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When the G1 X is set to Manual (M) mode, AEB no longer shows up in the FUNC menu. Is there another to set it? Seems like a serious limitation otherwise.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Crap, I'm THIS CLOSE to pulling the trigger on one. Not quite a deal breaker, when I shot like that I'm always "out on a shoot" so I have my DSLR with me. \$\endgroup\$
    – Paul Cezanne
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 10:37

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No. There is no way to do that on the Canon Powershot G1 X.

Program, Aperture and Shutter-Priority modes all support AEB but wont exposure in low-light. So the way to bracket for low-light scenes is to expose manually and this risks moving the camera.

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AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) lets you take a normally exposed image, an underexposed image, and an over exposed image.

When you are in aperture or shutter priority mode you are locking one of the variables that affects exposure and the camera controls the others. Normally the camera will adjust these settings to get the desired exposure.

If you go into manual mode then you are saying you want full control of all variables/settings so AEB won't work. The camera does not know which settings it can change to get the desired effect. If you have AEB functionality in manual mode then the camera should adjust the shutter speed to get the desired exposures.

If you cannot use AEB on your particular camera while in manual mode then you can get an intervalometer (or a smartphone app for DSLRs) and once you know your shutter speed for a normally exposed image (using a light meter like the one in your camera or a dedicated one) then some simple math gets the brackets you want.

On Canon cameras (and I would assume others, but I've only ever used Canon) you can define if a picture should be over/under/normally exposed when in aperture or shutter priority modes. AEB just lets you automatically take the same picture multiple times with different exposures and is no different than if you adjusted the exposure yourself between shots (except that it also reduces camera shake as you're not bumping the camera). There's nothing fancy about AEB.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Apparently, the 6 other cameras I just tried disagree with you :) I just checked and they all let me do AEB in M mode. All but one vary shutter-speed between shots. Switching to A or S is not a solution because people who meter themselves can still need a bracket for various reasons: To be cautious, for HDR or Exposure-Fusion for example. \$\endgroup\$
    – Itai
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 1:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ My Canon 40D varies shutter speed when you use AEB in Manual mode. This is great for HDR when you have a huge dynamic range. \$\endgroup\$
    – Paul Cezanne
    Commented Jun 29, 2012 at 10:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ Interesting... I've never tried AEB in manual mode, and I have a 7D and 5D mark III, so I don't know what they'd do. But my gut feeling is why would you want to? (M)anual mode is all about you controlling the exposure. The A in AEB is for Automatic, meaning the camera controls part of the exposure there. I don't understand why this would be a deal breaker for you -- AEB should really be used in Av mode only IMHO because you may vary the shutter speed without real issue, but you'd want to keep the same DoF otherwise the resulting pic would look weird... ? (Just my humble opinion) :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Mike
    Commented Oct 16, 2012 at 10:18
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That also happens in other Canon models. My guess is that when using AEB in other modes (P/A/S), the camera knows that you want one of the parameters (aperture or shutter speed) fixed, so AEB can use the other (and also ISO) to bracket correctly without interfering with your initial intention. As far as I could test, AEB on P mode also fixes the aperture, just as AEB in A mode.

If you need to bracket in M mode, choose which parameter is more important to you (aperture or shutter speed) and switch to the corresponding mode (A or S) to use AEB. OTOH, on the A and S modes you maybe limited in the range available for shutter speed, so long exposures won't be bracket.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You got exactly one problem with A mode for example, shutter-speed is limited to 1s. So automatically bracketing in low-light without changing aperture is not possible. Also as @tenmiles said, you can bump the camera while changing the exposure manually, particularly with the G1 X which as strong detents on the EC dial. This slight shake can reduce the quality of images if one is bracketing for HDR or Exposure-Fusion for example. \$\endgroup\$
    – Itai
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 1:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ One option would be to try using CHDK (chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK) in order to allow longer exposure times in A mode for example. Keep in mind that I don't know for sure if that would work and that the G1X version of CHDK is still in alpha at this moment. \$\endgroup\$
    – André Carregal
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 8:38
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I don't get this conversation at all? In AEB you either want the aperture (usually) or shutter to remain constant so use Av or Tv. Problem fixed!

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    \$\begingroup\$ Unfortunately not, in Av and Tv mode the camera still meters, so the exposure changes. The use case is to create an HDR panorama, you want all the frames to have exactly the same metering, so you use M mode but then you need AEB to quickly bracket for you. One can do it manually of course, but that's a pain and more risk shaking the camera between shots which greatly increases the changes of HDR not merging correctly. \$\endgroup\$
    – Itai
    Commented Dec 7, 2016 at 22:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ With Canon cameras the meter reading is locked in for all three shots before the first shot. So your -1, 0, +1 or -2, 0, +2 series will always be evenly spaced. You can also combine AEB with EC to get, for example, a -3, -1, +1 series, a -5, -2, +1, or a -1, +1, +3 series, etc.. Most of the newer 1, 5, 7, and xoD series also allow AEB in manual mode centered around the manually selected exposure value. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 17:11

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