When I didn't know, I said that I didnt' know. I wouldn't have said it if I wanted to pretend that I know all and wanted to mislead :
In addition, if I find any website which is relevant, I state that I read it from there and post the link as well. If I had wanted to pretend that I know all, I would just post as if those are my own experiences. In many of my posts, I've included relevant websites to indicate where I read it from. If I don't and was just expressing an opinion, there are many occassions which I used "I think", "I guess", "I deduce" or something similar.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=1822256&postcount=32
Dated 16th Jan 2006, just early last week :
Don't ask a newbie like me who is also trying to find out. I only started learning Photoshop about 3 months ago.
Ask those who have posted their beautifully detailed moon pictures.
As far as I know (read from here previously :
http://www.photozone.de/3Technology/lenstec5.htm ), mirror lenses are the "cheapo" versions of long focal length lenses because they use mirrors to simulate the long focal length and therefore the images formed are not only not as clear and sharp but also suffers from some defects.
I tried to be helpful since no one replied directly after so long and so many replies but I stated clearly that I was making a guess of the FZ5 focus button :
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=1836359&postcount=9
Dated 20th Jan 2006
After so many replies telling you how and when they use it, still no one has given you the answer to your question.
I don't own a FZ5 an d can only guess that it's probably the "focus lock" button.
If my guess is correct that it’s a focus lock button, the main difference between locking focus by pressing the shutter release button half way and using the "focus lock" button is that the former locks both focus and exposure while the latter locks only the focus and you can adjust the exposure either manually or through auto exposure. They are similar in the sense that they both reduce focus lag by pre-focusing first and this is useful when timing is important. (such as taking pictures of fireworks and subjects in fast action).
(In some cameras, through camera setting in the menu, you can set whether the button is locking focus or locking exposure.)
In some situations, focus lock is used instead of the shutter release button because the light condition of the scene will change later. If you have pre-empted by pre-focusing through pressing the shutter release button half way and the light condition changes after that, the image captured will be under-exposed or over-exposed. A good example is taking pictures of fireworks : If you’ve pre-focused by pressing the shutter release button half way, both the focus and exposure in locked before the scene get brightened up significantly by the fireworks and therefore you will get grossly over-exposed fireworks captured. If the focus lock is used for pre-focusing instead, assuming the camera is set to some kind of auto exposure, the camera will only adjust the exposure by taking into account the fireworks lights which have appeared when the shutter release button is pressed.
Do a search on all my posts and you'll get a better idea.
I will let others to judge whether I tried to pretend that I know all and tried to mislead others.
All the time, I have been trying to be helpful by sharing info, expressing opinions, guesses and deductions for further discussion which would lead to everyone becoming more knowledgeable. I cannot be expected to be correct in my guesses, deductions and opinions all the time as no one can have 100% full information and knowledge. Even for information, facts might have changed because I had read and learnt outdated info.
If I had wanted to pretend to know all, then I would be a Post Count Whore trying to reply tersely to many posts already. If you have noticed, I tried to give a more detailed and, hopefully, easy to understand reply most of the time by verifying some info through some research. I must admit that, because I don't know all, I can't guarantee that it's 100% correct all the time. Nevertheless, I tried to ensure that the hit rate is much higher than the miss rate. In addition, I often state where I'm coming from if it's just guesses, deductions and opinions.
Similarly, this thread has widened my photography knowledge because more information is being shared and passed down and I did some research on Image Stabiliser.
Now I don't know whether it's my problem or wai's problem. Until I ascertain it, I think I should just refrain from posting anything except links to websites and asking questions instead of answering them. May be I should even think twice about that because I may still be construed as pretending to be a master of photography info links and questions and pretending to knows all the aforementioned links and relevant questions. Then to avoid any controversy, I should just simply be a quiet bystander and read what the pros and experts post.
