AE-L prior to LIVEVIEW and after AE-L

Coco Bermudez

Coco Bermudez

Well-known member
How does this thing work?
I followed Kohll's instructions to a tee. I popped my manual Nikon f1.8 and:

1. Without engaging LV mode, set the camera in Manual Mode.
2. Turn on AE-L (hold)
3. Closed the Iris down to f5.6 ~ 8
4. Aimed the camera at a wall or surface that's brightly lit...not be blown out, but bright. ....about sixty-percent (60%) Exposed or a little more.
5. Activated LV mode.
6. Opened the Iris to a 2.8 or 1.4 and checked the cleanliness.

it worked great....but I also did:

1. Set the camera in Manual Mode.
2. Activated LV mode.
3. Closed the Iris down to f5.6 ~ 8
4. Aimed the camera at a wall or surface that's brightly lit...not be blown out, but bright. ....about sixty-percent (60%) Exposed or a little more.
5. Turn on AE-L (hold)
6. Opened the Iris to a 2.8 or 1.4 and checked the cleanliness

And I got better results this way...am I missing something?
 
I don't think your missing anything, just confirming that you can probably get better results using the latter method. I started locking in live view recently and my results are also better; definitely one of the benefits of using manual lenses (as I'm under the impression you can't adjust aperture in live view with AF lenses).
 
I've always got better results letting the camera do the talking I.E. your second way of cleaning up the image. But I don't however, is close the lens down and then open it up. I just have at it's widest aperture and let it expose from there. Has always seemed to work for me.
 
I would say it is much better to lock your AE-L AFTER you switch on LIVEVIEW...maybe it has to do with the manual lense.

Also...I've noticed that the LCD screen can trick you. I was shooting under heacy flourecent light today and the screen was going wacko with banding...no matter what i did or how many times I tried to get a different exposure, i would get banding...so I said "screw it" and I started shooting..the screen was banding up and down with brown lines. BUT...when i checked the footage on my studio monitor, there was hardly no banding...very itsy bitsy trace of it....you had to be looking for it in order to see it.

Another thing...if you let the camera on...without the LIVEVIEW...it seems to me that as the camera warms up, you have better chances of getting a better picture quality and less banding...it reminds me of the JVC GY-HD100 split screen issue. If you turned on the camera you would see a split screen..but as the minutes went by and the camera warmed up, the line would dissapear
 
In this little example....the Nikon monitor was showing me some real ugly banding lines...real thick and real dark. No matter how many times I adjusted the AE-L..I would get the same result....this was shot inside a classroom lit by 12 large fluorecent lights...

I decided to shoot anyhow to see how bad it would look....surprise...you really have to look closely to see any banding.....

http://moviegroovy.com/DSC_0011.mov
 
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yeah, the lcd is a little tricky, but once you get used to it's "trickery" you get a good picture. i always keep it at the middle for adjusting the brightness. and I guess when you say banding you're talking about the "scrolling lines/waves"?

when i say banding i refer to the posterization of the picture.
 
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