If you have a DSLR or a film camera (...like I do), you have settings like shutter priority, aparture priority, etc and you also have manual mode. The point of the manual mode is that whatever values I pick for shutter, aparture, and exposure, they will STAY THE SAME VALUE!

Action 3 does have a manual mode but don't understand what's the point of it if the EV still changes? Try this...

For this test, I'm going to use photo mode. (Yes, I understand, nobody uses photo mode on an action camera and I'm the only one in the world who does. Apologies. Now get with the program and try this...)

• Set the camera to Photo mode
• Set Pro mode
• Select the Exposure page and set Manual mode. If you set the ISO a single value (eg 100) you can only adjust the shutter value. But if you set the ISO to a range (eg 100-200) you can change both the shutter and the EV value. So set the ISO to 100-200.
• Set the exposure to say 1 second (doesn't matter we don't create artwork here)
• Tap the EV value at the top-left and set it to, say -3.0
• Confirm
  

So now when you tap on the shutter value, you should see this:



And when you tap on the EV value, you should see this:



Make sure you tap on the EV value (so that is selected) before you tap Confirm. And now take a photo. Look at the EXIF info. The EV is NOT -3.0! (In my case it was 0.0, yours might differ).

Now go back to the Exposure page setting. By default the shutter speed will be selected. You can see the EV value is NOT -3.0 as you set it before but a value depends on the scene lighting. However, when you tap on the EV value, it DOES show the -3.0 (as you have set it to -3.0) and the shutter also show 1 second as you've set it.

So the question... why the EV value doesn't keep its value when you take a photo but the shutter speed does?

If I understand correctly, the EV is the 'average' the camera will aim for.
Now in manual mode it should not do anything but change how your meter will react, but I have to say I have never tried with my Mini 2.

Montfrooij Posted at 11-21 01:01
If I understand correctly, the EV is the 'average' the camera will aim for.
Now in manual mode it should not do anything but change how your meter will react, but I have to say I have never tried with my Mini 2.

Well, in the EXIF info there's a field called "Exposure Bias". That should reflect the EV that you have set. But it doesn't. In which case what is the point of setting it? That's what MANUAL mode supposed to be. Keep the values what you set them to regardless how dark or blown out the image will be. But I don't understand why it doesn't work like this in case of this camera.

osmonauta Posted at 11-21 01:06
Well, in the EXIF info there's a field called "Exposure Bias". That should reflect the EV that you have set. But it doesn't. In which case what is the point of setting it? That's what MANUAL mode supposed to be. Keep the values what you set them to regardless how dark or blown out the image will be. But I don't understand why it doesn't work like this in case of this camera.

I would personally not trust the exif 100%.
There are know issues with the exif data not reflecting what the camera settings were.
Not sure if that is the case here btw.
I don't have an action 3 to test, but I can check what the mini 2 does.

Well, in case of an iPhone, sure, I am not sure if the EXIF is correct and to what extent, since the iPhone (at least on the iPhone 7) there are no values that you can set. But in case of other digital cameras, and the Action 3, the “main” values seem to ve correct. Eg ISO, shutter speed all are what I set them to.

osmonauta Posted at 11-21 01:36
Well, in case of an iPhone, sure, I am not sure if the EXIF is correct and to what extent, since the iPhone (at least on the iPhone 7) there are no values that you can set. But in case of other digital cameras, and the Action 3, the “main” values seem to ve correct. Eg ISO, shutter speed all are what I set them to.

I know for sure that (for example) height is not stored correctly on my mini 2.
And I remember that AEB shots had issues too. I think it was the EV value that was not 'as expected' but so far I never bothered looking into it, since I can make it work how I want it to work. Even in manual mode.  

My guess is that with an ISO range (i.e. Auto ISO) the camera is not in manual mode, but instead tries to expose for the given shutter speed.  

I never like the way  DJI  controls things, as well GoPro.    my 2-points. thank you for hte Observation.   guess that is how it works

fish sticks Posted at 11-21 03:01
My guess is that with an ISO range (i.e. Auto ISO) the camera is not in manual mode, but instead tries to expose for the given shutter speed.

Not sure if you own the camera, but the only way you can control BOTH the shutter AND the EV is if you specify an ISO range. And you can only do that in manual mode. If you select a SINGLE ISO value, you can only control the shutter.

Hoping maybe support could chime in, after all they made the camera and they should know why it does what it does.

I guess EV should be greyed out

johansenfoto Posted at 11-21 06:49
I guess EV should be greyed out

It is when you switch to single value ISO mode.

Hi, Osmonauta. Thank you for reaching out. The EV value can be adjusted manually under Auto mode and fix it to a certain value.  If you are using the Manual mode, the EV value will be changed along with the combination changes of ISO and shutter speed therefore, it can't be set to a certain value. Thank you for your kind understanding and support.

A fundamental misunderstanding which is surprising if you use other high end cameras
In the Auto mode you adjust the EV setting to what you want and it will try to reach that value - even if you restrict ISO or set shutter manually. The value will remain on what you set but if it's too dark or too bright the camera might not always be able to handle it.
In full Manual it indicates what  the EV will be for the scene in frame at your given settings so the number will change according to how bright your scene is e.g. how much sky is in frame.
Then you might want to manually adjust to achieve your desired EV

ISO 100-**** can control ev, but once you lock a 100 only the ev is chosen for you.