Help with underexposer!

[gerry]

Hey all, just came across this wonderful site today. I have had my D70 for about 8 monthes now and I seem to be getting underexposed images all the time. I have read that the D70 images tends to lean towards being unexposed, but what I am getting are really dark photos, even on bright sunshine days. Just got back from a trip to Mexico and all the photos taken with the D70 came out dull and dark compaired to my Canon point and shot carry along cam. Looking for some answers to my problem, before I totally nuts trying to figure it out.... Thanks for the HELP!!!

Gerry[/b]

[JordanP]

Hi Gerry,

Welcome to the forum - as for your dilema ... a few questions:

What mode do you predominantly shoot in? Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual

Do you have any exposure compensation set in the camera?

[Greg B]

Gerry, firstly, welcome.

Did you have the underexposure problem from the very start?

You can reset the camera to its original state (in the event that it was OK at the very beginning )

[sirhc55]

Hi Gerry and welcome

I think Craig and Greg have covered some points but could you let us have some EXIF data on one or two of the problem pics. Also, what lens are you using.

Chris

[gerry]

Hey guys and thanks for the warm welcome. I have been to a couple of other forums and asked questions and got cold replies.

Jordan
I usually have the camera in either the P or the S mode. I have found that if I add some to the exposure compensation the pictures +.3 or +.7 the images are not as dull. But, this has never been the case with my N80 or my N6006 Nikon camera's.

Greg
I have thought about doing just that to make sure that I have not put the camera in some crazy mode.

Thanks for the help!!!

Gerry

This is driving me NUTS, because I have seen such great photos that others have taken with their D70's....

[Greg B]

It will be fixable Gerry, just keep a track of what you are doing as you try things out.

(Unless of course the camera is faulty, but testing required first)

[JordanP]

hmmm what metering method are you using?

Also, I thought to increase the exposure in your automatic shooting (exposure compensation) you needed to adjust in the negative direction otherwise not the positive as you have indicated.

I don't have my camera with me at the moment to confirm but hopfully another person here can jump on and correct me if I'm wrong.

When you say your images are very dark - what are you using as an indication of this? The screen on the back of the camera, your computer screen when you upload the images, a printed image .... or all of the above?

Cheers,

[sirhc55]

Gerry - you are going in the right direction with exposure compensation. By adding + you are giving the shutter less speed thereby lightening the pic up.

Do you have a web hosting site for your pics?

Chris

[Matt. K]

Also check that you are using matrix metering for most of your shots.

[gerry]

Jordan P
The images are dark on both my home computer and at work, I was told to turn down the brightness of the LCD on the back of the camera to help. The photos look fine on the camera. As far as printing, they are dull and flat (both with my ph printer and using Sams photo lab).

Chris
When I get to work tomorrow morning I will post some on my site.

Matt
matrix metering is what I have been told to use, is this correct?

Thanks again, the future is looking BRIGHTER!! I will post those dark dull photos in the morning........

Gerry

[Greg B]

The photos look fine on the camera.

This seems like a significant statement to me.

How do other things look on your computer?

[MHD]

And MOST importantly how do they look printed out?

MANY computer monitors I come across are much darker than optimal...

Take a look at this file
http://www.bicaprolab.com.au/downloads/cal.JPG

This is the calibration chart that a printing guy gave to me to match up to a print out he gave me to ensure good images printed...

Now the greyscale strip down the bottom... you should be able to see the difference between each shade...

[gstark]

Hi Gerry, and welcome.

Are you shooting raw or jpg?

[atencati]

The screen you are viewing on makes a HUGE difference. Flat panels will look a little dull, black not black, white not white, tc. I also ask what WB mode are you using? I have been shooting raw just so I can adjust WB in PP and see how I am doing. And as mentioned, I usually do the 2 button reset (the green dots) every so often. That tends to sort things out for me.....

OH YEAH!!!! when shooting, switch the camera to histogram mode and see how your shots look. If the Histo is good in camera is your monitors!

Andy And Welcome to the Forum!!!!! Another USA'er