EV steps

[Floris Bennema 27]

My Olympus camera defaults to 1/3 EV steps for aperture and shutter speed.  At times I think it leads to exaggerated finetuning as we can compensate in post. In practice shooting may speed up using 1/2 steps. The only disadvantage I see using 1/2 steps is that my max flash sync speed will be reduced from 1/400 to 1/350 (I use a Nauticam trigger).

I would like to hear your thoughts and which EV step settings you use.

[Interceptor121 843]

If the camera is smart even with half it should reach the max 1/400 if not the case this is a pity but you could set up to 1/400 and then change the switch

[ChrisRoss 150]

1 hour ago, Floris Bennema said:

My Olympus camera defaults to 1/3 EV steps for aperture and shutter speed.  At times I think it leads to exaggerated finetuning as we can compensate in post. In practice shooting may speed up using 1/2 steps. The only disadvantage I see using 1/2 steps is that my max flash sync speed will be reduced from 1/400 to 1/350 (I use a Nauticam trigger).

I would like to hear your thoughts and which EV step settings you use.

depends on what you are shooting perhaps, a sunball where you are wanting every stop of dynamic range may benefit from both the higher sync speed and not clipping your highlights.  But how often do you really change settings that much?  on a m43 you'll be between f8 and f11 most of the time and once you dial in shutter speed it doesn't tend to change that much for most dives.  ISO I tend to leave alone unless I need more shutter speedfor ambient light shots.

As for smart cameras many seem to be too smart for their own good, the olympus cameras won't go beyond the sync speed if they detect a flash and if you change EV steps for example you are on f7.1, change to 1/2 stop EV steps and when you exit the menu you are on f6.3.  I just leave mine on 1/3 EV and don't worry about it.

[Floris Bennema 27]

2 hours ago, Interceptor121 said:

If the camera is smart even with half it should reach the max 1/400 if not the case this is a pity but you could set up to 1/400 and then change the switch

The second option would be a nice trick, but it false back from 1/400 to 1/350 when I change to 1/2.

[Floris Bennema 27]

1 hour ago, ChrisRoss said:

depends on what you are shooting perhaps, a sunball where you are wanting every stop of dynamic range may benefit from both the higher sync speed and not clipping your highlights.  But how often do you really change settings that much?  on a m43 you'll be between f8 and f11 most of the time and once you dial in shutter speed it doesn't tend to change that much for most dives.  ISO I tend to leave alone unless I need more shutter speedfor ambient light shots.

As for smart cameras many seem to be too smart for their own good, the olympus cameras won't go beyond the sync speed if they detect a flash and if you change EV steps for example you are on f7.1, change to 1/2 stop EV steps and when you exit the menu you are on f6.3.  I just leave mine on 1/3 EV and don't worry about it.

I am also conservative with ISO but I tend to vary more A and S more then that.  Especially when I flip the macro wetlens in position I need a smaller aperture and at times choose for a dark background.  The difference could be that I dive in green and often murky water at home.  Next week in Egypt it will be as you said :-).  

Did you suggest that I would change steps during the dive in the last sentence? That was not my idea. Or 1/3 or 1/2 EV, for my dives and topside.

[ChrisRoss 150]

13 hours ago, Floris Bennema said:

Did you suggest that I would change steps during the dive in the last sentence? That was not my idea. Or 1/3 or 1/2 EV, for my dives and topside.

I'm also a green water diver - but I'm not that prone to fiddling with settings UW.  By that I mean my camera is always on 1/3EV steps, I don't ever use 1/2 steps.

[Interceptor121 843]

The second option would be a nice trick, but it false back from 1/400 to 1/350 when I change to 1/2.

Olympus is actually correctly implementing half stops
The difference between 1/350 and 1/400 is 0.2 Ev and 1/400 is not a full stop on the nominal table (1/500)
If 1/400 matters to you then 1/3 are required
I can’t disagree with this implementation


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