marchyman Posted February 7, 2016 Share #1 Posted February 7, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) It took four months but I just discovered that the histogram is useless in full manual mode. I had the Q on a tripod in full manual mode: ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, and Focus. The background (and most of the frame) of what I was shooting was very light. I adjusted the speed down to push the exposure to the right and was confused for a bit as to why the histogram wasn't showing my exposure changes. Oh... yeah... that's the way the camera works. Grumble. I wonder if that is something that Leica could change. In the mean while it's take picture, hit play, look at image and resulting histogram, adjust, repeat. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 7, 2016 Posted February 7, 2016 Hi marchyman, Take a look here Histogram in manual mode. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
BAASCH Posted May 2, 2016 Share #2 Posted May 2, 2016 I discovered this, or something similar, today, too. Pointing the camera at the ground, I got a nice, bell curve type histogram reading. Lifting it up, pointing at a field, the columns of the histogram all collapsed, except for the far right one: this was because the sky was now coming into the frame, and it was very bright. But then there was a big surprise: pointing the camera at the very bright sky caused the histogram to show one sharp spike in the middle, and a little bump all to the left, and nothing more. Surely, it should have shown something else... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leica Guy Posted May 2, 2016 Share #3 Posted May 2, 2016 The exposure bars at the bottom of the display appear to try and show the exposure and how far away the manual settings are from what it "thinks" is the correct exposure. More than +- 3 stops, it turns red. Inside 3 stops its white. I find the histogram in full manual mode to be worthless. It seems fine as soon as you put the camera into an auto mode capable of exposing correctly. Leica should fix this as part of a firmware update. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumolux Posted May 5, 2016 Share #4 Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) Smack me on the head for being stupid, but I don't understand the point of shooting based on looking at a histogram? If I am usure, I just look at the JPG to get a general idea if everything is close to what I want to show. Too light or too dark, wrong colors: the JPG gives me a good overview if I do not want to use a WB and gray card in extreme situations. Can someone tell me why a histogram is necessary for shooting manually (or shooting at all for that matter)? Edited May 5, 2016 by sumolux Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted May 5, 2016 Share #5 Posted May 5, 2016 I discovered this, or something similar, today, too. Pointing the camera at the ground, I got a nice, bell curve type histogram reading. Lifting it up, pointing at a field, the columns of the histogram all collapsed, except for the far right one: this was because the sky was now coming into the frame, and it was very bright. But then there was a big surprise: pointing the camera at the very bright sky caused the histogram to show one sharp spike in the middle, and a little bump all to the left, and nothing more. Surely, it should have shown something else... Was the camera set to auto expose? If so, what strikes you as extraordinary if the sky is rendered halfway between very bright and very dark? That's what exposure meters do if you let them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marchyman Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share #6 Posted May 5, 2016 Smack me on the head for being stupid, but I don't understand the point of shooting based on looking at a histogram? If I am usure, I just look at the JPG to get a general idea if everything is close to what I want to show. Necessary? Of course it is not necessary. That said... do you understand why some photographers use a light meter? The histogram is nothing more than a user interface for the built in light meter. Why wait until after taking the image to set proper exposure? If the lighting situation is such that I might be unsure the live view histogram could be of help. Alas, it isn't on the Q. I don't know why. Some look at the image (chimp) after every shot. Others rarely do. I fall into the latter category. I find the JPEG tells me little outside of extreme errors. That may be partly due to my settings. The camera is configured for the smallest jpeg as I throw them away, only importing the DNGs for post processing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumolux Posted May 5, 2016 Share #7 Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) I use a a lightmeter for very diffcult shots - whether digital or analogue or Without a separate meter, spot checking different areas of the shot with the inbuilt meter and mentally averaging works well (although agreed, on a tripod this is less easy to do) or Simply use the bracketing function of the Q which can be pre-set as wide as you could need. I would not even know how to use a histogram to judge anything quickly whilst shooting...Again, maybe I am too inexperienced with this technique? After seeing these postings, I went through my last files of some very diffcult shots in