AEB and Manual Mode
I pride myself on knowing my equipment, so this hurts
I was fiddling with my camera because I needed to answer someone’s question about Aperture priority and AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing). Now of course I know and had suggested to people that they use AP + AEB to get their 3 exposure bracket. Of course I also knew that you could do AEB and use Shutter Priority mode, which we don’t suggest for HDR because we want a constant aperture and therefore a constant Depth of Field
What I never realized was that on my Camera (Canon 5D) and other Canons models along with Nikons ( as far as I know, I checked with a Nikon user but would like another confirmation) what I didn’t realize was that AEB was possible in Manual Mode too. On Canon’s in manual, You can choose an aperture and the camera will bracket just as it does in any of the semi-auto modes. I’ll be darned. I should have know this but I didn’t and the 40 years I spent shooting Manual Film Camera, AEB wasn’t even an option on those fully manual mechanical wonders.
So why is this helpful? Well the good thing is, like using manual mode for any other purpose, you are fully in control and your exposure is consistent. As I discussed in this article. The problem with using Aperture priority is that you have to lock the exposure using the exposure lock button or use Exposure compensation to make up for changes in exposure when you recompose your image. Having AEB available in Manual means you automatically lock that exposure and it is repeatable even if you shift your framing slightly. Which in AP/AV mode, may change even with a slight shift.
I feel dumb, but then I feel smart because now that I know, it will help me to get better exposures more quickly.
Also you may ask well if you are in Manual, why even bother with AEB? The reason is, even mounted on a good tripod, any time we press on the camera for any reason, we have a possibility of shifting the camera slightly. This may not be a problem in most cases, But when we have 3 or more images we are trying to align, if we can keep the camera as steady as possible we can eliminate some work the software has to deal with. With AEB, I can either just use a remote shutter release and fire off the 3 shots or use my timer and my hands never need to touch the camera in between shots.
But just to confirm, AEB does not work with Manual mode on my Canon Powershot S90
I know, I should have known and now I do ( said sheepishly)
Hope that helps,
PT
10 Comments
Don’t feel bad. I discovered that only this summer. I was shooting in M mode without bracketing and then needed to bracket, so I set that and fired the remote trigger. I then walked to the next flower, realized what I had done and started cursing. I figured I would have three of the exact same exposure. Instead – happily – my camera surprised me and gave me just what I wanted. From one gear head to another, don’t be too hard on yourself!
Jim
Thanks Jim
If you didn’t know then I don’t feel as bad cuz you is one guy that knows stuff
I can confirm this works on Nikon (D7000).
Thanks Duane, I was hoping you would answer
Confirmed on a d300s
Thanks so much for clearing this up! I was always using AP and having some odd shifts in what I was trying to achieve, now with manual mode, life is so much easier and pictures brackets so much cleaner. Glad you figured this out for us.
And thanks for sharing.
Khiba
So on a forum it was asked if hdr can be done on portrait and wedding images. All the comments said absolutely not. Wondering if there was any positive to a subtle hdr portrait depending upon the image. I would be interested in seeing a blog post about it if you’re up for the challenge. Thanks for considering…
p.s.
tone of great stuff you have been posting
I’ve had an idea about this for a little over a year but I don’t have the mnmodels I need to try it. But I want to.
Tone mapping has been used by some Portrait artists on single images. In fact I think that one of the world’s most famous shooters has put some on her images without saying it.
Yup, Works on my 300s. Nice to know that.
Thanks everyone for letting me know. Hopefully we can use this to make even better or at least consistant image.
I think it’s great after 48 Years of shooting I’m still learning stuff. It makes is fun and exciting!
Thanks my friends!!!