Nikon D600 For Dummies

Reading (And Adjusting) the Meter

To help you determine whether your exposure settings are on cue in M (manual) exposure mode, the camera displays an exposure meter in the viewfinder and Information display. You can see a close-up look at how the meter looks in the viewfinder in Figure 7-8; Figure 7-9 shows you where to find the meter in the Information display. To activate the meter displays, just press the shutter button halfway and then release it.

Figure 7-8: The meter indicates whether your exposure settings are on target.

The minus-sign end of the meter represents underexposure; the plus sign, overexposure. So if the little notches on the meter fall to the left of 0, as shown in the first example in Figure 7-8, the image will be underexposed. If the indicator moves to the right of 0, as shown in the second example, the image will be overexposed. The farther the indicator moves toward the plus or minus sign, the greater the potential problem. When the meter shows a balanced exposure, as in the third example, you're good to go.

Figure 7-9: In M exposure mode, the exposure meter appears in the Information display.

In the other exposure modes, the meter appears if the camera anticipates ...