How to use the zebras

[RDINIS]

Today I went with my son to have fun in a park nearby and took my cam, I aimed my cam to a white wall there and set my white balance using this wall for white , it was a very sunny day as I prepared my self to shoot i noticed that the cam was telling me that the image was over exposed so I took it town until I reached -8 and sometimes -11 and I would have no zebras this ways the problem is that when i got home my videos were too dark .
So how do we use the zebras, I think I set it to 100% and also 70%.
Thanks for your help .

[rkhanso]

This SEARCH may help you out.

[genezod12]

From what I've read set the Zebras to 70% .. there is a ton of stuff on this subject already here.. do a search for Zebras and you should come up with some good reading material.

[Dennis Vogel]

This SEARCH may help you out.

I get

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Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.

when I click that link.

Good luck.

Dennis

[gmmllc]

100% and 70% zebras are for very different purposes:

• 100% zebras help you avoid blowouts. When set to 100%, you will see zebra lines where there are pure whites in the image (which you want to minimize). They are most helpful when you are shooting outdoors during the day and when you have some strong highlights in the image (such as windows and lights). Dial down the exposure to minimize (or eliminate) the 100% zebras in the frame while still keeping the rest of the image at acceptable leves.

• 70% zebras help you expose human (mainly caucasian) skin properly. They are most helpful when you have a lot of contrast on the face (such as a well-lit documentary subject). Set the zebra to 70% and adjust the exposure so you just start to see zebra lines where the light is brightest on the face (generally on the tip of the cheek, forehead and maybe the nose.

Your situation seems to call for 100% zebras. Find an average-to-bright shot, expose it, and then adjust to minimize the zebras. I would not use the white wall for that, though. It is too bright and might result in everything else being too dark. But sometimes you can't completely avoid blowouts outdoors. At least your shots are underexposed, which is often preferable to being overexposed. You can push (brighten) them in post and then use some noise reduction if needed.

Here is a screen cap from a few weeks ago where I used 70% zebras for proper exposure. Notice how there is just a bit of reflection on his forehead, cheek and the tip of his nose.

[genezod12]

Thats the best explanation of Zebras that I've seen..

Thank you!

[nolonemo]

Just to add, if the brightness range of the scene is too great, you may have to let some of the highlights blow in order to keep the shadows and lower mid tones from going too dark. That has been my experience shooting in bright sun.

Also remember that when you adjust the zebras, it locks the exposure that shutter speed and f stop. That means that if you pan to a darker area, the camera won't compensate and you'll underexpose. Similarly, since the camera transmits a stop or stop and a half less light to the sensor at full tele as opposed to full zoom, if you set the zebras at full zoom, the image will be darker when you zoom in.

[2Bdecided]

To state the bleeding obvious: if you have bright white objects in shot on a sunny day, you don't generally attempt to get rid of the zebras on those (unless you want to maintain details in that bright white, usually at the expense of everything else).

Cheers,
David.