A question about exposure

[Oneputt]

I tend to shoot quite a lot in aperture exposure and with both the D70 and the D2X, a lot of images seem underexposed.

If I open them in either Nikon View or Nikon Capture many appear dark. If I open them in Adobe PS (set on auto) it invariable lightens the image sometimes by as much as one and a half stops.

The question is that when shooting in aperture exposure should the image not automatically be correctly exposed?

[Pauld]

Hi Oneputt

I have a similar problem to you but mine is the opposite, the images appear correctly exposed in Nikon View and Nikon Capture but all appear underexposed in CS. I think the auto settings in CS try to prevent highlights from blowing out but it seems to be over conservative, not being a PS expert I am not sure how to turn these auto settings off.

Sorry I have not been much help but will be interested in the answer to your question.

[Matt. K]

Hi Guys
Your problems could be related to shooting in a colour mode that is different to the one you have set in your imaging software. There are different points of view as to which colour space we should be using...but for simplicity...(the beautiful is mostly simple), I shoot in sRGB and have Photoshop set to work in sRGB. Some folk are gunna scream, "No! No! You must shoot in ADOBE RGB!", well, consider their argument carefully and then go back to sRGB. Then forget about colour modes.

[the foto fanatic]

Matt
What about printing after shooting in sRGB?
Do you find that you are happy with colour reproduction and depth?
(I'm not arguing just wanting to believe your theory. It would certainly be simpler)

[Sheetshooter]

The optimal colour space in which to work is determined to a large extent by the eventual use of the images. In a closed loop of camera—>—monitor—>—printer sRGB may well be fine since all those devices function within the sRGB colourspace anyway. If you are supplying your images to third party end-users that situation may change.

To return to the original question with regard to exposure it has been my experience that both my Nikon and my Canon consistently over-exposed by 2/3rds of a stop (or more). Time has not afforded me the opportunity as yet to conclude my evaluation but I have no reason to believe that the calculations are in error to any great extent. Especially given the cross-platform similarity.

Cheers,

[MCWB]

Some folk are gunna scream, "No! No! You must shoot in ADOBE RGB!"

Up until recently I would have agreed, but the lab I'm using for a print job only accepts files in AdobeRGB(1998)... bit of a pain really, as my workflow is usually all sRGB, and the printer gamut is way smaller than aRGB?!

[Onyx]

Geez, and I thought I was the only one maintainig an sRGB workflow... with all the previous threads of "but aRGB has a wider gamut" advocates, I'd had thought more people bought into the hype of larger = better and shot in aRGB. Esp with the number of colourspace/conversion/colour management issues threads we've had too.

[Matt. K]

cricketfan
I print on Epson inkjet printers. They use the sRGB colour space. No problems. Some Labs and pro printers will demand RGB. If you are shooting for that purpose then change your mode to RGB.
By the way...you can now buy monitors that are able to reproduce the entire ADOBE RGB colour space...wonderful...but they cost both arms and legs.

[ajo43]

are you using a custom curve. There is quite a bit of commentary about the d70 underexpsoing to save highlights and that if you don't mind blowing a few then a custom curve will work magic.

I didn't think that this was confined to shooting in aperture priority.