How does Sony a7II spot meter if vintage lenses are mounted?

[Vicky12]

Please excuse me if my questions are silly for I am really a newbie.

I bought a DSLR w/2 zoom lenses about 20 months ago. I recently watched a few videos talking about the features of old fashion film lenses. And I have been very much attracted.

Around 2 weeks ago, I purchased a Sony a7II and a few vintage lenses. And have to learn everything from the scratches.

When I Google for information about the a7II or any mirrorless cameras, easy to find pages of teaching writings and videos on subject of FOCUSING, but extremely rare any info for HOW THESE CAMERAS PERFORM METERING when vintage lenses are mounted.
Why is this, please?

Thanks.​

 

[gsgary]

I have only used non Sony lenses on mine and would say they meter like any other lens fitted its the camera that meters not the lens

 

[Vicky12]

I have only used non Sony lenses on mine and would say they meter like any other lens fitted its the camera that meters not the lens

The a7II has a spot meter at the center.
Questions about this spot meter:
1. What angle is this spot meter, 1 or 3 or 5 degrees?
2. Can it be moved or relocated to anywhere within the frame and perform metering there?

Thanks.

 

[gsgary]

Don't know just take a reading and lock exposure I usually use my handheld meter because I shoot it alongside my Leica film cameras

 

[unpopular]

Spot arc depends on focal length when metered through the lens. TTL spot metering is specified in percentage of frame, generally 10%, iirc. But this doesn't mean a whole lot until you have lens.

The spot may be moveable, but in my experience with my fuji this is pretty useless. Makes more sense to just move the camera. Maybe with a tripod?

On thing you need to be aware of is that with old lenses you're limited to stop down metering. Since you're interested in spot metering, this may be an advantage since you're metering the actual amount of light exiting the lens. In manual or aperture priority mode, this can be a very precise way to work. On the flip side, it is/can be slower, and you will not have shutter priority, auto, or program mode available.

 

[Vicky12]

Spot arc depends on focal length when metered through the lens. TTL spot metering is specified in percentage of frame, generally 10%, iirc. But this doesn't mean a whole lot until you have lens.

The spot may be moveable, but in my experience with my fuji this is pretty useless. Makes more sense to just move the camera. Maybe with a tripod?

On thing you need to be aware of is that with old lenses you're limited to stop down metering. Since you're interested in spot metering, this may be an advantage since you're metering the actual amount of light exiting the lens. In manual or aperture priority mode, this can be a very precise way to work. On the flip side, it is/can be slower, and you will not have shutter priority, auto, or program mode available.

Thank you.

It is very good if the spot meter is around 10% of the frame. So, the size of the spot is 3.6 x 2.4mm, roughly a 3mm diameter circle.

"The spot may be moveable, " Maybe that is because yours is a Fuji. Well, the circle of the spot meter in my a7II is NOT MOVABLE. And, to me, it is very disappointing because I shoot a lot of micro and bokeh. And this is why I ask if the spot meter in a7II can be moved to the sides in the frame.

I have found it very practical to shoot in A mode and with the ISO set to Manual. And a tripod is always with me.
Yes, it is slower and much slower, but it really does not matter to me because I ways, well, maybe not always, shoot on tripod and with cable release.

 

[unpopular]

That is odd that it cannot be moved. Do you know if the spot meter follows the AF zone? Maybe if you switch on AF?

 

[Vicky12]

That is odd that it cannot be moved. Do you know if the spot meter follows the AF zone? Maybe if you switch on AF?

I have no idea whether it will move or not if a Sony AF lens is mounted. I bought the a7II w/o any AF lens. The lenses I purchased for use on a7II are all vintage MF lenses. With these manual lenses mounted on a7II, its spot meter stays at the center and it can not be moved. The circle that represents the spot meter vanishes if I move it with the control button.

Wonder if people using vintage lenses on a7II can move the spot meter on their a7II cameras.
Please let me know if you can move it with vintage mechanical lenses mounted on a7II.

Many many thanks.

 

[Dave442]

I would just move the camera around to get a few readings, then decide on an exposure and then bracket.

 

[Derrel]

That is odd that it cannot be moved. Do you know if the spot meter follows the AF zone? Maybe if you switch on AF?

