Now time for the true test.... How many of these fancy gadgets can I replace with things found around the house and duct tape?

 

You guys had be goin' (Av) there for a second. For the God, I don't speak 'Canonese'

 

IIRC, it's what the rest of the world calls "aperture priority", but I'm not fluent either.

 

With Nikon, it's just an 'A'..........

 

Us canonites need all the help we can get. We need that extra letter.

 

Yes... we speak the same language, and is with Sony as well (although I think Pentax may use "AV" as Canon does).

 

With a Canon T6s and EOS utility 3.3.0.0, if you set the camera mode to Tv (Time value) with a non-EOS lens, you get something like manual mode, but the exposure looks OK on the liveview screen. With the ISO and lens aperture set to whatever you want to use, just set the shutter speed on the menu so it looks good on the screen, and press the on-screen shutter button. The uploaded image should be close to the correct exposure (in most cases).

For some reason, if you try this with manual mode, the exposure is way off. I don't know if Tv mode will work well with other Canon cameras, though. I admit that Tv mode doesn't make sense, but it works.

 

The trouble with Tv (Shutter Priority) is that you set shutter speed and the camera decides aperture. Aperture is critical to appropriate depth of field for coin photography, and the "sweet spot" between sufficient depth of field and the onset of diffraction is somewhere between "tiny" and "nonexistent." That is the specific reason I still use only a 10MP sensor - smaller pixel pitches hasten the onset of diffraction-limited aperture.

 

With Tv mode, the camera might try to set the aperture, but with an old manual lens or microscope objective attached, it can't. Tv mode ends up being the same as manual mode, but with much better exposure through live view. For full-coin shots (when I'm not stacking) I usually set the aperture to f/8 (with the aperture ring on the lens) to get reasonable DOF and acceptable sharpness. I then set the ISO to 100, and use the on-screen menu to pick a suitable shutter speed. Of course, f/8 doesn't work well with smaller coins, as the magnification approaches and exceeds 1x, so stacking is required for those.

Tv won't work like this with EOS Canon lenses, but I think regular Manual mode works OK with live view when using EOS lenses.

 

Hadn't realized you were using a disconnected lens as I do. That does make a difference.

 

I'm not sure why M mode would work differently when an EOS lens is attached. I will need to test that theory.

So from my understanding, the Live View flow with Tv mode would be:
- View coin and histogram on-screen with existing settings
- Adjust shutter speed up or down until:
- Coin exposure looks right
- Histogram indicates minimal or no over-exposed highlights
- Snap the shot
- Repeat process for each shot

And for Av mode, with EV set to -2/3EV to avoid over-exposed highlights:
- View coin on screen and move zoom/exposure box over brightest area
- Snap the shot
- Repeat process for each shot

edited to add: I just realized the level of hijacking I started on this thread. Sorry for that. Hopefully the OP is getting something out of all this.

 

It's a very important consideration for the OP to understand what goes along with each lens s/he might choose to purchase, and regardless of that choice a fundamental understanding of how photography works is imperative. There's no use owning a Mercedes if you've no idea how to drive, and to continue the automotive analogy you need to learn a lot of extra stuff to drive a manual transmission as opposed to an Automatic.

That's all relevant to the choice of lens.

 

With an EOS lens attached in M mode, the final exposure looks pretty much like what you see during the liveview. With a non-EOS lens, this is often not the case.

One difference I noticed is that during liveview, the lens aperture is not the same as during the exposure. When you press the on-screen shutter button, the lens aperture changes (I assume to the requested aperture), right before the shutter opens. Maybe this is what allows M mode to work right with an EOS lens but not with a non-EOS lens? I was testing this using a mirror to watch the aperture blades of an old (non-L) Canon EOS 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

This EOS lens works fine for coins that are larger than 15mm, meaning the magnification is less than 1X on the APS sensor. All my DSLR coin shots prior to 2009 (maybe 2011?) were done using this lens. One advantage of using a bellows and enlarger/duplicating lens (like the 75mm f/4 APO Rodagon D 1x I now use) is that you can go above or below 1X very easily, and the results are just as good -- maybe better.

 

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Ahh...of course. Makes sense that it would operate same as in non-LV. The aperture opens to gather light for focusing and framing, then shuts down to shooting aperture when the shot is taken. This neatly explains why a lens without auto aperture adjustment would not match the LV display.