Exposure compensation in manual

RKC

RKC

Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,399
Name
Bob
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi
I use Canon shoot aperture or shutter priority with set ISO and use exposure compensation a lot
A mate of mine has bought a Nikon D500 and have been helping him a bit, he insists in shooting manual which is fine.
Explaining exposure compensation to him he said but I do that all the time in manual...............now I did not think that was possible but willing to be proved wrong
He showed me how he could it, he dialled in 2 stops of +exposure compensation and the resulting image was completely almost a white out at which point I realised that he was ISO auto and it shot right up.
So back to my original question as i dont want to get it wrong, can you exposure compensate in manual mode? by that I mean not altering, shutter, aperture or ISO

EDIT to make it a bit more clearer I am asking about my mates Nikon D500 a i know cant do it on my 70D
 
Last edited:
If you manually control the ISO, aperture and shutter speed, then exposure compensation has no effect. It worked for him because he had ISO set to auto, nothing more.

What would be the point of specifically dialing in your desired exposure using these controls, if an automated compensation off-set it?
 
Last edited:
I use auto ISO in manual mode a lot when shooting sports and Wildlife as I want a set aperture and shutter speed but am often either moving the camera around or the subject is moving in and out of shadows or both and in these situations you don't have time to constantly change ISO.

In answer to the question, when shooting in this way I can use exposure compensation which makes sense as even though you're in manual mode part of it (ISO) is automated and you may need to override the exposure. It's pretty rare, but one such occasion could be shooting Wildlife in the snow.
 
RKC said:
So back to my original question as i dont want to get it wrong, can ou exposure compensate in manual mode? by that I mean not altering, shutter, aperture or ISO
Click to expand...


Sure!
…and nothing will change since EV +/- will affect
only the way the light meter works.

I always shoot wildlife starting with this setup:
Manual, Auto ISO, ƒ 8. 1/1000s.
 
RKC said:
Hi
I use Canon shoot aperture or shutter priority with set ISO and use exposure compensation a lot
A mate of mine has bought a Nikon D500 and have been helping him a bit, he insists in shooting manual which is fine.
Explaining exposure compensation to him he said but I do that all the time in manual...............now I did not think that was possible but willing to be proved wrong
He showed me how he could it, he dialled in 2 stops of +exposure compensation and the resulting image was completely almost a white out at which point I realised that he was ISO auto and it shot right up.
So back to my original question as i dont want to get it wrong, can you exposure compensate in manual mode? by that I mean not altering, shutter, aperture or ISO
Click to expand...
The thing is - he's shooting auto ISO - so technically not Manual, so yes he can indeed set exp comp.
On your 70d? No you can't, when in M, with or without auto ISO, you can't set exp comp.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
Sure!
…and nothing will change since EV +/- will affect
only the way the light meter works.

I always shoot wildlife starting with this setup:
Manual, Auto ISO, ƒ 8. 1/1000s.
Click to expand...
Well actually technically no. The OP has asked if it will work by not affecting aperture, shutter or ISO but of cause it will affect ISO. If you dial in positive exp comp and shutter and aperture are fixed, the only way the camera can achieve positive exp comp is to raise the ISO. But this is no different to if you were shooting in full manual and wanted to over expose the image from the light meter, you would have to manually dial in a higher ISO.
 
As I understand it many Nikon bodies have exposure compensation in manual with auto iso but not or very few Canon ones.

My 5D3 does not though I think the 5D4 does???

When not in manual i.e. Tv or Av I use EC as needed quite often so do notice it's lack when in manual :(
 
You can do it with a Canon in manual mode, but it isn't straightforward. In manual mode with auto iso the camera will try and get a correct exposure but will fail if you have a lot of light or dark surrounding your central subject e.g. Birds in flight, where you may want a certain shutter speed and aperture, so the way would be to set both manually and let auto iso give you the best guess the camera can manage, but that will fail and the bird will probably be under exposed
. So the way I get round that is to set auto bracket exposure to +2 (unfortunately it also has to shoot at -2), needs a bit of experimenting as it may drop the shutter speed to achieve over exposure so you need to set a base shutter speed fast enough to compensate for the 2 stop drop.
It would be so much better if you could set manual shutter and aperture with auto iso, +2 exposure compensation and the software just raised the iso by 2 stops.
Guess whoever wrote the code didn't see any need.
Matt
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Exposure compensation works if you are in manual with auto ISO enabled (on mine dialing in exposure compensation adjusts the ISO value until auto ISO is at the maximum set limit). If you are in manual with fixed ISO, shutter and aperture any dialled in exposure compensation has no effect on the resulting exposure.

