5D Mark III Exposure Compensation

[Bobster79]

Hi All,

Background 

I just started shooting high school sports for a local publication and to make things as simple and fast and easy as possible I use the following setting in the manual mode.

Camera Settings

Shutter Speed 1/1000 to freeze the action

Apeture 2.8 on my 70-200 to give me that bokeh we all love

ISO set to "Auto" so i can keep the above seting and just let the camera pick the ISO.

However, once in a while on some of the pics the exposure is off a bit. So when I went to use the Exposure compensation function it did not seem to work.

Question

So does the Exposre Compensation function not work in the manual mode? (I did notice that it worked with the AV or TV modes)

Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong? or Does any body have any better shooting methods for this situation?

Thanks in advance,

Bob

[ScottyP]

Hi,

I don't think Manual is a good choice for sports and you really can't use the same setting in all sports, inside or outside, day or night.

I would use Tv (shutter priority). The camera will set the aperture. You set the shutter and the ISO. Find a compromise between a fast enough shutter and a reasonable ISO. This won't be a problem outside in daylight. There you can probably get your 1/1000 shutter or a lot faster while at a low ISO like 100 or 200 even. It is at night or inside a gym that you will feel the squeeze and need to use a higher ISO like 3200 or more, and your shutter may need so slow down to 1/640th or 1/400th.

I don't see using EC unless your subjects are backlit or on snow or something like that which may fool your camera's metering.

[RobertTheFat · Accepted solution]

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@ScottyP wrote:
Hi,

I don't think Manual is a good choice for sports and you really can't use the same setting in all sports, inside or outside, day or night.

I would use Tv (shutter priority). The camera will set the aperture. You set the shutter and the ISO. Find a compromise between a fast enough shutter and a reasonable ISO. This won't be a problem outside in daylight. There you can probably get your 1/1000 shutter or a lot faster while at a low ISO like 100 or 200 even. It is at night or inside a gym that you will feel the squeeze and need to use a higher ISO like 3200 or more, and your shutter may need so slow down to 1/640th or 1/400th.

I don't see using EC unless your subjects are backlit or on snow or something like that which may fool your camera's metering.

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Very well reasoned, Scott, but it doesn't actually answer the OP's question. 

So being in a helpful mood this morning (since my wife and I almost finished our taxes last night), and having the latest 5D3 manual readily to hand, I looked it up. Sure enough, EC works only in the P, Tv, and Av modes. I think this came up once or twice before, and the conclusion was that in manual mode you're already in control of the settings, so EC would be superfluous. But I don't suppose everyone would necessarily share that view.

[Bobster79]

Thanks Robert and Scotty for your replys.

I too think it is would be superfluous in the manual mode, but it is nice to come to a place and get the straight scoop.

Thanks again,

Bob