Confused about how to use exposure compensation in manual mode?

Ran

I have the Nikon d3100. There's a +/- button that I know you have to press to adjust exposure compensation. However in Manual mode this button also controls aperture, so how do I use the button in Manual mode to control exposure compensation? Or is the only way to do this in manual mode, to go through the menu setting and change it? That would be a pain because I really want to be able to quickly change exposure compensation in manual mode

Also, what does exposure compensation adjust? (I know that it adjusts how bright or dark the picture is, but does it affect shutter speed or aperture settings in any way?)

bluespeedbird

There isn't much point in using exposure compensation in manual mode. You can adjust yourself much more easily using the graduated lightmeter scale. First main graduation on the + side = + 1 stop

Where it is useful is in the various program modes.
In aperture priority mode it adjusts the shutter speed to allow more or less light through the lens.

Jeroen Wijnands

As to your second part of the question, try it out, both in A and S mode and see what changes. A tripod and a relatively static scene can help with that.

As to the first part, there's no need for it to work in manual. If, for example, your meter tells you that 1/500 and f11 gives you a perfect exposure but you want to set -1 EV, in other words make your picture one stop darker then you can either set the aperture to f16 or the shutter speed to 1/1000

Look at the aperture and shutter speeds tables in this page:
http://www.uscoles.com/fstop.htm

Jens

You're seriously lacking some basics there.

Exposure compensation tells the camera that you want the image to be brighter or darker than it would be according to the meter reading that the camera takes. Depending on which mode you are in the camera will then automatically adjust either shutter speed or aperture accordingly to make that correction.

In manual mode however you set both of them yourself. The camera does not mess with them at all. Hence exposure compensation doesn't make much sense in manual mode - you're telling the camera to adjust the exposure, but you're not giving the camera any way to do so, as you deprive it from controlling both aperture and shutter speed. The camera needs to control at least one of these to do any exposure compensation though.
That's why it is the exposure compensation button that was reused in manual mode to switch between controlling shutter speed and aperture - because exposure compensation is pointless in manual mode. If you want a brighter or darker photo, then you have to set the aperture and shutter speed manually anyway, and you can then just do so in a way that your light meter gives you the reading that you would have set as exposure compensation in other modes.

Edit:
In combination with ISO automatic exposure compensation does something in manual mode as well… But that's a rather exotic case.

deep blue2

You use the exposure compensation button (+/-) in Auto modes only (that includes shutter & aperture priority modes as well).In aperture priority mode, it will adjust the shutter speed. In shutter priority mode, it will adjust the aperture.

It has no effect in manual mode. In manual mode, you adjust the exposure manually (the clue is in the title manual mode!) by reading the meter and then MANUALLY adjusting either the ISO, shutter speed or aperture (or a combination of all three).

11.06.2016

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