billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

That chart is a little dated, included with the D5 and D500, should be the D850. They all have the same focusing system. Which by the way, is also a separate from the exposure system, a first for Nikon.

Greer Loc: SOUTH GEORGIA

I would have to say that sums it up. But the details of what the difference in -3 and -4 are what I would guess to be about the 1 stop. Correct? And the camera would have more AF sensitivity (propencity to focus in lower light).

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

To me, the "purpose" of the EV is to give you one reference number that relates to the camera making two settings at the same time, aperture and shutter speed. That way I don’t have to get down into the weeds of what the camera is doing if I want to over expose or under expose.

Greer Loc: SOUTH GEORGIA

I would have to say that sums it up. But the details of what the difference in -3 and -4 are what I would guess to be about the 1 stop. Correct? And the camera would have more AF sensitivity (propencity to focus in lower light).

Greer Loc: SOUTH GEORGIA

I would have to say that sums it up. But the details of what the difference in -3 and -4 are what I would guess to be about the 1 stop. Correct? And the camera would have more AF sensitivity (propencity to focus in lower light).

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yes. For example, the Canon 5D4 AF is rated at -3EV (using the viewfinder and phase detection) and -4EV when in live view (using contrast detection).

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

You might want to consider spending $10 on the Photo Pills app for your phone/tablet. It covers a wide variety of areas, concepts and calculations that are useful to photography. It has an extensive manual that explains the capabilities and concepts including EV. Take a look at getting it.

guardineer

An app called Photographers Companion is an aid to achieving correct exposure. You can select your camera to personalize the app. It has a wide variety of scenarios (motion, macro, moon, etc) and has recommendations for exposure and EV alternatives for desired outcomes. It is well resourced with examples and explanations. It could be overwhelming for a novice but it is a great resource and teaching aid. Free.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

It's very simple, more light. Photographs are all about the light. All the rest you can continue to read up on and experiment with.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I think you are slightly confusing EV with EC. Exposure Value (EV) has to do with sensitivity on an exposure meter. EC (Exposure Compensation) is a way of "over riding" the camera's meter's exposure when in some semi-automatic or automatic exposure mode. Though makes little sense in full manual; there you just set the aperture and shutter speed you want, the issue about advertising lower EV numbers is that the camera shoots at greater ISOs or in less light with less noise. It may be or might not be important (to you). Perhaps a lot for you to read up on. And I am sure others will explain this differently.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

joelbolden

BebuLamar

The term EV (exposure value) is used in 3 different contexts.
1. I think the original meaning is that a value representing the combination of aperture and shutter speed that gives the same exposure. EV 0 is f/1.0 and 1 sec.
2. Sometimes it is used to indicate the scene brightness level as in the specification for AF and metering sensitivity. With this an ISO is needed to be specified. If not it's understood as ISO 100. For example when they say the AF is sensitive down to EV-1 it means EV-1@ISO100.
3. Other times the term EV means one stop. For example the exposure compensation is set at +1EV that means to increase exposure by 1 stop.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Originally called "LV" or "Light Value" system in Europe and Asia, "EV" in N. America gradually became the norm worldwide.

"EV" stands for "Exposure Value" and might best be thought of as is a standardized measure of brightness.

For example, a typical sunny day is about 15EV... At the other extreme, a brightly moonlit night is about -3 EV.

You'll often see certain camera systems described in EV terms.... For example:

1. An autofocus system rated to -0.5EV or -1EV is typical of entry level cameras. Today a lot of more advanced DSLRs are able to autofocus in even lower light... -3EV. Some mirrorless are even better... I noticed the entry level Canon EOS RP can focus at -5EV and their more advanced EOS R is able to autofocus in as low as -6EV light levels.

2. Camera metering systems are also often rated for a working range... 0EV to 18EV is fairly common. According to the published specifications, the Canon RP's light meter can handle -3EV to 20EV.

When it comes to exposure, there are a number of different camera setting combinations that can be used to correctly expose any given EV level.

Photography exposure variables are:

1. Lens aperture size... or how large the opening that admits light to the camera. "f-stops"
2. Shutter speed... or how long time light will be allowed into the camera. "shutter stops"
3. And ISO.... or the sensitivity of the digital or film medium to light. "ISO stops"

Those variables are sometimes referred to as the "exposure tripod", the three parameters a photographer can adjust to make a "correct" exposure at any given EV.

