Metering exposure while shooting

J Davis

J Davis

Veteran
I've noticed that while the cam is filming during a take I can press INFO and
get the exposure level meter at the bottom of the LCD that looks like this

-3..2..1..•..1..2.+3

and then if I press the asterisk (*) button which is in the top right corner of the camera I get a little moving indicator underneath it like this

-3..2..1..•..1..2.+3
'

unfortunately the indicator goes away after a while and I have to push the asterisk button again.

I don't see anything in the manual on this.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or just confirm that this is a live exposure level meter?
 
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The exposure level indicator has been used in dslr's for quite some time and basically gives you an idea as to what proper exposure in the frame should be, sort of like using a grey card. So, yes it could be looked at as a live exposure meter, where the center of the indicator is proper exposure for the frame. Obviously this type of meter is objectionable and you should still use the lcd, or a properly setup monitor to judge the exposure you are looking for.
 
KeithAndrews.TV said:
... and you should still use the lcd, or a properly setup monitor to judge the exposure you are looking for.
Click to expand...

The exposure meter I'm talking about is ON the lcd, runs along the botton while in live view mode.

KeithAndrews.TV said:
... Obviously this type of meter is objectionable
Click to expand...

Sometimes it is not always possible to have awesome monitoring accompanying you everywhere that you and your camera go so no, it is not obvious to me ... why do you say it is objectionable?


QUESTION TO ALL:
Does anyone know of a way to stop the level meter I mentioned in post 1 from turning off?
 
Well, the camera is going to look at the entire scene and make a decision as to what the proper exposure should be. The same way a video camera running auto iris will stop down to a very high aperture number if you point it toward a window. If you have something, or someone in the foreground of that window, you may actually want to have proper exposure on that subject, and let the window in the background blow out. This is one of those situations where choosing the correct metering type (spot, center-weighted average, average, partial, multi-zone) is very important or the level indicator may actually be giving you incorrect information to judge the exposure.
 
I understand what you are saying and at the moment I'm using the LCD to judge the exposure on my actors face. When I was using the GH1 I used the level meter as an indication of the overall balance of highs to lows. By keeping the indicator a little under zero I knew I was protecting my highs.

In an ideal world I would drop $1000 on a marshal and have false color but I need that money later on for scarlet. Just trying to make do with what I've got and any tool is better than none.
This is the only meter I've found on the 7D that works while filming.

Do you have a 7D and do you know of a way to keep this level meter from turning itself off?
 
Keith is right. It uses the area set for metering to determine what's a proper overall exposure. Be wary when using the meter. I've had some practice using it on the MKii and it's tricky. Generally you want it to be ABOVE the halfway mark for an accurate video image.

Also, you need to LOCK the wheel for the exposure meter to work properly. Otherwise it gets stuck at the left. To change the duration of the metering you go to the fourth RED icon in the menu and down to METERING timer. I think you can set it for 30 minutes.
 
ABOVE? wow that's the opposite to what I found works best on the GH1.
So are we protecting the lows? or is the canon meter a little bit biased?
 
J Davis said:
ABOVE? wow that's the opposite to what I found works best on the GH1.
So are we protecting the lows? or is the canon meter a little bit biased?
Click to expand...


It's just not reporting accurately is what I mean. It's gathering the entire frame from what I've always noticed. Probably due to how I have metering set. Using the meter and having it hit the halfway usually resulted in underexposed areas.
 
Kholi said:
It's just not reporting accurately is what I mean. It's gathering the entire frame from what I've always noticed. Probably due to how I have metering set. Using the meter and having it hit the halfway usually resulted in underexposed areas.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kholi. So no need to protect the highs like with the GH1 then?
 
J Davis said:
Thanks Kholi. So no need to protect the highs like with the GH1 then?
Click to expand...


Well, that's not exactly accurate. It's a matter of preference, really. You really want to protect highlights as best you can without introducing too much noise on the back end. But, the meter tells you that a scene's overall exposure is proper in the middle, and it's just not accurate when you view it on a primary monitor, production or else. There's generally a lot of underexposure going on and, sometimes, even highlights jump off the histogram.

I think the best method right now is to ignore the meter and start shooting JPG stills instead for your scene. Check the histogram for the stills to see what it looks like, use the clip warning function (flashes overexposed areas on playback) then go from there.

It's very cumbersome, but without proper metering you run the risk of roasting skin or severely underexposing portions of hte image you didn't want to.
 
One of the things I've done to nail exposure, especially when there is obviously 100% white somewhere in the frame is to open up until the detail goes away in the 100% white object and then stop down 1-1.5 stops.

You CAN tell when the whites lose detail, especially when you have the Z-Finder, IMO.
 
You can tell, for sure. My major thing, though, is mostly how they lose detail, if that makes sense. You can't really see the roll off in the small LCD. And losing detail in stark whites isn't bad, it's just how it gets to the clip that generally determines how I deal with it in camera.
 
Was at family event in the park today, beautiful sunny day and had the 7D and AIS 24/2.8
turned the exposure level meter on (-3..2..1..•..1..2.+3) and holy crap
unlike the GH1 this meter on the 7D is waaaaay off

I'll be using your stills trick Kholi, thanks
 
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