New D3100 over exposing

garry71

garry71

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Garry
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Bought a D3100 from Currys yesterday, and not too impressed with it.

These shots below were taken on auto.
It over exposes with both the kit lens, and a Tamron AF-D lens.
I can get proper exposures on manual, but it's hit and miss as the camera metering shows a wrong reading.

I'll have to take it back, so how do I put my case in the shop, as I'm never any good at getting my own way? Should I accept an exchange, or just get a refund?

Cheers
Garry


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Golly. They do look over exposed.

Sorry to ask the obvious... but what metering mode is it set to? Is it possible it's set to spot or centre weighted and is basing it's decision off a relatively small darker area? What's it like on evaluative?

Are you sure there's no exposure compensation dialed in? Is the little cursor smack in the middle of the exposure scale when you take the shot?

Sorry if the exposure terms don't make sense but I'm a Canon / Panny shooter and Nikon might use slightly different terms.

If it is a duffer rather than a little user error I think I'd be happy with an exchange but maybe you could give the new one a try in the shop?
 
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The exif of all 3 show matrix metering, it might worth trying spot metering or shooting in a less bright situation to confirm it is over exposing.
 
Just thought of something else...

Is anything blinking when you take the shot?

If you're running out of shutter speed / aperture that could account for it, if the scene is very bright.

Basically, check everything :D Good luck.
 
Looking at the exif data I was surprised to see that the 2nd and 3rd images were taken with rather slow shutter speeds - much slower than the first. Not sure that's relevant unless it really was bright at the time you took the shots.

It would be worth checking that you haven't inadvertently dialed in some positive exposure compensation.
 
scottthehat said:
why the camera should do the job ok. As said it seems to have chosen a slow shutter speed and high iso. Have you tried reseting the camera.
Click to expand...

Because, the "stupid modes" (AKA as anything that isn't A/P S/P or M) on Nikon cameras, effect everything. By fixing the ISO, and aperture, the OP has half a chance of figuring out where the issue lays, because the only thing that will be happening is the shutter speed will be changing as the exposure system works out what to set it for for the scene

As part of the process of figuring it out, it might be worth moving away from matrix metering, and shooting (without recomposing) on centre weighted

When diagnosing a issue, fixing as many variables as you can is always the way to go
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Went back to Currys, but they reckon the camera is spot on!

This one is in aperture priority, at iso 200, spot metered.

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I wouldn't use spot for that shot as it's a dark bird against a bright background and that could explain the problem in this shot but I don't know what's made the camera select the settings that it's used in the others.

Time for a thorough read of the manual?
 
OK shoot something that isnt harshly backlit... i.e. a object in the shade

The bird itself isnt too overexposed, you are getting there
 
Richard King said:
Because, the "stupid modes" (AKA as anything that isn't A/P S/P or M) on Nikon cameras, effect everything. By fixing the ISO, and aperture, the OP has half a chance of figuring out where the issue lays, because the only thing that will be happening is the shutter speed will be changing as the exposure system works out what to set it for for the scene

As part of the process of figuring it out, it might be worth moving away from matrix metering, and shooting (without recomposing) on centre weighted

When diagnosing a issue, fixing as many variables as you can is always the way to go
Click to expand...
sorrry richard but i think your abit out of order here lots of people on here and calling them stupid does not help anyone. and a dslr should be able to be put in auto mode and get the pictur 99% 99% of the time(take the right expose) maybe not the right way things me or you would do it but thats whats its all about.
Gary does over expose just out side what are pics like inside in auto mode, also be carefull using spot metering.
Use matrix inside can you take some sample pics.
 
scottthehat said:
sorrry richard but i think your abit out of order here lots of people on here and calling them stupid does not help anyone. and a dslr should be able to be put in auto mode and get the pictur 99% 99% of the time(take the right expose) maybe not the right way things me or you would do it but thats whats its all about.
Gary does over expose just out side what are pics like inside in auto mode, also be carefull using spot metering.
Use matrix inside can you take some sample pics.
Click to expand...

Well if auto slaps it on iso 12800...
 
Richard King said:
Well if auto slaps it on iso 12800...
Click to expand...

