HELP!!! My exposure is killing me!

Hello everyone! I just had to send my Nikon D3 to Nikon's Service Center. It got splashed on at a dock diving event and died on me. So I have been using my Nikon D700 for my dock diving events. I have never had any issues with exposure problems when using the D3 but the D700 is killing me!
I was at a dock diving practice today and started experimenting with all the different metering modes. Seems no matter what I do this camera hates to expose correctly. It does great until the dog hits the water and then it's over with. These images were taken on an over cast day. No sun was out. Is there something wrong with my camera or is it me?
Here is a link to view some sample images to give you an idea of what I'm struggling with. The password is: test
tcpetphoto.photoreflect.com/store/ThumbAccess.aspx?e=8981482
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

It's almost like the exposure is locked in before the dog hits the water where the background is darker, then the increase in reflected light causes it to be overexposed?

It's not in some kind of bracketing mode is it?

Or active D lighting?

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Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

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Try shooting raw and fix in photoshop...

Reset the camera and start from scratch. Sounds like a setting somewhere.

I checked active D-lighting and bracketing and they are not on. I shoot over 3000 images a day at dock diving events so shooting in RAW is not an option for me. I get great results with my Nikon D3 but the D700 is terrible!

The D700 is a proven performer. Either there is something wrong settings wise or something wrong with the camera. Did you try a reset as suggested?

If you could upload a photo that has a problem using the method I listed about making sure to resize to no larger than 1000px on the long size we should be able to see the exif data and that might help us to see what the problem might be.

Ok I hope I did this right.

well the D3 and D700 have the same sensor, and even metering system, processor, so,, could be set up,, since you do this often, seems unusual, looks like a bright day, and a challenge set up with the dark green and the super reflective water, I would shoot for the water, and then dodge where needed.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D700
Lens: 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8
Image Date: 2013-06-29 13:03:42 +0000
Focal Length: 195mm (35mm equivalent: 195mm)
Focus Distance: 7.94m
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.0008 s (1/1250)
ISO equiv: 900
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Cloudy
Flash Fired: No
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Copyright:

Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows



I can't see anything that might be wrong. Anyone else ?

I can't make any sense out of it because my D3 has never given me any problems with over exsposure. I did do a hard reset tonight and reset the custom menu. I won't know if that worked until I get back out to the pool. I even tried using the exposure compensation but I made everything dark on the dock but did great when the dog hit the water. So that won't work either. I can't shot in RAW because I can shoot over 3000 images in one day at an event. I need quick processing and I like to get things right in the camera first.

Might try changing the metering setting, maybe center weighted?. I wonder if matrix was exposing for the dark background/dog and the splashed up water was overexposed due to that.

As Rick mentioned, it definitely doesn't appear to be adjusting exposure as the dog jumps in. I can't see any EXIF data other than what Don posted, but that shows that you're in Manual Exposure mode, so I wouldn't expect your exposure to change in mid sequence. (Doh!!)

I'm thinking you meant to be in Shutter or Aperture Priority (probably S would be better here), which would adjust the exposure as you shoot.

BackdoorHippie said:

As Rick mentioned, it definitely doesn't appear to be adjusting exposure as the dog jumps in. I can't see any EXIF data other than what Don posted, but that shows that you're in Manual Exposure mode, so I wouldn't expect your exposure to change in mid sequence. (Doh!!)

I'm thinking you meant to be in Shutter or Aperture Priority (probably S would be better here), which would adjust the exposure as you shoot.

Click to expand...

I did try shooting in shutter priority mode and it did the same thing.

I found something!!!

I loaded each of the 4 images into Opanda. Two have ISO 800, one is ISO 900, and the other is ISO 1000. Initially I only took the first and last photos both of which are ISO 800, but after reading Don's listing of ISO 900, I found the discrepancy.

So you think it's my ISO that is causing the problem? I was shooting with automatic ISO.

I use automatic ISO on the D3 with no issues so I thought it would be alright on the D700.