Question on D80 exposure meter

[kate_compton]

I am using DSLRs for the past one year and still learning. I started with D40X and recently upgraded to D80. With

both the cameras I have a question on the exposure meter. Without the flash, the exposure meter on the view finder

shows the exposure correctly, I mean for the correct exposure there will be no bars and for under exposure the bars

will be towards negative side. I always use this to compose my shot first, and after taking the picture, I use the LCD

screen (image preview) to see the exposure. If it is not correct, I adjust it and take the picture again. Most of the

times it works perfectly the first time and I don't need to correct the exposure and re shoot. But when I use the flash,

the meter in the VF always shows as under exposure (bars towards negative side). I always need to depend on the

image preview. Is this normal? Or, is there anything that I can do to make the VF exposure meter work correctly with

the flash?

 

This happens with both on-camera flash and the SB-600.

[diane_madura]

Hi, Kate. I have a D80 also. May I suggest learning to read the histogram and judging your exposure from that instead? It's the most accurate way of knowing whether your exposure is correct. My personal feeling is that I would never rely on the LCD screen.

[egoldstein]

It will show underexposed since the settings you need to take the picture with the flash are in fact underexposed for the natural light. The i-TTL metering of the flash will take care of (or come pretty close) illuminating the scene with the right amount of light to match the settings.