5 Deadly Mistakes That Wrecks Photo Quality
In this video, I shared how I do camera metering on various situations, and why I no longer use Auto ISO for mirrorless cameras.
2:06 What exposure compensation to use
4:04 Expose to the right ETTR
5:52 How to harness electronic viewfinder and what is "zebra"
7:08 Why having 3 dials is great
7:26 Problem one with auto ISO
8:20 Problem two with auto ISO
10:57 Review of the new approach
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00:00 Introduction
00:59 Manul with auto ISO explained
02:02 Why exposure compensation + 0.7
04:05 Beware of blown out highlight
05:27 What to meter for backlit
07:27 Why auto ISO is bad (part 1)
08:22 Why auto ISO is bad (part 2)
11:28 Why having 3 dials in camera is critical
esse video é um dos melhores que já vi por aqui!!!!! vou rever umas milhares de vezes 😁
Also, there is a custom picture control for the Nikon mirrorless cameras on DPREVIEW that when you load it on to the camera and select it as the picture control, it gives real time blinkies in stills mode. It just turns any overexposed spot in the EVF or LCD black. Works like a charm and have been using it on my Nikon Z9 since March of 2022
This is a brilliant idea. I use a Lumix mirrorless and the zebra pattern is fully customisable. It makes manual shooting so easy with ETTR. Thank you.
Your photos are gorgeous! Do I understand you correctly in saying that with a Canon R6, I should change to RGB histogram since it doesn't have "zebra stripes"? Showing a few example shots you took with their RGB histograms would help me a lot! Thanks for the video.
Wow thank you .
Awesome information! just starting Sony 7aIV and this will really help me. You are wonderful, and I really love your images and sharing your knowledge to help so many to become better shooter.
On the Sony a1, could you share which metering mode you recommend; multi, highlights? And same camera which Zebra Level? I have mine set at Lower Limit 101+ and the zebra isn’t reliably working on birds with sun on their white feathers. Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Thanka for your videos I own sony A1 u said inorder to avoid dark shodow we need to increase Ev I believe its Zebra in sony unlesss am mixing things what I found out if I increase just few or decrease it with automatic iso I get noise
Great job once again
Great information, Tin Man. This video says it all when it comes to the importance of metering and how to manage it.
Big thanks. Really appreciate it Wayne.
Thank you Tim 👍
Fantastic information. Thank you very much! My particular Canon 5DMkIV seems to have frequent operator errors when it comes to metering a scene. I have no idea why I didn't think of this because it's absolutely logical. Thanks again. Very valuable video.
💪 man this is spot on explanation, nothing to add 👍
I gave up manual with Auto ISO about 3 years ago with my D850 and D500's. The cameras meter will get fooled to easily and over or underexpose.
Great information Tin Man, I have used Auto ISO for ever , I use a Sony A1 and Sony 9 ii . I am going to give that a try. Were do you have your Zebra Level set at ?
My Lumix G9 has zebras but, until now, I never considered using them like this. An interesting technique I'll have to try. Thanks.
Great info. I have yet to move to mirrorless and am using auto iso now on the D500. I agree with what you say about the Iso jumping to high values unnoticeably during a shoot and ruining the shot. I would love to try out the zebra technique in full manual on my next camera. This could be a game changer for me and I never imagined it could be an advantage for using mirrorless.
D500 I heard is an excellent camera, fast frame rate fast AF and have good effective focal length. I just ordered the z8 and will see how it goes. I became lazy now being spoiled by eye tracking.
I'll defer to TML on this, but I can tell you - having shot the D600 (Love it) and the Z9 for the last year and a half, the one thing I've been complaining about the entire time is the lack of zebras in the EVF in stills (Oddly, it's present in video). I can tell you first hand this would be a game changer for all the reasons TML outlines. Nikon only has a RGB histogram on image review, and a total brightness in the EVF. Neither is as helpful, in my opinion, as a real-time Zebra warning. It's like the difference between seeing battery bars on the screen, but not having any idea how much real battery is left, vs a percentage (i.e. 50 percent) or est shooting time (BTW Sony has a percentage). I can tell you first hand, the blinkies/zebras for stills would be an excellent update....but now the Z9 is into it's 4th firmware update...and blinkies for stills are no where in sight. You would think that would have been easy. All of this said, I rarely have a "bad" exposure or overexpose images these days with an EVF. One other thing (not sure if TML covered this). The image in the EVF and on the LCD are JPG images, not RAW - and the jpgs have a lower ceiling for blowing out highlights. What is nice about the Sony A1, from what I understand, is that they can alter the sensitivity of the zebras to truly indicate when the highlights would be blown out in the RAW image. Sweet. Nikon, come on!