Vicky's experience is showing something that might not be obvious: without a CPU in the lens to communicate with the camera, the metering system cannot fully, 100% communicate with the lens and the body. The CPU in the lens relays critical information to the meter in the body; if an f/1.4 lens is mounted, but the picture will be made at f/11, the metering system's calculation of the proper exposure, made at f/1.4, would be off by a full five f/stops; this is the reason that on most cameras, whenever a legacy lens, or a non-meter coupled lens is mounted, metering MUST be done in the stopped down mode. It doesn't make a lot of sense to allow the spot metering area to be moved way off center anyway: if the lens has corner fall-off, like say 1.9 stops' worth, then your metering will be off by the amount of the vignetting in the center of the frame! DO you want to use the most-critivcal, most hair-trigger, most error-prone metering mode, spot metering mode, with an ADDED 1.5 to 1.9 EV worth of lost light inflating the exposure in the center of the frame? No. That's a huge reason to meter with the spot in the center of the image area.

As far as the spot metering area being ONLY in the middle of the viewfinder's area...pretend you're one of the tens of millions of Canon users, and learn to live with what has been normal for two and a half decades now. Meter using the spot, and then recompose and shoot. Problem solved.

 

[Vicky12]

I would just move the camera around to get a few readings, then decide on an exposure and then bracket.

Thanks for the tips.
Bracketing? Yes. Always do since film days.
Take a few readings? No. Not apply with my situation. Light shifts constantly in some places due to the conditions of the sky. Have to shoot within a blink of a second or two.

 

[Dave442]

Sorry, when I said a few readings with the spot metering it was not meant to be before each shot. Establish a baseline for the settings and make adjustments between shots as conditions change. Then you should be ready to shoot in a second.

 

[Vicky12]

"Establish a baseline for the settings and make adjustments between shots as conditions change. Then you should be ready to shoot in a second."

Thanks for the good suggestions.
Guess I have become lazy and try utilize all the good features of Sony camera.

 

[Vicky12]

That is odd that it cannot be moved. Do you know if the spot meter follows the AF zone? Maybe if you switch on AF?

Vicky's experience is showing something that might not be obvious: without a CPU in the lens to communicate with the camera, the metering system cannot fully, 100% communicate with the lens and the body. The CPU in the lens relays critical information to the meter in the body; if an f/1.4 lens is mounted, but the picture will be made at f/11, the metering system's calculation of the proper exposure, made at f/1.4, would be off by a full five f/stops; this is the reason that on most cameras, whenever a legacy lens, or a non-meter coupled lens is mounted, metering MUST be done in the stopped down mode. It doesn't make a lot of sense to allow the spot metering area to be moved way off center anyway: if the lens has corner fall-off, like say 1.9 stops' worth, then your metering will be off by the amount of the vignetting in the center of the frame! DO you want to use the most-critivcal, most hair-trigger, most error-prone metering mode, spot metering mode, with an ADDED 1.5 to 1.9 EV worth of lost light inflating the exposure in the center of the frame? No. That's a huge reason to meter with the spot in the center of the image area.

As far as the spot metering area being ONLY in the middle of the viewfinder's area...pretend you're one of the tens of millions of Canon users, and learn to live with what has been normal for two and a half decades now. Meter using the spot, and then recompose and shoot. Problem solved.

Thank you for spending time to explain.
CPU in the lens----vintage lenses are not designed to enjoy the advanced technologies of a7II.
Vignetting----Wont metering system be able to adjust this issue if it could be moved around as in AF system?
Spot down metering----Yes. Used to this since film days. Would be nice if the spot meter could be moving.
Recompose----Yes. For some shootings, I do. Yet there are time and quite a few times I enjoy shooting macro and lens reversed and I do NOT change a slightest bit of my composition.

Have to accept the fact that vintage lenses are VINTAGE and not suitable for modern cameras.

Thanks and really appreciate your help.

 

[unpopular]

Vignetting----Wont metering system be able to adjust this issue if it could be moved around as in AF system?

No. What derral is saying is that if you meter from the edge then the center will be over exposed. The meter doesn't know that the lens is vignetting, so it has no way to compensate.

On my a700 though you can turn on AF even without an AF chip attached. It won't engage the AF motor, but it's software behaving in weird ways that could enable you to move the AF zone around. IDK. My a700 hasn't had charged batteries for a while, otherwise i'd try it out. Even so, no idea if this would apply to the a7 software or not.