Am I misunderstanding Match Total Exposure?

[Ehimetalor30807667bbir]

Am I missing something here with Match Total Exposure?
I remember a long time ago (or maybe I'm experiencing some form of Mandela effect) when I used this feature for the first time it would match the exposure to the selected frame so that all the images would be virtually the same with different exposure values. 

However these days, instead of having individual values to compensate for each image, it simply copies the value of the selected image across everything. 

Has it always been this way or am i right that it's supposed to compensate per image?

[Jao vdL]

You are right. It is supposed to take the exposure settings from the images' metadata sections and for each individual image change the exposure slider to match the topmost selected image. So typicallyt in a series of images they will each end up with different exposure sliders. This won't work if the images have no exposure setting metadata.

[Jao vdL]

And also realize that this is ONLY based on the exposure settings in camera, not on the image content, so if lighting changes you won't get similar brightness. It just looks at things like image A was shot 1/100 s, f/11, ISO 100, and Image B 1/200s, f/11, ISO 100 and therefore Image B will get a +1 EV exposure adjustment. That obviously only works if the lighting does not change between images.

[JohanElzenga]

It should work as you thought, and adapt the exposure of each image individually. However, this option is not magical. The images need to be a bit similar for it to work.

[John R Ellis]

If after reading the responses you're still  not sure you're getting the expected results, upload three sample originals to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.