Exposure Compensation

[NotABunny]

I'm away on holiday a the moment, so taking quite a few photos, but realised tonight that most of my photos in the last two days have involved me tweaking the exposure compensation.  Out of curiosity, is this normal ? Do others tweak all the time, much of the time or not at all ?   Do others tweak a little or a lot ?

Yes, current meters are really bad (not wrong, just dumb). They are trying to grayify the image instead of trying to expose the subject well (by subject I mean the focused subject, not the area around the focus point).

I shoot candid and I meet all sorts of lighting conditions, where the light changes dramatically from shot to shot. I find the current meter barely acceptable. I always have to brighten photos taken in low light (this is the worst case), thusly losing even more quality to noise, and darken those taken in bright light.

This explains how things can be made better, although I'd rather have this applied on the focused subject, not the entire image (obviously this can be a simple option in software): http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/optimizing_exposure.shtml

[NotABunny]

I suspect the last two days have been full of contrasty type photos - typically a light coloured object like a tree or farm animal in front of a darker background....   I'm ranging generally to underexpose, generally just by -1/3 or -2/3rds but have had a couple of extreme -2, although looking back, this was capturing a sun drenched field from inside a dark wood

And what metering are you using?  Full scene or centre weighted average will meter for the whole scene, spot metering in these situations might produce the results you are wanting.

I've tried them all. Doesn't change anything when the subject is backlit. I know it should, but it just doesn't work in Av / Tv (on my 40D). Sometimes, it works, that is, the meter is somehow fooled and exposes *properly* (that is, as I, the human wants it to be when I am at my computer in a controlled environment).

[Viggo]

I usually do exposure compensation for every shot. It depends on what type of metering, but with Average metering chosen, I tend to adjust for every shot. Not beacuse the camera meter's wrong, but because me and the camera doesn't want the same result. The camera want it to be right, but I want it to look the way I see it in my head. And of course, shooting under sunlight or in very bright areas or in the woods, tend to demand some compensation. Nothing wrong with your camera or you. It's just difference of opinion...Which is why it's a VERY easy access to this feature.

[awinphoto]

Remember these on camera meter readings only get you to 18% gray.  It works well for when you metered object (spot) or scene (averaged) is 18% gray, but if it's not and you dont catch that, or if your on auto exposure, you are screwed.  It may be a pain, but getting a light meter that metered incident light is the best and most consistent, doesn't get fooled, and will nail exposures accordingly.  It's just another bit of gear you need to lug with you, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.  (plus if the light doesn't change, there's no need to change exposures unless you want to).