Read his book but....

Finished reading Bryan Peterson's 3rd edition of understanding exposure but I have a question....

In the part about metering, under the M mode he says to set the f-stop to 5.6 and put the ISO on 200 then point the camera at a well-lit subject and watch as the metering adjusts the shutter speed... Ummmm ... that doesn't happen on a 600d or am I missing something? It works on the Av mode but not M.

Regardless, I found it very helpful and am anxious to have a go at it.

I also bought Beyond Portraiture....

aussiedee wrote in post #12759226
Finished reading Bryan Peterson's 3rd edition of understanding exposure but I have a question....

In the part about metering, under the M mode he says to set the f-stop to 5.6 and put the ISO on 200 then point the camera at a well-lit subject and watch as the metering adjusts the shutter speed... Ummmm ... that doesn't happen on a 600d or am I missing something? It works on the Av mode but not M.

Regardless, I found it very helpful and am anxious to have a go at it.

I also bought Beyond Portraiture....

M mode is Manual. Meaning everything is set by you, aperature, shutter and iso. However the camera will still meter and on the +/- bar you can see whether you are under or over exposing your image. I am not quite sure what you read, but thats my understanding.

I mostly shoot in AV myself and control the shutter speed indirectly by changing my aperature and iso. Although lately I have spent much more time in M and reading the histogram and making my own adjustments.

All the camera specific books I've read have their fair share of errors. There's a little sensor on the back of the 7D that senses ambient light to adjust the brightness of the LCD. One author cautioned against covering that sensor because it would affect the camera's auto exposure.

Not sure how other slrs work, but Canon cameras in M mode behave just like you 600d. The behaviour explained in the book is Av in Canon speak.

projectmayhem713 wrote in post #12759349
M mode is Manual. Meaning everything is set by you, aperature, shutter and iso. However the camera will still meter and on the +/- bar you can see whether you are under or over exposing your image. I am not quite sure what you read, but thats my understanding.

I mostly shoot in AV myself and control the shutter speed indirectly by changing my aperature and iso. Although lately I have spent much more time in M and reading the histogram and making my own adjustments.

Yeah, I thought I saw the meter showing underexposed (poor lighting in the bedroom).... but my shutter speed (according to his book) should have changed. It didn't... I now get that manual is manual on all counts for a canon.

paulkaye wrote in post #12759374
Not sure how other slrs work, but Canon cameras in M mode behave just like you 600d. The behaviour explained in the book is Av in Canon speak.

Yep, I had figured as much since his camera is a Nikon, there are differences.

Not sure but is the 600d newer than his 3rd Edition book?

aussiedee wrote in post #12759401
Not sure but is the 600d newer than his 3rd Edition book?

yep.

What page is this on?

AntonLargiader wrote in post #12761953
What page is this on?

Pg. 20 Understanding ISO (in the yellow bit) 3rd paragraph down... read from there, it's an exercise...

He does mention putting the camera in A or Av mode but he was referencing Manual mode. I got a bit confused as I was in M. (in M, you have to manual adjust your shutter speed). Here, he says it changes for you accordingly.

I only have Canon but I think it's a camera-dependent thing. He says you can use Av for that exercise and in fact it would work properly that way. The way I read it, his camera meter displays a suggested speed (but doesn't set that speed) in M. Our meters tell you how many stops off you are, but don't show a suggested speed.

I wouldn't call it an error, but it's sloppy. If he said flat-out "Use Av for this" I think it would likely be more accurate across brands.

Like mentioned above - this book came out before the 600d's but then again, i don't know a thing about previous versions of the Canon. This is my first Canon SLR... My previous SLR was a second-had Sony A350 and before that, a $99 P&S.

I have read the book, 3rd ed., and found no technical errors. Peterson would likely direct that YOU set the shutter speed in OP's example. Please provide the page number for the alleged quote "...and watch as the metering adjusts the shutter speed...".

Sorry, I was lazy in my last post. In the example on page 22, after manually setting the camera to f/11 and ISO 200: "As a result, it (the light meter) directed me to adjust the shutter speed: then it indicated in the viewfinder that I had reached the correct shutter speed" (italics added). I read the phrase beginning with 'then" to imply that the photographer has manually set the shutter speed 'till the camera's light meter needle is centered.