Exposure compensation

Doddy1974

Doddy1974

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This is going to sound a really dumb question so please forgive me!

Exposure compensation...I am using a 550D. The only place i can find to dial in Exp Comp is the Flash Exp Comp.

When someone says Dial in 2+stops....does this mean you just adjust the shutter speed to it moves the exp comp??
Or is there a part of the menu I cannot find where you can just adjust it without adjusting the shutter time?

I am confusing myself with all this!

Sorry for being so dumb!
 
In AV Cathy, bring up your settings on the screen and you can then Highlight exposure comp and adjust accordingly. If using manual then changing shutter or aperture will give you the same result.
 
perfect thankyou!!! Why can't people just say adjust Shutter speed in manual mode instead of using fancy words! haha!!
 
You don't have to use manual mode to do it though, you can do it in AV or TV just as well. Manual mode would seem to be over complicated it unless you already want to use that mode.
 
If it's the same as the 350D I think you can press the Av button on the back and then use the wheel to dial in compenstation. I daresay it's in the manual as well.
 
Doddy1974 said:
perfect thankyou!!! Why can't people just say adjust Shutter speed in manual mode instead of using fancy words! haha!!
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With Nikons you can adjust the Exposure Compensation in manual, this will then effect what the metering shows you.

So, if you set it to -2 in manual mode, then set it so the metering says its spot on 0 you will actually be shooting at -2 stops :)

As far as I am aware Canon's don't do this in manual, but could be wrong.

took me a while and a few videos to get my head around this.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
With Nikons you can adjust the Exposure Compensation in manual, this will then effect what the metering shows you.

So, if you set it to -2 in manual mode, then set it so the metering says its spot on 0 you will actually be shooting at -2 stops :)

As far as I am aware Canon's don't do this in manual, but could be wrong.

took me a while and a few videos to get my head around this.
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Hell's teeth, someone told me EC didn't work in manual and I believed them.

Thanks for clarifying it....although it could be you that's wrong...;)
 
artyman said:
If it's the same as the 350D I think you can press the Av button on the back and then use the wheel to dial in compenstation. I daresay it's in the manual as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah the 5550d does that, but its flash EC not EC.

Sent from my iPhone using TP Forums
 
I think you will find that it is normal EC. Set the camera to Av, half press and note the exposure, press and hold the Ev button and turn the dial, the meter needle will move across the scale. Release the shutter button, press again and you will see that subsequent exposures will have that amount of compensation applied, as indicated by the needle being off centre.
 
posiview said:
Hell's teeth, someone told me EC didn't work in manual and I believed them.

Thanks for clarifying it....although it could be you that's wrong...;)
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Well, yes and no. EC 'works' in manual, but it doesn't apply any changes.

What it does is shift the meter reading so that, if you are lining up the viewfinder indicator in manual, when you have done that you will have set an exposure that is shifted from whatever the camera thinks is right, by the compensation factor. You can choose to ignore it, and the camera will still expose at whatever settings you've applied, regardless of what the meter says or EC you have set.

In any of the auto modes, whatever EC is set is automatically applied. In aperture priority, it will change the shutter speed; in shutter priority it will adjust the aperture; and in P it will adjust both shutter speed and aperture in line with its normal algorithm (usually shutter speed and aperture alternately).
 
HoppyUK said:
Well, yes and no. EC 'works' in manual, but it doesn't apply any changes.
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Is that the same for Canon then?

I've been trying to find where I read this, or watched this all night but can't.

I know it said it was definitely the Nikons did it but not Canons :thinking:
 
EC is irrelevant in Manual as you are applying the exposure, just look at the guage central is what the meter thinks it should and you can shove it wherever you like, that's what manual is all about.
 
HoppyUK said:
Well, yes and no. EC 'works' in manual, but it doesn't apply any changes.

What it does is shift the meter reading so that, if you are lining up the viewfinder indicator in manual, when you have done that you will have set an exposure that is shifted from whatever the camera thinks is right, by the compensation factor. You can choose to ignore it, and the camera will still expose at whatever settings you've applied, regardless of what the meter says or EC you have set.

In any of the auto modes, whatever EC is set is automatically applied. In aperture priority, it will change the shutter speed; in shutter priority it will adjust the aperture; and in P it will adjust both shutter speed and aperture in line with its normal algorithm (usually shutter speed and aperture alternately).
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It gets more complicated when you are using flash. With the nikon system when the camera is in manual mode and the flash is in TTL you have 3 stops of flash exposure compensation (FEC) but if you dial in EC on the body you get some extra FEC and the effect on flash is cumulative for negative FEC.

Now it biases your meter so be aware of that, and this is different from the Canon system. I used to get confused until I worked out what's going on.

In TTL-BL the flash takes into account your subject distance based on focus distance. As soon as you turn the flash head to a bounce position it doesnt use distance info anymore. But it still meters off the focus points, it works off of the brightest object under a focus point.

