Why's my D7000 Underexposing?

Zukabak

Zukabak

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Name
Chris
Edit My Images
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Hi Folks,

As the proud owner of a 5 day old D7000, I've hit a bit of a stumbling block!
It appears that the meter wants to constantly underexpose in aperture priority mode.. it doesn't matter what metering mode I use, I get the same results.

I'm a gig/live music photographer, so this test is pretty much what I do - dark subject, fairly strong backlight 'tricking' the meter.. but spot metering should stop this, only it doesn't!

Here's a quick & dirty test, using a blue box ontop of a candle.
ISO set (no Auto ISO), Center Focus point only:

First - Using Matrix Mode
7202077230_7f17c8866e.jpg
[/url] Matrix by Chris.Bibby, on Flickr[/IMG]

Then, Center Weighted

Center_Weight by Chris.Bibby, on Flickr

Finally, spot

Spot by Chris.Bibby, on Flickr

I'd expect the Centre Weighted to happily burn the light from the windows in order to expose the box correctly.
I've gone manual here for what I'd expect it to look like, as this is how my previous D90 would have looked under these conditions:


Manual by Chris.Bibby, on Flickr

Any ideas what's going on?
 
Strange one. The exif data isn't present on those shots. Do you know if the camera is definitely changing metering modes when you ask it to? The exif data usually says which metering mode was used. Rather than underexposing as such, they all more or less look like I'd expect to look with matrix metering only.
 
It says it is, but it doesn't look like it does anything..
It selects the same SS in Matrix as it does in spot!

Exif Data is (in order):

Camera Info
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode:
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: f/2
Shutter Speed: 1/4000s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
Flash
Device:
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: OFF

*****************************************
Camera Info
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode:
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: f/2
Shutter Speed: 1/8000s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Center-Weighted
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
Flash
Device:
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: OFF

******************************************
Camera Info
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode:
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: f/2
Shutter Speed: 1/4000s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Spot
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
Flash
Device:
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: OFF

******************************************
Camera Info
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode:
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: f/2
Shutter Speed: 1/400s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Spot
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
Flash
Device:
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: OFF
 
What point is your AF selected to (and thus, what point is it spot metering off?)
 
freecom2 said:
What point is your AF selected to (and thus, what point is it spot metering off?)
Click to expand...
"ISO set (no Auto ISO), Center Focus point only:"

Simple as I can get it basically, I never bother the 39 point AF etc etc..
Centre focus point, using that to meter. I've even tried reducing the size of the centre metering point from it's default (of 6mm IIRC?) to the smallest (2.8mm?).. again, no difference.
 
Zukabak said:
Erm, not sure.. possibly. Why?
Click to expand...

Because if it's locked at 4000/8000 then it will be underexposing if it needs to be at 1/400 as per your correctly exposed shot.

I haven't got a clue if it's the answer, it's just a suggestion.
 
depicted said:
Because if it's locked at 4000/8000 then it will be underexposing if it needs to be at 1/400 as per your correctly exposed shot.

I haven't got a clue if it's the answer, it's just a suggestion.
Click to expand...
No, it's not locked at all.. taking a shot of something that's not strongly backlit will quite happily drop the SS to something much slower.

I genuinely think the metering's goosed. Might have to go back.
 
Zukabak said:
No, it's not locked at all.. taking a shot of something that's not strongly backlit will quite happily drop the SS to something much slower.

I genuinely think the metering's goosed. Might have to go back.
Click to expand...

Does sound like it might be fubar'd. Does this always happen in those lighting conditions? Does it work ok in other conditions?
 
The matrix exposure is as expected and even the centre weighted reading should go something like this, depending on how much of the centre you have selected in the options. The spot reading is the crazy one unless the spot was taken from the window....

Can you do a hard reset? It could be that the metering options are set to something other than normal. Was it a demo or brand, brand new body?

