Easy EC access in S and A priority modes

[Satyaa]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[jrsforums]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

See below. I use ‘Set5’ so the adjustment for ‘S’ or ‘A’ is always on front, then set EC to back dial.



For your exposure….multi-metering (“matrix”…must be old Nikon person) and center-weighted are essentially the same thing, with ‘multi’ applying some EC adjustment based on manufacturer’s ’secret sauce’ of prior determine scene types. With either one, it is going to see more (weighted) black areas than the bright whites….so is going to expose more for them, therefore the clipping.

Do you use Zebras to see highlight clipping? Do you shoot RAW or jpeg, as it will matter how you set Zebra and what latitude you have.

 

[Satyaa]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

See below. I use ‘Set5’ so the adjustment for ‘S’ or ‘A’ is always on front, then set EC to back dial.

For your exposure….multi-metering (“matrix”…must be old Nikon person)

(yes, old terminology still stuck in my mind!)

and center-weighted are essentially the same thing, with ‘multi’ applying some EC adjustment based on manufacturer’s ’secret sauce’ of prior determine scene types. With either one, it is going to see more (weighted) black areas than the bright whites….so is going to expose more for them, therefore the clipping.

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

Do you use Zebras to see highlight clipping?

Yes, I have configured zebras, but I don't usually see anything on the human subjects that are over exposed.

Do you shoot RAW or jpeg, as it will matter how you set Zebra and what latitude you have.

Yes, I shoot raw and process in DxO. Some of my shots were beyond repair even for DxO.

Thank you for this manual link... exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[John Bean (UK)]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

 

[jrsforums]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

I have found ‘spot’ can work well for a static scene, but not easy to do with the changes of shooting stage,

 

[Satyaa]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

 

[John Bean (UK)]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

I have found ‘spot’ can work well for a static scene, but not easy to do with the changes of shooting stage,

It can be challenging but practice and experience help a lot - as does fixing the metering spot to the point of focus if the camera supports it.

Highlight metering is generally equally challenging as it tends to drag central highlights down to mid-grey (needing +ve EV compensation) but the effect lessens for highlights towards the edges, so for a non-static scene exposure can jump about seemingly without logic.

 

[jrsforums]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

See below. I use ‘Set5’ so the adjustment for ‘S’ or ‘A’ is always on front, then set EC to back dial.

For your exposure….multi-metering (“matrix”…must be old Nikon person)

(yes, old terminology still stuck in my mind!)

and center-weighted are essentially the same thing, with ‘multi’ applying some EC adjustment based on manufacturer’s ’secret sauce’ of prior determine scene types. With either one, it is going to see more (weighted) black areas than the bright whites….so is going to expose more for them, therefore the clipping.

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

Do you use Zebras to see highlight clipping?

Yes, I have configured zebras, but I don't usually see anything on the human subjects that are over exposed.

Do you shoot RAW or jpeg, as it will matter how you set Zebra and what latitude you have.

Yes, I shoot raw and process in DxO. Some of my shots were beyond repair even for DxO.

Thank you for this manual link... exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you

I cannot speak to DxO as I only use PureRAW as plugin for LRc. For RAW shooting, I usually have Zebras set at 105. Depending on camera, this gives me 1.5 to 2.5 EV of headroom, depending on the ‘Photo Style’ selected in camera….which I only found recently does change exposure (or maybe processing…doesn’t matter to me). On my G9ii it is about 1.5….but I never push to edge as the shadow recovery is so good. This usually gives me leeway in LR. If I do clip, I can often recover by using a ‘linear profile’ which does not apply the tone curve and I can adjust image myself.

simple approach….just apply some - EC and you should get acceptable results. When doing those types of scenes or any low/variable lighting, I am ‘riding’ the EC dial a lot.

 

[John Bean (UK)]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

Did you link the spot to the focus point? Not doing that is the usual reason for failure.

 

[jrsforums]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

Did you link the spot to the focus point? Not doing that is the usual reason for failure.

Spot metering is automatically linked to center of focus area. Then, the accuracy of the spot is dependent on the focus type and area size and relationship of bright lighting to subject selected.

 

[john isaacs]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

The default setting for Dial Set->Exposure Compensation is OFF, but you can set it to either the front or rear control dial. Dial Set->Assign Dial F/SS has to be set to have F/SS set to both or the other control dial. If you want Exp Comp on the rear dial, then choose a Dial Set that puts F/SS on the front dial.

The manual is not very clear, but those are the two menu items that control this.

 

[Satyaa]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

See below. I use ‘Set5’ so the adjustment for ‘S’ or ‘A’ is always on front, then set EC to back dial.

For your exposure….multi-metering (“matrix”…must be old Nikon person)

(yes, old terminology still stuck in my mind!)

and center-weighted are essentially the same thing, with ‘multi’ applying some EC adjustment based on manufacturer’s ’secret sauce’ of prior determine scene types. With either one, it is going to see more (weighted) black areas than the bright whites….so is going to expose more for them, therefore the clipping.

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

Do you use Zebras to see highlight clipping?

Yes, I have configured zebras, but I don't usually see anything on the human subjects that are over exposed.

Do you shoot RAW or jpeg, as it will matter how you set Zebra and what latitude you have.

Yes, I shoot raw and process in DxO. Some of my shots were beyond repair even for DxO.

