Arthur Morris
03-21-2008, 02:38 PM
My article Exposure Simplified is in the current e-Zine here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/ezine/mar08_01.aspx things have changed substantially since that was written.
Before the release of the Nikon D-3 and D-300, the meters in most digitals cameras were very similar, but those two cameras are considerably different fromt the rest of the crowd. Not better necessarily better, but different. In short, these two Nikon bodies need much less plus compensation when the light is soft (predawn, just after dawn, cloudy, foggy, etc.), but need more underexposure when the sun is at full strenght, especially with bright or white subjects.
The fact today is that each of the many good digital cameras today meters differently, and sometimes, even individual cameras that are the same model (for example, two Canon EOS 1-D MIII camera bodies) will meter the exact scene differently. Your job as a digital photographer is to learn not only the basics of exposure but the characteristics of your camera's meter. Your goal is to have some data in the right-most histogram box without having any flashing (pegged or over-exposed) highlights).
It is no longer possible for me to give accurate generic advice on exposure compensations for a given situation because the cameras and the meters are so different. The photographer needs to learn exposure theory and then learn how to come up with a perfect exposure and a perfect histogram with the camera that they have in their hands at a given moment.
later and love, artie
Before the release of the Nikon D-3 and D-300, the meters in most digitals cameras were very similar, but those two cameras are considerably different fromt the rest of the crowd. Not better necessarily better, but different. In short, these two Nikon bodies need much less plus compensation when the light is soft (predawn, just after dawn, cloudy, foggy, etc.), but need more underexposure when the sun is at full strenght, especially with bright or white subjects.
The fact today is that each of the many good digital cameras today meters differently, and sometimes, even individual cameras that are the same model (for example, two Canon EOS 1-D MIII camera bodies) will meter the exact scene differently. Your job as a digital photographer is to learn not only the basics of exposure but the characteristics of your camera's meter. Your goal is to have some data in the right-most histogram box without having any flashing (pegged or over-exposed) highlights).
It is no longer possible for me to give accurate generic advice on exposure compensations for a given situation because the cameras and the meters are so different. The photographer needs to learn exposure theory and then learn how to come up with a perfect exposure and a perfect histogram with the camera that they have in their hands at a given moment.
later and love, artie