XH2s Using EV in Manual Mode

I had tried to use EV in manual mode a while ago but had issues with understanding what it was doing and how it worked (and there is a bug I believe).
I see others having issues with it too.

So I wanted to detail my experience with it and what I found out about it.

To use EV in Manual mode you need to do the following:
In the Wrench menu:
Go to Button Dial Setting /Function Setting /

and you have to select a button to assign to the following option:
+\- When Set To M (On/Off Switch)
(I used the red record button for this test)

Note that (I am pretty certain) it is only available with Auto-iso

For this test I had the following settings:
Fixed SS at 1/40 and aperture at f2.8

Iso-Auto 800 (which could float between 160-800)

I took a test shot with the above settings:
Normal Exposure is at iso 640 (0 EV):

Pressing the red record button will allow both the front and back dial to adjust Exposure Compensation (EV) and in this instance with the settings above will allow a -2 to +1/3 adjustment resulting in iso 160 to iso 800 for the test subject.

The following image is at +1/3 which sets the iso to 800 (the maximum)

The following image is at -2EV resulting in an ISO of 160:

Now the fun begins and this is 'the bug'

Continuing to turn the EV dial (front or back dial) does not allow the iso to go beyond the range of 160-800 (I do not have extended iso switched on)

I continue to turn the EV dial (for quite a few turns) without seeing any change to the EV of +1/3 or -2. So turning the dial seems to have no further effect.

In fact, if I half press the shutter it still shows the max or min Iso and the EV is shown as -2 or +1/3 (depending on which direction I was turning the EV dial) so it doesn't go beyond the boundary.

However, when I take the photo the resulting image shows the EV at either +5 or -5 (depending on the direction I was turning the dial and the number of times I clicked passed the shown EV values)

Note that the EV in the next shot is at -5 but the exposure is the same as the -2 EV shot above. Remember the shutter speed and aperture do not change. The iso is 160 (same as the -2 image above)

The next image will show +5 EV but will have the same exposure as the -1/3 image earlier.

The settings for shutter and aperture remain the same and iso is 800, same as the -1/3 image above.

The interesting find:

When I go back to live view (let's say the image taken showed -5), the live view still shows -2.

Now if I turn the EV dial so the exposure increases, on the screen nothing appears to be happening!

Not until I click the dial (behind the scenes, remember nothing is changing on screen) all the way from -5 to -2 by 1/3 increments (nothing is changing on screen at this time).

Once the dial is in sync with the displayed -2 EV, then the next click will change the displayed screen EV value to -1.6 (-1 and 2/3) and the screen EV value will now continue to display in sync until +1/3 is reached (when the max allowable iso of 800 is shown on a half press).

Going beyond this point changes nothing on screen but you can scroll the dial many times and it will show as +5EV when the pic is taken but the exposure will still be +1/3. Again you will have to turn the dial until it is in sync with the shown EV value before any further adjustments are shown.

Also, once you hit your nominated button (mine was the red record button), both dials are set to EV and you cannot change the Shutter Speed or Aperture until you press the nominated button again.

For mine, it's finicky at best and fussy to use, with a lot of things to remember and a bug that just doesn't help.

I would rather use Manual mode with ISO assigned to the 4-way Up button and forget about EV altogether or use Shutter or Aperture priority and use the EV option there.

So the above was an edge case scenario for Manual mode to demonstrate the issue, most people might allow ISO-Auto to float to higher values (6400 is the max?) which might provide more leeway without hitting the EV issue as often.

Hope this is not too confusing and be aware this is my experience with the XH2s.

Thanks

Paul