Exposure Compensation Custom Setting

[TME]

I have always wanted to test this out. Thanks for posting the test shots, those photos speaks many thousands words. Using words to explain is quite confusing as too many similar terms are used. If you are doing some more test shots, can I suggest you try out what UY79 suggested in the other thread.

In Ambient Setting : EC = -2EV, Flash EC = +2EV
In Ambient & Flash Setting : EC = -2EV, Flash EC = 0EV

Theoretically, both photos should look the same.

Bottom line is if you want to adjust ONE EV, use the Ambient & Flash Setting. If you prefer to adjust BOTH EV, use Ambient Setting.

To make the test more "foolproof", set it to Shutter Priority (1/60 or whatever that is lower than the flash sync speed) and include the meter readings in the test result. To make it more "complete", take a shot without any compensation (EC = 0EV, Flash EC = 0EV) to see if all these compensation makes any difference.

Still using D7 SLR, will be broke if I run all these test!

Good idea... will try if I have the time tonight... must finish marking all my students' work first... kekeke... and I haven't started as of now... :bsmilie:

 

[BBTM]

My own finding on Exposure after I got the Dynax 7 (film)

I mounted the flash on top and got some finding.

Whenever I decrease or increase the Ambient and flash exposure, the distance on the flash increase or decrease too. Therefore, with a flash, it is better don't mess ard with those if your object is within that else you might bad photo.

Without the flash, only the shutter speed will move when the ambient is changed. That's mean you will get a darker or brighter photo in the end. Of course, a brighter one mean blur too as your shutter will be slow.

Hope you understand my singlish, haha! Anyway, that is my finding and my way of using those control. Hope to show some good results soon.

 

[UY79]

In Ambient Setting : EC = -2EV, Flash EC = +2EV
In Ambient & Flash Setting : EC = -2EV, Flash EC = 0EV

Theoretically, both photos should look the same.

You got it the other way round. For both to be the same, the first should be Ambient and Flash.

Bottom line is if you want to adjust ONE EV, use the Ambient & Flash Setting. If you prefer to adjust BOTH EV, use Ambient Setting.

This if you only want to lower the both compensations together. You will have to adjust both individually once you use flash for creative shots. It's just a matter of how you go about doing it.

To make the test more "foolproof", set it to Shutter Priority (1/60 or whatever that is lower than the flash sync speed) and include the meter readings in the test result. To make it more "complete", take a shot without any compensation (EC = 0EV, Flash EC = 0EV) to see if all these compensation makes any difference.

I don't see how locking shutter below sync speed will help. It'll just makes it more confusing. And if you are shooting in low light conditions like what TME did, resultant EC has no effect what so ever.

 

[TME]

I will do another series of shoots once I get over this busy period... like that can illustrate better and maybe I will understand better also... now like dying like that.... siongz...

 

[pai]

sorry to revive this 2 month old thread, but i've been trying to figure out what the ambient/ambient+flash option does. i shot a series of 18 pictures with all combinations of -1/+1/0 for flash and ev, in both modes. here is a table with 4 of the pix and their histograms, I hope they will help illustrate what UY79 has been saying...

to sum up... (repeating what has been said by other posters, but just to make absolutely sure, pls correct me if i'm wrong)

Ambient Only
EV compensation affects shutter speed and aperture in the normal way. (+EV in S mode opens aperture, and in A mode slows down shutter speed down unless speed is already at maximum handholding speed)

e.g. in shutter priority, 1/40s, the normal aperture was f11. at +1 EV, it went to f8. at -1EV it went to f16. one stop either way.

EV compensation does not affect flash settings at all.

FEC affects how bright or dark the picture is by changing flash output.

Ambient+Flash
EV compensation affects shutter speed and aperture in the normal way. (see above)
it *also* affects flash output.

the power of the flash is determined by the EV settings and the FEC settings combined.
so in this mode:

EV setting.........................-1
FEC setting.......................+1
------------------------------
Actual flash compensation.....0

Which will be the same as EV -1/FEC 0 in the ambient only mode

*

hope this makes things better instead of worse :sweat:

 

[pai]

ok, edited my previous post to something shorter, and more relevant.

right, now i'm trying to figure out how it affects camera behaviour when i'm actually shooting. here's what i think, if i jumped to the wrong conclusions, do tell me :sweatsm:

in ambient+flash mode:

a) when shooting in shutter priority, or aperture priority under bright light, EV compensation will have double the effect (if you're shooting with flash), because it affects both shutter/aperture combination and the flash output. so can easily end up with very bright or very dark pictures by accident.

b) if shooting in aperture priority under low light (common scenario, use flash because it's dark right?), the EV dial will *only* affect the flash compensation. this is because in aperture priority, in low light, the camera will default so a 1/focal length shutter speed to prevent hand shake. this effectively turns the EV dial into a flash compensation dial. which may be good news for 5D users, because they normally have to use the menu to change flash compensation.

 

[TME]

Someone just needs to make this easier...

 

[pai]

Someone just needs to make this easier...

sorry lah, i know my posts also not very clear. but now that i've done the experiment i'm quite sure i understand it already. am tempted to try to say it again in a simple way, but scared just make things worse...

maybe it's easier to explain in person lah. talk about it at next km outing or something

looks like the photos/posts didn't help at all :cry:

 

[Zerstorer]

Actually Pai has done a good job of putting it as clearly as possible. All one has to do is to make the effort to try with their own camera. Since its a DSLR, that shouldn't be too much of an effort to understand.

 

[TME]

sorry lah, i know my posts also not very clear. but now that i've done the experiment i'm quite sure i understand it already. am tempted to try to say it again in a simple way, but scared just make things worse...

maybe it's easier to explain in person lah. talk about it at next km outing or something

looks like the photos/posts didn't help at all :cry:

No no I not referring to u bro! I was referring to the camera manufacturers who write their manuals... a lot of these aren't explained at all in the manual...

Anyway your first post with the pictures is actually clearer than the second. Good job!

 

[TuTu_CaR]

i take one whole day to read this post and finally understand ! :bsmilie: