P3D Exposure compensation

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have a question for Mark and others that has been in my mind for some
time now.  For many years I have been using manual exposure cameras for
3d, following the "sunny day rule" and derivatives and an incident light
meter to determine exposure.  Now with the S1, I use it in auto exposure
mode all the time and I have been very pleased with the exposures.

I have been trained to think in terms of incident light determining the
exposure.  So on a sunny day w/100 film, f16 @ 1/100 is the correct
exposure, no matter how reflective your subject is.  My S1 of course
will expose for the standard gray.  Do I need to compensate when I
have unusually dark or light subjects?

Example 1: I am in Athens photographing the steps of the famous Stadium
where the first Olympic games were held in 1897 (yes Mark, STEPS!)  The
steps are made of white marble and they are WHITE.  I use the S1 in auto
mode and the X4 at "sunny day" mode.  The steps in the X4 shot look WHITE.
The picture from the S1 comes a bit darker.  I prefer the darker S1
picture because it is more saturated and it looks a bit like very early
morning or late afternoon light.

Example 2:  I am photographing BLACK bears at the zoo with twin SLR
cameras.  Under "sunny day"/incident light exposure, the bears come out
BLACK w/no details.  I overexpose by 2 f-stops.  Finally!!!  You can
see details in their face!  Everything else around them is overexposed
but there is detail where there should be.

These examples lead me to believe that the incident light approach will
not give the best results and you need to take the subject into account.
Automatic exposure will work better and no compensation is required.

Am I doing something wrong?

George Themelis