Also, underexposing is a Nikon quirk :lol:

UPDATE: I've just done a similar shot of a child's shoe on my windowsill with the sky in the background. The matrix setting exposed it pretty bang-on, the centre weighted exposed it about two stops under and the spot exposure total burned the window out and over exposed the shoe by about half a stop, really opening the shadows up. My brain hurts to think about this.... :lol:
 
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If the spot meter was metered from the window then you'd get the above exposure. Looks entirely predictable to me, especially if active d-lighting is off. If it is on I think it boosts the shadows more so you don't get such a silhouette.
 
Before jumping to conclusions, shoot a normal scene, or preferably a grey card if you have one, and see what you get.

What's been posted above is exactly what you'd expect from a heavily back lit subject, regardless of mode, ie the main area rendered grey. The composition, especially with vertical framing, is sufficiently unusual to fox a matrix system.
 
Do a full reset on the camera using the in-built menu - not using the holding the 3 button command.

There is an option i think where it raises or lowers the default threshold for exposing - a camera "reset" will reset this also.
 
HoppyUK said:
Before jumping to conclusions, shoot a normal scene, or preferably a grey card if you have one, and see what you get.

What's been posted above is exactly what you'd expect from a heavily back lit subject, regardless of mode, ie the main area rendered grey. The composition, especially with vertical framing, is sufficiently unusual to fox a matrix system.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same myself to be honest........

A lot of the time, the metering on a DSLR will be pretty much spot on but in cases where there are extremes of light/dark then the photographer needs to take control of the situation and dial in the settings they want for any given scenario.

So I would agree with the above...... shoot something more "normal" with even(ish) light and a neutral colour and see what the metering does.
 
I'm a gig photographer and I don't think I would be using that method to test the exposure on a new camera.

I'd probably go shoot a few gigs as I learn how to use it

btw, the exposure differential in your test shots is quite a lot more than I would expect at a gig...
 
RichardtheSane said:
I'm a gig photographer and I don't think I would be using that method to test the exposure on a new camera.

I'd probably go shoot a few gigs as I learn how to use it

btw, the exposure differential in your test shots is quite a lot more than I would expect at a gig...
Click to expand...

Yes, I forgot about the gigs bit!

Regardless of how the camera's working, no exposure system is going to cope reliably with the extremes of light/dark at a gig, and the constantly changing show is another problem.

Manual, spot, then trial and error mixed with experience to get it right for the different lighting set ups.
 
RichardtheSane said:
I'm a gig photographer and I don't think I would be using that method to test the exposure on a new camera.

I'd probably go shoot a few gigs as I learn how to use it

btw, the exposure differential in your test shots is quite a lot more than I would expect at a gig...
Click to expand...

I'd normally do exactly the same, however I simply haven't got the time.
It'll be getting used in anger at the weekend so I needed to familiarise myself with any little quirks and differences between this and my (now sold) D90.

I shoot gigs in 100% manual mode anyway, but it was something I'd effectively stumbled across whilst familiarising myself with the new body.

************* ************* ************

I think I've gotten to the bottom of it anyway, although I was metering off the blue cufflink box, I simply don't think it was a big enough 'target' for the spot metering area.
Metering off the dark candle it was sat on saw a nice (and expected!) drop in SS to around 1/160.. quite the difference from 1/8000th!

Combo of new kit & user error I guess, but thanks for the input!
 
Just did a quick experiment with my D700 with similar conditions though admittedly less bright back lighting and a bigger target for the spot meter.

Aperture priority, centre focus point over the plant pot.


matrix by G.A.D, on Flickr


centre weighted by G.A.D, on Flickr


spot by G.A.D, on Flickr

This is more in line with what I would have expected to see on your initial shots though I'm not quite sure why the centre weighted shot was the most under exposed. Either way, the spot metered shot is clearly exposed better for the plant pot as you would expect.

On a side note, I think I should probably clean my windows.
 
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