Within the past hour or so I set my D700 Exposure Compensation to -0.3 with the intention of leaving it there for the foreseeable future or maybe even going to a higher negative setting in the future. I've noticed that I am constantly forced to "darken" my exposures in post processing. I know, I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we all see things differently, my D700 is not your D700 and it may be "misbehaving" a bit after months and years of use and jostling (but never abuse).

Anyway, I'm just wondering how many of you have made similar "permanent" Exposure Compensation adjustments (either direction) and why.

Hi Tom.

The D700 has a setting just for you! "b6 fine tune optimal exposure" in the custom settings menu. I set my D700 to -2/6 and leave it there.

JIM

>Hi Tom.
>
>The D700 has a setting just for you! "b6 fine tune
>optimal exposure" in the custom settings menu. I set my
>D700 to -2/6 and leave it there.
>
>JIM

Thanks. Who knew?! I even went through all the settings at a Nikonians Academy course and still say "Who knew?!" I really have to stay awake in class.

That same setting is the only way to dial in a 1/6 stop adjustment to exposure - all the other settings for aperture, shutter, ISO and Exp Comp are in increments of 1/3 or 1/2 stop.

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Both the D700 and D800 overexpose a bit by my taste and much of the time I use -.5 exposure compensation.

Are you clipping your highlights? If not, then it may be better to adjust the software instead. That way you minimize noise. Most image processors allow you to create a profile or default settings to apply to all images. Just a thought.

Tom,

When I bought my D700 almost four years ago my initial impression was that it was over-exposing by half a stop, so I set b6 to -3/6. However, after operating the D700 for a short time I realized that it was not over-exposing after all. Therefore, I set b6 back to zero where it has remained ever since. I hardly ever use the exposure compensation button. In fact, the last time I used it was so long ago that I can't remember when it was. I commenced shooting RAW exclusively a year ago and find that any tweaking of exposure that may be required is easily accomplished in Adobe Camera RAW.

Bob