Edit: this is an a Nikon.
 
Last edited:
rob-nikon said:
Exposure compensation works if you are in manual with auto ISO enabled (on mine dealing in exposure compensation adjusts the ISO value until auto ISO is at the maximum set limit). If you are in manual with fixed ISO, shutter and aperture any dialled in exposure compensation has no effect on the resulting exposure.
Click to expand...
Canons don't work in the same way as Nikons and tbh it is the one thing that could make me jump ship.
Matt
 
Cagey75 said:
I wouldn't call auto ISO manual mode, always thought of manual mode as having 'full' manual control over the exposure.
Click to expand...
Like you say manual with auto ISO isn't full manual, it's more a combined aperture and shutter priority mode. Manual mode with auto ISO is very useful for wildlife where light levels vary across an area. Its especially useful with cameras like the D750 where I'm happy up any where up ISO3200 and ISO6400 at a push.
 
MatBin said:
You can do it with a Canon in manual mode, but it isn't straightforward. In manual mode with auto iso the camera will try and get a correct exposure but will fail if you have a lot of light or dark surrounding your central subject e.g. Birds in flight, where you may want a certain shutter speed and aperture, so the way would be to set both manually and let auto iso give you the best guess the camera can manage, but that will fail and the bird will probably be under exposed
. So the way I get round that is to set auto bracket exposure to +2 (unfortunately it also has to shoot at -2), needs a bit of experimenting as it may drop the shutter speed to achieve over exposure so you need to set a base shutter speed fast enough to compensate for the 2 stop drop.
It would be so much better if you could set manual shutter and aperture with auto iso, +2 exposure compensation and the software just raised the iso by 2 stops.
Guess whoever wrote the code didn't see any need.
Matt
Click to expand...

Hmm! in situations where EC is needed such as that you describe 'that technique' IMO is not viable or usable :(. It is a pity that Canon have not seen fit to implement it on at least their xD & xxD series models!
 
MatBin said:
Canons don't work in the same way as Nikons and tbh it is the one thing that could make me jump ship.
Matt
Click to expand...
That is true, I was just about to edit to say on nikons. I made the assumption the op was talking about his mates Nikon D500 and was asking if exposure compensation worked in manual mode with and out auto ISO on nikons. Having always had nikons is a feature I've made use of for years but never really thought that it's not on other camera makes.
 
Last edited:
Box Brownie said:
Hmm! in situations where EC is needed such as that you describe 'that technique' IMO is not viable or usable :(. It is a pity that Canon have not seen fit to implement it on at least their xD & xxD series models!
Click to expand...
It ain't easy or guaranteed to succeed in some cases but it's better than Canon not coding it.
 
rob-nikon said:
That is true, I was just about to edit to say on nikons. I made the assumption the op was talking about his mates Nikon D500 and was asking if exposure compensation worked in manual mode with and out auto ISO on nikons. Having always had nikons is a feature I've made use of for years but never really thought it's not on other camera makes.
Click to expand...


yes Rob i am asking if possible on my mates d500 :)
 
rob-nikon said:
That is true, I was just about to edit to say on nikons. I made the assumption the op was talking about his mates Nikon D500 and was asking if exposure compensation worked in manual mode with and out auto ISO on nikons. Having always had nikons is a feature I've made use of for years but never really thought that it's not on other camera makes.
Click to expand...
Don't gloat! :-)
 
MatBin said:
Don't gloat! :)
Click to expand...
I think it's something that you just get used to using one manufacturer for so long. Don't get me wrong there are timeds that I've thought of moving over to canon, there are some lenses have tempted me to consider it. I did try the canon cameras at bird fair last year, I couldn't even turn one camera on! Don't forget you don't get the recalls and QC issues with new releases unlike Nikon :)
 
Last edited:
I found this on a webpage 'blog' dated the 4th August 2016.................not sure if that date pre or post dates the 5D4 release???

YES – manual mode, auto ISO & exposure compensation
EOS-1D X introduced the notion of being able to use exposure compensation with manual mode and auto ISO. It’s something that seems strange to a lot of “older” photographers – manual meant manual – but if you think of manual with auto ISO as shutter and aperture priority then it makes sense to be able to access exposure compensation.

