help with Rebel T1 ev mode

[Eagle355]

I own a REbel t1 and i am a bit confused with the ev system, If i am correct..

I am talking about the one that you see through the view finder and when you set the camera to manual mode.. It looks like this and its with green lines

-2.....-1......0.....+1.......+2

If i am correct when the camera is focusing for a correct exposure the indicator should be level just under 0. If the exposure is a bit dark the indicator will be more towards -1 or if its too dark will be towards -2....and if its over exposed -too bright it will be near +1 or +2. I noticed that the level indicator changes as i change f values and shutter speed values, so when am in manual mode i change these settings so that the indicator level goes to 0 when i focus.

However i noticed that sometimes when the indicator level is at 0 (after adjusting aperture and shutter values and iso) the photo that i take is usually overexposed. On the other hand i had a few perfect exposed photos with the indicator level pointing at near -0.5 value

Anyone any advice-help? Is this a sort of view finder metering mode ? or is it something else that is used for?

[SoxAddict]

Eagle, yes, this is the exposure compensation setting & allows you to change the metered exposure by up to two stops positively or negatively, in increments. There are situations where adjusting manual settings to get it to a 0 will result in a perfectly exposed picture, but just like you've experienced, there are situations where this won't be the case. Practice at taking shots with different settings in different environments will be useful for you here - as will simultaneously starting to check out the histogram produced by those settings. It will be useful to do some reading about exposure too, and you can find heaps of tutorials online, including here at dPS probably too. One that I just found as a start is:

Understanding... Exposure Compensation - Digital Photography Tutorial - Photoxels

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by Eagle355

I own a REbel t1 and i am a bit confused with the ev system, If i am correct..

I am talking about the one that you see through the view finder and when you set the camera to manual mode.. It looks like this and its with green lines

-2.....-1......0.....+1.......+2

If i am correct when the camera is focusing for a correct exposure the indicator should be level just under 0. If the exposure is a bit dark the indicator will be more toward -1 or if its too dark will be toward -2....and if its over exposed -too bright it will be near +1 or +2. I noticed that the level indicator changes as i change f values and shutter speed values, so when am in manual mode i change these settings so that the indicator level goes to 0 when i focus.

However i noticed that sometimes when the indicator level is at 0 (after adjusting aperture and shutter values and iso) the photo that i take is usually overexposed. On the other hand i had a few perfect exposed photos with the indicator level pointing at near -0.5 value

Anyone any advice-help? Is this a sort of view finder metering mode ? or is it something else that is used for?

You are basically correct in your assumption, but remember, the camera's meter is trying to average all the light it sees and to come up with the correct exposure setting. However, there are times that you have to outsmart the camera's meter. So if your subject matter happens to have a lot of dark tones (like a group of guys in black tuxedos standing in front of a black limo...or your subject is standing in front of a very dark wall) the meter will try to expose correctly for all those dark tones getting them OK while blowing out the faces. You'd be best to under expose that kind of shot by adjusting to the - minus side. The opposite is true when you're shooting a very bright scene, as in snow or bright beach lighting...your camera will tend to under expose your subject and you'll have snow as a lovely shade of grey. In those conditions you'd want to over expose and adjust to the + side. The camera is only a stupid piece of electronics, and you will have to learn how to make your adjustments based upon the subject matter and your ability to read the lighting conditions. Hope this helps a little

Vinnie

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Eagle355

...If i am correct when the camera is focusing for a correct exposure the indicator should be level just under 0. If the exposure is a bit dark the indicator will be more towards -1 or if its too dark will be towards -2....and if its over exposed -too bright it will be near +1 or +2.

If you're in Manual mode, yes, the compensation scale acts like a light meter, showing you where the auto-exposure system thinks your exposure sits. 0 is what the AE system thinks is correct. The AE system can be wrong (a lot), which is why we like full manual mode, and exposure compensation.

If you're in Av/Tv/P modes, then that's just your compensation scale, showing where you set the exposure, relative to what the AE system thinks is correct. By default, the needle will always be at 0.

I noticed that the level indicator changes as i change f values and shutter speed values, so when am in manual mode i change these settings so that the indicator level goes to 0 when i focus.

Then, you're doing exactly what the AE system in the camera would be doing. That's all.

However i noticed that sometimes when the indicator level is at 0 (after adjusting aperture and shutter values and iso) the photo that i take is usually overexposed. On the other hand i had a few perfect exposed photos with the indicator level pointing at near -0.5 value...

As I mentioned above, sometimes the AE system gets it wrong.

What the auto-exposure system is doing when it meters is just looking at all the light/dark values on the sensor. It does some kind of math on those values (let's simplify and say it averages all of them), and it takes that average value, and decides that needs to be in the middle of the dynamic range--the "middle gray" (or 18% gray, or... it's called a lot of things). But think of that being set as the halfway point between black and white.

This works for a scene that's got roughly the same amount of lights and darks in it.

But if you have a scene that's predominantly white, then your average/middle value is probably going to be a very light grey or white. When you set white to middle gray, you end up with an underexposed photo.

Conversely, if you have a scene that's predominantly black (say a night shot), then black gets set to middle gray, and you have an overexposed photo.

The camera doesn't always get it right, and it doesn't know what the subject of the photo is. That's why we shoot in Manual mode. To pin down exactly what we do want, with full control over whether the light is coming from the iso, the aperture, or the shutter speed. Sometimes you want to blow out the background so someone's face is properly exposed. Sometimes you want to silhouette someone and expose the background properly. The metering system can only account for this up to a certain point.

This is also why the histogram is a very important tool for judging your exposure.