Question about manual bracketing

[a1157814a]

My Nikon D40 doesn't have the auto-bracketing feature so I have to set the exposure compensation on my own.

I was just curious... for cameras that do have this feature, does the camera automatically set how much to overexpose and underexpose? because when I set the values on my own, I'm having trouble manually setting how much to overexpose and underexpose..

Also, does it have to have to be even values? (if I set +2 then I have to set -2)? If it doesn't... is it uncommon to have uneven values for + and -?

 

[Big Mike]

It doesn't have to be anything...it can be whatever you want. Bracketing just means taking a few photos at different exposure levels.

You can take one shot at -1 and then one at 0, +.5, +1 & +2.5...it doesn't matter.

I believe that the auto bracketing on my camera does give me evenly split exposures...but I don't know for sure, as I haven't used that feature in several years.

because when I set the values on my own, I'm having trouble manually setting how much to overexpose and underexpose..

That's the beauty of bracketing...is that you don't have to be sure...just adjust the exposure and take the shot, then adjust it again and take another shot. Maybe you take 15 different shots, all at different exposure values...that's OK....this is digital.

 

[kundalini]

According to your manual (page 47), each click of the command dial is a 1/3 stop and can be adjusted +/- 5EV.

 

[Turnerea]

I was just curious... for cameras that do have this feature, does the camera automatically set how much to overexpose and underexpose?

Well I have a Canon, so this isn't going to apply directly, but to satiate your curiosity, my XTi operates like this:

You can set the overall spread of the bracketing-- ie -1, 0, +1, or -2, 0, -2 etc (also with the normal 1/3 options in there). But what I find neat is that if you have an exposure compensation dialed in, the "0" from your bracketing will not be the zero from the meter, but will include the compensation you've dialed in.

So if I want a -1,0,+1 bracketing, and I have an exposure compensation of -1 dialed in... the auto bracketing does -2,-1,0.

Anyway... hope thats what you were looking for