Auto Exposure Lock (M-REC Mode Only)

Sometimes we may want to take a series of photos with the same exposure parameters (i.e., aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, and white balance). One possible situation is taking a sequence of photos and stitching them into a panorama or a 360 degree view. Fixing exposure parameters to certain values is not difficult because we can use manual exposure and preset white balance. However, there is a better way: the use of auto exposure lock, or AE Lock for short. This will lock aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity and white balance to the same setting until you unlock them.

Activating AE Lock

To activate AE Lock, follow the procedure below:

  1. In M-REC press the MENU button twice to enter the second M-REC menu (below left). Then, press the down arrow of the multi-selector to highlight the EXP option (below right).

  2. Press the right arrow of the multi-selector to select this option. Three options appear (below left). Because we need to activate AE Lock, press the right arrow to select the first item AE Lock (below right).

  3. Then, three options appear: Off, On, and Reset. The meaning of these options is shown below.

    Option Meaning
    Off Deactivate AE lock and restore normal exposure, sensitivity, and white balance.
    On Activate AE lock. The exposure parameters used for the first photo taken after activating AE lock is used for all subsequent photos. The parameters include aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, and white balance. Flash is disabled when AE lock is in effect.
    Reset Change the "locked" exposure parameters. More precisely, after selecting Reset, the camera is still in the AE lock mode; but, the exposure parameters used for the first photo taken after selecting Reset is used for all subsequent photos. Hence, when you have to change exposure parameters in the middle of a sequence of AE lock shots, use Reset.

    To choose one of these options, press the down arrow of the multi-selector to highlight that option, followed by the right button to select it.

  4. Once the above steps complete, press the MENU button to return to the M-REC shooting mode.

    Note that once this option is chosen, it will stay there even after turning off the camera. Therefore, you need to go through the above procedure again to reverse the setting..

When AE Lock is in effect, the LCD monitor displays WB-L (white balance locked) and AE-L (auto exposure locked) on the LCD monitor.