I've been used to seeing the exposure bar with my Canon cameras no matter what mode I am shooting in. I was surprised when I started using my D3 that the exposure bar only shows in Manual mode. However, this morning I realized while in aperature priority mode and focused on a very dark subject, the bar was showing clearly up and down the right hand side (don't know why they placed it there but that's another matter). Then, when shooting in daylight I noticed that is there but so faint I can't even read it. I wonder why it's unreadable in daylight shots?
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The D3 (and other nikons) does show the exposure bar when you set
a positive or negative value for exposure compensation in all the non-manual
exposure modes (i.e. A,S, and P). The exposure bar disappears only when
exposure compensation is off (i.e. zero). I think the idea is that it only
appears when there's information to convey. Maybe I've just gotten
used to it, but I actually like the fact that the bar disappears when
there's no exposure compensation. When the bar appears, it's a
reminder to turn off exposure compensation if you've left it on
unwittingly. Also, pushing the exposure compensation button down
(which is right next to the shutter button) always makes the bar
appear.
However, I agree that moving the exposure bar to the side was
not the best choice.
What's really nice is that there is a custom setting that turns the exposure bar
into a horizontal reference when the func button is pushed. This
gives you the equivalent of a bubble level in the viewfinder.
Tony
