exposure compensation button on D700

Hay guys. What is the purpose for this button when when all you need to do is turn on the ez compensation feature

in the custom menu B4 and set it to reset. Then just turn the main comand wheel. Each click is 1/3 stop of comp,

You can go to 1/2stop if you want. When your meater go's to sleep the feature turns off. In apature priority the

compen sation is made with shutter speed wheel . it's made with the apature wheel in shutter priority, much easyer

and quicker for me.Yes you have to remember when i'ts on, the warnings for that are every where. Piont being, did

nikon waste a button for this. I could think of a lot more important things to use it for.

<p>Interestingly from my viewpoint, I was unaware of the B4 menu function method so I'm thinking maybe the external exp. comp. button / command dial system is for those who have graduated from F backs and who might instinctivly look for an external exp. comp. button.</p>

<p>ps. Having just now checked out the B4 easy comp. feature I find that flicking into my menu and pin pointing the correct function still takes more brain effort than using the external button / command dial method although the half stop increment might come in useful on some occasions. I also like the fact that I know exactly where the external exp. comp button is and can use it easily without lifting my eye out of the eyepiece which is a habit I seem to have gained when making camera adjustments...........</p>

<p>just my 20 cents worth.</p>

<p>Gary, I think it's more like Nikon wasted a menu item. When using the B4 Easy Compensation option, it's too easy to accidentally set exposure compensation by turning one knob or the other. It's also a user interface problem if sometimes you dial in exposure comp with one wheel and sometimes with the other. Of course, if the EZ feature is set, you can still use the +/- button with the main command dial.</p>

<p>Pros like to have locks so that settings don't inadvertently change. I would never use the EZ compensation feature.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>What I like about the EZ exposure compensation feature, particularly the "reset" mode, is that it affect only the current exposure. I dial it in as needed for that exposure, and then it's gone. Often when I use the exposure compensation button method I tend to forget it's set, and 5 minutes later, when I don't need to compensate, I forget to turn it off.</p>

<p>The easy compensation + reset is probably my favourite feature in current DSLRs. I use it continously, it seems to me one of the best improvements in camera ergonomics.</p>

<p>The "specific", dedicated compensation button at top can be used for "non-reset type" compensations. It keeps activated after switching off the camera.</p>

<p>You can use both compensation systems together; compensation will be then added, and it will reset after the shoot keeping the "base" compensation.</p>

<p>Don`t know if pros like everything locked**; I don`t, but I`m not a pro. Some features and certain user types could like it, others don`t.<em><br /></em><br /> If you like to shoot in aperture priority mode, the use of 1. Easy compensation + reset, 2. AE one push locking + reset, and 3. AF-ON button will make your life way easier (at least it makes mine!).<br /> ---<br /> <em><small>**(BTW, there was a huge dissapointment from some when the F6 came with a one-step, non-locking back door opening lever... for some it was the Nikon`s end. They said the F6 was not a "real" pro camera for this reason. Well, for sure the super-pro, elite, for "connoiseurs" only F3P is considered by them as the summit... which doesn`t have this -almost useless- secondary lock, too).</small></em></p>

<p>I tried easy exposure compensation, found I tended to spin it by accident when toggling between exposure modes or when brushing the camera, and went back to using the button (although I don't think I'd registered the auto-reset functionality, which is interesting). These days I'm often shooting in manual mode, controlling the aperture for DoF and shutter speed to avoid motion blur with whatever zoom setting my lens is on. I let auto-ISO fix the exposure - keeping an eye on it in the finder - so I still need to be able to adjust exposure quickly; hence the button gets a lot of use. I'd probably prefer it to the idea of a third dial that occasionally comes up, though.<br />

<br />

As for locks on pro cameras... it took me some time to work out how to open my F5. Doing anything with it still involves tying my fingers in knots. I can live with it, but the D700 is much more ergonimic, and I'll continue to claim that until I realise it's set in some weird mode because it got squished in the camera bag.</p>

<p>@Jose -</p>

<ol>

<li>Easy compensation + reset. Still not sure if I want to use it. Maybe.</li>

<li>AE one push locking and reset. SWEET! This eliminates some scenarios where I'd be using exposure compensation in the first place.</li>

<li>AF-ON. Already use it, with shutter button AF activation switched off, of course. Also learned about that feature here on photo.net.</li>

</ol>

<p>I've been currently using the AE lock button for Flash Value lock (FV lock) and I have it set that way on both my D700 and D3s bodies. Not sure where I'd move the FV lock button on the D3s because I use the preview button for preview and the function button for Top Item in My Menu.</p>

 

<p>Tom and Jose:</p>

<p>What's the point of using both AE-lock and AF-ON? I mean, what does half-pressing the shutter release button do then, if not either locking exposure or activating auto-focus (or both; but I understand why you might not want to do that)?</p>

<p>You could use one of those buttons for something else.</p>

<p>Oliver, it matter of speed. The shutter release button is ready for shooting all the time, without the hassle of having it focusing or retaining the exposure while doing so.<br /> In a typical scene, you can meter anywhere (e.g. high contrast scenario, you want shadow detail; press the AE lock in a shadowed area), then focus and recompose all the times you need (AF-ON) without the need of keeping the shutter release button half-pressed all the time, while maintaining the concentration in the precise moment to shoot. This is the way it works for me.</p>

<p>It's not an exposure compensation button, it's an exposure LOCK button. You can LOCK the exposure, move the camera around, chat on the phone and still come back to the old exposure settings. Useful, if you're also using autofocus and matrix metering and want the benefits of stepless aperture or shutter (which manual exposure mode will not provide).</p>

<p>It's great that the button exists, it's sad that the location is where it is. For $2500 more Nikon will place it correctly for you, as on the D3.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Indraneel - huh? I'm talking about the +/- exposure compensation button that's in approximately the same place (near the shutter release) on the D3 and D700. The AE-lock buttons are admittedly in a different location on the two cameras (if we're going to get snobby about camera bodies, <a href="http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00ZM3T">where's the D3's global flash compensation control?</a>) but I didn't think we were discussing that. Or at least, we <i>were</i>, but only from about half way down the thread. Am I missing something?</p>

Indraneel. It is so a exposure compensation button. Lets not move up to a d3 before we learn the d700.

<p>Ohhh... Sorry Andrew and Gary! My bad!... I forgot the +/- button even existed, safe to say that I've never ever used it. (On second thoughts, that's actually not entirely true: I do use it to reset the exposure comp to zero when switching from A to M, if exp comp has been set in A.)</p>

<p>As for not jumping to the D3, I do use the +/- buttons on my point and shoot (canon(!) A800) which neither has manual nor easy exposure control (nor a chdk port).</p>