andrew00
Established
Hey,
So super smart and tech I am not, so I was hoping someone could please just explain Exposure Comp to me please.
I get what it does - you use it to brighten or darken the exposure by a little bit more than the camera's metering. I get that. But what I don't understand is how it works practically.
I mean - if I set the Aperture and ISO I want on my X100 and set the shutter speed to A, then the camera's is selecting the shutter only. Then I can dial in some Exposure Comp to tweak the image, make it a touch brighter/darker, and the camera adjusts the shutter speed accordingly to achieve the image with the luminance I want. Got that, roger.
But if I then go fully manual and select the shutter speed I want, the Exposure Comp wheel doesn't do anything, and in fact the Exposure Comp bar in the OVF changes as I change the shutter.
So what I think is going on is this - Exposure Comp is a tweak of automatic metering settings, it's not a tweak of manual controls. Basically it's a bit of a tweak to what the camera is thinking, feedback to the automatic metering.
Therefore when I am viewing Expo Comp in Ap Priority mode (aka Shutter to A) the changes I make are affecting the image because I'm tweaking the metering - telling the camera to take a picture a bit brighter or darker than it's suggesting, hence why the shutter changes accordingly because that's the value the camera has control over.
When I view the Expo Comp is fully manual mode the Expo Comp bar is the reverse - it's the camera telling me what to change. So if it's got a bar of -1 then it's telling me my image is a stop too dark and I need to increase ap/shutter to take an image of balanced exposure. So it's feedback to me.
Is this what's happening or am I missing it? I know it's a bit of a dumb question but I want to get it right!
So super smart and tech I am not, so I was hoping someone could please just explain Exposure Comp to me please.
I get what it does - you use it to brighten or darken the exposure by a little bit more than the camera's metering. I get that. But what I don't understand is how it works practically.
I mean - if I set the Aperture and ISO I want on my X100 and set the shutter speed to A, then the camera's is selecting the shutter only. Then I can dial in some Exposure Comp to tweak the image, make it a touch brighter/darker, and the camera adjusts the shutter speed accordingly to achieve the image with the luminance I want. Got that, roger.
But if I then go fully manual and select the shutter speed I want, the Exposure Comp wheel doesn't do anything, and in fact the Exposure Comp bar in the OVF changes as I change the shutter.
So what I think is going on is this - Exposure Comp is a tweak of automatic metering settings, it's not a tweak of manual controls. Basically it's a bit of a tweak to what the camera is thinking, feedback to the automatic metering.
Therefore when I am viewing Expo Comp in Ap Priority mode (aka Shutter to A) the changes I make are affecting the image because I'm tweaking the metering - telling the camera to take a picture a bit brighter or darker than it's suggesting, hence why the shutter changes accordingly because that's the value the camera has control over.
When I view the Expo Comp is fully manual mode the Expo Comp bar is the reverse - it's the camera telling me what to change. So if it's got a bar of -1 then it's telling me my image is a stop too dark and I need to increase ap/shutter to take an image of balanced exposure. So it's feedback to me.
Is this what's happening or am I missing it? I know it's a bit of a dumb question but I want to get it right!
In manual mode you set exposure compensation manually using your shutter speeds and apertures. If you are manually set to 1/125 at f/11 for what your meter is telling you is the correct exposure and you think you'll get blown out highlights, you could then set the shutter speed to 1/250th at f/11 (one stop negative exposure comp). Since you choose the combination of shutter speed and aperture, you have total control over you image and can use just those two parameters to compensate your exposure. Many people bracket their exposures for this reason.
Last edited:
willie_901
Veteran
jsrockit gave you the perfect answer