Today's digital "ISO" is the same as "ASA" in the days of film. Earlier, film had commonly been rated with ASA and DIN (even earlier, prior to about 1960, there were more than a half dozen additional sensitivity rating scales in use). Film commonly came in a package labelled "ASA 100/DIN 21", for example. In 1979 ASA and DIN were combined into a single figure called ISO. Film was labelled "ISO 100/21". About ten years later, the DIN number was dropped and we ended up with the single figure in use today for both film and digital, for example "ISO 100". (ASA is an arithmetic progression.... 100, 200, 400, 800 each represent a doubling of sensitivity. DIN was logarithmic... 21, 24, 27, 30 each represent a doubling of sensitivity. Each doubling (or halving) of sensitivity is often referred to as "a stop". Both ASA and DIN allowed. for 1/3 stop increments, which are used in some cases. ASA and today's ISO allow for 1/2 stop and other possible increments, too.)

Back in the day, when you bought a box of film, it often came with a little sheet of paper that included an EV scale. It might listed more common terms such as "sunny", "overcast", "cloudy", "shady", etc., instead of EV numbers. What's important to know is that there are a lot of different possible combinations of the three exposure variables that can be used to make a "correct" exposure of any given EV level. For example, a normal, sunny day is about EV15. If you are using ISO (ASA) 100 film... or have your digital camera set to ISO 100... you will get the same exposure using any of the following:

- 1/50 shutter, f/22 aperture
- 1/100 shutter, f/16 aperture
- 1/200 shutter, f/11 aperture
- 1/400 shutter, f/8 aperture
- 1/800 shutter, f/5.6 aperture
- 1/1600 shutter, f/4 aperture

All of those settings will result in the same exposure. Some old cameras even had a means of mechanically linking the shutter speed and aperture so that you could maintain an exposure, while changing those individual variables. Why would you want to do that? Well, you might want a fast shutter speed for a moving subject... or a slow one to deliberately include some motion blur effects in an image. Or, you may want a large aperture for shallow depth of field effects... or a small aperture for great depth of field that makes for a sharp image from near to far.

Now, back in the days of film, ISO (or ASA/DIN) was a fixed value. You bought a roll of film and shot the whole roll at that ISO (sometimes we "pushed" or "pulled" film.... used processing techniques to increase or reduce it's effective ISO... even so, we had to use the same modified ISO for the entire roll). As a result, because ISO wasn't a variable and EV scales used with film only needed to show shutter speed and aperture size. If you bought a film with a different ISO, it came with a different EV scale.

Today it's a bit more complicated because digital cameras can vary ISO from shot to shot with the simple turn of a dial, press of a button or tap on a screen. Many digital cameras even have "Auto ISO" where the camera itself will choose an ISO that it thinks will make for a correct exposure, based upon it's meter reading along with the shutter speed and aperture size the photographer has selected. With three variables, there are a lot more possible combinations. To name just a few, to capture the same 15EV sunny day described above you might use:

- 1/100 shutter, f/16 aperture, ISO 100
- 1/200 shutter, f/16 aperture, ISO 200
- 1/400 shutter, f/11 aperture, ISO 200
- 1/800 shutter, f/11 aperture, ISO 400
- 1/1600 shutter, f/11 aperture, ISO 800
- 1/3200 shutter, f/8 aperture, ISO 800

Etc.

Again, all the above will give the same exposure.... i.e., "the same EV".

In addition to choosing shutter speeds to achieve a particular result or aperture size to effect depth of field in images, now with the ISO variable possible you probably choose based upon the digital "noise" the camera produces in images. The higher the ISO, the more noise that will appear in images. Also, not discussed nearly as often as noise, higher ISOs also progressively reduce dynamic range AND resolution captured in images. At ISO 100 a digital camera might have 12 stops of dynamic range. But at ISO 3200 or 6400 it might only have 6 to 8 stops of DR. A simple test with your own camera can prove this. Take a series of shots of a given subject as low, medium and high ISOs... then compare the file sizes. You'll see that the higher the ISO, the smaller the file... i.e., the higher the ISO, the less data that's captured in images.

More info than I'd ever care to read about EV:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value

Much more enjoyable reading is Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure".

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

EV is just a meter reading of the amount of light present. It doesn't determine what to set your camera at. Once you know how much light there is you can decide how to balance the settings on your camera to achieve the results you want. I never even think about EV. To me it's just an extra step that I'm not interested in. I used to pay attention to it when I used hand held meters but haven't done that in forever.
...Cam