I've noticed something that's started to bother me.
I was out with the 500D and my 'new' Mamiya 35mm body on Thursday.
With my Mamiya, I can fiddle with aperture settings to my hearts content and never move my eye from the finder.
On the 500D, I can't. Or at least not as far as I'm aware, anyway.
I've got to stop, fiddle with a button, reframe.
Or am I doing it wrong?

Welcome to digital!

Even on the top lenses in the digital world, it's all handled by the camera itself.

What mode do you have the Canon set in?

I usually shoot on Aperture priority, on both the 35mm and the DSLR.

Okay.

I do, too. So, you should see the various bits of data in the viewfinder, at the bottom - shutter speed and aperture, with the exposure compensation meter. Behind the shutter button is the adjustment dial, and you set your preferred aperture so the exposure meter is in the middle. But then, you knew that.

It works for me, and I don't need to keep taking the camera away from my eye. It's sometimes hard to see clearly when you wear specs, and I find I'm always pushing the glasses into my face in order to see the data panel.

Not sure if you're taking stills in the church, but read the manual about how to adjust the exposure compensation. On my garage shoot earlier this week I had to wind the compensation down to -2 in order to keep useable handheld shutter speeds, even wide open. It's fairly quick to compensate for it in software later if you're shooting RAW.

Oh, I never saw this thread before I commented on what Alex wrote in the random photo thread in The Meeting Place.

Mark

I've got a little dedicated dial for aperture on the body (and previous bridge) that works fine for me. I've never really used any lenses with an aperture ring before, but I recently got a 2nd-hand 50mm that has one and to be honest I think I use the dial more than the ring.

One time when I do use the ring is when I'm playing with cheapo extension tubes.

Sorry, I was being rubbish, again.
Heather is of course correct.
Ignore me.
I don't think it feels as nice though, tbh.

I have an aperture ring on some lenses but not others. I do have two dials next to the shutter though (one thumb one finger) which control aperture and/or shutter speed depending on mode. That means I can make adjustments without moving, reframing, etc.