manual lens

[maximust]

Hi

I have purchased a paragon 400mm m42 lens. I can never get aperture and shutter speed right when photographing birds.

Is there a graph etc to work out what combo to use.

On a Sony I have to use it on manual mode so have to choose both.

Thank u

Max

 

[Alastair]

Hi

I have purchased a paragon 400mm m42 lens. I can never get aperture and shutter speed right when photographing birds.

Is there a graph etc to work out what combo to use.

On a Sony I have to use it on manual mode so have to choose both.

Thank u

Max

Max, How are you metering to get your setting?

 

[travellingcello]

Hi

I have purchased a paragon 400mm m42 lens. I can never get aperture and shutter speed right when photographing birds.

Is there a graph etc to work out what combo to use.

On a Sony I have to use it on manual mode so have to choose both.

Thank u

Max

Hi Max,

I'm no expert but I'll try to help you

If you are trying to photography birds you will need a relatively fast shutter speed. I just tried to do a search for the crop factor of your camera but couldn't find anything quickly - but the rule of thumb would be that on a full-frame camera you would need at least a shutter speed of 1/400 for a 400mm lens to get a blur-free picture. But- thats for something that is still.

For a flying bird your shutter speed would have to be quicker than that probably - I usually try to go for the fastest shutter speed I can achieve in the given light, and without increasing ISO too high.

For that you need to open up your aperture as wide as it goes, and then use your metering system to read what the shutter speed needs to be to achieve a 'correct' exposure. Depending on the lighting conditions, you may have to increase ISO to achieve the speed. Of course if light is plentiful then I try to use my lens's sweet spot as most lenses don't give their best performance at max aperture.

Hope some of that helps you!

 

[maximust]

Max, How are you metering to get your setting?

I am not metering, thats the help I need

 

[Alastair]

Understanding Exposure, Bryan Peterson.. .. the principles of metering are the same no matter which lens you're using, or which mode

 

[CT]

I'm not wanting to discourage you at all Max, but there's other issues I think you need think about quite apart from your metering difficulties....

I think this lens is probably the Paragon f/6.3 400mm? Paragon lenses are very cheap and certainly not the type of lens normally recommended to tackle bird photography. No lenses, not even the best ones give their best performance at their widest aperture, so the results from your lens wide open are likely to be not very good unless you can stop down at least one full aperture. Therein lies the problem, as it's a slow lens to start with using smaller apertures is just going to make it a constant struggle for you to get a fast enough shutter speed for birds without substantially increasing the iSO.

There's things you can do though to make life easier for yourself. I'd forget any idea of trying to hand hold this lens - use a tripod and you'll find that if it's perched birds you're shooting and you can pick your moment when the bird is reasonably still, you should be able to get away with shutter speeds of around 1/200th, possibly a bit less. Slack off the head of the tripod so that that you can pan and tilt the camera in all directions, but keep hold of the camera. You'll find it makes it a lot easier to focus on a small target like a bird too.

With regard to your metering problems I'm sure it would be a lot easier to help if you posted some sample shots. Don't be discouraged, I'm sure you can get some decent results with that lens, but I think you just need to get a good solid technique to work from.

 

[HoppyUK]

I think you will struggle with that lens.

Apart from being not very sharp, it's manual everything - manual focus and manual stop-down aperture control. Basically very slow to operate, and tricky on anything but a static subject.

Exposure should be easy enough - set up it by whatever means, trial and error if necessary, and lock it in manual. If you can pre-focus (live view?) where you know the subject will be, on a tripod with the lens pre-stopped down to say f/11 (good light, and high ISO) that leaves you with just the shutter to press at the right moment.

You might get something that way, but expect a low hit rate (birds are very difficult at the best of times) and if you're patient and persistent, you could get lucky. It's a question of narrowing the odds as best you can, then putting in the time and effort until your number comes up.