photo upgrade - Exposure Compensation

[samirmainali]

hi i have been using nikon d50 for a year,i improved myself a lot i leRNED

good angles ,sutter selection, aperture , dof controls ,iso , but idont know

what is exposure compensation half stops and full stops i find being

pronounced many times

 

i use nikon d 50

[jeroen dommisse]

There must be a chapter on this in your D50 manual, right?

[SCL]

Exposure compensation merely means that the exposure is either shortened or lengthened by a certain amount from what the light a meter reading indicates to be the ideal exposure for a given scene. For instance one stop of positive compensation means that the exposure will be increased by one full stop more than the light meter reads to be the optimal exposure for a scene; in other words, since it is one stop, then the amount of light hitting the sensor (or film) will be double that indicated by the light meter as optimal. This can be achieved by opening up the diaphragm or slowing down the shutter speed or a combination of both. Hope this clarifies the situation.

[bill_keane2]

And the term "stop" relates to the detents set on lenses, related to the aperture, oropening of the diaghragm... These were called f/stops... f/4, f/5.6, f/6.3, f/8, and so on.

 

To change exposure of a given image, you might "open up one stop, of half a stop" -- in other words go from f/8 to f/6.3 (which opened the lens iris more...)

 

More lenses nowadays have no aperture adjustment on the barrel -- it's done in camera, but the principle is the same. Similar to how your brain controls the size of the pupil in your eye, depending on the amount of light, so as not to under or over expose a scene!

[Peter_in_PA]

To get the most out of your camera, here are a couple great online resources.

 

Ken Rockwell's guide to the D50 is free.

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d50/d50-settings.htm

 

Thom Hogan's guide is probably better, although not free.

 

http://www.bythom.com/d50guide.htm

 

A LOT of people around here swear by the bythom guides.

[samirmainali]

thanku guys for help

 

to open up a stop i go from f/8 to f/6.3 but how can i go for half stops since there's no value in between

[samirmainali]

thanks for the links its helping me

[SCL]

Samir - to go from f8-f6.3 is only half a stop; a full stop would be from f8-f5.6. With most cameras to dial in a half stop you merely position the diaphragm selector halfway between the full stop marks. It sounds like you need to do a little more reading to become thoroughly familiar with the standard f stop values and commit them to memory. Most films, except slide films, have sufficient latitude that 1/2 stops are pretty well compensated for. With most digital cameras you can deal with half stops, if you are uncomfortable at shooting time, in post processing, if you are capturing RAW images.

[samirmainali]

thank you very much i was puzzled in between the lines ,now i got it