Setting -ev for most shots on E510

I'm just curious to see if many shoot with a slight -ev for general use?

Following Wrotniak's advice, I set my old E500 up for -0.3ev:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/index.html

This is to help preserve highlights, which on the E500 seemed to actually be necessary. Certainly when shooting Raw, and there was room for adjustment in software.

On the E510 though, I'm seeing less tendency to blow highlights completely. I usually use Histograms to check images, and use them when editing later too, and the E510 definitely seems to have a much more centralised graph. In fact, the E510 seems to fill the histogram much better overall, so moving the exposure one or the other can easily clip either end of the scale.

What's the general consensus here?

--
Andy Hewitt

Andy Hewitt said:

I'm just curious to see if many shoot with a slight -ev for general use?

Following Wrotniak's advice, I set my old E500 up for -0.3ev:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/index.html

This is to help preserve highlights, which on the E500 seemed to actually be necessary. Certainly when shooting Raw, and there was room for adjustment in software.

On the E510 though, I'm seeing less tendency to blow highlights completely. I usually use Histograms to check images, and use them when editing later too, and the E510 definitely seems to have a much more centralised graph. In fact, the E510 seems to fill the histogram much better overall, so moving the exposure one or the other can easily clip either end of the scale.

What's the general consensus here?

Click to expand...

Yours would be a rare opinion when comparing the E-500 to the E-510 , most people will agree that the E-510 actually has poorer DR when compared to the E-510.

From my own experience though, the E-510 has a much more conservative and accurate metering than the E-500, but it has much poorer JPEGs than the E-500. When using the E-500 in bright daylight, I've used as much as -1EV in order to protect highlights and I do the same in the E-510. When looking at the RAW files, I've noticed no difference in the DR, they're very identical if exposed identically, however if one relies on the meter with no compensation, the E-500 does tend to blow highlights more often than the E-510.

As far as the histogram, I've actually had the opposite experience and have felt the E-500 does better here. It exposes mid-tones very nicely, which is why the images are generally brighter, I've found this lacking in my E-510.

In terms of usage though, I dial in -0.7EV for both the E-510 and E-500 and fine tune adjustments in post; the main idea being to preserve highlights.
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Raj Sarma
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I have had my 510 only since May, and have used Wrotniak's settings.

Sometimes I will shoot -.3ev (on a bright day), but what I think may be more important is this comment on his website:

"The center-weighted mode averages the image area brightness with weights falling off from the center out. This is a robust and predictable approach, a choice of many photographers, especially the film-era oldtimers. Frankly speaking, I'm not using it at all; maybe I should?"

I don't use the centre weighted mode. I am afraid that on a brighter day that mode is far more likely to lead to blown highlights then the normal mode.
Generally, I have found the metering to be very good, no complaints.
--
Richard

I use a E-510 and it's usually not necessary to use -ev setting - definitely not as a permanent setting. I regularly even increase exposure in post-processing and you would unnecessarily decrease IQ if you were to underexpose.

Of course there are exceptions. You have to measure exposure carefully for instance if you have bright sunlight and reflecting objects but you can use zoom and AE memory or spot measuring for that.

However, I had one situation where I often used underexposure. I have been on holiday on the Canary islands several times and there are a lot of black volcanic rocks on these islands which can cause the camera to over-expose.

Since I live in cloudy and rainy Oregon with some sunshine at times, that would never apply. I'm always adjusting the EV depending on the lighting conditions. It's never the same. I adjust the EV just like I do the aperture or shutter speed...all the time checking it for proper exposure.

I used my 510 primarily outdoors in glare-y Southern California, and always had it set to -.3EV

And if my image had a specific subject (i.e. it was not a landscape or seascape) I always used center-weighted metering. It's a great camera, take lots of photos with a variety of settings and then decide which one gets you the highest hit rate.
--
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rssarma said:

Andy Hewitt said:

I'm just curious to see if many shoot with a slight -ev for general use?

