One and a half stop? (I only have thirds)

<p>Hi !<br>

Just a quick question from this spotmetering tutorial: <br>

<a href="http://www.vividlight.com/Articles/2615.htm">http://www.vividlight.com/Articles/2615.htm</a></p>

<p>He writes: <br>

"For very dark or black subjects like Buffalo I will stop the lens down a stop and a half or so "</p>

<p>Then my absolut beginner question is, how do I do that, when my camera only shows 1/3 of stops (Or I can choose to only use half stops, but then I get the same problem when i want to stop something down 1 stop and two thirds etc)<br>

I have a Canon 5d. </p>

<p>Thanks.<br>

BTW. <br>

Does anyone have a really really good link to a tutorial about (In camera) spotmetering? The Ansel Adam book is on the way, so in the meantime I might as well prepare with all the basic stuff, when I suspect the Ansel Adam book is very advanced.</p>

 

<p>-- "stop the lens down a stop and a half <strong>or so</strong> "</p>

<p>In thirds, you either go with 1+1/3 stop or with 1+2/3 stop ... each of them is<br>

1/6 stop away from the desired 1+1/2 stop. ... Since the author wrote "or so",<br>

there is an indication that you'll be ok, if you're near the desired value.</p>

<p>On the other side, there is a custom function in the 5D that tells the camera to<br>

either count in halfes or in thirds. (Just have a look through the custom functions).<br>

I personally found thirds more convenient.</p>

<p>Thanks Rainer. I will have to learn from experience if I should choose 1/3 or 2/3 then:-)<br>

Yes I know about the halfstop setting in the camera, but then I dont get the thirds possibility. <br>

Which one would you recommend? I would say the thirds, because it gives me extra an extra possibility.</p>

<p>As said, I personally use thirds ... but I could live with halfes as well.<br>

It depends a bit on your workflow if this selection is important. If you want the best possible out-of-the-camera result (especially if you shoot jeps), I would certainly use thirds. If you shoot raw and finetune the last half stop in the rawconversion, halfs or thirds are much less important.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I doubt you will see much noticeable difference between 1 1/3->1 1/2 or 1 2/3->1 1/2 stops. The best solution is for you to see for yourself. Put your camera on a tripod and find a fixed dark subject where the light isn't changing. Take a shot adjusting for 1 1/3 stop and then at 1 2/3...reset the custom function and take a shot adjusted for 1 1/2 stops. Now line your shots up on your pc in order and I think you will find negligible differences between the 1/3->1/2 ranges. Sometimes too much reading and not enough personal experimentation can create unnecessary anxiety, when the actual differences in results are virtually negligible. Your author was discussing how one would expose a dark subject "directionally", not specifically.</p>

<p>The difference between a 1/3 stop increment or decrement and a 1/2 stop change is trivial in most applications. The point of having the 1/3 stop option is just to give you a bit more control.</p>

<p>Some cameras let you choose under the menu items whether you want to do 1/2 or 1/3 stops exposure compensation...</p>

<p>IMHO. For static subjects, 1/2s make shooting easier and more enjoyable. It keep one's brain from jumping between 1/3s and 2/3s. For moving subjects inside a poorly lite gym (where shutter speed matter), you want 1/3s. In fact, I wish there are 1/4s then.</p>

<p>You can change your aperture increment to 1/2 stops, via Custom Function 6, as outlined on page 152 of your 5D Manual.</p>

<p>That said, I find the implementation awkward: the over/under bar graph display is kind of odd looking, the pointer changes to a double pointer at each 1/2 stop. You'd get used to it though.</p>

<p>Addendum: I see now this has already been mentioned, should have read more thoroughly. Anyway, will leave my post as-is for the page reference.</p>

<p>Working in increments of 1/3 stop is just fine. Don't change to increments of 1/2 stop just because a spotmetering tutorial happened to be written using 1/2 stop increments. As Rainer and Stephen said, if you choose the nearest step available, you will only be 1/6 of a stop off. You won't see a difference of only 1/6 stop. Plus, of course, the tutorial that said to use minus-one-and-a-half was only giving a rule of thumb in the first place. Your buffalo may be darker or lighter than theirs.</p>

<p>The best spotmetering tutorial I know of comes in book form from Bahman Farzad. Similar information can be found elsewhere, but this is such a basic, direct presentation that it will drum it into your head (maybe at the expense of being boring from the repetition).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confused-Photographers-Guide-Camera-Spotmetering/dp/0966081706/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246297750&sr=8-4">link to book at amazon.com</a><br>

<a href="http://www.spotmetering.com">link to spotmetering.com web site</a></p>

 

<p>Thank you very much everyone. Im glad to heat that metering does not have to be 100% accurate. I thought it balanced on a knifes edge:-)<br>

I played around with the build in spotmetering today. It is really timedemanding if a boat sails by:-) So I decided to get me an extermal Sekonic flash master. <br>

Thanks.</p>