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Meter on without activating VR or focusing?

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drmrbrewer

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Dumb question, and I know the answer is probably "you can't", but here goes anyway...

I have my D70 set up with the AE-L/AF-L button set to AF-ON, and the shutter release set to lock exposure on a half press -- so that I can focus with the AE-L/AF-L button (and lock focus by releasing it) and also lock exposure separately with the shutter release button. Works well.

Thing is, when the meter auto-switches off, my habit has been quickly to half-press the shutter release to turn the meter back on again, which I need to do to change the aperture or shutter speed before taking the next shot.

But with a VR lens attached, quickly half-pressing the shutter release also sets the VR going, which seems to be a wasted activation and wasted battery. Quickly pressing the AE-L button is a little better, but it sets the autofocus going when I don't need it to.

Is there any way of getting the meter to come back on without setting the VR or autofocus mechanism going?

Cheers,

Mike
 
What happens if you swap the function of the AE-L/AF-L button button to lock and release exposure instead of focus?
drmrbrewer said:
Dumb question, and I know the answer is probably "you can't", but
here goes anyway...

I have my D70 set up with the AE-L/AF-L button set to AF-ON, and
the shutter release set to lock exposure on a half press -- so that
I can focus with the AE-L/AF-L button (and lock focus by releasing
it) and also lock exposure separately with the shutter release
button. Works well.

Thing is, when the meter auto-switches off, my habit has been
quickly to half-press the shutter release to turn the meter back on
again, which I need to do to change the aperture or shutter speed
before taking the next shot.

But with a VR lens attached, quickly half-pressing the shutter
release also sets the VR going, which seems to be a wasted
activation and wasted battery. Quickly pressing the AE-L button is
a little better, but it sets the autofocus going when I don't need
it to.

Is there any way of getting the meter to come back on without
setting the VR or autofocus mechanism going?

Cheers,

Mike
Click to expand...
--
Lewis
http://chilipalmer.deviantart.com/gallery/
 
chilipalmer said:
What happens if you swap the function of the AE-L/AF-L button
button to lock and release exposure instead of focus?
Click to expand...
Hi

That would be fine, and that is I think the default setup, but I really like my current setup where you can focus and lock focus with the AE-L/AF-L button -- you stick the cam on AF-C and yet also have the benefit of AF-S type behaviour. Also, I like the separation of focusing (AE-L) from VR activation (shutter), which allows me to find a proper focus (with AE-L), perhaps re-compose, and only then activate VR on the subject (with shutter).

I guess there are just aren't enough buttons for everything.

Thanks,

Mike
 
I use the 24-120 VR as my everyday lens. The VR is mostly always turned on and I still get a ridiculous number of pix before I run out of battery. I think I get close to 600 ~ 800 pictures over a three week period without charging.

Andrew
 
I don't have my D70 in front of me now, but I believe if you briefly press the metering mode button, or exposure compensation button, the meter will come back on.
 
the VR lens has a switch, which you can set so that the VR works only as long as you half-press the shutter. So quickly halfpressing the thing hardly uses power.

Hans
 
Hans E. Strak said:
the VR lens has a switch, which you can set so that the VR works
only as long as you half-press the shutter. So quickly halfpressing
the thing hardly uses power.

Hans
Click to expand...
My 70-200VR has 2 VR switches. One for on/off, another for normal/active VR modes. I don't see how these correspond to his question about being able to activate the meter without activating VR. He was looking for a method other than half-pressing the shutter release.
 
I just confirmed what I suggested a little earlier. If you press the metering mode button or exposure compensation button briefly on the D70, the meter will re-activate. You can press DOF preview as well but this will cycle the aperture and use more battery power.
 
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