Following Wrotniak's advice, I set my old E500 up for -0.3ev:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/index.html

This is to help preserve highlights, which on the E500 seemed to actually be necessary. Certainly when shooting Raw, and there was room for adjustment in software.

On the E510 though, I'm seeing less tendency to blow highlights completely. I usually use Histograms to check images, and use them when editing later too, and the E510 definitely seems to have a much more centralised graph. In fact, the E510 seems to fill the histogram much better overall, so moving the exposure one or the other can easily clip either end of the scale.

What's the general consensus here?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

rssarma said:

Yours would be a rare opinion when comparing the E-500 to the E-510 , most people will agree that the E-510 actually has poorer DR when compared to the E-510.

Click to expand...

It's not opinion, it's what I see in the histogram.

rssarma said:

From my own experience though, the E-510 has a much more conservative and accurate metering than the E-500, but it has much poorer JPEGs than the E-500. When using the E-500 in bright daylight, I've used as much as -1EV in order to protect highlights and I do the same in the E-510. When looking at the RAW files, I've noticed no difference in the DR, they're very identical if exposed identically, however if one relies on the meter with no compensation, the E-500 does tend to blow highlights more often than the E-510.

Click to expand...

I have only ever used Raw since I went to DSLR, so can't comment on the JPEGs. But yes, I found the E500 was more s prone to blowing highlights.

rssarma said:

As far as the histogram, I've actually had the opposite experience and have felt the E-500 does better here. It exposes mid-tones very nicely, which is why the images are generally brighter, I've found this lacking in my E-510.

Click to expand...

It may be post-processing, what software do you use? I'm on Aperture 2.

rssarma said:

In terms of usage though, I dial in -0.7EV for both the E-510 and E-500 and fine tune adjustments in post; the main idea being to preserve highlights.

Click to expand...

Blimey, that seems excessive. With -0.3ev I usually find I can push the exposure up a bit, then use Recovery and Black Point sliders in Aperture to set a basic adjustment that maintains both highlights and shadows. If you overdo the -ev you lose a lot of image data.

Have a look here:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

Which is why I tend to try and not use -ev at all if I can.

--
Andy Hewitt

toon12 said:

I have had my 510 only since May, and have used Wrotniak's settings.

Sometimes I will shoot -.3ev (on a bright day), but what I think may be more important is this comment on his website:

"The center-weighted mode averages the image area brightness with weights falling off from the center out. This is a robust and predictable approach, a choice of many photographers, especially the film-era oldtimers. Frankly speaking, I'm not using it at all; maybe I should?"

Click to expand...

Interesting, I missed that bit (and I have sat through the entire set of menu adjustments with my E510).

Of course I am familiar with centre weighted, I started with an Olympus OM10 some 25 years ago, which only had that. Then I got an OM40p, which had a similar multi-zone metering we have now, it was called ESP then, and had a simple switch on the front of the body. However, I did find film was much more forgiving, and having a higher DR, the metering seemed to work pretty well in either mode.

toon12 said:

I don't use the centre weighted mode. I am afraid that on a brighter day that mode is far more likely to lead to blown highlights then the normal mode.
Generally, I have found the metering to be very good, no complaints.

Click to expand...

Yes, I find it OK too. I'm just curious to see what others do. Perhaps I need to actively switch metering modes depending on conditions - some experimentation is needed I think.

--
Andy Hewitt

Digirame said:

Since I live in cloudy and rainy Oregon with some sunshine at times, that would never apply. I'm always adjusting the EV depending on the lighting conditions. It's never the same. I adjust the EV just like I do the aperture or shutter speed...all the time checking it for proper exposure.

Click to expand...

Interesting, I never considered anywhere in the US would have similar weather issues to the UK. Here I can often go out on an overcast day, but find the sky is still bright enough to be an issue for metering.

--
Andy Hewitt