imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

For me, EC is an absolute necessity -MOST- but not ALL the time. It is highly situationally specific !

The ONLY time I go fully manual (without EC) is -IF- the lighting is constant and unchanging and the subject matter reflectivity is fairly constant an unchanging - and these situations together are very INFREQUENT !

At this stage of my life I prefer to trust the metering/EC more than my ability to - in the heat of the moment - recognize changing light/subject reflectivity and speedily change manual settings ! Which is one reason why, most of the time, I am using an EVF - to make timely EC changes.

RARELY is my EC zeroed out !

jcboy3

I shoot manual frequently; whenever background light levels change significantly relative to my subject. So sports (especially skiing), concerts, theater. Also when I'm shooting panoramas. And when using lighting; portraits, still life, events.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

That’s precisely what I’ve been saying all along. Wikipedia gives the same definition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_compensation). And of course it applies as well to manual as to any automatic exposure modes. (Scroll down to “Exposure compensation using the Zone System.”)

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

That is true! EC affects only the meter, and anything else is just the indirect effect of changing what the meter reads. Manual exposure changes only if auto ISO is enabled or if match needle technique is used.

therwol Loc: USA

I have one lens that consistently underexposes by around 2/3 f stop no matter which exposure method is used, even manual, even with the lens wide open to exclude diaphragm issues. I set the exposure compensation to +.7 whenever this lens is on the camera as a starting point. I have to remember to reset it to 0 when I take the lens off. (The lens is an old 55mm f/2.8 AF Micro. It's not worth my time or money to have someone take a look at it.)

My camera (Nikon D810) allows you to make a global adjustment to the meter in each of the metering modes separately. I've never explored that. It seems to me that Nikon put that there to allow you to make an adjustment that should have been made before the camera left the factory.

When a particular scene "fools" the meter, even in the manual mode, bracketing is cheap and easy.

Histograms are very useful if you have a little extra time.

johnala

Whatever happened to bracketing? You don't know what that means? Tsk.

therwol Loc: USA

Yes. Isn't it interesting that no one has brought up bracketing before this? Newer cameras can be set to do it automatically. It wouldn't really work for continuous shooting of moving subjects, but what about for static subjects?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

When shooting film and not getting the negatives for analysis until at least hours later there is great significance to the insurance of bracketing. With digital and nearly instant feedback that is less often useful.

But one example where bracketing with digital is very useful is when shots cannot be repeated. Any type of "event" is an example. Shooting in three shot high speed bursts with say 1/2 fstop bracketing just about guarantees results. Not just exposure either, but group shots that can be edited so that nobody is blinking or otherwise looking odd.

Bill_de Loc: US

It was mentioned at 4:34 am

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folkus

I didn't mention bracketing because I did not want to delute the issue re EV. I am aware of the power and utility of bracketing and use it regularly

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho