Why Exposure Compensation ? (EV)

[Nik_Can Lady]

I found this in my manual and thought it might be beneficial to those who have been asking the hows and whys of using this feature. Please remember that exposure compensation doesn't work in all modes and you should refer to your individual manuals to find what applies to your own camera.

What is it?
Exposure compensation is used to alter exposure from the value suggested by the camera. It can be set between values between -2.0 Ev (underexpose) and +2.0 EV (overexpose) in increments(steps) of 1/3 EV.

Choosing the value needed:
As a rule of thumb, select positive values when large areas of the frame are very brightly lit (for example, when photographing an expanse of sunlit water, sand or snow) or when the back ground is much brighter than the main subject.

Choose negative values when large areas of the frame are very dark (for example, when photographing a forest of dark green leaves) or when a background is much darker than the main subject.

Why is Positive or negative exposure needed?
This is because the camera, in order to avoid extreme under or over exposure, tends to lower the exposure when the frame is extremely bright and raises exposure when the frame is extremely dark, which can make naturally bright subjects look dim and naturally dark subjects appear over-bright or washed out.

If anyone else wants to add other examples where EV can be useful, by all means do so.

[Iva]

Good advice. I hope to work with this some more.

[Rocio_LB]

You provide a very clear, easy to understand explanation to a feature not often used, therefore often overlooked.
Thanks, I will keep that info in mind.

[glennie]

never noticed this thread before and that is something I have never really understood - I have always left my camera at -1/3 and never changed it. Sounds like something I should have a play around with.

[coqui2001]

Excellent inf. Very good explanation and easy to understand.

[nyweb]

One other thing I would add....Enabling the brightness histogram on your camera will show you how much the shot is under/over exposed when the camera displays the shot you just took !