The Camera's Exposure compensation function explained

Exposure compensation is a camera function that lets you override the camera's automatic exposure control to lighten or darken a photo or elements in the photos.
You can lighten or darken the exposure in increments up to a number of stops. The typical basic option is + or – two stops in half or third stop steps.

The photo on the right is of a small black ornament first placed on a white background and then on a black background. A camera tries to produce an average exposure from every scene. It scrambles the tonal values and provides an exposure that would result in the scrambled tones recording at around 18% grey.  So our white background is darkened and becomes grey and our black background lightens to become grey. In both cases that affects the ornament too.

With the light background we need to over expose using the + compensation (+1 was fine) and with the dark background we need to under expose using the – compensation. The Kodak Easyshare Z950 only had +2 which clearly wasn't enough so the background and ornament are still too light. On this camera I could have switched to spot meter, manual exposure or used exposure lock to obtain a better result, but some cameras might not have this luxury.

What exposure compensation is good for
Correcting bad exposures caused by highly reflective and light subjects such as snow and sand where the camera's exposure system would be fooled into making the shot dark.
Spot lit subjects where the background is dark and a camera would make the face too bright.
Subjects that are small in the frame and brighter or darker than the background which would influence the exposure.

Good points
Modern digital cameras show the affect of compensation as you adjust it so it's easy to use.
This function will improve your automatic shots if you use it wisely.
Ensures a better result in difficult exposure conditions.

Bad Points
Another control to fiddle with.
Not great for grab shots unless you prepare in advance.

Compact Cameras with exposure compensation
These days there are too many to mention - so here are just a few click the links to our full reviews:
Canon IXUS 200 IS +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Canon Powershot D10 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Canon Powershot G11 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Casio Exilim EX-H10 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Fujifilm FinePix F70 EXR +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Kodak Easyshare Z950 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Nikon Coolpix S1000pj +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Nikon Coolpix S630 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Olympus Mju 5000 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX60 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Panasonic DMC-TZ7  +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Panasonic DMC-FP8  +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Panasonic LX3 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 +/- 3.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Pentax Optio P70 +/- 3.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Ricoh GRD III +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Samsung WB500 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Samsung ST550 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Sigma DP2 +/- 3.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S930 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W210 +/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step

Do you have a compact with exposure compensation? Let us know which one and if you find the feature useful. Please add your comments below.