Digital Learning Curve.

[gabriel_roca]

Hello all,

 

At long last I've decided to make the leap to digital - starting with

a D100. Within the year I hope to acquire a D2H and relegate the D100

to a backup body. Anyway, I've noticed that the D100's meter tends to

underexpose images. Sometimes I've got to open up by as much as a

stop to 1 1/3 stops. I'm assuming there is a learning curve regarding

exposure with digital bodies. Have those of you who've been using

digital bodies for a while found your experiences similar to mine? So

far, I'm rather happy with the body. That said, any advice as to the

use (pitfalls to watch out for, etc) digital bodies would be most

helpful. Cheers and try to stay cool! God, it'd 94 degrees in New

York City!!!! Help!

 

Cheers.

[ellis_vener_photography]

How are you judging exposure?

[gabriel_roca]

Visually. I've noticed if I strictly go buy the camera's meter, I need to really tweak levels to lighten the image.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Are you looking atthe image Histogram, either in camera or in Photoshop?

this will tell the true tale. It could be that your monitor is wrong.

[gabriel_roca]

hi there,

 

thanks for your opinions on this. The images appear underexposed both on the camera's LCD screen and on my compter (both my laptop and regular PC). For your benefit I took a series of images. Image 1 was shot using the camera's meter reading (center-weighted mode). Other stats are as follws: ISO: 400, White Balance (Flourescent - taken in my office). The rest of the shots are presented in succession, as I opened up the lens. I checked the histograms for each image in the camera and provided a rudimentary sketch of what each histo. looks like in the upper right corner of each image. What do you think?

 

Thanks much and be well.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ed

[gabriel_roca]

Image 2

[gabriel_roca]

Image 3

[gabriel_roca]

Image 4

[gabriel_roca]

Image 5

[Ed_Ingold]

You may be reading from the mostly white paper. If so, it will place the paper exposure in zone 5 (18% grey) instead of zone 7 or 8. This is consistent with the histograms you display, and the compensation you find necessary to apply. The white balance seems to be off as well, showing too much yellow. This too will make the image seem dark, because white isn't white.

 

How is the exposure for a more average scene, like green grass and blue sky?

 

Digital cameras tend to underexpose s;oghtly, to avoid blowing highlights. This is easily managed in Photoshop, or another competent editing program. The effect is seldom more than 1 stop.

[jespdj]

To accurately judge the exposure, you should use the histogram function of your camera. Judging the exposure from the photo that you see on the LCD screen is not accurate - how bright it looks, depends on the camera settings and the ambient light; i.e., in bright sunlight, it will be difficult to see the image on the LCD properly.

<p>Here's a good explanation of how to use the histogram to judge exposure: <a href="http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml">Understanding Histograms</a>

[gabriel_roca]

Hi all,

 

The paper in the notebook is actually a dark yellow - not 18% grey but certainly closer than a white page.

 

I've found that the camera generally underexposes. However, I usually go by my minolta light meter so, I don't see this as becoming a problem at all. Just curious.

 

Thanks much for that page on Histograms. I've bookmarked it and look forward to reading through it tomorrow. Thanks also for your observations regarding digital camera exposure, etc. It was all most helpful.

 

Be well,

 

-Ed

[chris_kuettner]

Hi Ed,

I spoke to Nikon about this tendancy as I am thinking of buying a D70, and that's a complaint registered about that body as well.

The Nikon tech told me that most high end digital slrs are designed to intentionally underexpose by a stop or so because that can be easily fixed in PS, whereas blown out highlights cannot (as Ed Ingold pointed out). I find that if I adjust my exposure until the histogram looks good, I'm on target 99% of the time.

[paul_k1664875007]

Under exposure definetely isn't a problem and actually, when shooting digital, a blessing in disguise since. As said before, overexposed is unsalvageble, whereas underexposed can easily be fixed in Capture or PS.

 

To be honest, on my D1 I even have dialed in standard -/- 0,7 exposure compensation. My D1X takes under and overexposure smoother, so there I try to work standard as much as possible.