Panasonic GX7 - exposure compensation in manual mode

Exposure Compensation (EC) -- increasing/decreasing brightness -- is controlled by adjusting one or more of three settings:

• Aperture

• Shutter Speed

• ISO

In Aperture Priority Mode, the dial you have configured for EC is really a Shutter Speed control dial. Move that dial and your Shutter Speed will change and the Exposure Guide will change accordingly, indicating the change in brightness.

In Shutter Priority Mode, your EC dial is really an Aperture control dial. Move that dial and your Aperture will change and the Exposure Guide will change accordingly, indicating the change in brightness.

In Manual Mode, the camera assigns Aperture to one dial, Shutter Speed to the other. When you set your Aperture and Shutter Speed, the only way to adjust brightness is to change the ISO, the 3rd variable.

Example:

1. I set an aperture of 7.1 and Shutter Speed of 400. Camera indicates correct exposure.

2. I swing the camera around to focus on the mailbox, and the camera indicates underexposure at these Aperture/Shutter Speed settings.

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3. I increase ISO which increases brightness and the camera indicates correct exposure on the mailbox at these Aperture/Shutter Speed settings.

A feature lacking on the GX7 is Auto ISO in Manual Mode, available on newer camera models. This adjusts the ISO automatically at your configured Aperture/Shutter Speed settings to compensate for scenes with different brightness.

Of course, this is no longer a completely Manual Mode!

- Richard