Cool! Thanks for the info. Didn't know this. That can make me use "M" with great success I think. But on the other hand, that raises another question in my little mind. What's the big point about "M" if you're gonna follow what the camera say? Won't the exposure then be exactly what the camera would have used in "Av" or "Tv", if I chose the same aparture or shutter-time (depending on program)? And my take is that in Av, the camera can set the exposure helluva lot faster than I can in "M" =)
The camera meter and any incident or reflected light meter is calibrated for 18% grey. Most scenes average out to 18% grey, so usually your camera meter does a pretty good job of exposure on its own. There are however many siuations where the meter is correct for 18% grey but not for your intended image. Snow, a black suit, landscapes with a bright blue sky are examples. You have to read the camera or light meter reading and then decide how your scene differs from 18% grey. Meter readings must be interpreted. Black/dark objects need to be exposed less and white/light colored objects need to be exposed more then the meter would have you believe. The majority of pictures I took in this gallery ( http://www.pbase.com …reen_wood_cemetary&page=1
) would have been terribly overexposed in the blue sky if I followed the camera meter or the incident meter I was using. The relative darker landscape told the camera meter to give more exposure, which would have resulted in a white sky. That's why using Manual exposure and understanding what the camera meter is telling you is critical to getting correctly exposed pictures.
I highly recommend reading:" The Confused Photographers Guide to the Zone System", by Farzad.
Enjoy,
Scott
Just walking out of the darkroom and coming from a black & white background, this is the way I would approach it. Even using the computer to "punch up" a photograph is a lot like dodging and burning in the darkroom.