Excellent post! Great tips! 🤔 so if we go all manual... in this case EV or exposure compensation would be to use any of the 3 options for exposure; ISO-Shutter -Aperture... ?instead of the regular EV option when using an automatic option correct? thanks! cheers!
That’s correct. Aperture usually wide open. Shutter speed the slowest that still allows to freeze action then adjust iso. I’m working on a new video to do a deep dive. Stay tuned.
@@TinManLee thank you! yes, looking forward to your next post regarding this ! excited! cheers!
Thank you Tim Man another great video. The subscribe button to all new videos not working on my iPad. Says error.
On my R6 I use manual mode, auto Iso and over-or underexpose
I've always used manual ISO with my A7RV, it's handy because that camera comes with an extra wheel that you can customise to anything you like. I find with auto ISO if I have any black or very dark areas the ISO will push far too high even with spot metering. I've never used the zebra feature so will give that a go, looks awesome! thank you for the tips once again!
If you are setting your shutter speed and your aperture, then the ISO set by the camera is what it is for proper exposure. On most cameras you can limit how high the ISO is allowed to go, but something has to give! If you limit ISO, you either need a slower shutter speed or wider aperture to compensate or you are going to have an underexposed image.
Auto ISO is not proper exposure for your subject in many situations. Say you have an owl and then you have a dark background, it will try and compensate for that background forcing the ISO up. This is why I find it easier to just do it manually. I'm normally quick enough to be able to change it in time.
Yes I totally agree the iso will skyrocket in dark area. Yea definitely give the zebra a try. Check out Mark Smith Sony settings and he talks about zebras and how to set that minimum settings of 102 or 108. I forgot the details but don’t have my camera with me now.
@@davidleakenneyphotography Can you use the manual iso if the owl is flying from shadow to light or from dark background to light, in this case, I think you need the Auto iso
Did you say you use the Nion Z9 because of the 400mm f2.8 with built in TC other wise you would always use Sony A1?
You could set the Aperture dial to change the ISO and set the ISO button for changing aperture if that option is available in Nikon. Because most of the time we shoot wide open and don't change the aperture that much unless we require larger depth of field. I have set the ring on the lens for ISO because i use the lighter 400mm f4.5 and its easier to turn because its super light. I am not a professional photographer, only a serious hobbyist & i can't afford a 400mm 2.8 😅 And yes Nikon have some serious wildlife glass for both midrange (Z400mm f4.5, 500mm pf, 300mm pf) and premium range (400mm f2.8, 600mm f4, 800mm f6.3) Also my reason to own Nikon and yes the zebra feature on Sony was very useful.
I agree 100%. Brilliant ideas. I thought about switching the dials like that but my problem is I got too adapted to the front dial as aperture (even though I should set it to something else) but in the heat of the moment my old habit always kicks in. Still trying to figure out how to display rgb histogram in evf while taking photos instead of having it displayed after the photos are taken.
@@TinManLee yeah true that about muscle memory. I too would love Nikon to have Zebras in photos.
I will always go with Sony.
Absolutely.... Mirrorless cameras changed the game. In fact, when I switched to mirroless I began ETTL (under expose) rather than the oh so popluar ETTR. I can alwasy "add-noise" in post if needed rather than shoot at too high iso, make sense? I also find (w/ Sony) auto iso alwasy seemed to increase iso too high for my liking.Thanks for sharing. I alwasy enjoy your photography and advice.
I switched to manual with the R because there's the ring around the lens (or adapter for using EF), which I use for aperture, then my dials for ISO and shutter speed. The problem I have is that I just got the R7, which is great, the wildlife tracking mode locks onto the eye of the animal and keeps it sharp, but the dial that I used to use for ISO is now the power switch, so it takes me a bit of time get used to the two layouts. And considering my two favourite lenses are from Sigma (50mm 1.4 and 150-600 C), that lens ring being at the base of the camera instead of the end of the lens is a bit less convenient too, especially where the 150-600 is so long and so big that I don't have a free hand. I believe my adapter without the control ring is the one I use for that, and keep the one with the extra ring on the 50mm where aperture control is much more important.
I have used the zebras on my a7 IV. I normally set my iso limit. Which works well for me.
Auto ISO is designed to give you a good overall exposure based on your set metering mode, so the fact the bear in the cover photo was under exposed is expected... It saw a white bear and made it 18% gray. On Nikon cameras at least, with auto ISO, you can use exposure compensation to adjust exposure up or down (it does this by adjusting the bias of the calculated ISO value and then adds or substracts the number of stops of ISO to get the desired result). Personally I've found auto ISO to be a game changer especially for things like wildlife photography where things may be happening quickly although I tend to always leave mine biased towards -0.3 stops of exposure compensatin when using auto ISO to help further reduce the possibility of blown highlights (pretty much I can always bring up most images 1/3 of a stop in post at most ISOs except maybe really high ISOs -- beyond 6400) if I have to, without any major degredation of the images. But highlights I can't get back in some cases if they're blown. I think part of this is just knowing how to use the camera and what you can do and what doesn't work for your specific brand/model of camera.
