[Colbyt]

I have never used auto bracket until this morning. But it is something I want to learn so I started playing around using -.5 ,0 , +.5 to see what I would get. The 0 and +.5 were always acceptable captures. Rather than reinventing the wheel what seems to work best for the various lighting combinations?

Since I almost never cared for the first round of images at -.5, when I play later today I will see if I can set it for 0, +.5, +1.


PS: When you confuse the continuous and auto bracket settings you get the same image a lot.

[snappychappy]

I usually use -1.5 , 0, +1.5 that gives you a 3 stop range which should show both shadows and highlights well if using HDR software.

[blackcloudbrew]

Honestly, I think that your choice of auto bracketing settings is highly dependent on 1) what you are shooting, 2) why you are bracketing, and of course 3) what the lighting is on the subject. I do a lot of HDR (high dynamic range) and will vary my auto bracketing setting quite a bit. I usually shot 5 images if I'm on a tripod 0, -1, +1, -2, +2ev or 3 images 0, -1, +1 if I'm hand held. For me I usually see more detail in my -1ev shots than at 0ev. But I'll work from those starting points and widen or tighten my bracketing depending on conditions. It also pays (believe me after 4 years of this kind of shooting I'm still having to remember this), to look at the shutter speeds selected by your bracketing and the +evs are usually worth looking at because the camera will use slower shutter speeds to get to the higher +evs you can induce movement either in the camera or the subject you didn't expect so (note to self here too) check out the parameters of your bracket points.

It still comes down to shoot, evaluate, adjust, shoot again etc.

[sterretje]

For bracketing, I use -1, -.5, 0, +.5 and +1 (cameras that support more steps), else -1, 0 and +1.

I sometimes bias the exposure so the whole shifts a stop (0, +.5, +1, +1,5, +2) or the other way (depending on subject).

[JinDesu]

I look at the bright, dark, and middle points in my shot and see their exposure values. For example, at sunset, I'll point near the sun for my high value, at the foreground for the low value, and the sky above me for the middle value. Then I'll set the bracketing biased towards whichever I want to keep the most detail (if the bright is +3EV, the dark is -1EV, and the middle is 0EV, then I'll bracket +/- 1.5EV and expose for 1EV).

[Colbyt]

All great responses. I noticed a few situations mentioned in the comments as I reviewed the pictures. I noticed the most benefit in low light and shadows

I won't be doing any HDR. The bracketing is for insurance on the shots in lieu of fiddling and shooting again.

I need to figure out if the K2000 will do 0, +.5, +1 or that might be 0 - -. I'm still bumping along.