Hi all,

I'm using a Canon Rebel 2000 (had if for about 8 months) and am starting to get a little more serious about my photography. This is a great intro. camera and I've had much fun. Lately, I've been playing with the Zone System and have two questions. The Rebel doesn't have a spot meter but does have partial metering. Unfortunately, the manual is not that clear (no way you say!) on how to activate this system and so I was wondering if 1) anyone has this camera and could tell me how to correctly use the partial metering system and then 2) can anyone comment on trying to use the Zone System with a partial metering system (9.5% of center) instead of a using a true spot meter.

Thanks,

Richard

-- Richard Rodriguez (rr154z@nih.gov), September 08, 2000

Answers

Hi Richard,

This is only about the second part of your question. I'm using a Canon 50E (ELAN IIE in the US) also with partial metering system(9.5% of center) and when I use the zone system I make shure that the object that I meter is larger than the 9.5%. If it's not, I get closer to the object. If that's impossible I meter the surrounding areas and find an average. If I'm not too shure about that I use bracketing! 1/2 stops if I'm gettin' close, 1 stop if I'm not, etc. The results are satisfying! I don't know if your "Rebel" has the bracketing function but you can do it also by hand. For instance: if your aperture is F5.6 and the shutterspeed is 1/250 take 2 extra shots; one underexposed, one overexposed. With 1/2 stop bracketing you use F5.6, 1/350 (underexp.) and 1/180 (overexp.) With 1 stop bracketing you use F5.6, 1/500 (underexp.) and 1/125 (overexp.) The bracketing function (AEB: Automatic Exposure Bracketing) does all that for you. All you have to do is set the stop intervall. The Canon 50E has 1/2 stops intervalls up to 2 stops: -1/2,+1/2 -1,+1 -1 1/2,+1 1/2 -2,+2. VERY HANDY! Any questions? Let me know! Good Luck!

-- Jeronimo B. (ukkel@dds.nl), September 09, 2000.

Find a comparable shadow that's closer to you and meter that. Use your exposure compensation funtion to set your shutter speed to what you want your shadows to read. Unfortunately you can't develope each frame individualy so any plus/minus work will become problematic at best. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), September 11, 2000.

You activate partial metering by pressing the exposure lock button (the one by your thumb with a star). The Rebels do have bracketing as well.

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), September 12, 2000.