SX20 AE lock question

Hi all,

I have two question about AE-Lock in the SX20.
1) Is there a way to lock the exposure for multiple picture taking?
2) is there a way to zoom-in or zoom-out while keeping the AE-lock?

Assuming that there is no solution for the above questions, is there a way to somehow feed the Manual mode with the setting read during the AE-Lock? (thus achieving the wanted behavior).

Many thanks...

For my SD980 #1 is possible, but you must read the manual, it is buried deep into the manual that might not even come with the camera

It's a strange key sequence, on my camera being half shoot (press down the shoot button but not all the way) then the UP key. On your camera it might be different.

endgame said:

Hi all,

I have two question about AE-Lock in the SX20.
1) Is there a way to lock the exposure for multiple picture taking?
2) is there a way to zoom-in or zoom-out while keeping the AE-lock?

Assuming that there is no solution for the above questions, is there a way to somehow feed the Manual mode with the setting read during the AE-Lock? (thus achieving the wanted behavior).

Many thanks...

Click to expand...

To activate autoexposure lock, while you have the shutter pressed down half-way, press the + - button (the exposure compensation button) and the display will show * to indicate the AE-lock is enabled. You can then take several pictures with the same exposure. However, as it says in the manual "If you release your finger from the shutter button and press another button, * will disappear and the AE will unlock."

However, I don't think the AE-lock will stay while zooming in or out - but you can try it and see. One issue that I can see is that the available f-stops/aperature values change with the focal length. So for example at full wide angle you can use an f-stop of 2.8 while at full telephoto your maximum f-stop is 5.7 which is approximately 2 full stops different! so that camera would need to adjust the shutter speed and aperature as you zoom to maintain the exposure.

-Chris

Having read manual thoroughly and played around with the camera I came to the conclusion that it isn't possible to do either of the options (multiple pictures nor zoom while AE-locked).

Even though zooming in/out may change the available shutter values - more often then not a simple changing of the shutter spped will maintain the exposure parameters.

In any case, saving the values before turning to Manual mode, could have been a cool feature, no?

Thanks for your efforts, though.

Maybe when the CHDK port is done

I don't have the SX20, but I do have the SX10 and I imagine it works the same way. There is a way to take multiple pictures but it isn't that easy to do.

As you probably noted once you lock the AE and then take a picture the AE-lock is removed. However, I noticed that the AE-Lock is only released once you completely release the shutter button. If after you take the picture, you leave the shutter button in the half-pressed state, the AE-Lock still remains locked (shows the * on the screen). If you press the exposure compensation button again while the shutter button remains half-pressed it will keep the AE-locked for the next picture. The problem is that it is very hard to do this (only lift your finger enough to return to the half-pressed state on the shutter button after taking a picture).

I agree with you that it would have been better if you could keep the AE-Lock for multiple pictures or zooming etc. Too bad they didn't implement it that way.

-Chris

endgame said:

Having read manual thoroughly and played around with the camera I came to the conclusion that it isn't possible to do either of the options (multiple pictures nor zoom while AE-locked).

Even though zooming in/out may change the available shutter values - more often then not a simple changing of the shutter spped will maintain the exposure parameters.

In any case, saving the values before turning to Manual mode, could have been a cool feature, no?

Thanks for your efforts, though.

Click to expand...

While on the subject of CHDK, I think that a far more important improvement will be the re-intoduction of the SuperFine option.

I have compared several pictures taken in the same location at the same time with the SX20 and with a Panansonic TZ5. Most of the time the Panasonic has produced much bigger files with better resolution.

I had high hopes of the SX20 and was very disappointed. Had I known that, I would have opted for the FZ35...

Any chance that a Canon firmware will be publish to solve this problem?

endgame said:

1) Is there a way to lock the exposure for multiple picture taking?

Click to expand...

Yes, this is a way but with some limitation.

When you shoot using the "Stitch Assist Mode", (quote from the manual).

But you cannot use program shift as in normal AE lock.

When CHDK is ported, just shoot RAW
BTW, there is a port in progress for the SX20.