Messages

Could you provide some info, eg: lens, aperture number of slices etc etc.

For what its worth, like Audionut, I only use the Ev feedback. But, then again, I don't do videography, 'only' photography.

I've looked at the code, and in fact started to change it to give a 1-deg spot capability, ie the metered area would change according to FL. The current ML spot is, if I remember correctly, +/- 10 'pixcels' (I assume from the LV resolution ?).

Thus the standard ML spot gives you very tight metering.

My main use of the ML RAW Ev spotmeter is when I bracket. I use the ML spotmeter on the darkest area where I wish to see 'detail' and place this in the Ev 'zone' of my choice, based on 0Ev is 100% 'saturated'.

I would recommend using a grey card and 'calibrating' your ML spotmeter, ie knowing your spot is -x EV down from saturated allows you to 'place' the metered area in a zone of your choice.

@gmr20

I believe the issue you are experiencing is one I found, which resulted in me 'restricting' ETTR by NOT using the SNR options.

I must emphasis that this in my workflow: it is nether right or wrong :-)

By using the SNR settings you are giving control to ML, ie SNR will force greater clipping etc.

IMHO the power of ETTR is to expose to the right WITHOUT clipping. If you use the SNR settings, you are not really using ETTR but a superior form of 'balanced' exposure control.

I am an ETTR purest, and hence I keep the two SNR settings at 0, and only use  the clipping % and, if required, Dual-ISO.

Finally, as usual, the above is my experience and workflow. Others may disagree :-)

I thought some may be interested in my latest Dual experiments, inside an NT property: http://photography.grayheron.net/2015/07/the-national-trust-now-photographers.html

Ok. Apart from this, you're on your ;-)

Using the histogram

Inside this histogram you may see near the top-left of the graph, in white lettering, the letter E followed by a number which represents how far you can go, in EV numbers, to reach ETTR, i.e E1.2

Inside the RAW histogram near the bottom you may see colored circles with numbers inside which represent the overblown channels (R, G, B) and the number of EV of over-exposure. To see this aim to an area with higher more light and take a pic.

This page tells you everything: http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/ettr

@Theiamania

This may help you.

Look at ETTR as a kind of 'auto' mode on your camera.

You decide the aperture, ie for artistic or DoF reasons.

You initially set the ISO to the lowest, eg ISO 100.

You decide the slowest acceptable shutter speed, ie for hand holding reasons. If on a tripod this can, according to to your artist vision, be very low, ie eg as low as, say, 30s.

The ETTR will then decide the shutter speed to meet two criteria: the exposure will be shifted to the right of the histogram to meet your clipping setting and, if required, your ISO will be adjusted to meet your min shutter speed.

ETTR means you will get a very 'over exposed' looking image compared to 0Ev metering, say, You must post process.

You can then build on the above by also linking in Dual-ISO. But I would recommend you get used to basic ETTR first.

Set the ETTR setting to 0, ie clipping, and the two SNR setting.

If you change these you will get some clipping, which of course is acceptable in some cases.

I have tried to write about ML on my blog and you are most welcome to look here: photography.grayheron.net. But I'm only an amateur so don't think I'm a guru on ML. like others that post replies :-)

@PhotoCat

You are welcome :-)

Having been positive, I will say a few personal 'negatives'.

Like you, I consider myself someone who is able to code, BUT I'm not a C programmer. As I tried to understand ML C code, I became aware that you really need to understand C 'linguistics' before writing your own code. I still don't understand C well enough.

Also, ML code, although often commented, is not always readable, eg unless you wrote the code in the first place. This is not a moan, but a simple observation: ML is complex, ie with bits here and bits there.

I believe an alternative avenue is opening up, and one I have yet to try. That is script writing. I would also suggest you look at this.

Cheers

Garry

@PhotoCat

The gurus will comment I'm sure, however, from a novice perspective I think 'compile in the cloud' is great. It has opened up ML for me.

Before CITC all I could do was hope a guru would tweak ML for me.

I read about compiling on my PC, but it was al 'too much'.

With CITC I was able to tweak the ML depth of field code and prove it out, before the gurus authorized its use.

As a further example, with CITC I was able to take the latest nightly and compile a version for my IR converted 50D, ie IR diffraction.

The only 'negative' observation I have is that you need to tweak some of the batch coding, ie to force certain modules. But others have helped me here.

