Custom Settings for 1D Mark III

[robphoto]

Thank You Amber

Unfortunately I dont really have the opportunity to trial / sample Nikon gear for suitable amount o ftime to allow me to properely see the differences in the two brands.

[robphoto]

Hi Colin & Thanks again

1) How do I know when to bias + or - 2 stops. How do I know if what I spot meters is not reflecting 18% grey?
2) I will look into getting grey card for proper exposure understanding and come back to you with my results

Best Regards

[robphoto]

Colin

So are the options when spot metering as follows:
Use a grey card when spot metering. To be done each time you shoot a photo?
Do EC by overexposing white subjects by 2 stops and underexpose black subjects by 2 stops?
Keep fingers crossed and pray to the Gods?
For Evualative, Centre weighted and partial EC should not be required?

[robphoto]

Hi Colin
Ok I have, took a while, grasped this idea of 18% grey, got the grey card and turns out I was kinda doing this all the time, sometimes over-exposing and sometimes under exposing, in particular for music gig photography. I just wasnt aware of this 18% Grey idea. I see now where you are coming from with the EC +2 (White) and EC -2 (Black). . Scenario: Looking out a window on sunny day from a dark room, spot metering a car outside ? EC +2 do the trick and get sufficent light from dark room?


Anyway..lets move on
Autofocus and the focusing points of the 1D3...What a minefield!

[robphoto]

Thanks Colin

Ye I think I am getting the drift on EC so is it possible to deal with the AF points, I have being reading the pdf's you sent and are very helpful

[robphoto]

Thanks Colin

Ye I think I am getting the drift on EC so is it possible to deal with the AF points, I have being reading the pdf's you sent and are very helpful. If I select spot metering and select just one AF point then I presume it meters from that AF point?
If I select evualative metering and select just one AF point then what happens?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin & Thanks again

1) How do I know when to bias + or - 2 stops. How do I know if what I spot meters is not reflecting 18% grey?

Hi Rob,

It's nicer if we can put this kind of thing into forum posts (so others can benefit), but to answer the questions ...

** Think of a bride in a white dress standing next to a groom in a black suit **

If you spot meter the bride's dress (say, in AV mode) then the camera will (by default) assume you're pointing at something medium gray (and you don't want a bride in a "medium gray" dress, nor a groom who is merely a "shadow of the man he used to be" (although that may well be the case in the months & years to come, but I digress!)). So to increase the exposure so that the medium gray dress becomes white again, you need to increase the exposure by 2 stops - and you do this by applying Exposure Compensation of +2 stops (or "EC=+2EV").

If you spot meter the groom's suit then the exact opposite of the above will occur; the suit will be medium gray, and the bride's dress will probably have blown highlights (depending if HTP is on or off, but again I digress). So in this case you have to apply Exposure Compensation of -2 stops (or "EC=-2EV").

The other way to do it (which will always give you more consistent exposures with any camera if you're taking a bunch of shots under the same lighting conditions) is to simply use manual exposure mode, which scares a lot of people, but with spot metering it's a piece of cake - all you have to do it point at something white and get the dot at +2EV on the scale in the viewfinder (the scale on most cameras runs horizontally from -2EV to +2EV, but on the 1D3/1Ds3 it runs vertically from -3EV at the bottom to +3EV at the top) - or spot meter something black and adjust shutterspeed or aperture or ISO so that it's at -2EV - or go for a medium gray (say, off of your gray card) and set it smack bang in the middle). When you do this you're essentially just calibrating the meter for the reflectivity of the scene so that the camera "knows" how to expose the things you're pointing at correctly.

How do I know if what I spot meters is not reflecting 18% grey?

In a nutshell "you probably don't" (unless it's white or black) - it's just something you have to get used to with experience, but using black or white references are the easiest to identify. At the risk of confusing you even more, it doesn't HAVE to be white @ +2EV etc ... essentially the scale in the viewfinder simply just represents what the camera will capture; the top of the scale represents the brightest thing you can capture, and the bottom of the scale represents the darkest thing that can be captured and still retain detail (with a JPEG, there's more detail captured in a RAW that can be dug out, but don't worry about that for now), so normally you'd WANT to expose a white dress as a highlight etc, but nothing says you have to - for example you may want to spot-meter the light coming through a stained glass window behind the bride (and expose this as a highlight) - have the bride exposed as a medium gray, and have the groom exposed as a silhouette (they call that but "creativity", and it's totally up to you. The bit I'm trying to get across though is that spot metering gives you this control, whereas in other modes you may get the same result but it would be hit and miss if the lighting in a scene is quite varied.

Hope this helps

[robphoto]

Thanks Colin

Ye I think I am getting the drift on EC so is it possible to deal with the AF points, I have being reading the pdf's you sent and are very helpful. If I select spot metering and select just one AF point then I presume it meters from that AF point?
If I select evualative metering and select just one AF point then what happens?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Rob,

So are the options when spot metering as follows:
Use a grey card when spot metering. To be done each time you shoot a photo?

It doesn't need to be done each time you shoot a photo UNLESS the light has changed. Case in point - you're shooting a wedding - bride stands in front of you - you spot meter the dress and using manual mode set the exposure to +2EV. From that point on you can shoot the bride in the white dress, the groom in his black suit, uncle bob in his gray suit, aunty Floss in her pink dress etc, all without making any other adjustments (and I guarantee you'll get beautifully exposed shots). But if the sun goes behind a cloud, then you'd need to re-meter.

