Refocus without changing exposure.

[Lightsped]

Say i am in a somewhat dark room looking outside a brightly lit window.

I dont want to expose for the dark room and blow out the details outside the brightly lit window.

I would like to expose for the brightly lit window causing the dark room to stay dark. Then in post, i can brighten up the dark room and keep the details in the brightly lit window.

With nikon bodies how can i expose the shot and then change focus point without changing expsoure?

Thanks and hope this wasnt too confusing.

 

[Destin]

Say i am in a somewhat dark room looking outside a brightly lit window.

I dont want to expose for the dark room and blow out the details outside the brightly lit window.

I would like to expose for the brightly lit window causing the dark room to stay dark. Then in post, i can brighten up the dark room and keep the details in the brightly lit window.

With nikon bodies how can i expose the shot and then change focus point without changing expsoure?

Thanks and hope this wasnt too confusing.

You have two options.

One: shoot in manual exposure mode. This will lock your exposure to whatever you set it, and your focusing will not affect your exposure.

Two: this is the method you use to do it in any mode other than manual. Most lower and and consumer/prosumer nikon bodies have an "ae-l/af-l" button on the back, to the right of the view finder. There is a setting in the menu that controls its function. In order to accomplish what you want, you would change its function to AE-L only (auto-exposure lock only). You would then place your focus point over the area you want to expose for, half press the shutter to expose for that area. Then *hold down* the ae-l button, locking the exposure. As long as the button is held down your exposure won't change, so you can then recompose, focus on the inside of the room or whatever you want, and take your photo.

It's much easier to just become comfortable with manual mode, tbh.

 

[Derrel]

Destin has it correct for the consumer cameras, as far as I know. How to accomplish this task depends on the Nikon in use, meaning that **exactly** how one accompishes this type of metering depends on the specific Nikon body: the higher-end bodies have both an AF-L and an AE-L button, and these two buttons can be custom configured to work in multiple, different ways, as far as linking the exposure and the focus together; or separating the AF and the exposure from one another; or letting one, or the other "run free" whilke the other variable is held constant; and also, exactly HOW the "lock" is done: press and hold to lock, or press and it stays locked until pressed once again.

When there are two buttons, both configurable, one for exposure metering, the other for focus locking, and ALSO an AF-ON button, this can be a tricky process to decide on how, exactly, you want to perform the focusing, and the light metering.

As Destin mentioned--in manual exposure mode, it would be a simple matter to meter the outside lighting, get that exposure nailed down with a test shot or two, and then go ahead and shoot and let the interior go darkish, and then later in post, lift the shadows as needed. Alternatively, perhaps fire some low-powered flash on the indoors, at the X-synch speed or at FP Synchy mode, to bring the interior "up", and closer to the bright daylight exposure outside.

 

[Designer]

With nikon bodies how can i expose the shot and then change focus point without changing exposure?

The dynamic range has some adjustment, or at least mine does. Set that adjustment to "high" and expose for the outside. Changing the focus point/area does not affect the exposure.

 

[Destin]

With nikon bodies how can i expose the shot and then change focus point without changing exposure?

The dynamic range has some adjustment, or at least mine does. Set that adjustment to "high" and expose for the outside. Changing the focus point/area does not affect the exposure.

Changing the focus point certainly can change the exposure if you're in an auto or semi-auto exposure mode, and are set to spot or center weighted metering.

 

[astroNikon]

On another note, you may want to look into your HDR / bracketing mode for your specific camera.

 

[Designer]

..expose the shot and then change focus point without changing exposure?

Perhaps I don't understand your question.

What do you mean "expose the shot"?

What do you mean "change the focus point"?

Let me just clarify my original assumption: I thought you had already pointed the camera out the window, and the camera had already focused on something outside. So I missed what, exactly, you were focusing on. Are you using the light meter in the camera? Are you moving the camera? Are you selecting a different focus area? Was the camera focused on something inside or outside?

I need some time off.

 

[dasmith232]

We're on the verge of getting into a multi-shot HDR situation. One thing to watch out for is: if the focus point gets changed between exposures, there can be a "bloom" effect meaning that the magnification changes slightly between shots.

It's like changing the zoom position on your lens. We know that we'd never do that intentionally, but yet we do that very thing when we allow the focus to change between shots.

It's better to disable or otherwise avoid changing focus between shots when planning to combine them as HDR or panoramic sequences.

Changing the exposure settings with control knobs or buttons exercises better control than pointing a focus point at part of the scene (for focus or otherwise).

 

[fmw]

Walk up to the window. Meter the out of doors, hold the meter reading, step backward and shoot. When you metered you also focused on the out of doors (assuming infinity focus.) Focus for the room doesn't matter.

Or meter the out of doors and take the reading as input for a manual exposure. Then you can focus on anything you like.