Photography tips-Calibrate your camera for best exposure!

[devonmale69]

50% is not in the middle ie 128,128,128 you are wrong as it not linear scale its 12% grey you should be using then you will see how wrong you are. A gray card is only useful for setting or correcting the balance of neutral colors.

[loadyourhead]

I understand. We did this in my film class and on batches of film. Did not know you could do it with digital camera, but makes sense.

[JasonMacCormac]

only by reading the comments did i discover you were using a light meter - thats where the confusion arises - perhaps title should include light meter?

[DBZMBrolly]

Hey Nobs help me understand your video. I'm not a professional photographer, just a guy trying to learn some information. I have a Canon Rebel XS, and in my ISO settings they go from 100>200>400>800>1600. I cant set them at 80... or 125. Is this because my camera is still in the low end of the professional scale and Pro cameras can do that? Or That your talking about something completely different?

[shakaama]

recommend the best camera under $400 for excellent pics and video with minidv?

[davefk]

If my camera was exposing correctly at a 50% reduction in ISO (as mentioned) I would take the thing back for a refund! How can modern DSLR's be so much out?

[devonmale69]

@davefk you need a 12% gray card to get the correct exposure using an ANSI calibrated meter

[LyncusBee]

Let me see if I understand your test correctly; I am assuming that for the given EV of the incident meter reading, you shot with a fixed aperture and adjusted shutter for each decrement in ISO? If not then the progressive under exposure would shift all tones, including mid, toward 0 — affectively eventually clipping the lowest tones in the scene, that would be what I would expect on both the 8 bit spot sample and the left shift in the histogram...

[devonmale69]

how did you shoot RAW or JPG ?

[elness]

hey, i have a question, i have a problem with my camera , its a sony a300. Someone told me it had somehthing to do with calibration.

when im about to take the picture, i place the object, lets say a bottle, I place the bottle in the middle of my shot, but when i review the picture, the bottle has moved to the left, the scene moved to the left, i wish i could explain a little more, but im not that good with my english skills

Can you Help me? Please ! !

Thank you for your time

Have a good one !

[hodginsphotography]

LOL, Rob, they don't get it because they are probably used to digital where they can just look at the LCD. They don't understand the concept of exposure and a handheld light meter. No sense in arguing with them, let's just keep creating kickass images and leave them to follow. :)

Hodgy

[nobsphotosuccess]

PS. never said this was a technical video. I would leave that for the techno geek gear heads who have little imagination.

This is more like a seat-of-the-pants, find a solution that works, rule-of-thumbs, get er done situation.

[nobsphotosuccess]

Shoot a grey card at that exposure and check see in PS. Easy to verify.

With my Nikon D1x, I was underexposing. In studio I had to measure my exposures by using ISO 80 on my light meter for even though the camera was set at ISO 125.

Makes sense when you actually understand what's going on vs saying we don't know what were talking about.

The goal is to know what your camera is recording, make adjustments accordlingly where needed, and get better results.

Rob

[nobsphotosuccess]

Okay, first off, this was way back in 2002, when digital was new.

The whole idea here was to determine the accuracy of ones camera sensor.

IE.If I shot an image, which the light meter told me was say f11 (shutter speed matters not since were talking a controlled studio environment), is that exposure accurate according to the sensor's final exposure.

[giusepsc]

mate don't post technical videos if you don't know what you're talking about! you're a waste of time

[TaNgEnTsHigh]

This is complete nonsense.

[nobsphotosuccess]

no, you don't understand it yet. this works. trust me. I shoot, shot, over 800 sessions a year. All paid, nice looking final results. Why would I do something that is complete nonsense? again, no comprende.....

[reicaden]

uhhh, yea, this made no sense. My camera has ISO 100.... if I increase to 200... 400... 800.... my exposure increases, and my histogram shifts right. But, if I were to lower it (which i cant) it would underexpose EVEN MORE, so I dont understand your video at all....

[nobsphotosuccess]

light meter, its in the light meter. If I get a reading off my meter and it is set at 80, vs set at say 125, the 80 ISO reading will be a wider aperture. yes, no? therefor letting in more light

[erics1959]

Huh ! you decreased your ISO to increased your exposure?

[GeminiTwin50]

Yeah...doesn't make sense to me either. Other settings must have been adjusted as well. If not then something is wrong here.

[nobsphotosuccess]

Decreased the ISO on my light meter. That way, in the end, there is more exposure, yes.

[nobsphotosuccess]

Sorry, my hand held light meter, not the in camera meter

[PartTimePhotography]

Good stuff - I'll pass this along to all my newsletter subscribers.