Newbie G2 Exposure Question

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night. I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland (unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Ian, I have a G1. Exposure should be easier on the G2, but the principles are the same.

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'. If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual. A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue, a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Thanks Paul - this is just the sort of thing that I was lookng for. Sometimes unless someone can give you the correct terminology to start with it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. I research this and have a play tonight

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ian,

I do it the way Paul does it, but there is one more way that might be attractive to you as a beginner. When the G2 locks focus (by half-depressing the shutter), I believe it also locks exposure, and you can then recompose without using the * button. This is an easier, but less flexible approach, since your focus locks and when you recompose you risk going out of focus, but it is an easy way to take a reading on the sky, lock in the exposure, recompose, and fire. Paul's most important point, I think, is to get out there and do it...over and over...there's no substitute for practicing and pretty soon the * button will be second nature! Good luck.
Wayne

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks - just off out now to play some more!! Am I right in assuming that you can only spot meter on one area or can I meter on several areas in 'difficult' compositions.

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ian,

If you are operating at ISO50 (which you should be) the camera will meter to 1/50 or 1/60 a lot unless the light is reasonable. Camera shake is always a danger at those speeds.

No camera shake indicator on my G1

Post some pictures!

Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the
camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod
should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to
eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand
normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ian,
1. You cannot spot meter on more than one spot.

2. No problems with my G2 re camera shake, except in real low light. In that situation, you can do several things: change your ISO to 100 (or greater)(although as Paul says stick with 50 as much as you can), switch to TV mode and force shutter speed to 1\125, wait for more light, or turn on your flash or some other light.
Good luck and post some pictures!
Wayne

Paul Taylor said:

If you are operating at ISO50 (which you should be) the camera will
meter to 1/50 or 1/60 a lot unless the light is reasonable. Camera
shake is always a danger at those speeds.

No camera shake indicator on my G1

Post some pictures!

Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the
camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod
should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to
eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand
normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Regarding the camera shake warning ... is there actually a sensor? In my experience, when shooting in P mode, the camera shake icon seems to appear on all shutter speeds below a certain point (1/50 maybe). I noticed it because when I was shooting from a tripod I was still getting the warning at slow shutter speeds, yet, the pictures came out clear.

Wayno said:

Paul Taylor said:

If you are operating at ISO50 (which you should be) the camera will
meter to 1/50 or 1/60 a lot unless the light is reasonable. Camera
shake is always a danger at those speeds.

No camera shake indicator on my G1

Post some pictures!

Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the
camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod
should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to
eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand
normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ahhh Thanks That's interesting - can anyone else confirm whether or not there is a 'shake sensor' or whether this warning is just based on shutter speed?

I suspect the latter as even when I place the camera on a table to take a shot I see the camera-shake warning.

The light here in the UK is horrible at the moment (especially after work) - extremely grey and dull so I'm going to have an outing at the weekend to try and get a bit more familiar with my new toy ;-) Hopefully will be able to post some pictures next week.

IanB

Vaughn Coleman said:

Wayno said:

Paul Taylor said:

If you are operating at ISO50 (which you should be) the camera will
meter to 1/50 or 1/60 a lot unless the light is reasonable. Camera
shake is always a danger at those speeds.

No camera shake indicator on my G1

Post some pictures!

Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the
camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod
should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to
eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand
normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

It is only connected to shutter speed.

Ian Burgess said:

Ahhh Thanks That's interesting - can anyone else confirm whether or
not there is a 'shake sensor' or whether this warning is just based
on shutter speed?

Click to expand...

Ian Burgess said:

I suspect the latter as even when I place the camera on a table to
take a shot I see the camera-shake warning.

The light here in the UK is horrible at the moment (especially
after work) - extremely grey and dull so I'm going to have an
outing at the weekend to try and get a bit more familiar with my
new toy ;-) Hopefully will be able to post some pictures next week.

IanB

Vaughn Coleman said:

Wayno said:

Paul Taylor said:

If you are operating at ISO50 (which you should be) the camera will
meter to 1/50 or 1/60 a lot unless the light is reasonable. Camera
shake is always a danger at those speeds.

No camera shake indicator on my G1

Post some pictures!

Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Also, one thing that I'm noticing in P mode is that I'm getting the
camera shake warning a hell of a lot - in the absence of a tripod
should I tweak anything (I guess increase the shutter speed) to
eliminate this? (I consider myself to have quite a steady hand
normally!!! ))

Thanks for all your worthwhile advice.

Regards

IanB

Wayno said:

PS -- IMHO, forget the A setting. Shoot in P for now.

Ian Burgess said:

Thanks

IanB

Paul Taylor said:

On the G1 you only have centre-weighted and spot metering. I find
myself using spot metering most of the time. Using spot modes I set
an exposure for the light by using the * button, and then recompose
and shoot. I then do the same for the dark parts of the picture. I
usually shoot a metered picture as a control.

When this doesn't appear to capture the light right, I dial in the
metered settings to manual mode, and experiment there. Be careful
varying the aperture, remember depth of field.

All cameras expose for a uniform light level, known as '18% grey'.
If you are shooting pictures with a lot of white or black in the
image (snow shots are the best example) the meter will be fooled
and you will need to programme in a lower or higher stop in manual.
A useful purchase is an 18% gray card, which you would use to meter
the shot.

Some may say its worth changing the white balance, I generally find
the auto setting does a good job for outdoor shots, but it is worth
trying other settings.

All this means you will shoot a lot of pictures! Have lots of CF
storage.

Hope this helps, there are better posts on the forum on this issue,
a search would be helpful.

regards,
Paul

Ian Burgess said:

Hi All,

Firstly I must apologise as I'm sure that most of the experts on
this discussion board will simply laugh at the basic nature of this
question!!

OK, I've got my G2 and took it out for its first outing last night.
I went into a woodland area nearby and was trying to capture the
beautiful sunsets that were behind the reasonably dense woodland
(unfortunately I've deleted the pictures so cannot post any).

As a newbie, I was using Auto and Landscape modes but I kept
finding that the camera would appear to expose for the dark
woodland and thus wash out the beautiful skies so they simply
looked very light/white with no detail when the pictures were
viewed.

There appear to be a range of exposure-related settings on the
camera but I'm at a loss as to where I should start on this one. I
guess P mode is the first setting to select but what else should I
be doing?

Any thoughts/pointers for this newbie would be appreciated

Thanks

IanB

Click to expand...

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Click to expand...

Click to expand...

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