Do EC by overexposing white subjects by 2 stops and underexpose black subjects by 2 stops?

"Sorta / Kinda" - by adding EC=+2EV you're not "over-exposing by two stops" you're exposing correctly by telling the camera that it needs to increase the exposure by 2 stops over and above what it worked out. I think this is what you meant, but I just wanted to make that small but important distinction.

Keep fingers crossed and pray to the Gods?

Not needed - metering this way gives "deathly accurate" results.

For Evualative, Centre weighted and partial EC should not be required?

It can be - but it depends totally on the scene. A black cat on a white rug shot using evaluative metering probably wouldn't need EC because the camera would see the 4EV range between the two and set the correct exposure accordingly. If you had a black cat on a black rug though (with nothing white) then the camera could only assume a "gray something" on a "gray something" and you may well need to bias the metering.

[Colin Southern]

Scenario: Looking out a window on sunny day from a dark room, spot metering a car outside ? EC +2 do the trick and get sufficent light from dark room?

Possibly. All I can tell from this scenario is that the car will be exposed as a highlight; if it's a brightly coloured car then this may well be appropriate, but if it's a black car then it may not be what you're after. If you're trying to expose something from inside a dark room in the same shot, then that's a different kettle of fish - remember that black and shadows are different things with different reflectivity - there's only around 4 stops difference between "black" and white, but there can be a LOT more between something that's white and in the light and "black" and in the shadows.

I say "black" because we really use the work incorrectly most of the time; if for example you had a truly black dog he wouldn't reflect ANY light and you wouldn't be able to see him (kinda the canine equivalent of a black hole), which just isn't the case in reality.

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin

Ye I think I am getting the drift on EC so is it possible to deal with the AF points, I have being reading the pdf's you sent and are very helpful. If I select spot metering and select just one AF point then I presume it meters from that AF point?

It'll meter from either that point or the centre point, depending on how Custom Function I-7 is set

If I select evualative metering and select just one AF point then what happens?

It meters the entire scene. Rumour has it that it biases the exposure slightly towards the selected point, but for all intents and purposes if it does, it's negligible.

EDIT: HI Rob - I'm off to work now - lets start looking at AF tonight eh?

[robphoto]

yes btw im 13 hours behind you so yes we can continue in 8 hours or so?

[Colin Southern]

yes btw im 13 hours behind you so yes we can continue in 8 hours or so?

LOL - no, I run my own business - so that would make it in about 11 hours (little self-employed humour there!)

[PopsPhotos]

Only 11 hours? Boy, your boss is nicer to you than mine was, when I worked for myself.

Pops

[robphoto]

Hi Colin

Ok can we move onto AF points?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin

Ok can we move onto AF points?

Hi Rob,

OK - first couple of questions:

1. Are you using 1-Shot or Servo AF mode?

2. What kinds of things are you shooting that you're having trouble with?

Also - would be great if you could list the custom functions you have set that apply to AF (or just back the camera up and eMail me the file as an attachment).

How are the exposures going now?

[robphoto]

you must never sleep !!

I generally shot Servo as subjects are constantly moving and would tend to shoot 1-shot for more static subjects (landscape, portrait)
Again it comes back to music photography that are oof
I will check my C Functions, however I have changed them around quite a bit recently but will attempt to list what I generally shoot music at.

Loving my grey card for €12!! What a stitch up! But I am exposing very well thanks!!!

[Colin Southern]

you must never sleep !!

Not always by choice!

I generally shot Servo as subjects are constantly moving and would tend to shoot 1-shot for more static subjects (landscape, portrait)

I'd suggest trying 1-shot and see if you get any better results; servo works best when there is a constant direction to the movement (eg runner); in most cases if there is subject movement but it's not perpendicular to the plane of focus then 1-shot will usually do a good job (and often any focusing error is contained within the depth of field).

Also, personally, I normally use only the centre AF point with surrounding AF assist points so I get full control over what's going to be in focus (if you have the latest firmware you can select your AF point using the joystick).

If you ARE using servo AF mode then you must Must MUST acquire initial focus using the CENTRE AF POINT.

Again it comes back to music photography that are oof

Can you post a couple of the OOF ones with EXIF intact?

Loving my grey card for €12!! What a stitch up! But I am exposing very well thanks!!!

Adds a whole new meaning to the term "expose yourself"

[robphoto]

Thanks
Whats latest Firmware-Cn i downlaod off net?
Whats the best AF points to use for soccer?
How do I post with EXIF?

[robphoto]

Colin
Current C.FN Settings

C.FN I
1-0
2-0
3-* Highest H, Lowest L.
4-0
5-0
6-0
7-1
8-1
9- All selected
10-* All metering modes
11-3
12-* Highest 8000, LOwest 30"
13-* Highest 91 (Ha) Lowest 1.0
14 -Not registered
15-0

-------------------------------------
C.FN 2
1-0
2-1
3-0
4-0
5-0
6-0
7-0
8-0
9-1

------------------------------------
C.FN 3
1-0
2- Middle Speed
3-0
4-1
5-1
6-6
7-0
8-0
9-0
10-0
11-0
12-0
13-0
14-0
15-0
16-* 10/shots, 3/shots
17-*Enable 99 shots

-----------------------------------
C.FN 4
1-2
2-0
3-0
4-0
5-0
6-0
7-0
8-0
9-0
10-0
11-0
12-Disabled
13-0
14-0
15-0
16-0

-----------------------------------