Nikon D1X metering & white balance

[vince_tan]

I recently got a used D1X and noticed that when everything is set to auto, the

picture look a little on the dark side (maybe underexpose by 1.5 stop). When I

change the whitebalance to flash mode, things seems to be a bit better. Just

wondering what is your setting and experience with this camera.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Vince

[gandicarter]

That camera gives a lot of detail in the shadows but suffers from blown highlights. The blown highlights problem is typical of most digital cameras. Consequently the bias of the meter is to stay well away from overexposing the highlights.

 

You have two options. Let the camera work as it is and tweak the images with Nikon capture or Photoshop afterwards. (Which works very well) Or you can use spot metering with manual exposure and put the brightest area where you want to see detail at +2 stops. (A little more trouble when making the images, but also works very well without having to post-process the images)

 

I haven't used the flash white balance very much, so I can't comment on it.

 

By the way, that camera has a very pleasent tonal response. I prefer the look of its images to the more modern cameras.

 

 

Gerald

[verdellnazgul]

Vince, the ones I use don't protect from blowing highlights by underexposing. Especially by 1.5 stops. Have you checked this particular camera to make sure the previous owner didn't leave it at a - compensation? Press the +/- button just in back of the shutter release and check the lcd to see what it shows. Also, what kind of shooting conditions were you in? How many times have you shot with it? I'm much more prone to underexpose in auto in bright mid afternoon conditions with a lot of highlights in the composition. Meters will naturally underexpose in conditions like these as they try to tone down the bright light areas to grey tones as they are designed to do.

 

Steve

[vince_tan]

Steve & Gerald,

 

Thanks for the answer. I guess Nikon intentionally underexpose it a little bit. This is the 2nd D1x that I tried with the same result. I checked with their tech support and they confirmed that the camera is functioning as it should. It does take great pictures. I am still using some old MF glass like the 105 f2.8 micro and the 55 f2.8 micro so I might not be using the best metering mode. I have not taken a lot of pictures with this one yet so I will observe and see in the next couple of months.

[rick_helmke]

I shoot mine on the shade setting and tend to prefer the slightly warmer toned images. As for exposure, mine usually under exposes about 3/4 or a full stop. I can check with another camera meter or my Minolta hand-held and come up with the same result. Don't know why this should be so but it bugs the crap out of me. I keep thinking it is a dynamic range thing. Hopefully I'll have a D200 this summer.

 

Rick H.

[james_lai]

My D1H always underexposes as well. I leave my exposure compensation set to +0.7 almost all the time.

[james_lai]

Sorry, I should add that the D1X and D1H have the same meter.