Who Believes the Exposure Triangle??

xpatUSA
March 25, 2026
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    Team
    March 26, 2026, 7:02 p.m.
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    I may understand all the technicality, but for me (as a casual photographer) "triangular" relation of shooting parameters [which affect resulting image brightness] is not nonsense. Sure we could think of better terms (ISO is the most misunderstood one), but having film background, I use this relation almost intuitively. Even in Auto-ISO mode (my preferred setting) :)

    Anecdotal evidence too :)
    ISO value is more noticeable than aperture value in my camera EVF. If I see 12800 (maximum for Auto-ISO) in normal shooting conditions then I know must have accidentally turned aperture dial into very wrong position (F/16), happens sometimes in cold weather, using gloves.

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    Members 2316 posts
    March 26, 2026, 7:04 p.m.
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    Well I got the chance here with this thread to show everyone my fantastic general exposure method ;-)

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    Members 2742 posts
    March 26, 2026, 8:32 p.m.
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    Sure, in practice it works. I work most of the time at base ISO and I the three parameters will give correctly exposed pictures, if I change speed or aperture.

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    Members 2742 posts
    March 26, 2026, 8:33 p.m.
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    Maybe it is time for an "Equivalence" thread too.

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    Forum Admin
    March 26, 2026, 9:07 p.m.
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    Maybe not. 😁

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    Forum Admin
    March 26, 2026, 9:11 p.m.
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    There's two different things being discussed here.

    The exposure triangle is perfectly valid as long as you recognise it's what ends up on the SD card - so it's not "exposure" as such, but the end result uses 3 different things to produce the final output. It's a useful way of thinking about the parameters needed to produce a good image.

    Then there's the 'sensor' argument. Mostly a load of rubbish as ISO is set after the sensor, not on it.

    And that should be an end to the discussion (but I bet it isn't). 😂

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    Members 1570 posts
    March 26, 2026, 9:42 p.m.
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    I like circular slide-rules or things like this

    www.philip-birch.com/uploads/1/1/8/5/118596268/hd-actinograph2_orig.jpg

    😏

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    Members 1923 posts
    March 26, 2026, 10:48 p.m.
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    That is my thinking. A beginner mostly only thinks in terms of brightness or lightness. Let them learn the parameters involved in that process and further down the track when they are ready (if ever) they can learn about exposure.

    As far as I know, high school science still teaches that electrons exist in shells around the nucleus. It is a valid introductory concept that is enough to then learn about valence, basic chemical bonding etc. Even though it's completely wrong...

    We could rename it to "The Brightness Triangle" and "The Exposure Relationship"

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    Members 104 posts
    March 27, 2026, 1:46 a.m.
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    The best tool available for this are actually Sony's "Zebras". I don't know why other manufacturers haven't implemented something like this.

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    Members 1923 posts
    March 27, 2026, 2:29 a.m.
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    Panasonic has something akin to zebras.

    Sony may have patented the idea and others have to pay a licensing fee???

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    Members 1570 posts
    March 27, 2026, 5:08 p.m.
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    There is a method known as 'UniWB' where the LCD histogram is made to approximate raw levels using a camera's Custom WB function.

    www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/uniwb/index_en.htm

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    Members 2663 posts
    March 28, 2026, 8:57 a.m.
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    dual gain is referred to as eg : iso 800 and iso 4000 no one specifies it using any other reference value other than ISO 😊

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    Members 1570 posts
    March 28, 2026, 2:17 p.m.
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    <deleted>

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    Forum Admin
    March 28, 2026, 4:35 p.m.
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    Stop it, you two.

    Alan

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    Members 2663 posts
    March 28, 2026, 8:38 p.m.
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    exposure triangle. Eg: iso 100 + S+A, iso 800 +S+A, iso 4000 +S+A all voltages changed at photo diode amp level 😎 no different than film. this is 3 exposure triangle examples.

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    Members 104 posts
    March 29, 2026, 12:57 a.m.
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    I'll just stick with the Zebras. Much, much simpler...

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    Members 2663 posts
    March 29, 2026, 6:19 a.m.
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    zebras are near perfect when set up correctly, raw file on raw digger.

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    Members 1570 posts
    March 29, 2026, 2:44 p.m.
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    Sigma missed an opportunity when they introduced the SD1 Merrill and their V.5 raw converter. The new converter had a Monochrome (not converted color) Mode - where the three Foveon raw layer values could be combined in any proportions with a Mixer. They already had a three-channel RGB histogram available on the LCD, so a three-channel raw histogram should not have been impossible.