A7R II Limited Manual Mode - Only 2 Stop Metering/EV!

[gavinseim]

I recently switch from Canon to the A7R II and have been really impressed. One thing I immediately noticed was 5 stops showing in the meter on the viewfinder. What a fundamental shift, how Ansel would have love this I thought. By having 5 stops we have use the entire Zone scale, spot metering and compensating wherever we want in the tonal range.

I use almost all full manual and I have taught many thousands of photographers exposure classes, including extensive use of zones for digital. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that manual mode was DUMBED DOWN to not allow us to see any metering point under 2 stops and instead only showing an arrow when you go lower that give no indication of how low we are. This forces us to use a separate meter instead of utilizing the clear potential of what's in this camera.

This is so frustrating. I thought maybe it was a bug but what I found on various forums was people complaint about this and answers akin to, Exposure below 2 stops would be too dark so it does not allow it. WHAT, this is MANUAL MODE!

THERE IS NO “CORRECT” EXPOSURE except the one that’s right for your image. A meter is based on middle grey and the right exposure is whatever you want. I frequently want highlights in a sky at Zone 8 for example (3 stops above 0, or middle grey). Or shadows or Zone 1 (4 stops down). Why on earth would sony include 5 stops of range and then only allow them to be used in Auto modes, leaving us with a measly two stops in Manual.

I can find no solution to this and no option in the menu. Am I missing a setting. If so please let me know.

PLEASE Sony, this could be an amazing took for letting photographer take exposure further and you have nerfed it for no reason. A smaller spot meter circle would also be nice, but full manual mode  but please, give us full manual metering. There is no reason for this!

 

-- Gav