D70 under exposing?

[gus_perez]

Is it me or does the D70 under expose in the fully auto mode?

 

Just got it and it's pretty awesome. Not a pro or anything just

wanted the flexibility.

 

So far my shots of the kits in the snow come out dark, inside shots

also come out somewhat on the darker side. Nothing photoshop can't

easily fix, just don't feel I should have to fix every picture.

Other shots come out fine.

 

Thanks

[arnabdas]

it does tend to underexpose a bit. Try Digital DEE (between 3-7) and bumped up contrast in Capture 4.1, the photos will start looking real cool.

 

What was the ISO?

[bwcombs]

When I got my D70, I did a series of test shots of the same

subject, using different exposure compensation settings. Found

one I liked and set it as a default into the non-auto modes. You

might want to do the same.

[User_1172872]

Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the D70 seems to be programmed to "expose to the left" rather than "expose to the right." I suspect it's programmed that way to minimize the loss of detail in the highlights in a contrasty scene. Whether that meets the definition of underexposure I'll leave to others.

[edward_levert]

Would the snow have anything to do with it? If I'm not mistaken, doesn't bright snow and sand fool the meter somewhat?

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

Yes and supposedly the metering system in the D2X improves on that specifically.

[dan_brown14]

The D100 does the same thing, and I think it is dependent on the actual scene contrast

ratio. Be careful automatically overexposing everything, you will start to blow the

highlights in contrasty scenes. I find that I need to use a guesstimate, check the

histogram, and tweak a bit. I also find that I need to warm most scenes a bit with some -

-1 or --2 white balance adjustment too. You shot looks like it could be warmed a touch

too.

 

Good luck.

[markwilkins]

In this case I think the snow's a big part of the problem.

 

Interestingly enough, though, the actual exposure on the D70 is about the same as on my D1x, but the LCD display on the D70 shows the images significantly brighter than on the D1x. The result once transferred to a computer is the same.

 

The reason for this, as already pointed out, is to help ensure that highlights are preserved. If I have time, I'll often take multiple pictures until I verify that there are no blown-out highlights if I have a contrasty image.

[zhi_da_zhong]

Actually, I'd say this particular shot isn't too badly exposed. Notice how bright your kids'

faces are. It looks like cloudy weather, so contrast in the scene is low to begin with.

 

In general, however, there are a few things that can cause "underexposure":

 

1. snow

 

2. the D70 might well be designed to underexpose a bit when necessary to maintain

highlight details, but that's just a guess.

 

3. the default "tone curve" used by Nikon is a bit flat. In this case, exposure can actually be

correct, but the processing results in a dark picture. This issue has been discussed many

times here, so I won't repeat the details -- just do a search.

[lex_jenkins]

I read a similar complaint in a recent magazine article. No idea whether there's a bias or defect in the D70 but I'd first check all of the settings to be sure it isn't set to an unwanted exposure compensation, etc.

 

If the camera has a button to reset everything to factory standards it might be worth trying. When I first got my Olympus C-3040Z digicam I reset it a couple of times when I couldn't figure out how to adjust something I'd changed back to normal.

[DuncanBowers]

I noticed this snow effect so used the bracketing feature on the D70, taking two shots of every scene . I noticed that for mountains the default setting was right and the 'plus 1 stop' exposure bracket was too much. but for very snowy scenes the 'plus 1 stop' worked like a dream, really showing much more colour detail and contrast than the default setting. Let me know if you want further details/explanations. rgds, Duncan

[aeiffel]

Zhi-Da :<br>

<i>2. the D70 might well be designed to underexpose a bit when necessary to maintain highlight details, but that's just a guess.</i><br><br>

That's what I read not long ago in a photo mag too. They stated that the underexposure was about 0,3 EV. It was consistent with my own experience.<br>

Not much to worry about.

[don_cooper]

I feel it's a characteristic of the D70. I've got 2 of them and they both show the same results (snow or no snow). When you get more into the camera you might want to try a custom tone curve. A good explanation of in camera curves is here - http://fotogenetic.dearingfilm.com/custom_tone_curves.html - I've been trying the 'white wedding' curve available there and it seems to solve the overexposure problem quite nicely.

[andrew_kendall]

I've had a similar experience and have accepted this to be a D70 characteristic, based on the Net discussions I've seen in the few weeks since I've owned one. The LCD display that allows you to inspect blown highlights also suggests that Nikon see this as a priority and have tried to make things a bit safer for the user. I now work on the basis that Photoshop adjustment is required for all images and I've found that by auto-adjusting the Levels and then applying the D70 Generic Profile, most images look much brighter and crisper.

[dabitz]

What do you mean by applying D70 profile?

[bill_harris1]

As I remember the "old rule of thumb" was to under expose for snow and other light colored backgrounds and over expose for dark back ground...I never have to worry about such problems here in Houston..One thing I found necessary to do was get a 2stop ND filter for the bright sunshine because the ISO would not get below 200...Perhaps a ND filter might work on snow for you..

[john_koontz]

I remember reading (way back) that the D70 is calibrated to the ANSI standard, which is about 1/3 stop lower than most people would consider neutral. I also believe Ansel Adams was unsuccessful in his attemps to get the standard changed. I simply use a custom curve to adjust this to my liking.

[john_proveaux]

Don Cooper's response is right on. I just bought a D70 and was thinking I was going to regret the purchase because of the constantly underexposed pictures. Increasing the exosure compensation is not the best solution. Go to the site suggested by Don and read the information there. Get the point and shoot curve and load it into your camera. I bet you'll be as pleased with the result as I am!

[Mary Doo]

<< So far my shots of the kits in the snow come out dark, inside shots also come out somewhat on the darker side.>>

 

D70 or no D70 or even on film cameras, snow will come out gray unless you open up exposure by 1 - 2.5 stops, depending on how white you want your white to be and how bright the light is (sunny or overcast). Adding to this is the D70's minus-1/3EV exposure bias. I think one reason for this underexposure bias comes from playing it safe with the theory that if you underexpose a bit, it can be fixed, but if the highlights are blown, there's nothing you can do to rescue your image.

 

Your safest bet is to use the histogram to evaluate the exposure and shoot it again if it's not right.