At the moment the following cameras can work in manual mode with auto ISO and still have exposure compensation…

  • EOS-1D X
  • EOS-1DX Mark II
  • EOS 5DS / EOS 5DS R
  • EOS 7D Mark II
  • EOS 80D
 
Last edited:
When I had D500 I always shot fixed Aperture fixed shutter speed auto ISO and used exposure compensation. (Only used the camera for wildlife)

Really miss it, saving hard..:(
 
Kodiak Qc said:
Sure!
…and nothing will change since EV +/- will affect
only the way the light meter works.

I always shoot wildlife starting with this setup:
Manual, Auto ISO, ƒ 8. 1/1000s.
Click to expand...
The only thing that would be affected in FULL manual by +/-EV is if you had a flash on. +/- EV does alter flash power even in Camera Manual mode on Nikons.
 
jamesev said:
The only thing that would be affected in FULL manual by +/-EV is if you had a flash on. +/- EV does alter flash power even in Camera Manual mode on Nikons.
Click to expand...
Here's the win for Canon, where exp comp for flash and manual are unrelated so don't need second guessing.

Just goes to show we still have no single camera manufacturer who has got it all right. :)
 
jamesev said:
The only thing that would be affected in FULL manual by +/-EV is if you had a flash on. +/- EV does alter flash power even in Camera Manual mode on Nikons.
Click to expand...
I think you might have got it wrong there tbh. In FULL manual there is no exp compensation for the exposure settings so if you're dialling in +/-EVF using flash in full manual mode you are actually altering the flash power not the camera exposure via exp compensation of the flash.

I'll double check in mine later to see if this is true. I know there's definitely a setting that lets you have exp comp to affect both background (i.e. camera exposure) and subject (i.e. Flash) exposures together or just background when using flash. Obviously if you have it in the former then exp comp will affect the flash power. I have exp comp set to background only so this doesn't happen but if I do want flash exp comp I can do this separately using the flash exp comp button.
 
I can set exposure compensation on my 1dx and 7mkll while in manual and auto ISO....not really manual though.
 
snerkler said:
I think you might have got it wrong there tbh. In FULL manual there is no exp compensation for the exposure settings so if you're dialling in +/-EVF using flash in full manual mode you are actually altering the flash power not the camera exposure via exp compensation of the flash.
Click to expand...

That is what I was inferring. If you have camera with flash on and the camera is in FULL manual mode, the +/-EV dialled on the camera will not have any impact on the cameras exposure but WILL over or under power the Flash by the same EV steps.
 
jamesev said:
That is what I was inferring. If you have camera with flash on and the camera is in FULL manual mode, the +/-EV dialled on the camera will not have any impact on the cameras exposure but WILL over or under power the Flash by the same EV steps.
Click to expand...
Ahh, OK I misunderstood what you were referring to. Either way, flash compensation is available on all modern cameras I believe and it's just doing what it's designed to do. Off course, you could have the flash in full manual as well in which case flash exp comp won't affect it/won't be available. At least it shouldn't be, but i've not tried it ;)
 
snerkler said:
Ahh, OK I misunderstood what you were referring to. Either way, flash compensation is available on all modern cameras I believe and it's just doing what it's designed to do. Off course, you could have the flash in full manual as well in which case flash exp comp won't affect it/won't be available. At least it shouldn't be, but i've not tried it ;)
Click to expand...
The camera controlled flash compensation is useful for off camera flash where the flash units are a distance away.
 
RKC said:
he insists in shooting manual which is fine.
Click to expand...

You are correct in your assumption that ec +/- does not work in manual mode

because your friend is using auto iso then he is shooting in semi auto mode not manual.. therefore ec +/- will work
 
Thank you all, confirmed what my thinking was, now will have to explain to my mate the weekend :confused::confused:;):)
 
jamesev said:
The only thing that would be affected in FULL manual by +/-EV is if you had a flash on. +/- EV does alter flash power even in Camera Manual mode on Nikons.
Click to expand...
Depends on the camera/settings. Most of the later Nikons allow you to set EC to "BG only" separating it from the flash like Canon does (D600 and later).

Exposure compensation simply tells the camera to over/under expose the image compared to what the meter thinks would be right... of course you can do that in full manual mode! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top