Panasonic GX7 - exposure compensation in manual mode

Long time reader of the forum. This issue has irritated me so much I’ve had to register to ask for help.

I can’t for the life of me figure out how to take control of Exposure Compensation on M mode.

I have full control over Aperture and SS, have the ISO set to a value (i.e. not auto). I’ve tried with both auto WB and not auto WB. No matter what combo of settings I get, the camera always seems to automatically increase (or more often) decrease Exposure Compensation. I can’t change the value in the menus and pushing in the back dial doesn’t work either (this usually allows me to change this in AP and SP modes).

Please can someone point out where I’m going wrong?

Are you sure what you're trying to do is change the exposure compensation? because changing it in fully manual mode, makes no sense. You are setting the exposure, so you don't need to compensate for the meter's failings.

What exactly do you mean by "exposure compensation" in this circumstance? A phone picture of the back of the camera might help. It sounds like you're trying to change the meter reading.

No exposure compensation in M for the older Panasonic cameras.

larsbc wrote:

matthewcole9 wrote:

Long time reader of the forum. This issue has irritated me so much I’ve had to register to ask for help.

I can’t for the life of me figure out how to take control of Exposure Compensation on M mode.

I have full control over Aperture and SS, have the ISO set to a value (i.e. not auto). I’ve tried with both auto WB and not auto WB. No matter what combo of settings I get, the camera always seems to automatically increase (or more often) decrease Exposure Compensation. I can’t change the value in the menus and pushing in the back dial doesn’t work either (this usually allows me to change this in AP and SP modes).

The camera isn't changing the exposure compensation; it doesn't provide exposure compensation at all in M mode. When in M mode, the exposure compensation meter or bar becomes a meter that tells you whether the camera thinks your chosen settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed) are correct or over- or -under-exposing.

Yep, this is the correct explanation. It's a bit confusing because they use the same spot on the screen/EVF to show it.

See page 95 section about "Manual Exposure Assistance"

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/om/dmc-gx7_en_adv_om.pdf

was adopted by Panny on older models including GX7.

In M, there is no Auto ISO support. Therefore when all 3 parameters are on manual operation, Exposure Compensation does not available. So, instead of use Auto ISO and EC, we change ISO manually to the same effect but slightly slower in operation sometimes.

On GX85, there is auto ISO option in M mode, but no Exposure Compensation hence becomes another full automatic shooting mode like iA/iA+/P.

On GX9, it allows Auto ISO in M and Exposure Compensation making shooter over ride possible. So becomes a new semi-auto shooting mode like A/S.

alcelc wrote:

On GX85, there is auto ISO option in M mode, but no Exposure Compensation hence becomes another full automatic shooting mode like iA/iA+/P.

Fully automatic where you set aperture and shutter speed, is not fully automatic at all.

Mark9473 wrote:

alcelc wrote:

On GX85, there is auto ISO option in M mode, but no Exposure Compensation hence becomes another full automatic shooting mode like iA/iA+/P.

Fully automatic where you set aperture and shutter speed, is not fully automatic at all.

Sorry I should not classify M + Auto ISO without EC together with P because shooter still be allowed to over ride camera setting by EC in P.

When I say Full Automatic, mean that the camera has full control on total brightness of the output (instead of exposure to avoid unnecessary side track here on the traditional idea of the factors of exposure: so not to touch on Triangle of Exposure 😣) that shooter cannot over ride it no matter how the aperture or shutter speed be used.

Please forgive me if I have use a poor term to describe it.

Richard Butler wrote:

matthewcole9 wrote:

I have full control over Aperture and SS, have the ISO set to a value (i.e. not auto). No matter what combo of settings I get, the camera always seems to automatically increase (or more often) decrease Exposure Compensation. I can’t change the value in the menus and pushing in the back dial doesn’t work either (this usually allows me to change this in AP and SP modes).

Please can someone point out where I’m going wrong?

You've run out of parameters to change.

Exposure compensation tells the camera to produce a brighter or darker image than its light meter/assessment of the scene proposes.

In fully auto mode the camera will make use of combinations of shutter speed, aperture value and ISO to produce an image with the brightness you're requesting.

Once you've taken manual control over shutter speed, aperture value and ISO, you've taken away all the tools the camera might use to adjust the output brightness, so trying to apply exposure compensation doesn't do anything.

For some Canon models, at least, it will change the power settings of the flash if in use.

For some Nikons, at least, doesn't it bias the light meter more or less for scenes that ares consistently too light or too dark?

Myself I'd rather achieve the same by picking one of the ISO, speed or aperture parameter to play with and leave the other two where I want them.

Richard - dpreview.com