Beneath the histogram, there is a bar-type exposure meter that displays a safe working exposure range in green from -1.7 stops to +2 stops along with the selected image’s deviation from the averaged exposure (0). The red area indicates overexposure and potential clipping of highlights, taking into account the extra data in the tonal range available from RAW files compared with JPEG or TIFF files. At the other end of the scale, there is a gray area that warns of underexposure and potential clipping of data in the shadows.
While underexposing is a common method to preserve highlights, a subsequent adjustment in Capture One using the Exposure slider, for example, to shift the histogram to the right, is likely to reveal "shot" noise in the shadow regions and deepest blacks. This can reveal itself as a regular pattern or banding in some cases, which can be difficult to remove entirely without adversely affecting detail.
The meter is meant as a visual aid when working with a tethered camera, but it is also useful when determining the characteristics of your own camera’s sensor.
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