Faulty Lens or Camera body?

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Mark936

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Mark
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Hi all, please accept my apologies for joining the forum and immediately asking questions but i've got a problem with my D70 and i was wondering if anybody can give any advice or suggestions before i start spending money. I purchased the camera second hand about 9 months ago, i think its a brilliant piece of kit and have never had any problems apart from the following. Firstly, the camera doesn't underexpose the pictures, OK maybe 0.3+ or 0.7+ compensation is sometimes needed but that's me being fussy!, but i have problems getting decent exposure settings. A friend of mine with similar camera and lens to the same spec can stand beside me and we take an identical picture of a moving subject at the same focal length and we have very different exposure settings. I struggle away with ISO1200 1/500 and f5.6, for example, and my mate will be at ISO800 1/1000 and f8? It's as if my lens is struggling to get the light through to the camera body well enough? I have compared my camera to many other peoples and i'm always behind with the range of exposure settings that i have available. Sometimes i need the shutter speed to get the shot i require so i have the shutter priority set to the meters maximum for the available light. At this point the camera is down to the largest aperture and it only takes the light to drop slightly to make me run the risk of underexposing. I'm only able to get to the lower ISO numbers on very light days. My lens is a Sigma 18-125mm DC lens.



Sorry for the long explanation and thanks for reading.
 
are you both using the same lens?

perhaps try swapping your lenses to see if they are your problem.

failing that, reset the camera to factory settings might help.

are we comparing shots on the same comp/processed or rear screen?
 
You haven't got a filter on the lens have you?
 
Hi, thanks for the responses.

Our lenses are both to the same spec but they are not changeable, mine is Nikon and my mates is a Canon mount. I do have a friend with a D70 who is working away at the moment and is prepared to interchange the lenses to see if the fault follows the camera or the lens?

We have compared shots by histograms and looking at them unprocessed and on the same PC screen

I dont have any filters fitted to the lens.

I'll try restoring to the factory settings and see if that makes a difference.

The problem is like the lens isn't going down to its maximum aperture possible or the camera thinks the aperture is set to maximum but actually it isnt, not sure if such a fault can exist?

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.
 
sorry but i dont think nikon and canon taking same pic is actually a good way of testing if your nikon os performing right.

post a picture with full exif would give us an insight :)
 
Sorry to be a pain, i appreciate how difficult it is to try appreciate a fault when reading someone else's text. If i posted a picture it would just look like a correctly exposed image. The problem lies with the exposure settings i used to take the image. For example, on a nice bright day i have to use, for expamle, ISO800 1/500 at f5.6 to take a moving subject (In this case shutter priority). I would expect setting to be more like ISO400 1/1000 f8? If i'm out on a dull day i'm struggling to freeze basic moving subjects when similar spec camera's Canon or Nikon etc are coping with ease. The camera body must be metering the light it receives correctly in order to be able to give me a correctly exposed shot? Any help or suggestions would be gratefully received.
 
I'd start but setting both cameras to the same ISO and shutter speed (in Tv mode) or aperture (in Av mode) and then compare results
oh and same lens, focal length
and point at the same subject
 
Seeing a shot with the exif data will provide us with some extra information that might help narrow down the possible causes.

If the camera is exposing the shots correctly, albeit strangely, then it does suggest something in the light path is absorbing the light. Have you tried taking the lens off and looking through it to see if anything looks wrong? Does the image through the viewfinder look quite dim compared to your friends camera?
 
mmmcp42 - As an example, if we both set out camera's to shutter priority and have the same ISO, 800 for arguments sake, as i dial in the shutter speed 1-125, then 1-250 the camera metering system will be bringing down the aperture in order to retain the correct exposure. My camera will hit low light very quickly when compared to my friends camera. Annoyingly, we cant exchange lenses to see where the fault lies as our camera lenses are not intercahngable as mine is a Nikon, my mates a Canon. We've taken images at the same focal lengths to see if we can figure something out but i always have to drop my shutter speed to get back into the range of the light meter.

Pxl8 - I've taken the lens off to have a look and all seems ok, although i'm no expert? I will go out on a limb and say that the image in the viewfinder does look darker than what i've been used to in the past but then i've never done a direct test. I'll fish out an image that may be suitable and look into posting (when i get to my own PC later in the day) as i can now see why the exif data could be important.

Thanks for all your help
 
I think a trip to your local camera shop might help solve this one. You could either explain the problem and ask them to test your body/lens with another body/lens and compare results. Or, if they're not very helpful maybe just ask to test a lens on your body, take a couple of shots outside and then compare the results to shots with your own lens.
 
I agree a trip there will be required. I did stop at Jessops recently but unfortunately i didn't have the camera at the time. The chap in there was very helpful and started talking about "Chipped" lenses and as i purchased the camera second hand i may well have a chipped lens that could have the characterstic that i'm experiencing. I did some research into the Sigma lens that i have and the results were that it was a lens designed specifically for digital camera's. I still very much appreciate the chap's time but i'm not sure if he is correct or not. Many thanks for your help, i'll look into getting the lens or the body inspected to see if i can get the fault rectified.
 
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