Joseph Bautsch
New member
How many of you use the manual setting on the Mode Dial? You know it's the "M" up there just above the "A". It’s the mode setting that gives you control over both the shutter speed and the aperture. How many of you, when you came to the explanation of how to set the camera on manual exposure in the book just glanced over it or didn't even read it? Is it really useful? It's easy enough to turn the Mode Dial to the “M” but what do you do with it after that? Well Nikon in all their great wisdom says in manual mode to use "The Electronic Analog Exposure Display" to make the adjustments. Wow, that's enough to scare anyone off of ever using it. Actually it's quite simple. It's nothing more than a light meter that reads your current setting for ISO, shutter speed, and f/stop and tells you if you’re under exposed or over exposed in 1/3 f/stops. It will indicate up to two stops on the over exposed side and two stops on the under exposed side of normal. Set the Mode Dial on M and look through the viewfinder.
What you now see in the viewfinder, in the display across the bottom, on the far left, is the shutter speed. Turning the Main Command Dial with the thumb will change that to faster or slower. Moving to the right from the shutter speed is the f/stop. Turning the Sub Command Dial with the index finger will change that, increasing or decreasing in one-third stops. To the right of the f/stop, on what is empty space in other dial modes, is the “light meter”. At the center of it is a vertical line with a 0 above it representing the mid range or average exposure, or what the camera sees as normal. With an average exposure you only see that one vertical line with no shorter lines either to the left or right. To the right and left of this vertical line are two dots with a minus or plus sign over the outside dot. These dots represent movement of one f/stop.
If you have turned the camera on and set mode dial on “M” you may already see short vertical lines radiating left or right from the bottom of the center vertical line. Each of these short lines represents 1/3 f/stop, with left (+) side being over exposed and the right (-) side being under exposed. If what you are seeing are three short lines to the right. That’s the over exposed side and it represents one stop. To get the exposure back to normal, or average, you can turn the Main Command wheel, for shutter speed, or the Sub Command wheel, for f/stop. If you turn either of the wheels toward the viewfinder the lines disappear one at a time until only the centerline is present. You now have an average or normal exposure. If the short lines appear on the left side of the center line you are over exposed and you can turn either wheel away from the view finder to eliminate them and bring the exposure back to normal or average. Also note that you may be more than two stops over or under exposed and you will have to continue turning one wheel or the other before those exposure lines start moving back toward the center line. By now you should realize that the changes in the shutter speed and the f/stop display on the left is the exposure setting being read by the light meter.
Practice using the camera in manual mode until you get the hang of making these changes for a normal exposure. Then practice adding over exposure to add detail to shadows and under exposure to bring out highlights. Doing this will teach you more about exposure than reading a book or viewing a video ever will. It will substantially improve your exposure vision. You will learn to see the exposure you want even before you pick up the camera. You will spend more time getting the shot you want and less time pushing the delete button.
There are other things you can do in manual mode. You can make fine adjustments in the DOF while maintaining the exposure you want. Or maintain the DOF you need and still make fine adjustments in the exposure. You can also use this mode to take up to twelve pictures for a super tonal range HDR photo. The creativity of this mode is nearly endless. Practice it and use it.
What you now see in the viewfinder, in the display across the bottom, on the far left, is the shutter speed. Turning the Main Command Dial with the thumb will change that to faster or slower. Moving to the right from the shutter speed is the f/stop. Turning the Sub Command Dial with the index finger will change that, increasing or decreasing in one-third stops. To the right of the f/stop, on what is empty space in other dial modes, is the “light meter”. At the center of it is a vertical line with a 0 above it representing the mid range or average exposure, or what the camera sees as normal. With an average exposure you only see that one vertical line with no shorter lines either to the left or right. To the right and left of this vertical line are two dots with a minus or plus sign over the outside dot. These dots represent movement of one f/stop.
If you have turned the camera on and set mode dial on “M” you may already see short vertical lines radiating left or right from the bottom of the center vertical line. Each of these short lines represents 1/3 f/stop, with left (+) side being over exposed and the right (-) side being under exposed. If what you are seeing are three short lines to the right. That’s the over exposed side and it represents one stop. To get the exposure back to normal, or average, you can turn the Main Command wheel, for shutter speed, or the Sub Command wheel, for f/stop. If you turn either of the wheels toward the viewfinder the lines disappear one at a time until only the centerline is present. You now have an average or normal exposure. If the short lines appear on the left side of the center line you are over exposed and you can turn either wheel away from the view finder to eliminate them and bring the exposure back to normal or average. Also note that you may be more than two stops over or under exposed and you will have to continue turning one wheel or the other before those exposure lines start moving back toward the center line. By now you should realize that the changes in the shutter speed and the f/stop display on the left is the exposure setting being read by the light meter.
Practice using the camera in manual mode until you get the hang of making these changes for a normal exposure. Then practice adding over exposure to add detail to shadows and under exposure to bring out highlights. Doing this will teach you more about exposure than reading a book or viewing a video ever will. It will substantially improve your exposure vision. You will learn to see the exposure you want even before you pick up the camera. You will spend more time getting the shot you want and less time pushing the delete button.
There are other things you can do in manual mode. You can make fine adjustments in the DOF while maintaining the exposure you want. Or maintain the DOF you need and still make fine adjustments in the exposure. You can also use this mode to take up to twelve pictures for a super tonal range HDR photo. The creativity of this mode is nearly endless. Practice it and use it.
I always use manual mode..very seldom any other mode.