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To get Matrix with the manual focus lenses on an FA or F4 you need a TC that has yet
another feeler added to it to couple the absolute aperture information mechanically. The
TC-201 has this coupling. The TC-200 does not. The manual focus TCs do not give either
autofocus or Matrix metering when used on AF cameras.
Oddly this means that to get Matrix metering with any lens other than an AF-I or AF-S lens
and a teleconverter you have to use the old F4 or FA and a TC-201 or TC-301 (or I think
TC-14A or B). Otherwise you can't get Matrix with a teleconverter and any other AF
camera!
When you can't get Matrix on a camera it defaults to center weighted if you have selected
Matrix. Most AF cameras tell you this on the meter pattern indicator. The FA does not have
an indicator for meter pattern.
From what I've seen, discount teleconverters like the Kenko PRO, Tamron, Sigma and
Tokina do not properly couple the maximum aperture to the AF cameras and will confuse
the Matrix on occasion, especially in bright light. If your TC lets you get to the marked
maximum aperture on your AF camera you have improper coupling. An AF camera should
only indicate one or two stops less maximum aperture in the camera than marked on the
lens when the TC is used.
What about 3D metering and D lenses?
You can safely ignore this if you are buying your lenses used.
D lenses help the meter a little bit in guessing what you are trying to photograph. It has
very little effect.
Because impressionable people mistakenly believe that D lenses serve some wonderful
purpose you can get the perfectly good non-D lenses cheap today used.
In making deliberate tests of D and non-D lenses with the same subject at the same time I
have seen no differences. The only time I've seen a difference is doing the one thing for
which they are good: making of flash photos straight into a mirror.
The only non-D AF lens made today is the fine 50mm f/1.8 AF. It is a bargain.
3D meteriing may safely be ignored.
Color Matrix Metering
The F5 ups the ante by adding sensitivity to color. This, unlike 3D, is very important. This
allows the F5 to make yellow as light as it should be, and red as dark as it should be.
Color, along with all the segments in the F5 meter, also allow the camera to guess what
your subject is more accurately, which in turn allows the camera to apply a potentially more
accurate metering algorithm to your photo.
This feature is unique to the F5 among all film cameras.
© 2007 KenRockwell.com 64 converted by Sándor Nagy