Auto won't select ISO 12800 as it is an extended mode, must have been user error (or someone at Currys set it like that).

FWIW, the spot metered pic is just how it should be, the grey of the pigeon has come out around mid-grey.
 
Nawty said:
Auto won't select ISO 12800 as it is an extended mode, must have been user error (or someone at Currys set it like that).

FWIW, the spot metered pic is just how it should be, the grey of the pigeon has come out around mid-grey.
Click to expand...

As I said, switch off all the settings being determined automatically by the camera

I thought the same about the pigeon too
 
D5000 here

in the menu set ISO = 200

turn Auto ISO = OFF...this now 'locks' the ISO at 200

use Aperture at say f5.6 and shot some scenes...not in 'scene mode'

check EV value = 0

if the camera cannot cope with that - it's faulty

[your camera menu settings may vary]

.........................................................................................

oops.. Richard said this in post#8...:exit:
 
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Thanks again everyone.

I'll have a walkabout next Saturday to get some more varied shots.
I did try out some different iso settings, but on fully auto it does the same thing outdoors with even lighting.

Indoors with flash, it seems better but it's about what I'd expect from a cheap compact, not a DSLR.

I've used slide film with a manual Practika and got good exposures on similar shots to the ones I've posted here, but I'll try some of your suggestions on Saturday.
 
garry71 said:
Thanks again everyone.

I'll have a walkabout next Saturday to get some more varied shots.
I did try out some different iso settings, but on fully auto it does the same thing outdoors with even lighting.

Indoors with flash, it seems better but it's about what I'd expect from a cheap compact, not a DSLR.

I've used slide film with a manual Practika and got good exposures on similar shots to the ones I've posted here, but I'll try some of your suggestions on Saturday.
Click to expand...

I would not leave it too long if you want to return the camera for a refund.

As everybody else has said check you settings, and take some pictures with the iso set somewhere between 200 & 1600 without the harsh lighting.
The camera should not select such a high iso on its own.
 
I, too, own the D3100, and straight away noticed the tendency to over expose things when on auto mode. Now, I was able to counteract that effect by turning the dial to P, set iso to 200 and then stop down the exposure to -0.3 or -0.7. I even created a thread in here highlighting that "issue".

But there has been occasions when I'd rather much rely on the auto mode during moments of high activity, such as carnivals and street events where I didn't want to spend more time fiddling about with the camera's setting and thus missing out on potential "money shots" in the process, and that's where the D3100 did struggle. I had the D40 and it was a superb "point and shoot" camera when that was on the auto setting.

However, on a positive note, I like my night time long exposure shoots and with the D3100 set to manual for that kind of thing, I was very impressed with the results! And like what has already been mentioned, it is an excellent indoors camera (with the SB400 attached to it) and like overcast conditions. Just that it doesn't seem to like bright lightning.
 
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Just a quick update.
After a couple of weeks of working it out with my slow brain, it seems that the D3100 doesn't like my Tamron 100-300 AF-D lens which I had for my F50 film camera. Also a large dose of pilot error on an unfamiliar camera didn't help.

At 100mm, the exposures are ok, but if I go above 135mm, I get the overexposure. I can work around it by compensating, but it means messing about with settings each time just because I've adjusted the zoom, which gets really trying after a few shots.

The D3100 with the kit lens does tend to make the pictures a bit too bright for my tastes, but I've started shooting RAW only now which gives more control in PP anyway.

I did a couple of shots in Currys today with a Nikon 55-200 to compare to the Tamron, and the Nikon shots looked properly exposed to me.

Tamron shot.

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Nikon shot.
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So, I'll be getting either the Nikon 70-300, or the Tamron SP 70-300 sometime soon.

Cheers
Garry
 
Try shooting with the Tamron at full aperture. You'll need to set your camera to aperture priority (Av) to do this. If the exposure is ok but gets worse when you use smaller aperture settings (higher F-numbers) then the aperture leaves in the lens are probably sticking.
 
Sometimes lenses do overexpose as well, important to remember. Additionally, meters are not entirely infallible, and the pigeon one is IMO correctly metered - the back lighting is strong, so either you get a normal sky and very dark pigeon, or a normal pigeon and an incredibly light sky.
 
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