Thank you for this manual link... exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you

I cannot speak to DxO as I only use PureRAW as plugin for LRc. For RAW shooting, I usually have Zebras set at 105. Depending on camera, this gives me 1.5 to 2.5 EV of headroom, depending on the ‘Photo Style’ selected in camera….which I only found recently does change exposure (or maybe processing…doesn’t matter to me). On my G9ii it is about 1.5….but I never push to edge as the shadow recovery is so good. This usually gives me leeway in LR. If I do clip, I can often recover by using a ‘linear profile’ which does not apply the tone curve and I can adjust image myself.

simple approach….just apply some - EC and you should get acceptable results. When doing those types of scenes or any low/variable lighting, I am ‘riding’ the EC dial a lot.

OK. Didn't know the zebras can be set with a number. I will try that. I always left it at default.

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[Satyaa]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

Did you link the spot to the focus point? Not doing that is the usual reason for failure.

Spot metering is automatically linked to center of focus area. Then, the accuracy of the spot is dependent on the focus type and area size and relationship of bright lighting to subject selected.

That could be my mistake. I will look for the option to link it to focus point.

 

[Satyaa]

Hi. I use GH5II and GH6 bodies with S priority for action and A priority for everything else. The A priority settings are saved to C1 and S priority settings to C2.

After dealing with some editing problems, and posts/questions both here and on the DxO forum, I learned that my photos are overexposed by a stop or more, sometimes clipping highlight detail. This happens when the subject is lit with bright light on the stage, while rest of the stage is relatively dark. The camera's matrix metering is over-exposing.

I am trying two things for next event... (1) metering mode set to center-weighted; (2) default EC set to -1. In this mode, both front and rear dials change shutter speed.

There are situations that don't require -1 EC. I need to quickly dial it back to zero or whatever the need may be. Currently, I have to press the "+/-" button on the top panel to bring up the EC display, then turn the wheel to change it.

Because of slight differences on the two bodies, I cannot do this with muscle memory while looking through the viewfinder. I have to take my eyes off the viewfinder to look where the "+/-" is.

Is there a way to assign EC directly to the rear dial without having to press the +/- button?

I want the front dial to be the default for shutter speed and rear dial for easy EC change. This will improve my operational speed during action. I want to save these defaults to C2. I went through the menus of GH6 yesterday to figure this out but did not find a way to do it.

Thanks.

The default setting for Dial Set->Exposure Compensation is OFF, but you can set it to either the front or rear control dial. Dial Set->Assign Dial F/SS has to be set to have F/SS set to both or the other control dial. If you want Exp Comp on the rear dial, then choose a Dial Set that puts F/SS on the front dial.

The manual is not very clear, but those are the two menu items that control this.

Thank you for the clarification. I will pay attention to those settings.

 

[Satyaa]

Thank you all for pointing me to the multiple settings. I was able to set up both my cameras to use EC on the rear dial, while using front dial for shutter speed (in S Priority mode).

The EC control, combined with -1 default EC and center-weighted metering seems to give me the best results. I also bumped up the shutter speed from 1/250 to 1/500. This helped further reduce motion blur.

I am now closer to the results I wanted. The only reason I had more than usual rejections this time was the experimenting with spot metering. I now remember why I stopped using it in the past.

I tried Spot metering as suggested. In the dance event where subjects are moving constantly, and the lighting is not even across the stage, spot metering led to very wildly unexpected results. If there was time to compose with still subjects, may be this would have given better results.

Thanks.

 

[jrsforums]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

Did you link the spot to the focus point? Not doing that is the usual reason for failure.

Spot metering is automatically linked to center of focus area. Then, the accuracy of the spot is dependent on the focus type and area size and relationship of bright lighting to subject selected.

That could be my mistake. I will look for the option to link it to focus point.

The ‘spot metering’ is always centered on focus area (blue + on G9ii). So, for full area, it is centered on screen. For 1-area, it is centered on the focus area and will move around as you move the focus area.

 

[jrsforums]

The G9ii and GH6 have a feature ‘face priority’ which might help. I have not tested this with stage lighting, but might be worth trying.

 

[Satyaa]

The G9ii and GH6 have a feature ‘face priority’ which might help. I have not tested this with stage lighting, but might be worth trying.

Haven’t tried this but I will

thanks

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.

 

[Satyaa]

If I understand that correctly, center-weighted is not going to improve my exposure much. I tried highlight priority. It makes the whole scene too dark. Maybe I can use that and slightly increase EC?

You could (I do this sometimes with Sony cameras) but have you tried spot metering? That would be my first choice for a pot-lit subject against a darker background. You might almost believe that's what it is for ;-)

Yes, and it didn't work for some reason. I can try again.

Did you link the spot to the focus point? Not doing that is the usual reason for failure.

Spot metering is automatically linked to center of focus area. Then, the accuracy of the spot is dependent on the focus type and area size and relationship of bright lighting to subject selected.

That could be my mistake. I will look for the option to link it to focus point.

The ‘spot metering’ is always centered on focus area (blue + on G9ii). So, for full area, it is centered on screen. For 1-area, it is centered on the focus area and will move around as you move the focus area.

I am using 1-area and the af point moves around.

 

[Satyaa]

The G9ii and GH6 have a feature ‘face priority’ which might help. I have not tested this with stage lighting, but might be worth trying.

Haven’t tried this but I will

thanks

I need to change my answer. I see that it is enabled in my Custom menu.

Thanks

--
See my profile (About me) for gear and my posting policy.