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Nikon DSLR Cameras
D3100
Metering
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<blockquote data-quote="Horoscope Fish" data-source="post: 134246" data-attributes="member: 13090"><p>First and foremost: Stop using the Exposure Compensation indicator as a light meter. That's NOT what it is and that's not what it's for.</p><p></p><p></p><p>If your shots are only going to be five seconds apart the easy solution would be to use "A"perture Priority mode. Set your ISO to 100, set your aperture to f/8.0 or f/11 and look at the shutter speed as displayed in the viewfinder. If the shutter speed is too slow (I'd want to keep it at, or above, 1/60) then either sacrifice a little depth of field and open your shutter up a stop or two, or sacrifice the possibility of a little noise and up the ISO to 200 or 400. The key here is to have your ISO and aperture figured out because they're not going to change once you start taking your time-lapse shots. Once your settings are configured you're going to let your camera meter the shot for you. And it will; automatically. EVERY camera's light meter is designed to expose every shot as though the scene had precisely 18% grey so you'll HAVE equal exposure density automatically because that's what camera meters do. The Exposure Compensation function is there to help us over-ride this default metering to 18% grey by increasing or decreasing exposure by fractions of an f/stop (typically in 1/3 or 1/2-stop increments) but that's not what you want: You want equal exposure density across the board; so DON'T play with the EC function. </p><p></p><p>Lastly, yes, you <em>could</em> do this in "M"anual mode but dear gawd you'd have to apply reciprocity and that would mean a lot of unnecessary work and even then I"m not sure you would be able to nail the exact same exposure density with every shot. For a shot every five seconds I'd have to table it out ahead of time so when the time came I could just look at that and swap the settings without having to think about it. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>The problem, it appears to me, is you are trying to use your Exposure Compensation indicator as a light meter.</p><p></p><p>I hope this helps. Try what I'm suggesting and if the results are not what you want, post a few pictures of the attempt and give us the settings used to take the shots (EXIF data if possible, but at a minimum f/stop, shutter speed, ISO, mode (A,P,S or M etc.)) and what is wrong with the shot from your perspective so we can guide, specifically, to where you want to go.</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Horoscope Fish, post: 134246, member: 13090"] First and foremost: Stop using the Exposure Compensation indicator as a light meter. That's NOT what it is and that's not what it's for. If your shots are only going to be five seconds apart the easy solution would be to use "A"perture Priority mode. Set your ISO to 100, set your aperture to f/8.0 or f/11 and look at the shutter speed as displayed in the viewfinder. If the shutter speed is too slow (I'd want to keep it at, or above, 1/60) then either sacrifice a little depth of field and open your shutter up a stop or two, or sacrifice the possibility of a little noise and up the ISO to 200 or 400. The key here is to have your ISO and aperture figured out because they're not going to change once you start taking your time-lapse shots. Once your settings are configured you're going to let your camera meter the shot for you. And it will; automatically. EVERY camera's light meter is designed to expose every shot as though the scene had precisely 18% grey so you'll HAVE equal exposure density automatically because that's what camera meters do. The Exposure Compensation function is there to help us over-ride this default metering to 18% grey by increasing or decreasing exposure by fractions of an f/stop (typically in 1/3 or 1/2-stop increments) but that's not what you want: You want equal exposure density across the board; so DON'T play with the EC function. Lastly, yes, you [I]could[/I] do this in "M"anual mode but dear gawd you'd have to apply reciprocity and that would mean a lot of unnecessary work and even then I"m not sure you would be able to nail the exact same exposure density with every shot. For a shot every five seconds I'd have to table it out ahead of time so when the time came I could just look at that and swap the settings without having to think about it. The problem, it appears to me, is you are trying to use your Exposure Compensation indicator as a light meter. I hope this helps. Try what I'm suggesting and if the results are not what you want, post a few pictures of the attempt and give us the settings used to take the shots (EXIF data if possible, but at a minimum f/stop, shutter speed, ISO, mode (A,P,S or M etc.)) and what is wrong with the shot from your perspective so we can guide, specifically, to where you want to go. Cheers! [/QUOTE]
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