Why does the G5 disable criticle functions??

You can work the exposure compensation in just about every mode....except for the Manual Mode....where a person needs it. A-I agree with Automatic, P-Flash and Exposure Comp, Tv-Av cool, we get to work the apature and shutter....now M-stands for Manual...right?? we get very limited flash setting, apature and shutter....what happend to exposure compensation?????. I hope Canon releases a firmware upgrade for the G5...unless there is one.......just venting on a camera that stated "creative"....hmm??

Have you EVER seen exposure compensation in manual mode on ANY camera? No offense, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to have this option - you control the shutter speed and aperture (and consequently, the exposure) in manual mode. Why would you do it with exposure compensation instead?

ok, take the G5 and sit outside at a sunny stream with a slow water fall setting....set the camera to take a 1 second shot so the water seems a tad fast....the F8 is as high as the camera will let you go....take the shot...poof...WAY over exposed.....sure I can take the shutter time up but why, I want the creative shot to be 1 second....so at F8 with a shutter of 1 second I need the exposure to be beyond -2...which is blinking RED the whole shot...telling me I need to go further....I can't even go either way while in M mode. Now, sit in your living room, point the camera at the ceiling fan with it running S L O W...in M mode, set the camera to a modest 1/30 with an F2.0 and no flash....WAY too dark...now if I could just over expose it I could add a touch of creativeness to it......Thats why. I do remember setting my shutter/apature/focal point....and yes, my exposure compensating on my X700 to get the shot i wanted....15 years ago...

That is what "P" mode is for.

P mode is auto exposure, but gives you the choice to use some manual controls, like exposure comp o, manual focus, flash, etc.

AUTO is just that, AUTO, no manual control.

Tony, Have you tried this while using the built in ND Filter?
-Bruce

Bruce...yes sir I have...The ND sure helps outside. I was not really knocking canon...just thought, why disable funtions in the M mode. The flash output is adjustabe in + or - steps in p-tv-av...but when you get to M mode it changes and just gives you full, mid and next to none.....also, I just thought if the exposure compensation was there in p-tv-av but not in M mode then really the M mode should be SM mode....semi-manual. Kudo's to photoshop...at least with a RAW image and the rest of CS, I can work out the bad situation. Any filter you recomend for really bright sun days??...or should I buy a 2x tele converter to knock down the light.

Tony, I see what youre saying, but, the real semi manual settings are, AV, TV, & P(IMHO P is fully automatic also). Now, if you're in "M", and let's say the meter calls for F/5.6 @ 1/500th, but this isn't the desired exposure you're after. Let's say you want to get one stop over, all you have to do at this point is open the aperture to F/4 to acheive this type of compensation. If you want to under expose you can either stop the aperture down or shorten your shutter speed. This IMO, is why they didn't add this to the manual mode.
As far as a stronger filter than the one built in, you could get a lens/filter adapter that is threaded to accept filters and try different strengths of filters, or even stack them to get what you want. A LOT of folks here recommend www.lensmateonline.com for adapters for the "G" series cameras. Good luck.
-Bruce

This is something I've wondered about before, but never asked--seems like a good time:
Is the exposure compensation just an alternate (more creative/intuitive/non​-technical) interface to the shutter and aperture settings?
To take Turbotony's example, you're in Tv mode, you've picked 1 second, and the metering maxes you at F8. If you adjust the exposure compensation down two stops, isn't the camera actually adjusting the shutter up two stops when it exposes the ccd?

You know, that's a pretty good question. I took My G-5 outside just now and tried what you suggested. The compensation seemed to do nothing, zip, nada in TV. I even fired it in TV @ 1 second, and the shot was completely blown out. I then used the same settings with 2 stops under dialed in and got the same results. The settings on the camera didn't show any change either.
I'm now stumped with this quandry, and hope somebody that knows more about this will help us out here.
-Bruce

Bingo!

Yes, all exposure compensation is doing is telling the camera to adjust either aperature or shutter speed to get a darker or lighter image than what the camera thinks is the correct exposure. At the most basic level, the camera exposure controls have only those two variables to work with.

To put it another way, you do have exposure compensation available in manual mode: Adjust the aperature or the shutter speed. Looking at it "backwards", you also have the ability to see what exposure compensation you've chosen by pressing the shutter button half way. This causes the camera to evaluate the scene, figure out what it thinks the correct exposure should be, then it displays the +/- exposure number, telling you what exposure compensation you've chosen with your shutter speed and aperature settings.

Yet one more angle to think about it from (as if I haven't babbled enough already): you (Tony) posed this in terms of the camera having a capability in other modes that doesn't exist in manual mode. In reality, if you tried to take that same picture in shutter priority mode and set the shutter speed to 1 second, you would get the same results you're getting now in manual mode, no matter how much you adjusted the exposure compensation. And, if you went to program mode, you wouldn't even get close, because the camera would force your shutter speed slower than you want. So the manual mode is actually giving you more functionality, not taking any away, since you can force it to go to its extreme settings. The camera, by itself, just isn't capable of doing what you want.

So in the example of the stream, the issue is not that the camera doesn't allow you to set exposure compensation in manual mode, but that the camera isn't capable, in those basic terms, of correctly exposing a 1 seccond image in the given light. So the options left are to find ways of reducing the amount of light entering the camera. The built in ND filter, as mentioned, is the most obvious first step. (If it were available, a smaller aperature would actually be the first option, but of course 8.0 is the smallest we get.) If that's not enough, then adding a filter (and adapter, if you don't have one) would be the next step. An ND filter would work, or a polarizer would also help - it acts as an ND filter, usually 2 steps, but also adds the benefits of adding a little contrast and giving you control over reflections.

I hope some of this was halfway comprehendable....

You have only three variables for this - Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO.

Using Exposure Compensation allows the camera to move the Shutter Speed or Aperture variables. It does not give it the freedom to change ISO (thank God). So, EC in manual mode is redundant and potentially confusing. That is why it is not there.