EOS R10 Shutter speed question & how to use exposure compensation

[thetoxicmud]

Couple questions about my first camera.

just purchased my first camera canon r10 with kit lens 18-45 and 55-210, I’m in process of reading manual I have couple questions if someone can help me here.

I understand why changing aperture to small darkens image in viewfinder or cameras screen, you physically close aperture by changing this setting thus you let less light in.

But changing shutter speed setting have no physical effect at the time of increasing speed/before taking picture. Again i understand that faster shutter lets less light in but that happens during taking pictures and not while you adjust the setting? Shutter stays closed . Yet it darkens picture on screen or viewfinder, even in manual mode when other settings-aperture and ISO do not auto adjust.


Manual says that in “manual mode” , with iso set to auto with shutter button pressed I should be able to adjust exposure compensation with control ring, but it doesn’t work, doesn’t adjust the compensation. It works when I set to manual focus though. Any idea why? The ring icon appears next to EC when shutter button is halfway pressed too, but nothing happens.

Bit odd, manual tells that with ISO on auto I should be able to manually adjust EC if I press it on touch screen, I do that and adjust compensation with my finger, then after I confirm ,it auto adjust itself after pressing shutter button so basically I have no control on EC. I know that M mode is for full manual control, just want to know what is happening in settings.

[stevet1]

thetoxicmud,

When you are in Manual Mode with Auto ISO, the camera can't "compensate" anything but ISO. You, the operator, have locked down the other two settings of shutter speed and aperture. It could be that you are setting compensation in such small amounts that you don't notice the changes right away.

Just as an experiment, try setting your compensation to extreme amounts. Go crazy and set it for 3 or 4 full stops. See if you can see your screen go lighter or darker.

When you adjust your exposure compensation, do you actually see the needle move? Then you know it's doing its job.

If you happen to move your camera, even just a little bit between the time when you initially adjust your EC, and the time you go to take your picture, it could be that your camera is adjusting for the change in light, no matter how slight.

Have you read up on exposure lock yet? You can take a meter reading and lock that in place for a period of time.

BTW, shutter speed doesn't let in more or less light, it only exposes the available light for a shorter or longer period of time. I once read that exposure is not the end result, it's the process. That's helped me a little.

Steve Thomas

[thetoxicmud]

Hi

thank you for your answer. I can see the exposure needle moving automatically yes, but when I change it manually or use ring it doesn’t do anything, I will per your suggestion try to place camera still on tripod or shelf and see if that does anything, however the manual does not mention anything about necessity of being still to adjust this. I will also try exposure lock to see if that helps. 

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

The EOS R10 simulates the exposure if possible with the default settings. If you set the mode dial to M and set the ISO to ISO 800 and then change either aperture or shutter speed then the display will change to reflect what will happen when the photo is taken. When you change the aperture value on the camera, it doesn't make the lens aperture close down, the camera keeps it open until the picture is taken, so the simulation shows the effect of the aperture. Similarly for shutter speed, the shutter is open anyway to allow you to see what the sensor is seeing. So the simulation is simulating the light with the current shutter speed. 

If you are using manual mode and have auto ISO selected then the camera would select an ISO to try and achieve the correct exposure for your selected combination of shutter speed and aperture. Only when auto ISO is selected can you tap on the screen and change the exposure compensation value. This then tells the camera to set an ISO to give the brighter or darker exposure based on the metering, plus or minus your compensation amount. If you have a fixed ISO then compensation cannot be set, since you are determining shutter speed, aperture and ISO, there's nothing for the camera to control.

Adjusting the exposure compensation with the control ring on the lenses will depend on the setting for the control ring in the camera. Since the 18-45 and possibly 55-210 have a combined control ring and focus ring then you need to visit the camera menu to determine if the ring is focus or control ring. Take a look at the sixth page of the AF menus, where you will find the Focus / control ring setting. This must be set to control for the ring on the lens to control exposure compensation. 

[thetoxicmud]

Thank you very much for your response, make sense and answered most of my questions. Simulation makes much sense.  As for control ring , I understand but that seems like something that canon could change/fix . We have a dial on camera to switch between AF and MF and wneb dial is on AF the ring is not usable for anything, why not serve as control ring now? If you change settings to act as control ring you loose ability and dial to switch quickly between AF/MF. But thank you now I know what is happening.

As for the exposure compensation, I tried already everything, even with camera still on the shelf to make sure it points exactly same light source all the time, but I still don’t have any control over EC. What is precisely happening on my r10 is in manual mode I do have selected ISO on auto , then as you said I can select and change EC to my likes, but then when I try to take shot with my exposure compensation selected it reverts back to its own auto , it doesn’t stay where I asked it to stay. I do not change anything between this. It’s like this - set aperture, set shutter, iso on auto, change EC and press shutter button…. And exposure compensation gets back to its own value before shot is taken, every time. Can’t upload video here,only pictures.

[p4pictures]

There are only a select few lenses that have a combined control/focus ring. Many RF lenses have separate focus and control rings. When one of those is used the menu item to select focus / control is not displayed. Also all older EF lenses and many RF lenses have AF/MF switches on the lens and that has priority over the switch on the camera body, which also has priority over the AF/MF menu setting.

I agree that there could be a more helpful use of the AF/MF switch, so that if the lens is in AF then the focus / control ring becomes control ring by default and a menu option to change that to the current behaviour. 

[thetoxicmud]

I think I realised now what’s been happening. Maximum ISO by default must be set to 6400 , it never goes above that in manual mode at least. In my bright room when I tried to set EC plus values right side , it wouldn’t allow me to override as it reached  max ISO , needle been always resetting. I could set it to left side though and then iso been adjusting and EC stayed where I asked it to stay.

[p4pictures]

I had just picked up my camera and wondered if you were reaching the limits of auto ISO as I saw similar but then realised my camera was already at ISO 100 and I couldn't get the compensation to go lower. 

You can set the range for auto ISO in the second page of the red shoot menus, navigate to ISO speed settings and the third option is the one to set the range for AUTO ISO.