+/- EV or Exposure Compensation questions

[kasperjd4]

Hey everyone,


I'm having some trouble understanding the exposure compensation or +/- EV on my camera. For the test shots I used a D7000 with the 18-105.

The manual says it increases or decreases brightness and shows 3 pictures of a setting at -1,0,and +1, with all the photos changing exposure.

My question is, when I change the EV, and don't change any other setting, nothing changes in my photos, except for the meter? Is this whats supposed to happen?

Here are my examples to show what I'm talking about.
1/50 @f5.6 0EV

1/50 @f5.6 +2EV

Here is when I changed my settings to get the meter at 0
1/8 @F5.6 +2 EV

Is this what it's supposed to do? It doesn't seem like it makes any difference to me besides changing the meter. The first two pictures look the exact same to me.

I read another thread on it when I searched the forum but it just made me more confused.

Thanks for the help

 

[kundalini]

What is your shooting mode? EV Comp won't be effective when shooting in Manual.

 

[kasperjd4]

Oh.... I'm shooting in Manual... Guess theres the answer! haha thanks!

 

[Vautrin]

EV refers to the number of stops.

When you tell your camera to shoot EV +1 it'll up the shutter (or increase the size of the aperature) by one stop depending on how you're shooting (aperture priorty / shutter priorty / etc)

1/50 to 1/8 is maybe 2 or three stops (not sure of exact number), so actually your last photo and first photo shows the difference

 

[Garbz]

Oh.... I'm shooting in Manual... Guess theres the answer! haha thanks!

Exposure compensation always moves the meter. The only difference here is that in any of the automatic modes the camera adjusts it's settings to hit the meter dead in the middle.

In A priority exposure compensation changes the shutter.
In S priority exposure compensation changes the aperture.
In Manual exposure compensation changes only the meter (since now you can adjust settings off your normal metered value) .

The only exception is if you enable AutoISO. Then in Manual mode the camera will adjust the ISO to match the meter if possible.

 

[KmH]

What is your shooting mode? EV Comp won't be effective when shooting in Manual.

EC will be effective when shooting in manual mode, at least in the context that it biases the exposure meter. In other words, if you set +1 EV of EC the meter is biased so that when it indicates the exposure in the middle of the meter (zero), the exposure is actually +1 EV.

Other wise, in manual mode you can forego using EC and just remember that you want the meter to indicate +1 EV of over exposure rather than using EC and the zero mark on the meter scale.

 

[ann]

At one time Nikon would not allow one to use EC in manual mode; however, that has changed. I don't know which model that happened with, but the d700 will allow this function in manual mode. Why I don't know as most people I know just change the value on the fly, by dialing in which value they wish to use in increase or decrease the exposure.

 

[KmH]

My D60 consistantly under exposed 0.7 stop, so I just set the EC to compensate and used the zero on the meter. Then, if I wanted +1 EV from there for a shot or 2, it just seemed easier.

 

[ann]

Makes sense, then one doesn't even have to think about it; I believe on my D100 i set it for a +.3 and just went about metering as i normally would. There is value IMHO in testing your equipment and then make a decision on how you want to determine what the meter is telling you. With the d700 i have found I need to be a bit below "normal" .

 

[mjbine]

I was playing with EV last night in manual and wanted to know this exact question.......THE SEARCH FEATURE actually works..... Now on to find more answers for the many questions that I have.

 

[KmH]

.......THE SEARCH FEATURE actually works..... .

When it's used!