Permanent Exposure lock on EOS 10D

[treleven]

Camera: Canon EOS 10D, Firmware 2.0.1

For photographing my wife's sculpture against a black cloth
I go up to the work and take a light reading off it directly.

Then drop back and shoot, look at the histogram
and there will be a strong bar (the black cloth) toward the left edge.
If I adjust the exposure so the bar extends just off the left edge,
then the cloth comes out black and I know I am using my full contrast range.

Now I want to lock exposure and shoot from various distances and angles,
adjusting the depth of field with the fingerwheel.

Av mode and the * (AE Lock button) does it perfectly,
walk up to subject press * button, drop back, shoot.
Thumbwheel lets me correct exposure, fingerwheel aperture.

Except it always unlocks after 4 seconds! Curses.

Is there any custom function that will tell it to lock permanently?
(Unlocking on sleep or power off or shutter1/2 and *)
Or let me lock it permanently by pressing * with shutter half down?

Another way of describing this is to say I want a manual mode
where the fingerwheel adjusts apeture, the thumbwheel exposure value.

Plain manual mode, always thumbing up aperture
and fingering down shutter in balance is too clumsy.

Pardon me if this has already been covered,
but I can't figure out searching this site.

TIA, treleven

[PhotosGuy]

Plain manual mode, always thumbing up aperture and fingering down shutter in balance is too clumsy. That's your option.

[David1943]

I'm not really sure exactly what your problem is here.

Why not simply take a reading, set your camera to manual and experiment with a few exposures on and around your reading until you're happy? This is a situation in which you're so lucky to be using digital, as experimentation will cost nothing.

Regards, David :)

[PacAce]

If you are shooting in a studio environment where the lighting is constant and the subject is the same for the duration of the session, once you get a good exposure setting you shouldn't need to change that exposure any more. Sounds like what you need is to just use Manual mode, like most photograhers would do in a studio, set the expouse and then forget about it and concentrate on the shoot.

[bolantej]

it's not that hard to spin those wheels. if you're going for more creative DOF and whatnot, it's part of the whole process. good luck.

[treleven]

Given that the subject is fired clay and not going anywhere
I don't mind a bit of experimentation to get a base exposure.

But I'd LIKE to be able to just finger the aperture up and down as I take my shots.

I'm only asking because in everything else this camera is such a delight,
everything I want to do is right under my fingers.

[David1943]

Given that the subject is fired clay and not going anywhere
I don't mind a bit of experimentation to get a base exposure.

But I'd LIKE to be able to just finger the aperture up and down as I take my shots.

I'm only asking because in everything else this camera is such a delight,
everything I want to do is right under my fingers.
The camera's Av setting will allow you to control aperture but the shutter will set itself automatically for the exposure read through the lens.

Personally, I would prefer to have full control in the situation you've described which would involve my setting aperture and shutter myself whilst in Manual. However, I've been a photographer since the days when we needed to set the settings ourselves anyway, so maybe those without such experience demand more automation.

If you do decide to go the manual route, all you have to remember is that as you increase aperture by one stop (bigger f #), you must double the shutter speed and as you open up the lens by one stop (smaller f #) you should to halve the shutter speed.

Regards, David :)

[nat869]

As others have said, I am not sure what the problem is. Take your meter reading and set the camera on manual. You adjust the settings the same way you do in AV mode, with the little dials, on manual, you just have to also use the one on the back of the camera. Pretty easy.

[Wavy C]

While I agree that it's easy enough to do what you want in manual mode, I also agree that the exposure lock button on the canon 10d/20d is less than perfect.

I would like to see a system similar to that on my olympus 5050 compact camera. On it, pressing the exposure lock button once holds the setting until the next shot is taken. Pressing it twice quickly (like a double-click) holds the setting for as many shots as you wish (also displays a warning light). To cancel, in either case just press the exposure lock button again. Simple, works great and far better than canon's system of holding the lock only for a number of seconds. I really can't figure why they do it this way - the only reason I can imagine is to prevent newbies locking the exposure and forgetting about it afterwards. A warning light should solve this.

[David1943]

While I agree that it's easy enough to do what you want in manual mode, I also agree that the exposure lock button on the canon 10d/20d is less than perfect.

I would like to see a system similar to that on my olympus 5050 compact camera. On it, pressing the exposure lock button once holds the setting until the next shot is taken. Pressing it twice quickly (like a double-click) holds the setting for as many shots as you wish (also displays a warning light). To cancel, in either case just press the exposure lock button again. Simple, works great and far better than canon's system of holding the lock only for a number of seconds. I really can't figure why they do it this way - the only reason I can imagine is to prevent newbies locking the exposure and forgetting about it afterwards. A warning light should solve this.
As you say, it's easy enough do do the job in manual. Manual setting will maintain the exposure for as many shots as you want it to, so I really can't understand the problem!

Regards, David :)