how to change the exposure compensation in Manual mode?

[namy]

Hi all, i have a Canon 450D - learning to take photos in the manual mode setting, but somehow the Exposure Compensation () is always at -2 therefore my images turned out very dark or black screen. I don't know what have i done wrong, could you please advise on how to change the back to 0? I have no problems in other mode settings. I read the booklet but it does not explain anywhere.

Pleas HELP........

Thanks in advance.

Namy

[fletch]

There is no such thing as exposure compensation in manual mode.

Exposure compensation is used in semi auto modes to tell the camera to over or under expsose vs its metered settings. The oposite is true in manual mode. The meter you are looking at tells you that the camera thinks you are under or over exposing vs what it thinks is correct. I don't own a 450D but it's likely that the meter only shows between -2 and +2 and therefore what you are seeing is the camera telling you that it thinks you are under exposing the shot by more than two stops, hence the dark photos.

You can fix it by altering the shutter speed, aperture and ISO values to some combination that will line the meter up at 0. Try reading about the exposure triangle.

[LightChaser]

The meter you see in your viewfinder shows your exposure compensation when in one of the automatic or semi-automatic modes. However, there is no such thing as exposure compensation when in manual mode - you control the exposure.

When in manual mode, that same meter tells you what the EV or exposure value of your current frame is. When it shows a blinking -2 value, it means that the camera thinks you're underexposed by more than 2 stops. You have to do any or all of the following:
1) raise your ISO
2) open up your aperture (smaller number = bigger opening)
3) lower your shutter speed

You'll see that little arrow move to the right eventually.

[wulf]

If you have a metering lens then the camera will suggest what it thinks of your combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed compared to the light reading it takes but you can feel free to ignore that. In fact, most of my lenses are non-metering so I don't even get that suggestion.

The way I approach the settings is to make an estimate of what will fit, take a picture, check the histogram and / or blinkies, and adjust accordingly. Each of the parameters has side-effects (eg. DoF when adjusting aperture) but it normally doesn't take long to home in on a good combination of settings to capture the image I am seeking to get from the scene.

I think most of the time this works well:



although there are exceptions:



However, even those exceptions can sometimes create interesting options!

Wulf

[Carl911]

Originally Posted by fletch

There is no such thing as exposure compensation in manual mode.

Exposure compensation is used in semi auto modes to tell the camera to over or under expsose vs its metered settings. The oposite is true in manual mode. The meter you are looking at tells you that the camera thinks you are under or over exposing vs what it thinks is correct. I don't own a 450D but it's likely that the meter only shows between -2 and +2 and therefore what you are seeing is the camera telling you that it thinks you are under exposing the shot by more than two stops, hence the dark photos.

You can fix it by altering the shutter speed, aperture and ISO values to some combination that will line the meter up at 0. Try reading about the exposure triangle.

Yes, that sounds about right.
I have a Canon 40D and only in full manual mode can I adjust what is an exposure mode dial, although as you correctly dscribed, it doesnt correct the exposure as such, it adjust the shutter speed/ aperture sttings to allow you to manually see the sliding gauge travel between the -2 & +2 values. Which is what the Camera thinks to be optimum setting.
I guess at the end of the day only you can decide what looks over or under exposed and adjust accordingly. I do find this visual gauge very usefull though, especially on bright days when the screen is difficult to see.

[Carl911]

Originally Posted by wulf

If you have a metering lens then the camera will suggest what it thinks of your combination of ISO, aperture and shutter speed compared to the light reading it takes but you can feel free to ignore that. In fact, most of my lenses are non-metering so I don't even get that suggestion.

The way I approach the settings is to make an estimate of what will fit, take a picture, check the histogram and / or blinkies, and adjust accordingly. Each of the parameters has side-effects (eg. DoF when adjusting aperture) but it normally doesn't take long to home in on a good combination of settings to capture the image I am seeking to get from the scene.

I think most of the time this works well:



although there are exceptions:



However, even those exceptions can sometimes create interesting options!

Wulf

Hi Wulf,

As a matter of interest, when you mention 'Blinkeys' are you refering to the over exposed flashing areas on your review screen.
how best would you adjust for these over exposed areas.
I often see them but short of setting my shutter/aperture for the bright areas, I find it difficult to reduce the exposure levels.
Id there a better way?

ps-sorry if I hijacked this threasd a little.....

Carl

[fletch]

Originally Posted by Carl911

I often see them but short of setting my shutter/aperture for the bright areas, I find it difficult to reduce the exposure levels.
Id there a better way?

ps-sorry if I hijacked this threasd a little.....

Carl

There is no better way. The only things you can do to change exposure is adjust the shutter speed, aperture or ISO. You need to find the combination of these that give you the best exposure. The blinkies will tell you when you have blow out highlights or shaddow.

However in some scenes it is not possible to perfectly expsose the whole scene as the dark sections are so much darker than the bright. In this instance you have to compromise between blown highlights and no shadow detail, this compromise usually lies somewhere that avoids blowing highlights as they look really ugly in digital (It used to be the other way round with film).

[wulf]

Yes - by "blinkies" I mean the indicator of blown highlights. Sometimes it is feasible to reduce the amount of light getting in and avoid them but it does depend on the dynamic range of the scene.

In that first picture of mine, the grass and sky are reasonably well exposed but the people are, arguably, a bit dark. According to the histogram tool on the GIMP, only 9 pixels out of about 490,000 are at the right hand end of the image but about 2,610 are at the left hand end. Dropping the shutter speed from 1/1250s to 1/1000s would probably have been an improvement and got a lot more pixels from the left than were pushed up against the right.

However, it is about compromise and also, for a shot like this, seizing an opportunity (changeable light and also the walkers weren't stopping to pose for me - I just took a couple of quick shots of the advance guard of our party). I'm not sure automatic exposure would have done any better. Since most of the scene is a darker than the median point, the camera would probably have wanted to adjust a bit further and, as a result, the sky would end up with noticeable areas of overexposure.

Wulf

[Carl911]

I posted these last night on the share your pictures.
these were a classic example of trying to get a compromise of exposure as I wanted to capture the blue in the sky as well as keeping the Chapel bright as possible.

The Cheltenham College Church

Carl