Exactly. I use auto ISO with exposure compensation. But there are some specific situation where I don’t use it. If I want the background to so dark or if I’m shooting directly into the sun and want silhouettes, I never use auto ISO. But for general shooting auto ISO is brilliant.
Thanks!
Auto iso gives control to the camera, for those of us who understand how these things work auto iso can cause negative results in our images, leaning the reasons why is what everyone needs to do! 👍👏😀
Sorry, but I agree, but your reasoning is too general. Let's see where this takes us using a corollary line of reasoning. So if auto-ISO gives too much control and takes away learning how to set your own, thereby, everything should be manual, right? Thereby, you, by extension, should bring a light meter, turn off subject detection, and use manual focus. Got it.
I'm a Sony shooter and have shooting full manual with zebras for years and have had excellent results.
It’s the ultimate way to go congrats.
This is my favorite, biggest ah-ha video of this year. THANK YOU! (Super Thank YOU)
The only thing I put in " Auto " on my cameras is AF.. Great job Tin Man Lee
Great to hear. Full manual for the win!
Can you show some shots where you can see the zebra settings and histogram. show what is accetable and what not.
Hi Tin Man - been too long! One thing missing in your explanation is at what level you set the zebras to. Simply 100%? Great tutorial - thanks.
Hey Roy!!! So happy to hear from you. I forgot. Is it 106 or 108? You gotta set the minimum value. I will check and let you know. There are a few minor tricks to pay attention to. Btw I’m going to Patagonia soon. You must catch up after I get back to LA.
The content is very good and the editing is making it more likely to watch.. actually.. #niceeffortbyeditor
Means a lot thank you! See you next time!
Tin man, you say set the compensation to 0.7+ in manual iso or Auto? It doesn't work in manual. Regards Jason I'm using A1, also what zebra setting would you use?
When I use auto ISO I set it at plus 0.7 to begin. When I use full manual including manual iso, I just watch the overall brightness and the zebra to make sure no overblown highlight while being bright.
Same question. Using Sony a7rv.
Yes you are smart and you know most of what there is to know, but did you ever try to shoot on auto?
With mirrorless there is no excuse not to go full manual. Sadly my eyes are going on me so I need a good autofocus system, but I still use manual focus for macro and some landscape stuff. The in-viewfinder 200% zoom also trumps an optical one for me.
I. thought exp comp did not work in the manual mode! Only in the auto modes>>??
It's the same thing either way. All exposure compensation does is adjust the exposure based on your preset parameters. When you adjust exposure in full manual to adjust for bright or dark conditions, you are compensating from the recommended settings. Either way, you are compensating from the "normal" "0" (matched needles in the old days) based on your experience and what you are pre- visualizing for your image. Any time you do not accept what the camera meter is telling you, you are compensating, whether you are in auto something (ISO, aperture, shutter speed) or full manual.
David, perhaps it's me, but I read David's explanation below and didn't follow it even though I believe I know what he is saying. TML is saying (and has responded here) that he used (and uses) EC when in auto-ISO. Since he is in manual ISO, he doesn't use EC per se. Just adjusts the ISO manually with a wheel to match the scene. Pretty cool. I don't shoot SONY, but if you do, I would completely agree with his suggestions (they would work for me) and I complain all the time about the Nikon Z9 not having the Zebras and a rotating wheel - although you can get around the second part. The odd thing is, the Z9 has 'live zebras' in video mode. So why not stills? Cra-cra if you ask me.
Still nothing like the days of shooting film and you had to wait until your film was developed to see you stuffed the exposure or got it right. These days with DSLR and Mirrorless especially, where you see the results live, you shouldn’t be able to get wrong exposure unless you let the camera do it for you
I’m a little confused. You don’t pay attention to your iso when you are using auto iso, but you do pay attention to iso when you are using manual with zebras? Hmmm… Also, look into iso invariance, the z9 band a1 are invariant starting at iso 500.
I assume you talking about shooting in daylight hours. Why not set a MINIMUM SHUTTER SPEED (example 1/320), A MAXIMUM ISO, and you can dial your EV-/+ as needed and just shoot in A-mode. You still have the option of locking exposure with a AE/LOCK for certain scenes. Metering (SPOT, MATRIX, CENTER WEIGHT) are going to play a role as well You would have no need to worry about zebras... your method seems like you're making this a little complicated for no reason.
Canon dies not have zebras