Questions on Bracketing Exposures

[Brownbear]

Okay, now I'm smiling... Two similar minded comrades!
Thank you.

If it's any consolation Christina, I'll "fess up" to that too (when I changed from Canon to Nikon). Canon was different I believe with only one press required irrespective of the shooting mode selected.

Dave

[Stagecoach]

Are you saying that in single shot mode that you receive 3 or 5 exposures with just one click of the shutter/remote?

Hi Christina,

Missed a few here but for clarification NO

In single shot mode you have to press the shutter once for each exposure (camera movement/counting yuk)

In Continuous Burst mode you keep your finger on the button/remote button and the camera fires off a maximum number of shots that you have set within the menu. This will be the same number of the bracket sequence, 3,5, 7 etc.

The beauty of this is that as soon as you hear no more clicks you are done and can take your finger off. I would then re-compose BBF where I want and on pressing the button another sequence is taken.

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

Thank you kindly for the clarification. Truly appreciated. No doubt I will have a lot more confidence the next time I try this.

Continuous Burst mode sounds simplest. No doubt keeping track of the number of clicks could be confusing which I'd likely blame on BBF.

Hi Christina,

Missed a few here but for clarification NO

In single shot mode you have to press the shutter once for each exposure (camera movement/counting yuk)

In Continuous Burst mode you keep your finger on the button/remote button and the camera fires off a maximum number of shots that you have set within the menu. This will be the same number of the bracket sequence, 3,5, 7 etc.

The beauty of this is that as soon as you hear no more clicks you are done and can take your finger off. I would then re-compose BBF where I want and on pressing the button another sequence is taken.

[Manfred M]

First things first, Christina. Turn off autofocus after you've made your initial focus determination!

There is no guarantee that autofocus will set your lens to exactly the same focus point(s) for each subsequent shot, so make sure that doesn't happen to you; leaving it alone after your first shot means that all subsequent shots will have the same focus (as long as you don't nudge the focus ring on your lens. This is definitely the way I handle bracketed shots.

If you are shooting jpeg, turn off AWB and pick the best WB mode for the situation. WB can and does drift between shots.

The second thing to think about is how you bracket and why most people suggest changing shutter speed rather than aperture or ISO. When you are bracketing, you are going to get some difference in your shots just because they are taken over a short period of time, so motion is something you are going to have to deal with regardless.

If your bracket with aperture, your depth of field and lens characteristics (vignetting and distortion) will be different from frame to frame, so this is generally not desirable. If you bracket ISO, noise level between shots and colour depth will change, so while not necessarily as profound an issue as aperture, this is a complication that you might want to avoid as well.

In terms of where the camera is in the bracketing count. If I can't quite remember, I cycle my camera off and on again and the internal counter resets. It will still be on autobracket mode, but at least you'll know where you are in the cycle.

For short exposures, I definitely use the high speed burst mode, but for longer exposures, where I shoot mirror up, I do these manually and count. When bracketing I always try to have at least one, if not two repeats, just in case I blew something somewhere (more likely in a pano).

[Brownbear]

Hi Manfred,

Thank you. Your reply is very helpful and full of great tips.

I typically use auto-focus except if I'm having difficulty focus typically for foggy/misty scenes or mountains in low light but I will start trying turning off auto-focus.

I shoot raw, and typically stick to a chosen aperture and iso for landscape scenes or I use manual, and with both I always change the shutter speed. This morning's fiasco was just the result of me being totally confused when I couldn't manage to get a set # of exposures even though I set the auto bracketing.

I'll read up on how to cycle my camera.

And great to know about longer exposures as I do also use mirror up and manual mode for some scenes (been a while) and I've even tried one pano before, so all of your tips are very helpful and will stand me in good stead for future.

Truly appreciated.

First things first, Christina. Turn off autofocus after you've made your initial focus determination!

There is no guarantee that autofocus will set your lens to exactly the same focal length for each subsequent shot, so make sure that doesn't happen to you; leaving it alone after your first shot means that all subsequent shots will have the same focus (as long as you don't nudge the focus ring on your lens. This is definitely the way I handle bracketed shots.

If you are shooting jpeg, turn off AWB and pick the best WB mode for the situation. WB can and does drift between shots.

The second thing to think about is how you bracket and why most people suggest changing shutter speed rather than aperture or ISO. When you are bracketing, you are going to get some difference in your shots just because they are taken over a short period of time, so motion is something you are going to have to deal with regardless.

If your bracket with aperture, your depth of field and lens characteristics (vignetting and distortion) will be different from frame to frame, so this is generally not desirable. If you bracket ISO, noise level between shots and colour depth will change, so while not necessarily as profound an issue as aperture, this is a complication that you might want to avoid as well.

In terms of where the camera is in the bracketing count. If I can't quite remember, I cycle my camera off and on again and the internal counter resets. It will still be on autobracket mode, but at least you'll know where you are in the cycle.

For short exposures, I definitely use the high speed burst mode, but for longer exposures, where I shoot mirror up, I do these manually and count. When bracketing I always try to have at least one, if not two repeats, just in case I blew something somewhere (more likely in a pano).

[Manfred M]

I'll read up on how to cycle my camera.

Turn the camera off and then on again. That resets the counter for the autobracketing.

[William W]

Hi Bill, Yes – [the purpose of bracketing was for HDRI]
Hi Paul, Yes - I was referring to my graduated ND filters.

Thanks. That’s why I asked, because I thought that in the OP you meant ‘Grad ND’ not ‘ND’ and I was seeking clarification on that point.

***

BTW I was reading this thread intently because there are nuances of operational difference between Canon and Nikon and I always like to know more about how Nikon works . . . and the notes from those who use Nikon are most appreciated by me.

Sincere 'Thank you' all.

(also, I reckon that Nikon has it all over Canon, apropos Auto ISO.)

WW