D700...First wedding and advice on exposure....

<p>Finally treated myself to a D700 and 24-70 Nikon f2.8 and shot my first wedding with the camera in RAW. Coming from D300 and 17-55 the D700 images are amazing and I am loving the 24-70mm but........<br>

I have been used to the D300 for four years and kind of know what to expect when processing but my first time out with D700 I just need a little guidance. Things look fine whilst viewing the image on the camera but back at home processing every image tends to be a little over exposed by at least a stop and more? I am using the Standard setting on the camera.</p>

<p>We'd need a lot more. Metering mode? Shooting mode? EV settings etc. How you meter a shot. IE: do you spot meter off brighter skin or dress or take a matrix metered exposure? Do you meter off the dark suit or a shadow area?</p>

<p>Now unless you are blowing out the dress or faces, 1/2,1 or even 2 stops isn't going to be a big issue most of the time but it would be good to solve this. Btw, don't trust an LCD for exposure unless you use the 'Blinkies' or have the histogram on. The LCD is good but not perfect to evaluate an exposure setting. </p>

<p>"Standard" setting? I don't have a D700 but most Nikon DSLRs have Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program, but nothing called Standard.<br />Same problem with flash and non-flash shots? With formals vs. candids? Indoor vs. outdoor? The 24-70 vs your other lenses?</p>

<p>Simon means " Set Picture Control" found in the Shooting Menu. That has nothing to do with exposure, it's sort of like saturation in Photoshop, more or less vivid in colour capture. Standard is pretty much what everyone will have their cameras set to and make the changes they want in software. I'd guess as well but not certain, that this only effects the Jpegs recorded.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time Peter. This is a interesting read which I found and with this I am going to do lots of test shots........http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=226&topic_id=7919&mesg_id=7919&page=3#7923</p>

<p>The technical operations of a camera are the basics. You must know your camera inside out to get the most out of it, never mind photograph something as important as a wedding. Just take it for a few, casual, test spins in varying lighting conditions and you should learn how the exposure system works. The problem you may eventually have is that if the D300 and D700 expose differently, using them alongside each other could become a pain.</p>

<p>Simon, that thread talks a lot about Active-D Lighting, which does not affect or relate to exposure when shooting in RAW. (Active-D is basically a mode of conversion to jpg in which the camera does a bit of HDR work.) Since you're shooting in RAW, that's probably not the issue. In any case, I never shoot with this feature on, since you get a lot more dynamic range headroom from shooting in RAW.</p>

<p>I moved from shooting with a D300 to a D3 (same sensor and metering system) a year ago, and also shot one wedding with a rented D700, and did not experience any appreciable difference in exposure results. I shoot in Manual most of the time, occasionally using aperture priority. Did you try doing a factory-reset and then downloading the firmware updates, to be sure you're starting from scratch? (I'm assuming you bought a D700 used.)</p>

<p>Hi Simon,</p>

<p>I use a few D700's as my "no flash" kit. In general I shoot with them in Av, metering in CWA, or spot. I almost never use matrix, but that is personal taste. If shooting for candid people shots, I meter of the face with spot, if shooting scenes, I select the general area that I want correct, and shoot center weighted. On all three cams, we have them dialed back by 1/3rd (-1/3 EV), and that gives us pretty good exposures. With an 85mm, it tends toward over for some reason, while the 35 tends towards under (shooting equal scenes). However, I find that the best overall is to dial the exposures back a little, and PP the balance. YMMV.</p>

<p>I shot D300 and D300s for a few years too, but traded them for D7k's a little while ago after shooting with one and a 17-55 for half of last years work.<br>

<br />I love the FF for wider aperture and no flash, but ironically, don't much care for them with "standard" shooting (scenes, family portraits, receptions, ceremony settings, details, etc., etc.). Interesting that you prefer the 24-70 and D700's. Horses for courses though.</p>

<p>In PP, you can push the under areas less than you can pull the over areas. I find about that an image that has gone over by a stop will more easily render a nice image, than one shot under by a stop.</p>

<p>Just saw a pal's shot with a D800 and he pushed the image nearly 5 stops to grab details! Wow, and it worked reasonably well. I hate to use a 36mp cam, but may start thinking about a switch to this body in the not too distant future. I think you can lower the output to around 18mp or something, so that would be fine.</p>

<p>Best, D.</p>

<p>BTW, (Nadine, et al) it would be so helpful to be able to just click a link from these threads. What was it that stopped that happening?</p>

<p>David--don't know exactly what you mean?</p>

<p>Sorry Nadine, I meant the link Simon posted is not clickable, or was that just how he posted it?</p>

<p>I guess it is how he posted it, as I did not make it non-clickable. If he had, it would have been fine by me.</p>

<p>As an owner of 2 D700s and old owner of a D300s I havent had this problem. When you say youre shooting on standard mode i dont know what that means. I can tell you I only shoot on manuel mode. I am a Sacramento wedding photographer</a> primarily, so i get in a lot of situations with vineyards where we are in a dark room looking back to a bright light. If you try any auto mode the camera will most likely misread the scene. <br>

I learned on my 700 and 300s so i dont know the meter settings by heart, but i adjust my iso first then open my aperature the the size i am looking for, usually as wide as i can, then i simply adjust the shutter speed to balance the meter in the view finder. I take the shot, look it over and adjust accordingly. If you do this it shouldnt matter what camera you are using. <br>

Hope that helps<br /><p><b>Signature URL removed. Not allowed per photo.net guidelines.</b></p>