Hi guys. New to the site and really eager to learn. I got my first manual lens from ebay (Canon FD 50mm F1.4) as well as the adapter (ceicio7).

I can see that a lot of the folks here are veteran shooters coming from old manual SLRs. Could you share some tips and techniques when shooting manually? Especially in choosing the correct aperture and shutter speed. Same with pre-focusing

Thanks!

Hi noodlehaus,

welcome to the home of m4/3rds! may I ask which m4/3rds body are you using? so we can give more specific ideas...

Cheers

Brian

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Founder, Olympus Photo Safari Group
http://www.ukphotosafari.org

Thanks Brian. Sorry, forgot to indicate that :D

I've the E-P2 personally, while my wife, I gave her the GF1 so I could "borrow" the pancake lens from her :D

Strong work

Excellent!

I believe the GF1 has a one touch MF assist zoom... one of our GF1 owners will probably pitch in with specific tips.

For the E-P2, there's an Info screen with a green MF assist zoom box... while in live view, you press the Info button to cycle to that screen.

You can then frame your shot, move the green box using the cursor keys to the patch where you want critical focus, and press the OK button to zoom in... you can then focus knowing that your composition is 'anchored' by the patch being placed where you want critical focus... so you can take several shots if you wish without zooming out each time.

Probably the best thing I can suggest is that you start by reviewing the series of E-P1/2 Quick Start videos I created for members here.

I may do further videos for other aspects in due course, if there's interest.

Cheers

Brian

__________________
Founder, Olympus Photo Safari Group
http://www.ukphotosafari.org

Thanks guys. I'm really loving this lens, but not the weight though. It made my camera quite heavy.

Looking at your videos now Brian :)

Welcome noodlehaus, and yes - great work on that move! Too bad my husband isn't into photography...

Brian's videos are excellent and I keep coming back to them...and hoping for more.

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**An evolving camera owner.

~ BB
Flickr photostream

For aperture, one of the best things about the m43 range is that you see the effect of the aperture immediately on the screen/evf. I tend to use aperture priority mode (A) when using my manual lenses, letting the camera choose the shutter speed accordingly. I use the aperture to control the depth of focus, either to maximise what is in focus for, e.g., landscapes or to send the background of focus for portraits, say.

For some lenses, I do find that I need to dial in a particular amount of exposure compensation. The metering, for some reason, consistently underexposes with my 24mm f/2.8 lens. This is on a G1.

Hope this helps,
eric

Thanks Eric. I finally learned how to get to the magnified view when doing manual focusing. Also learned today how to pay attention to the exposure guide on my screen, and getting used to turning the lens in the right direction based on the subject's distance.

I hate the weight though :D The lens weighs as much as my camera, I think!

Having the histogram displayed continuously, I find, helps quite a bit with these lenses.

The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is indeed a heavy lens. Although I love that lens, I find that the f/1.8 is better for weight and balance on the G1. You may wish to try to get yourself one of those and try it out.

Currently, I have been using a Tokina 24mm f/2.8 (Canon FD mount) on my G1 and the weight and balance are just right.