Beginner Panasonic Lumix G - help please?

[Jenthelibrarian]

I had an original G1 camera, always got on fine with it from the word go. Recently replaced it with a lovely new G7. For reasons I cannot fathom the viewfinder and screen look very 'bright' and photos are coming out very over-exposed in Intelligent Auto mode.
Am I being incredibly silly and missing something in setting it up, or have I got a duff one?

 

[woof woof]

I've never used intelligent auto mode so I can't really help but... the first thing I'd look for if getting over exposed shots is if exposure compensation has been dialled in, if that's possible with this mode. I'd look to see if the exposure cursor is in the middles of the scale or not.

 

[Cagey75]

I had an original G1 camera, always got on fine with it from the word go. Recently replaced it with a lovely new G7. For reasons I cannot fathom the viewfinder and screen look very 'bright' and photos are coming out very over-exposed in Intelligent Auto mode.
Am I being incredibly silly and missing something in setting it up, or have I got a duff one?

I would suggest using any mode besides 'iAuto' to be Frank. Take some control over your exposure, stick it in A mode even and use exposure compensation, limit the auto iso to your liking where needed. I would never trust a full on auto mode like that. I use a G80, pretty much the same controls, and have never touched this iAuto

[edit] just tried iAuto out and it's just as terrible as I imagined. And I think Alan is correct, your exp comp must be well over. Check the Fn1 button on top of the camera when in this mode, hold it down and check the bottom of your LCD screen - what is the exposure compensation set to? I'm guessing it's +2 or so, use the rear thumb wheel to set that back to 0 or even my preferred -1/3 and then check how it's performing.

 

[tijuana taxi]

All of the above from me too along with if in doubt reset the camera to factory default.
Maybe try it in P mode, camera still selects the settings, but you have the option to change them

 

[nandbytes]

You guys aren't exactly answering his/her question... If they want to use auto that's up to them.
Also I thought in auto mode the exp compensation didn't matter since camera just ignores it.

@OP - what scene are you shooting? Perhaps it's best to try it out on a evenly lit scene during the day in good sunlight. Also posting some examples with EXIF would help a lot to work out what the camera is "thinking".

 

[woof woof]

I've just checked and you can indeed dial in exposure compensation in ia mode and when you do it does indeed make the scene brighter. So that's the first thing I'd check

 

[Cagey75]

You guys aren't exactly answering his/her question... If they want to use auto that's up to them.
Also I thought in auto mode the exp compensation didn't matter since camera just ignores it.

@OP - what scene are you shooting? Perhaps it's best to try it out on a evenly lit scene during the day in good sunlight. Also posting some examples with EXIF would help a lot to work out what the camera is "thinking".

I not only answered it at the same time but went and physically tried it out to see if exp comp was available in that mode. You clearly didn't read my full post, edited with the relevant info 20 mins before yours. Every review I watched when deciding on the G80 told me to avoid that mode as it's highly unreliable. You thought wrong either way, nobody said not to use Auto, just specifically 'iAuto' and you're only guessing to boot. The scene doesn't matter, in this mode the camera is doing everything BUT exp comp, that is the only control you have. You can't even change the focusing, the camera chooses random things to latch on to. It is less of a headache to use P or A mode, that's just fact, and is helpful. If someone posted same but using an A7III I bet you'd suggest them not use that mode, it's no different here.

I've just checked and you can indeed dial in exposure compensation in ia mode and when you do it does indeed make the scene brighter. So that's the first thing I'd check

Already checked above, almost identical camera bar the IBIS and yup, exp comp has to be the fault here

 

[tijuana taxi]

Just had a quick read and iAuto has something called Backlight Compensation, below is from the Panasonic manual.
Could it be this kicking in?
Backlight compensation is automatically activated in Intelligent Auto Plus Mode or Intelligent Auto Mode. Backlight is a condition where a light shines from behind a subject. When there is a backlight, the subject appears darker and the camera will automatically attempt to correct it by increasing the brightness of the picture.

 

[Cagey75]

Just had a quick read and iAuto has something called Backlight Compensation, below is from the Panasonic manual.
Could it be this kicking in?
Backlight compensation is automatically activated in Intelligent Auto Plus Mode or Intelligent Auto Mode. Backlight is a condition where a light shines from behind a subject. When there is a backlight, the subject appears darker and the camera will automatically attempt to correct it by increasing the brightness of the picture.

