New D90 constantly overexposed

<p>My new D90 is always over exposed by 1 - 2 stops even when WB and ISO is set correctly. The same scene shot with my D40x comes out fine I am an experience film and digital camera user and cannot understand this.</p>

<p>First verify your camera settings, including exposure mode, exposure compensation, spot/matrix meter, etc.</p>

<p>Test your D90 under a "sunny 16" condition. You don't even need to capture any image; just take a look at the metering reading. Is it indeed sunny 16?</p>

<p>Do a all-camera reset. Make sure that the camera is not set for exposure compensation. Stuff like that. I'm guessing that you are doing this all, but just in case... double-check.</p>

<p>My D90 does not behave like this at all. It exposes very much like my old D50 did.</p>

<p>This has been discussed here before: <a href="00VOdn">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00VOdn</a>. I don't know if the OP in that thread ever resolved his problem, but I never did with my D3000. Exactly the same problem as the OP here, and I sent it back to Nikon twice. Both times, the service folks said the meter was working properly, but it obviously was not. My D40, D60, D200 and D80 gave me zero metering problems, but the D3000 was a complete lemon.</p>

<p>If the above suggestions do not work, set the camera to the GREEN setting (fully automatic) and see if your exposures problem persists.</p>

<p>Is it the same with every lens? I had a D70s which overexposed with the 18-70, but not with any other lens.</p>

<p>Make sure the aperture blades are moving free and not oily and sticking, although some settings will compensate for that but shutter priority and manual I don't think will, I don't ha ve a D90</p>

<p>Well known bug with the D90. I always adjust to -2ev.</p>

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<p>Well known bug with the D90. I always adjust to -2ev.</p>

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<p>Can't be that simple... I have had no problems with mine. If it's a "bug" it doesn't affect the ones that have been reviewed, either. Do you mean it's a bug with <em>some</em> of them?</p>

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<p>Well known bug with the D90. I always adjust to -2ev.</p>

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<p>I don't think I have ever heard of this being a common problem on the D90. Most of the complaints I have read about are on the D80.</p>

<p>I have used a friend's D90 for a couple of days. To me, exposure seems to be fine. I have been using Nikon cameras since 1977, and even 30+ years ago with only center weighted metering, exposure was fine. Over the years, I have bought, used, and tested many Nikon SLRs. I have yet to come across one with a metering problem.</p>

<p>That is why I suspect most of the problems are merely user errors.</p>

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<p>Well known bug with the D90. I always adjust to -2ev.</p>

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<p>Only if you're shooting Ninja's posing in front of a blackboard (or some other darker than average scene). Even then, as long as you're not clipping highlights, you'll get a cleaner image by overexposing and then adjusting downward in post-processing.</p>

<p>If you cannot identify the problem from the tips above, try resetting the camera to factory settings as Peter also suggested.</p>

<p>See the owner's manual for how to do that.</p>

<p>When I had a D2x I felt it overexposed for my taste. </p>

<p>Coming from shooting both modern AF (F5, F100) and old MF cameras (FE2 and Nikkormat), they always exposed slide film fine for me. I was surprised that an expensive DSLR would be "off" to me.</p>

<p>When I had a D2x I felt it overexposed for my taste in any of the program modes (A, S, or P). </p>

<p>Coming from shooting both modern AF (F5, F100. N70) and old MF cameras (FE2 and Nikkormat), they always exposed slide film fine for me. I was surprised that an expensive DSLR's exposure would be "off" to me.</p>

<p>If you would post an over exposed photo with EXIF attached, that might help to resolve the problem you're having. This is not a well known bug with the D90...</p>

<p>Take the same picture with the D90 and D40x with the same lens and compare the exifs and draw your conclusions or make a pic with the D40x and the same one with D90 in manual with the D40x settings, compare and make conclusions.</p>

<p>I think all settings may be checked for this.I have got a new D90 3 months back and it's working fine in every aspect & never had any problem with exposure even with 18-105mm nikkor vr & closeup kit of +8D with matrix metering.A new reset might be helpful.</p>

<p>I had a similar problem come up unexpectedly after about a year with my D90, but I sent it to Nikon and they corrected it. I do find that different lenses and shooting conditions can make a big difference however -- more than with my D50 -- but then I shoot in Manual mode and always readjust for each new condition anyway. If this is a quality control issue with Nikon I've never seen quality control questions addressed adequately in forums. I suppose there are always to many good versions of the camera to condemn a model. </p>

<p>Do you judge the pics on the LCD, on your monitor, in printor by the histograms ?<br>

Is it possible to show one or two examples of overexposed photo's ?</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>I suppose there are always to many good versions of the camera to condemn a model. </p>

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<p>I fully agree to that, problem is that on forums & blog',s people mostly report when there are issues, and next to never about how well things are performing, this way giving a negative image of a camera or lens model, which is obviously often not justified ....</p>

<p>Shun : would you care to elaborate on the D80 problem you mentioned?<br>

Thom Hogan identified a glitch in the Matrix metering in his review - would this be it?<br>

It did not stop me purchasing one, and I'm a happy camper -but then I have always considered Matrix an "Idiot Mode".</p>

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<p>Shun : would you care to elaborate on the D80 problem you mentioned?</p>

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<p>The D80's metering problem in the matrix mode was discussed numerous times on this forum when that camera was current, namely from late 2006 to late 2008, when Nikon replaced the D80 with the D90. Since I have never owned a D80 (nor D90), it is best if you search for those discussions, on this forum as well as on various Nikon forums outside of photo.net, to get first-hand testimonary. Thom Hogan indeed discussed that issue in his review.</p>

<p>As far as I know, the problem is only in the matrix mode. If you use center weighted, there should be no problem. And apparently Nikon corrected that when they introduced the D90.</p>

<p>Not sure re the D90, but I had what appears to be a similar problem (constant overexposure and improper metering, regardless of the lens) on my D200. I took it to an authorized Nikon repair shop and they identified that one of the metering sensors or electronics was faulty. After they replaced that component(s), my D200 has performed flawlessly. <br>

Now, before everyone here attacks me that there is no such sensor or electronic or whatever (as you can see, I'm not technically savy...), my only point of this post is that it is likely in your best interest to take your camera into an authorized repair shop for evaluation. Hopefully, they will charge you a nominal fee for evaluating the camera. <br>

Regards,<br>

David</p>

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<p>Now, before everyone here attacks me that there is no such sensor or electronic or whatever</p>

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<p>David, nobody should "attack" you for reporting a personal experience. Nikon sells a lot of cameras, and I am sure people have experienced all sorts of problem with them.</p>

<p>However, if anybody claims that a particular problem is common to a certain model, you'd better have some facts behind it. There are certainly some problems that are wide spread and well documented, such as the F5's false battery low problem on the early samples, BGLOD on the D70, banding on some early D200 cameras, battery indicator problem on some D300 bodies that was eventually fixed by a firmware upgrade ....</p>

<p>I had a similar experience with my D90 and, after reading some forum posts regarding "hot meters in the D90", I set my exposure fine tuning to -2/3 for matrix metering which seemed to help. I've had my D90 for over 1 1/2 years now and have discovered, as I've learned how my camera works, that matrix metering can be tricked under certain circumstances. As a result, I long ago reset my fine tuning of the metering back to zeros. I decided instead to use center weighted metering and I turned off active d-lighting. Things have been far more consistent for me since doing so.</p>