I have still not been able to get my hands on a Nikon F-100, and nothing I have been able to find to read has answered my question, so if anyone has been able to play with one, and can answer this question, I'd appreciate it.

With the F-100 can you manually set the shutter speed and f-stop to a desired EV, and then lock this EV in memory, so that you can adjust the f-stop manually and have the shutter speed automatically follow to maintain the same EV? Or after locking the EV in memory, can you manually adjust the shutter speed and have the f-stop automatically change to maintian the same EV? My Pentax PZ-1p can do this, but I need to know if the F-100 also has this ability.

-- Glenn (swan@ampex.com), March 03, 1999

Answers

Glenn, you old rascal, interested in Nikons?.... From everything that I've read, it doesn't have the equivalent of hyper-manual, but with the aperture control under the forefinger and the shutterspeed under the thumb it should be easy to shift them together to maintain a constant EV.

-- Bruce Rubenstein (brubenstein@lucent.com), March 03, 1999.

No, not in Manual exposure mode.

-- Danny Weber (danny_weber@compuserve.com), March 03, 1999.

Yea Bruce, you caught me looking at something other than Pentax. I guess I'm not hung up on any one brand 100% of the time. What I am hung up on is photography. I need a new body and I am out shopping around. I was hoping the F-100 would have this feature. That's why I ended up with a Pentax system to begin with. The Pentax PZ-1p will do so much that other cameras won't. I find myself using the Hyper- manual mode all the time and I am not sure I can force myself to give it up. Having total control over the exposure (i.e. manual mode) and having the ability to lock in the EV and quickly adjust either the f- stop OR the shutter speed while maintaining a constant EV is so handy. I am actually very surprised, and disappointed, that Nikon left this out of the F-100. Now my decision is not as simple as I was hoping it would be. Do I go for the more durable design and better AF of the Nikon, or get another PZ-1p. Dog gone it, Nikon could have made it a very easy decision.

-- Glenn (swan@ampex.com), March 03, 1999.

Not in Manual mode but, as you may already know, it can be done in Aperture & Shutter-Priority mode. Just, press and hold the AE-Lock button, then change either the shutter speed or the aperture. Now, in Shutter-Priority mode, this can be quite tricky; with your thumb holding the AE-Lock button, which finger to use to change the shutter speed ! Anyway, as Bruce said, "with the aperture control under the forefinger and the shutterspeed under the thumb it should be easy to shift them together to maintain a constant EV even in Manual mode.

-- Hiroshi Shigematsu (pooh02@earthlink.net), March 03, 1999.

If you are willing to look at something other than Nikon, the Maxxum 9 has manual exposure shift (press the AEL button, you can shift the aperture and shutter speed while maintaining the locked EV).

-- William Lowe (wlowe@erols.com), March 04, 1999.

To comment on the previous post, I think many Pentax shooters tend to look towards Nikon, as an alternative, because we are used to being able to mix and match AF & MF gear. You can do the same thing with Nikon that you can with Pentax with the advantage of a greater selection of used gear and more advanced AF gear. I know that this is a big factor for me.

-- Bruce Rubenstein (brubenstein@lucent.com), March 04, 1999.

Hi Glenn

I cannot speak specifically about the F-100, but I just checked it out on my N90S. No, you can't do this in fully manual mode. However, in P,S,and A mode you can do this. Here is how it is done: In P mode, simply press the exposure lock (EL) button and then turn the control dial to the desired setting. For A mode this is very similar: press exposure lock and then rotate apperture ring. In S mode it becomes a little more awkward. The EL button is pressed by your right thumb, but the control dial is also opperated by your right thumb. One needs to then use the left hand to turn the dial while simultaniously holding the EL button. This is all made alot simpler with the MF-26 back where you can put AF Lock and EL on the same button. The N90s has an AF-L button in the front of the body that can be pressed by your right ring finger or small finger. Using this button to lock exposure then frees up the thumb to turn the dial.

Now the advantage, I would imagine, of having this feature in manual mode is that you can lock an exposure in that is not necessarily what the meter thinks is "correct." Again, this is possible by simply dialing in the desired exposure compensation. Granted, this seems like quite a bit more hassle than being able to do it in manual mode, but using one or two extra steps it can be done.

Again, what I have said applies to the N90s. I would imagine that any of this can also be done on the F100, especially seing as it has the extra command dial on the front to be used by the index finger. I think it can be done, assuming I understand your question correctly.

John

-- John Foster (fostjoh@sc.llu.edu), March 07, 1999.

Yes and No. You cannot, as far as I can tell, set the shutter speed and f-stop manually, then adjust the them maintaining the same EV. However, in program mode you may. First "find" your proper EV then press the lock exposure button. From there you may turn the back dial to change the sutter speed and f-stop without changing the EV. With the custom settings you may have the exposure locked with a button press and unlocked with a second button press, that way you do not have to hold it down. There is an error in the liturature regarding this custom setting, it states that it will lock both exposure and focus in this push button mode. It will only lock exposure in the push button mode. Further settings allow one to lock either one, the other or both exposure and focus while holding down the AE-L/AF-L button.

So, yes you can do this but it requires "finding" your EV in program mode.

-- Scott (scott@eznet.net), March 07, 1999.