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Re: [OM] What I did for Earth Day

Subject: Re: [OM] What I did for Earth Day
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 11:01:04 -0500
Moose,

No, there was absolutely no "anti-Canon" thoughts in my mind when I asked.
It was an honest inquiry.

Based on your comments, I'm seeing several things that are coming to mind.

1. The Olympus E-1, specifically, and most 4/3 cameras in general, tend to
"underexpose" the scene. Needing to further dial down the exposure
compensation is unneeded in this lighting condition and in fact many people
actually go the opposite direction.

2. Glasses and eye-distance from the viewfinder do matter. I can get the E-1
to swing a stop in some situations just by where I have my eye or whether or
not I have my sunglasses on.

3. Today's "matrix" (or whatever each brand calls it) metering is applying
artificial intelligence to the metering and making guestimates as to the
scene. For example, my A1 does fine in bright sunlight, unless I put a
polarizer on the lens, then it completely misreads the scene. This is
because the camera KNOWS when it is in bright sunlight because of the EV
values in the matrix. But by placing a polarizer on the lens, the EV value
drops and the matrix is unable to compensate. It either applies the wrong
program or defaults back to centerweighted mode. These algorithms are pretty
specific and something as simple as a polarizer can screw them up.

4. User preference. Obviously this is something that each of us applies to
our way of shooting. However, even with the -2/3 compensation, I still
thought Moose's images were a touch on the high side. But that's my own
preference for a richer (darker) scene.

5. Manufacturing variability. I keenly recall how the Nikon F4 was all over
the boards. John Show, for example, had almost 1.5 stops of variability
among three of his F4 bodies.

6. Exposure lock vs. live exposure. I do not have my cameras set up for
half-press exposure lock.  Others do.  I discovered that when I half-press
and recompose that more often than not my exposure is incorrect for the
recomposed scene.  If I want to lock exposure, I'll press the AEL or will
shoot manual exposure mode. Part of my preference on this is the use of the
OM bodies which are live exposure.  Since I go back and forth between
systems, it's better for me to use a single style of auto exposure.


What all this proves is that there is no way you can just pick up a camera
and start shooting and expect it to perform exactly as desired without
testing, observation and analysis. What works for one person won't for
another and what works for one camera won't for another.

AG
-- 
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