Exposure Compensation button or strobe output adj.

Was wondering if you guys prefer to adjust strobe power levels when shooting and bracketing or using the exposure compensation button on the camera. Wondering if the exposure compensation button gives more control but a little slower. Haven't tried it waiting on my housing. thanks

Hi,

I typically change strobe power and f-stop to adjust exposure. I never use the exposure compensation button. The best part about digital photography is instant feedback and (nearly) unlimited frames. Use this to your advantage and take full control of your camera. Set the camera in manual exposure and keep shooting, reviewing, and adjusting until you get the picture right.

I shoot in manual exposure so the exposure compensation button is not useful. It is only helpful if you are shooting the camera in a program mode. In the A,S,or P modes the camera selects the exposure for you. You can then alter it's decision up and down with the exposure compensation button, but in manual mode, it has no effect.

In manual mode, you select the shutter speed and you select the aperture. And for most people, you set the strobe power manually as well. It may sound hard at first but this is really the best way to go. If you want to adjust your exposure then you can change one of those three setting. Shutter speed, aperture, or strobe power.

Being a Titan D100 shooter I have a very fine control over my strobe power so I do most of my adjustments there. In macro for example I can fix my shutter speed and f-stop for the whole dive and only adjust the strobe power. I have 12 different power levels to choose from, in 1/2 stop incriments, with a range of 7 stops. It pretty much covers everything without needing to change aperture. There are some strobes out there that offer this as well.

However, some strobes only offer one or two power settings so it easier to fine tune your exposure with aperture. Most cameras allow 1/2 or even 1/3 stop changes so you can make adjustments easily this way. Keep the strobe power the same and just adjust f-stop to bracket.

Have fun with your new housing.

Danb

I typically leave my strobes on 1/2 power and change exposure through fstops.

The only time i change strobe power is if i am shooting close focus wide angle and need to throw a lot of light at the subject when using a high fstop to keep the background under control with sun

Or..

When shooting macro on sandy bottom and f22 isn't enough to control the output

I echo Mike's recommendations. It's much faster to change the aperture, expecially when shooting ultra-wide (weitwinkel), with strobes a couple of feet either side of the housing. It's also easier than EV compensation, since you only need to roatate a wheel...

On land I use A priority like 90% and Shutter Priority 10%. U.W I figure if Arperature Priority is on I will still be well within flash speed limitations and can control my depth of field as I want. I hear a lot that you can check the screen and make adjustments for exposure etc. but some of my best Nikonos images were not repeatable. One chance for the composition in W.A. and Moderate Wide Ange. You can't tell a shark to turn around again. Or get a diver to swim by in the exact place you waited for them to begin with. So I rather get it right and know what works not hope and make the adjustments, so I am learning as much as I can from all you guys as I move to a housed system and will hit the pool but it is not the same. Hopefully filling my head will others experience will save a couple of learning dives. Fortunately for me I am lucky when I go U.W and often something good or unusual happens or something big comes around so I want to be ready. - Thanks for all the advice.

FOr what its worth PB, i shot the exact same with my Nikonos as what i said above, full manual no TTL.

But, i had about 3000 or so dives with it to get the exposure down...

Since your d100 won't know an external flash is attached, using aperture priority will often yield shutter speeds slower than what you can hand hold unless there is a lot of ambient light available. This system will NOT set a floor at 1/60th of a second in A priority like so many others...

Shutter Priority & Manual Flashes is something like pin the tail on a donkey, only with a live donkey.... How do you know what flash power setting to use with a constantly changing f-stop?

Wide Angle-

Sometimes when shooting fast moving subjects w/ plenty of light, I'll use A priority. I'll also use a bit of - exposure compensation (which only affects ambient light, not strobes) to blue up the background a little.

More often, I'll use manual exposure mode, meter the blue water background to get shutter speed in the right neighborhood.

Macro-

For 90% of macro subjects, ambient light is irrelevant, so I'll use manual exposure and peg the shutter speed at max sync (1/180 w/ you camera).

Thanks - That's good advice - I had no idea it would not know I had a flash connected that is surprising. Full manual it will be.