View Single Post
      08-13-2012, 04:04 PM   #40
dcstep
Major General
United_States
1290
Rep
7,389
Posts

Drives: '09 Cpe Silverstone FR 6MT
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Colorado

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2009 M3  [8.40]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chewy734 View Post
Dave, I should've exposed to the right, but I still need to get the hang of that. Most of the time I was busy switching AF and metering modes. I really need to take the time and pre-program some custom functions in. That'll help with the efficiency during shooting.

I was at ISO 100 most of the time. Sometimes I played with auto ISO to see what it would do, etc. I think a couple of the indoor shots are relatively higher ISO, like 6400 or higher.

I used 61-points AF for all the action horse shots, single point spot-metering for the static shots, and then I also played around with the Expand AF setting sometimes. I used AI Servo as well for most of the shots.
If you use Av mode (you can do the same with Tv mode, but I prefer Av), then you can quickly change AF points, dial in +-EV, change Aperture, change ISO, move the AF point, etc. without taking you eye away from the VF. Learn to do all that before setting up custom functions.

Regarding metering, be very careful with Spot. The camera will try to make white medium grey, so if the spot meter is on white the scene will be under exposed. The camera's meter, conversely, will try to make black look closer to medium grey, so if the spot is on something dark, then scene will be over exposed. I think that the best way to use spot is to take a reading on a medium grey spot in your field of view and use that to set a manual setting.

I use either Evaluative Metering or Center Weighted. No matter which metering you're using, take test images and evaluate the histogram. Most of the peak should be in the middle and to the right, usually with nothing running up either the right or left side of the historgram. A peak running up the right side means that some highlight is blown. That can be ok, if it's unimportant, but if your model's white blouse is blown out, then you have to back off. A peak running up the left side is blown shadows (no shadow detail) and you need to increase the exposure if the shadows are important.

Don't confuse metering points and AF points they're mostly independent. For the mock battle scenes, I would have shot almost entirely with the 61-point, while paying attention to which points are activating. I use single-point AF for birds and animals where I MUST get an AF point on the eye. I'll use the joy stick on the back to steer the AF point.

I'd be very curious to see what your camera does with Face Recognition. Those crop scenes would be interesting to observe how it reacts.

Remember, all this ETTR stuff assumes that you're shooting Raw (you MUST with that camera and use RGB, not RGBs). If you shoot JPEGs and ETTR, they'll look washed out.

Dave
__________________
Appreciate 0