Exposure lock method

[Omega]

Using an FZ5. Anyone here have a trick for locking the exposure & then focusing on a subject? My 35mm cameras allow me to lock my exposure and then when I recompose the half press of the shutter button just focuses. I often want to meter on what I choose to be middle gray & then recompose the shot. The FZ will both AF & AE when you 1/2 press the shutter.
The best I have been able to do with the FZ is to press "focus" when properly composed, then point at the metering area 1/2 press shutter hold & then point back at the subject.
I guess I will have to get comfortable with the manual exposure function & give up on AE. Any ideas?

[astro]

I hope I'm not stating the obvious here..
But the exposure locks when you press the shutter down half way. So what you want is to lock the exposure before you focus?

[Omega]

I hope I'm not stating the obvious here..
But the exposure locks when you press the shutter down half way. So what you want is to lock the exposure before you focus?

Astro,
When you press the shutter1/2 the focus is also locked. Unless I am missing something? I was hoping that when set on "continuous" focus, that 1/2 shutter would not lock the focus, but that's not the case. This looks like another major plus for the FZ 20s manual focus. At least for those of us who use the zone system.

[ragnarock47]

Frame your shot, hit the shutter 1/2. The camera may not focus, but it will give you exposure info. Then switch to manual mode and enter the F stop and shutter speed, then compose your shot, and fire away.

[Balrog]

If i'm not mistaken, the FZ5 has a "focus" button which you can enable in the menu - when enabled you'd use the focus button to lock focus, and not the half-shutter press .. then you could perhaps first lock focus on your target (using the focus button), switch to the neutral gray object and half-press the shutter to get metering, and then re-frame your original target and shoot...
cumbersome, but maybe easier than having to switch to manual for every shot..

[Omega]

If i'm not mistaken, the FZ5 has a "focus" button which you can enable in the menu - when enabled you'd use the focus button to lock focus, and not the half-shutter press .. then you could perhaps first lock focus on your target (using the focus button), switch to the neutral gray object and half-press the shutter to get metering, and then re-frame your original target and shoot...
cumbersome, but maybe easier than having to switch to manual for every shot..

You are correct Balrog! The method you propose is the only one I could come up with & still use AE & AF. It may not be so bad in practice if shooting static subjects that's where I use the zone system most often anyway.
Thanks

[Balrog]

On further thought .. if you've assigned AF to the 'focus' button, what happens if you press 'Focus' after half pressing the shutter? If it re-focuses when you do that, you could maybe use a simpler method - half-press on gray object for AE, frame, press 'Focus', and shoot...

[Omega]

On further thought .. if you've assigned AF to the 'focus' button, what happens if you press 'Focus' after half pressing the shutter? If it re-focuses when you do that, you could maybe use a simpler method - half-press on gray object for AE, frame, press 'Focus', and shoot...

Tried that. It is very dificult to hold the 1/2 shutter button & then press the focus button. I will have to check, but I am not sure that it will focus with the 1/2 shutter held & pressing the focus button.

[Omega]

I will have to check, but I am not sure that it will focus with the 1/2 shutter held & pressing the focus button.[/QUOTE]

Just confirmed. If the 1/2 shutter is held, the camera does not focus when the "focus" button is pressed. Also, when the camera is set for AF trigger = "focus" the camera does nothing if the 1/2 shutter is pressed before the "focus" button. It just displays a red AFfocus icon. So it looks like a 1/2 shutter press & hold locks AF & AE.
When the camera is set to Continuous AF, the AF is again locked with a 1/2 press & hold. No work-arounds here, apparently.
As a result I have decided to make a consession to the camera & continue to employ the zone system, but shoot only subjects that are middle gray! :rolleyes:

[Balrog]

heh..that's too bad.. :)