7Hi -- Is there an on screen metering display?

[msommers]

Reading through Steve's review of the Dimage 7Hi, and looking at the images of the viewfinder, etc... I don't see any examples of an on screen metering display to assist in attaining the proper exposure. Does anybody know if there is one? and if it's included in both the Electronic View Finder, as well as the LCD?


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Thanks,

Mike

[NHL]

No exposure indicator needed, the EVF is in real time. ie What You See Is What You Get (ie the display will brighten or darken depending on how one adjusts the shutter/aperture in manual)! Even for night shots:

http://www.pbase.com/nhl/d7_nigh_shots

BTW the D7(u/i/hi) is also one of the only two cameras (the other is new Sony F717) that'll show a live histogram of the scene under composition. In a digital way this is much better than an exposure indicator since the camera will indicate the exact pixel density of the entire scene!

[Edited on 9-27-2002 by NHL]

[KCan]

Agree with NHL,
With the WYSIWYG display and live histogram, there is no need to have a needle meter , it's just like you have a ... multi-needle meter
It took me a lil while to get use to the live histogram, but once you get use to it , it's a charm to use on manual mode.

[NHL]

I've stated this before, but IMHO the live histogram and the WYSIWYG are real bonus here and all EVF cameras should exploit them fully... I also believe that an EVF based camera with interchangeable lens (a heresy of a product) is a killer in both price and functionality!

A polarizer for example shift the real-time histogram pixel density horizontally while adjusting the contrast wheel on the D7's squashes the peaks and spreads the base! The external B/W LCD is redundant in an EVF camera and should be removed to reduce the cost (beside all the appropriate color-coded exposures info already showed up in the EVF head-up display)

[msommers]

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I'm still a little nervous about the WYSIWYG/histogram solution... especially when using the LCD in odd lighting situations, or while looking at it from different angles... Has anyone had any experience in these situations that they could comment on?

Thanks,

Mike

[KCan]

Mike,
I use LCD most of the time, the LCD on the D7i is improved ( color and view angle) compared to the original D7 ( I had a D7 before) , I guess on the D7Hi, it should be even better .
But, in low light ( night shots) it’s really not the best , the EVF is imperative IMO.
I recently took some evening and night shots here, mostly on manual, with the “WYSIWYG feature” and histogram as indications:
http://www.pbase.com/kcan/lanternes_chinoises

( I don’t use a tripod , I use a monopod for most of the shots, some have movement blur)

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Originally posted by NHL
No exposure indicator needed, the EVF is in real time. ie What You See Is What You Get (ie the display will brighten or darken depending on how one adjusts the shutter/aperture in manual)! Even for night shots:

I do not think that your statement here is correct. I do not own this new amazing camera, but I do have its brochure, according to it, it does have the meter display on both the EVF and the LCD back screen, incl the small LCD on top of the camera. In Steve's reviews: here is the instruction of how you can turn it on:

"Note that all onscreen images and overlay data can be displayed on the EVF or the color LCD, just flip the display control switch located on the back. "


THe live histogram is a great feature and should be incl with all digicams, however, if any of the camera mfg consider to take off the metering display, that is one very bad decision, there are a lot of folks are using and depending on this features...cheers

[sjms]

as for the metering display.
it gives you f stop and speed info in both displays and the info changes from blue/white to red in over/under exposures depending on which is controlled by the index finger wheel. this gives a high degree of info and control in any mode of the camera. as you change the parameters it does affect the image as NHL said in realtime so again it is very versitile. you have the options of having info or no info or grid or crosshair or histogram. just hit the little i button and have fun. this has been true on all of the D7/i/hi. selling my i next week have the hi in hand.

what it does not have for a metering view is a synthetic match needle type of display. which is what i believe the original question was referring to by the picture at the bottom.


[Edited on 9-27-2002 by sjms]

[padeye]

A nice as a histogram is it isn't a substitute for a center weighted or spot meter. Tricky to know how much of a histogram represents background tha can be disregarded when exposure on a center subject is critical. Automatic is fine but shot to shot consistency may suffer if the scene changes and exposure along with it.

[sjms]

the 7 series has a spotmeter and shows the readings as numerics and displays the metering circle in both displays.

it also has a flexfocus pointer which allows you to move and concentrate the focus point (via a curser) to anywhere in the scene



[Edited on 9-27-2002 by sjms]