is it better to take underexp or overexp on digital cameras??

looteer · 13th March 2003

we all wish for perfect exposure all the time.....

the little LCD make the job more difficult..... what you see is not what you get..... in terms of exposure.....

so is it better to overexpose or underexpose the picture a little??

mpenza · 13th March 2003

under. you generally can still extract details from the shadow areas.

ckiang · 13th March 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by looteer
we all wish for perfect exposure all the time.....

the little LCD make the job more difficult..... what you see is not what you get..... in terms of exposure.....

so is it better to overexpose or underexpose the picture a little??

Digital cameras behave quite like slides. Highlight details which are overexposed/blown are irretrievable, and you also end up with a very harsh looking picture. On the other hand, shadow detail is easily pulled up as needed. So it's better to slightly underexpose. Too much underexposure is still not correctable of coz.

Regards
CK

Zerstorer · 13th March 2003

In my experience, you can get usable images with up to 2 EV underexposure.(despite the noise)

However, overexposure by more than 1EV is usually totally blown out and irretrievable.

jasonpgc · 13th March 2003

Since its a Digital Cam, take all Pictures with three exposure settings, one for the suggested exposure, one for 1 stop over and one for 1 stop under.

However, If you're using D_SLR, it is as simple as selecting the Exposure_Bracket function.

You can delete those unwanted frames when you do your preview later.

looteer · 14th March 2003

thanks......

13th March 2003	#1
looteer Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 251	is it better to take underexp or overexp on digital cameras?? we all wish for perfect exposure all the time..... the little LCD make the job more difficult..... what you see is not what you get..... in terms of exposure..... so is it better to overexpose or underexpose the picture a little??

13th March 2003	#2
mpenza Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,397	under. you generally can still extract details from the shadow areas.

13th March 2003	#4
Zerstorer Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,610	In my experience, you can get usable images with up to 2 EV underexposure.(despite the noise) However, overexposure by more than 1EV is usually totally blown out and irretrievable.

13th March 2003	#5
jasonpgc Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 487	Since its a Digital Cam, take all Pictures with three exposure settings, one for the suggested exposure, one for 1 stop over and one for 1 stop under. However, If you're using D_SLR, it is as simple as selecting the Exposure_Bracket function. You can delete those unwanted frames when you do your preview later.

14th March 2003	#6
looteer Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 251	thanks......