Bottom line: I love it!

@Audionut

OK, fully agree.  I never use auto ISO with dual.

I thought you were commenting on something I had said on my blog post.

I admit to not being an expert, so am always looking out for help from others, such as yourself.

Cheers

Garry

@Audionut

Sorry what are you suggesting is not a 'best use' of Dual?

You may get something out of this list : http://photography.grayheron.net/2014/07/consolidation-series-part-2.html

I thought some may be interested in this?

http://photography.grayheron.net/2015/06/could-this-be-optimum-focus-stacking.html

Alex/josepvm

I thought you may be interested in this post: http://photography.grayheron.net/2015/06/further-le-experiments.html

I set both SNRs to zero, to guarantee no clipping.

If you set SNRs to non-zero you risk clipping.

Alex/josepvm

Have experimented more and restricted my workflow to starting in M with AutoSnap, which requires a full press to initiate.

I have ML Bulb Timer enabled, but don't worry about the time (as ETTR will control).

I set Canon ISO to 100 and the exposure at a few sec, eg 4s, (which will be the autosnap test exposure).

I then carry out a full shutter press in M mode.

AutoSnap takes a 4s test exposure (and captures this image to the card).

It then automatically takes the 'real' exposure.

One thing I have noted is that I need to set % highlights higher than in normal ETTR mode, eg 1% or higher. If I don't the ETTR solution doesn't look pushed to the right enough.

BTW my test image has no speculars, it's flat.

So what could be 'better'?

At the moment the user has little feedback on the LE shutter time (I assume the beeps at the start are indicative, eg 3 beeps = 3 mins). Is there a way to flash up the LE time on the screen prior to taking the LE?

Also, as i said previously, this and David M's ND Bulb are complementary. Hence it would be good to have both running.

Bottom line: great feature if you are not too worried about what the actually time is, ie in dynamic Timelapses or where you are taking a still at 'simply' a long exposure. DM's ND Bulb Module is there (hopefully soon) for the occasions when you want a specific time, ie I can dial in my variable ND or change things to ensure a time.

Alex

How about a user choice, ie reset bulb or not :-)

Alex

Have been doing the flipping thing :-)

BTW it still wont trigger, via a long half press, from M, it does from B.

Cheers

Garry

 

OK I'll practice a bit more 

Here are some thoughts so far.

Bulb timer doesn't get reset after an LE-ETTR capture. For instance if I originally have the ML Bulb at 1s and LE-ETTR finds the solution at 120s, ML bulb is at 120s when I next use LE-ETTR, unless I manually reset to 1 s. This threw me a few times.

For ML enhanced LE work we have this emergent capability and David M's ND Bulb Module (which is not yet in the nightlies).

The LE-ETTR is great for when you don't really 'care' too much about shutter time.

If you want a 'spot on' shutter time, then the ND Bulb Module is the way to go.

Maybe there is a way to combine to two approaches into an new LE module, ie keep ETTR 'pure' for shutter speeds less than Bulb.

Alex's hint at 1s seems to have stabilized things.

I'm using a manual aperture now, ie Canon and ML see F/00.

I seem to be getting solutions now, but ML/Canon gets confused regarding image taking and, out of frustration, I switch on and off to reset things.

Also, can't get LE-ETTR to trigger in M mode.

No, totally under.

If I switch to canon metering 0Ev is about 3s.

Sorry still not functioning as you.

I'm in B, ML Bulb is set to 40s, Autosnap on, I do a half long press and capture starts. It takes a picture (40s) then does a second at 1/25.

Alex

OK but what seems to occur in B is that it appears to meter, then it goes into capture mode, ie I get about 5 or 6 beeps and the canon clocks starts counting.

But I stop it after a min or so and everything is totally over exposed.

PS half press doesn't trigger in M mode

PPS I should have said, the exposure should be between 1-2min

Alex

Sorry cant do that (at least not to day).

Settings are:
- Auto ETTR = Press SET, Slowest 8m, Highlight Ignore .1%, everything else off
- Expo Override OFF
- Expo Sim OFF
- Bulb Timer 8m (but grey out as not in LV)

Question: should I do a half shutter press in M or B mode, to trigger LE ETTR?

I'm not in LV mode.

LE ETTR still goes for high ISO.

Strange