dark and light settings and compared the histograms, (within in the screen, a rectangle some 1cm wide) and see no connection with the shape of of the histogram and the (sucessful) lighting of the shot. Only, if a shot is totally over or under exposed. But I can see that on the screen in a second anyway. So I still dont really get the experience of using a histogram for shooting purposes? A color histogram in post production would be a different story... Edited May 5, 2016 by sumolux Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAASCH Posted May 5, 2016 Share #8 Posted May 5, 2016 Was the camera set to auto expose? If so, what strikes you as extraordinary if the sky is rendered halfway between very bright and very dark? That's what exposure meters do if you let them. No, manual. And I was referring to the histogram. It should have shown just one spike all the way on the right when the camera pointed at the bright sky. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted May 5, 2016 Share #9 Posted May 5, 2016 No, manual. And I was referring to the histogram. It should have shown just one spike all the way on the right when the camera pointed at the bright sky. I agree that this seems strange for the manual exposure setting. Does the spike move at all when changing the exposure time or the aperture? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marchyman Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share #10 Posted May 6, 2016 I agree that this seems strange for the manual exposure setting. Does the spike move at all when changing the exposure time or the aperture? Pop, I agree that it is strange, but it is the way the Q works in manual mode. Metering indication changes, the histogram doesn't. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumolux Posted May 6, 2016 Share #11 Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) In the spirit of learning I tried to replicate the OP's problem in manual (i.e. the histogram not changing/reacting to changes in exposure settings in manual) and see that the histogram actually does change, however -the changed histogram is only visible for a half second or so after releasing the shutter button after a light press. I imagine this shoud be easy to fix in an update, although personally I shall never be using this function on camera. Edited May 6, 2016 by sumolux Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCPhil Posted May 6, 2016 Share #12 Posted May 6, 2016 I haven't had the time to use this yet but find Histogram invaluable for tripod mounted landscape shoots. I hope it does get an upgrade. When 'exposing to the right', in the golden hours, it's the best reliable method I can think of to get the best shot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumolux Posted May 6, 2016 Share #13 Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) I haven't had the time to use this yet but find Histogram invaluable for tripod mounted landscape shoots. I hope it does get an upgrade. When 'exposing to the right', in the golden hours, it's the best reliable method I can think of to get the best shot. For landscapes I can imagine a histogram's usefulness, and I am sure you find it useful, but for me, after some difficult shots with light and shadow, I decided the histogram function to be rather useless...All I saw in every shot was a white line at the bottom left to right with a tiny blip in the middle that changed shape a little from one exposure setting to the next. What could I possibly glean from the microscopic shape shifting of a white grain of sand? In any case certainly not enough to trust its output for a good exposure setting. A histogram's efficacy for exposing difficult shots will really be dependent on the kind of shot involved methinks. The best results for me on the Q were with bracketing in such situations, same as I still do with my M4, easily accomplished without having to squint. A color histogram in post-production on the other hand I find very usefull indeed in almost all cases. Edited May 6, 2016 by sumolux Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
funlad Posted April 26, 2017 Share #14 Posted April 26, 2017 Just been testing out my new Q and trying to get to grips with the live Histogram. Rather unexpected behaviour for sure, but I think I have got to the bottom of it. When taking a photo, the live Histogram always shows the camera's suggested 'auto exposure'. So in Aperture or Shutter priority mode (or with only ISO on auto) the Histogram will be accurate, and if you adjust the cameras 'Exposure Compensation' setting, the live Histogram will adjust to reflect that. However if you are in full manual mode, the live Histogram is useless, and merely shows how the camera would expose if left to it's own devices, not how you are actually exposing. In this setting, the live view screen & EVF doesn't give any indication of how the final exposure will look. However you can half press the shutter button, and the screen / EVF will then give a preview of the final image exposure, however without the Histogram. A fantastic Firmware Update would be for the live Histogram to show the actual manual exposure you have set, not just the cameras auto-exposure. I think this is definitly a bug, which would be fairly easy to fix. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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