Why Exposure Comp.?

TelePaul

Why not just stop down manually?

DaireQuinlan

Well, I'll tell you why I occasionally use it, others might have different usages or scenarios.
I find it most useful when I'm shooting some automatic mode (say AE) and I know the meter is going to get it wrong.
The classic example is a strong backlight behind your subject. The meter is going to underexpose the subject. Now sure you could switch to manual and open up from the metered reading, but it's a lot easier and faster just to add a stop of exposure compensation.
Shooting snow or (as in my case) waves crashing against the shore. Again, any meter will underexpose the snow or waves. Just add a stop of exposure comp and you can continue shooting auto without any worries.
In most cases a good auto mode with a couple of stops of exposure compensation either way is much more versatile than manual. Although of course there are times when nothing else will do ...

eas

In my case I use aperture priority most of the time, the camera can meter much faster than i can. I let it do 90% of the work and will compensate when required for whatever reason.

If you mean why use exposure comp. in manual mode, that's a good question.

AnCatDubh

If shooting manual then afaik your dSLR will either not let you exposure compensate or will ignore anything you tell it to do (at least that's what mine does).

eas

AnCatDubh wrote: »

If shooting manual then afaik your dSLR will either not let you exposure compensate or will ignore anything you tell it to do (at least that's what mine does).

that would make sense to me, I've never tried it to be honest.

KarmaGarda

I can confirm that too. On the D60 you don't get the option to change exp comp in manual.

DaireQuinlan

AnCatDubh wrote: »

If shooting manual then afaik your dSLR will either not let you exposure compensate or will ignore anything you tell it to do (at least that's what mine does).

Yeah that kinda makes sense. What would the camera DO if you tried to use exp. comp in manual ? If you're shooting aperture priority it adjusts the shutter speed if you dial in a stop or two. If you're shooting shutter priority it'll change the metered aperture. If you're shooting manual you've explicitly set both values so it doesn't make sense to use exp. comp from either the users or the cameras POV

melekalikimaka

i dont use it tbh. but cant you comp but 1/3rd of stops?

AnCatDubh

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i dont use it tbh. but cant you comp but 1/3rd of stops?

I think on mine you can set between 1/3 and 1/2 stops as a custom setting. I'd need to read the manual to be sure. But that as a feature might be dependant on the brand of dSLR and the engineers opinion as they built the firmware.

CabanSail

From the D300 Manual

In exposure mode M, only the exposure information shown in the
electronic analog exposure display is affected; shutter speed and
aperture do not change.

So in Manual it just offsets the Light Meter, which makes sense.

DaireQuinlan

CabanSail wrote: »

So in Manual it just offsets the Light Meter, which makes sense.

Actually yeah that does kinda make sense. I take back my harsh unrelenting words above