In TTL-BL and TTL the flash watches your meter, if the meter says you are spot on or overexposed the flash fires normally . But if the meter says we are underexposed, the flash raises power to compensate. The result is if you are in manual and you underexposed the background by a stop (something we often do on purpose) the TLL sees the meter reading and raises flash power overexposing our subject. Hence we usually have some negative FEC dialed into the flash to compensate. If you dial some negative EV into the camera, the meter comes back up to the centre and the flash reduces output even further. It's watching the meter and increases power to what IT thinks is correct if the meter is under, then adds or subtract any FEC you dialed in. By biasing your meter with EC in manual mode, you are telling the flash that your exposure is correct even though you are actually under by however much EC is dialed in.



I hope this makes sense and remember Canon is different in this regard. It only matters if you are using TTL flash too.
 
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artyman said:
EC is irrelevant in Manual as you are applying the exposure, just look at the guage central is what the meter thinks it should and you can shove it wherever you like, that's what manual is all about.
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I wouldn't say it was irrelevant.

My meter only shows + and - 1 each side of 0. EC would allow me to drop the meter 2 stops and then give me a range of -1 to -3.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
Is that the same for Canon then?

I've been trying to find where I read this, or watched this all night but can't.

I know it said it was definitely the Nikons did it but not Canons :thinking:
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Yes, Canon for sure. TBH I'd be surprised if any other brand was different.

Certainly, if you're in full manual then whatever the meter does or says or whatever compensation you may or may not apply, that won't change the settings at which the camera fires.

Manual is more correctly a Set & Lock mode - you set it, it's locked. Even with flash, though the gun itself may behave differently according to how you have set that.

Edit: slight correction with flash - if you have a dedicated gun, when the flash is on and fully charged (and not in high speed sync mode) if the shutter speed is above the max x-sync, it will knock it down on most cameras.
 
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HoppyUK said:
Yes, Canon for sure. TBH I'd be surprised if any other brand was different.

Certainly, if you're in full manual then whatever the meter does or says or whatever compensation you may or may not apply, that won't change the settings at which the camera fires.

Manual is more correctly a Set & Lock mode - you set it, it's locked. Even with flash, though the gun itself may behave differently according to how you have set that.

Edit: slight correction with flash - if you have a dedicated gun, when the flash is on and fully charged (and not in high speed sync mode) if the shutter speed is above the max x-sync, it will knock it down on most cameras.
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Yes changing EC for the camera will have no effect on the ambient exposure when you are in manual mode but it will bias the meter, for Nikon systems at least. And if you are using flash in TTL this is where the complication I was talking about sets in. With Nikon if you dial -EC into the camera it will reduce the output of the flash. This means you can dial in up to -3 FEC on the flash unit and dial in extra FEC by dialling in -EC on the camera. in Fact it's the only way to get -5 FEC for example.

The reason this happens is the TTL flash system watches the meter and if the meter says you are underexposed it adds more flash. By dialling in -EC on the camera when in manual mode it makes the flash fire less power in TTL because the meter doesn't read underexposed anymore even though non of the settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO) have changed.

This often catches people out because they meter for the background and want to underexpose it by say a stop so the subject pops more. So they raise their shutter speed and the meter says they are underexposed by a stop for instance. Then they use flash in TTL mode to bring the subject up to the correct exposure, but with no FEC dialled into the flash, it over exposes the subject by dumping too much light. The solution is to have negative FEC dialled into the flash. You will often hear people say that they always seem to need more negative FEC with the Nikon system than with the cannon system when they shoot this way. This is the reason why the Nikon system seems to fire hotter than the cannon in TTL.

I just thought people might find that interesting/useful. It doesn't really matter because you just get used to how much FEC you need for a given system, but it's nice to know whats going on because it can make you wonder why sometimes dialling in -EC the flash output decreases but dialling in +EC doesn't always increase it. The flash doesn't increase it's output if the meter is right on the money or overexposed, so adding +EC doesn't do anything unless the meter is reading that you are under exposed.


Again this applies to Nikon with the camera in manual and the flash in TTL. Maybe someone can explain it better than me. I have never seen this explained properly anywhere before, so if anyone knows of a good link?
 
Harvey_nikon said:
I wouldn't say it was irrelevant.

My meter only shows + and - 1 each side of 0. EC would allow me to drop the meter 2 stops and then give me a range of -1 to -3.
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He has a Canon camera so how the Nikon does things isn't going to help him, just confuse matters. I stand by the comments I made, using a camera from the same range. I also assume we are talking straight forward EC here not using flash compensation which is a different issue.
 
artyman said:
He has a Canon camera so how the Nikon does things isn't going to help him, just confuse matters. I stand by the comments I made, using a camera from the same range. I also assume we are talking straight forward EC here not using flash compensation which is a different issue.
Click to expand...

Arrr I assumed you were talking about EC in general not actually specific for his case. :)
 
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