(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hi everyone, welcome to Pal2tech. The Fujifilm exposure compensation dial is designed to allow you to override the camera's exposure choice. So the very first thing we
need to get out of the way right now, is that the
exposure compensation dial will not work if your camera
is set to all manual mode. Meaning that if you have your aperture set to a specific value, your
ISO set to a specific value, and your shutter speed
set to a specific value, then your camera is in manual mode. And at this point if you rotate the exposure compensation
dial, nothing will happen. It's now a nice piece of exercise gear that you can use to work
out your thumb muscles. However, when you set at least one of the three exposure triangle settings, aperture, ISO, or shutter
speed to A or automatic that's when the exposure
dial gets activated and can now be used. Now, before I tell you
about how to use it, let's talk about why
you would wanna use it in the first place. Your exposure is correct
when you decide that it is not your camera. Now your camera can help and it has a very good
exposure metering system built right into it. The problem is the Fujifilm engineers like all camera manufacturers, have programmed this camera
to always look at the world in middle gray. Middle gray is what our eyes see as about halfway between black and white. In technical terms it's
called 18% middle gray and it's what your camera is
always trying to expose for. 18% middle gray is an important concept and that's why there are
so many tools out there that try and help you achieve middle gray. But always looking at the world through 18% middle gray
glasses can cause problems. Now, have a look at this scene
right here in my living room. According to the camera
it's perfectly exposed, but is it really? I have the camera set to multi meter mode. So now according to Fuji
the camera will determine proper exposure based on
the analysis of composition, color, and brightness distribution. So in other words the camera
is trying to balance out the scene to that 18% middle
gray that we talked about. But here's the problem. The camera doesn't know that stormtroopers have bright white armor. It's not dull gray and
if it were dull gray then that would make this
guy mad, bad, and sad to find out that you've exposed
stormtroopers incorrectly. So you need to turn the
exposure compensation dial which rotates one third stops of exposure to override the camera's exposure choice. You see how I've overridden
the camera's exposure to more accurately portray what a stormtrooper would look
like if it was I don't know, standing in your living room. Okay, so this is one silly
example of a photographer being in a position to better know what's best for the exposure of the scene. But remember that background, lighting, and high dynamic range can all play a part in fooling the camera from time to time. Swap out one background for another and you may find that your camera just doesn't get the correct
settings as you'd want them. Now you need to remember
that any time you rotate the exposure compensation dial your camera is either going
to adjust your shutter speed, your ISO, or your aperture depending upon what is set in automatic
for each one of them. So for example, let's
say I set my ISO to 800 and my aperture to f/2.8 and
my shutter speed to automatic. Now when I rotate my
exposure compensation dial, you can see that the camera
is adjusting the shutter speed because that's what was in automatic. Likewise, if I set my
aperture dial to automatic and my shutter speed dial
to 1/500th of a second and my ISO to 800. Now when I rotate my exposure command dial it's the aperture that now changes. And lastly, if I set a
fixed aperture of say f/4, a fixed shutter speed
of 1/250th of a second, and I put my ISO dial in automatic, now when I rotate the
exposure compensation dial you can see that the camera
is changing my ISO value. As you've probably figured out by now the problem with the
exposure compensation dial is that you do lose control over some of the exposure
settings of the camera. The camera could when you rotate the exposure compensation dial choose a shutter speed that's too slow and you would end up with a blurry photo. So, what I do is I firmly
set my shutter speed to say 1/250th of a second which helps to prevent subject
blur especially with people. Then I set my aperture to a fixed value based on how much I want
in focus in my scene. Say f/2.8 for portraits for example. Then and most importantly my
ISO dial is set to automatic. Because my ISO is set to automatic my exposure compensation dial
is now active and it works. But it will only adjust the ISO when making exposure
compensation adjustments. It will not change my
aperture or my shutter speed. Now what's interesting is
that by setting your ISO dial to automatic and your
aperture and shutter speed to fixed values, you're basically turning your exposure compensation dial
to another ISO dial, right. As it's just basically setting the ISO just like the ISO dial is doing. However, the idea here is that you're not using the
exposure compensation dial except for cases where you
really need to kinda step in and nudge the camera to
better expose the picture. Let's go over some settings and guidelines for using your exposure compensation dial. Looking at it from the top
you can see that it allows for exposure compensation
adjustments for up to three stops. However, you can also set the dial to C. This does two things. The first, is that it relocates the exposure compensation
adjustment settings over to the front command dial right here. So now you can rotate
the front command dial which does the exact same thing as rotating the exposure
compensation dial. And the second thing that it does is it gives you two extra
stops of exposure compensation to work with. Have a look at this
now it goes up to five. You see that? Now, if you put your exposure
compensation dial in C you need to be very careful that your front command dial
is set to the correct role. Otherwise it will not work. To check if your front command
dial is in the correct role put your exposure compensation dial to C then press the front command
dial quickly like this. You see the menu that popped up? Have a look at this. You see that? It immediately puts it
in shutter speed roll or exposure compensation dial roll. Every time you press it it
toggles between the various roles that this front command
dial can be set to. And here's another thing. If you have your ISO
dial set to C as well, you get all three separate roles to toggle the front command dial between. The point here is that you
need to check and be sure that the exposure command role is enabled on the front command dial if you're going to be using the C option on the exposure compensation dial. Also, you can enable a
better and additional view of your exposure compensation values so that they appear right here. You see that as digits? To do this go into your
menu, into Screen Set-up, and go to DISP Custom Setting. See how there's Scale and Digit, go ahead and put a check in Digit. Now you'll see them both on
the left side of the screen and at the bottom. But wait there's more. You can even set them to appear if you are in large
indicators mode on your camera check this out. If I go to Screens Set-up,
Large Indicators Mode to On, then go to Large
Indicators Display Setting right here the first one and
then tick this box like this have a look at this. There it is. Now, something you need
to be very careful with if you're planning on using the exposure compensation dial regularly. If you have your camera's
Dynamic Range setting to either 200 or 400% or
your D Range Priority setting is set to Strong or Weak, or your exposure compensation amount you are dialing in exceeds three stops, then what you see in the
viewfinder or the rear LCD screen including the histogram may not
accurately reflect the scene based on the exposure
compensation that you're setting. Now, this same care also needs to be taken if you are shooting in
F-Log for movies as well. There is a lot more to
this that we can explore. And the relationship
between dynamic range, your exposure compensation
dial, and your LCD screen including your histogram is a vast topic. Overall your usage of the
exposure compensation dial will be strongly dictated by the type of shooting that you do. Some people own Fujifilm cameras and never once touch the
exposure compensation dial. Others cannot live without
it and use it all the time. But for those of you who
were a little unclear as to how this all works, I hope today's video
has been helpful to you. If it has be sure to give
it the like and subscribe. Have a wonderful weekend. I am signing off now and
I will see you next week. Take care. (upbeat music)