I aimed it at various light sources - dimly lit kitchen, out the window at the sky, at the grass to back inside - what I did notice was it completely ignores the aperture. I left it at 2.8 and it didn't change once, all it seems to do is change ISO [which it doesn't display, just iISO] shutter speed and multi-AF that seems really confused. Exp comp is the only control you got and it does improve things a lot once set correct.

I would avoid this mode like the plague, any other auto or semi auto mode is far superior and that's got nothing to do with OP's preference for auto, don't know where Nan came flailing in with that one, there's simple better auto modes besides as suggested.

 

[tijuana taxi]

Just tried my GX9 with 25mm f1.4 on iAuto and to be fair it made a pretty good job of it
Obviously wants to use it wide open although it did move briefly to 1.6 and 1.8
Worst bit for me was the auto selection of focus points, but the end result wasn't too bad at all
Probably never use it again, but better than I thought it would be

So from my little dabble I would agree that its probably exp comp a bit high.
Might still be a good idea to factory reset in case anything else has got changed inadvertently

 

[Jenthelibrarian]

Thanks very much to everyone who has so kindly replied.
It was indeed the exposure compensation, about which I was a bit clueless.
My excuses for the Auto mode: brand new camera, trip away with my dear husband, thought I'd just pop off a load of quick 'Look! We went to Venice!' shots without making him hang about while I 'did' photography.
I'm a creative rather than a techie and the book of destructions is s***e
Shame about Venice, but thanks again!

 

[tijuana taxi]

Thanks very much to everyone who has so kindly replied.
It was indeed the exposure compensation, about which I was a bit clueless.
My excuses for the Auto mode: brand new camera, trip away with my dear husband, thought I'd just pop off a load of quick 'Look! We went to Venice!' shots without making him hang about while I 'did' photography.
I'm a creative rather than a techie and the book of destructions is s***e
Shame about Venice, but thanks again!

Glad it got you sorted Jen, maybe in hindsight not the best time for a new camera
Perhaps one of the extended manual books might be handy, something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A5YHD78/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

 

[Cagey75]

Thanks very much to everyone who has so kindly replied.
It was indeed the exposure compensation, about which I was a bit clueless.
My excuses for the Auto mode: brand new camera, trip away with my dear husband, thought I'd just pop off a load of quick 'Look! We went to Venice!' shots without making him hang about while I 'did' photography.
I'm a creative rather than a techie and the book of destructions is s***e
Shame about Venice, but thanks again!

Did you take many images like this? Are they recoverable at all? Shame about that, maybe an excuse to return! :O

Auto modes in general are just fine for this purpose, just this iAuto mode takes too much control from the user without any guide and as you found, ends up more confusing as can't figure out what's wrong. Something seemingly as simple as checking the exposure comp can be baffling to someone who's never had to use it. In other modes, like P mode, you get much the same control but it seems to do a much better job, it tends to adjust exposures on the fly by making across the board adjustments including the aperture in very bright scenarios. It's odd that the exp comp would be set so high in iAuto by default :/

Just checked this mode again but with a variable lens this time and it does change aperture, but this time with wild jumps from F4 to F11 above changing shutter speed it seems. The first time I checked was with a constant aperture 2.8 and I guess the camera had decided that was good to go, no matter how bright it got

 

[Jenthelibrarian]

Oooh! Thanks! I had a similar idiot-guide for the old camera, will order today and get my act together before we go anywhere else.
I'd had the dear old G1 for 9+ years and have all my fave settings saved or easily found and the new one is both unfamiliar and slightly scary

 

[Cagey75]

Oooh! Thanks! I had a similar idiot-guide for the old camera, will order today and get my act together before we go anywhere else.
I'd had the dear old G1 for 9+ years and have all my fave settings saved or easily found and the new one is both unfamiliar and slightly scary

What mode did you most use on the G1? Ignore the extras on the G7 for now and stick to the basics you might have used on there. But any chance you get watch a few videos on the G7 for setting up on youtube, that's what I did for the G80, I'd come directly from using Nikon and Fuji cameras, had never used a Panasonic and was a bit lost at first. I sat down for a couple hours with the camera and just played with just about every setting in the menu ... then I hit the tutorials read the manual?? pffft .. course I thought I would just figure it out but we all need some help at some point, even us stubborn folk.

The G80 is pretty much identical in layout to the G7 so when you get stuck again don't be afraid to ask on here first, if I can't help I might be able to point you to something that can. ALso check out the Panasonic thread in this section - You've better chance of getting hands on experience in general asking in there.