Aperture priority question

Djrfan0824

New member
Outdoor low light photography issue: In aperture priority mode set at an F8, the camera wouldn't select a shutter speed higher than 4 seconds when it should be able to go up to 30 seconds. The only way I could correct this issue was to change the flash to rear-curtain. Can anyone explain what the issue was and what the flash setting fixed the issue?
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

We need some more information to help you out. What camera are you using? What is your ISO setting? Also some idea of the light level, ie is it a night with a full moon or no moon, street lights, etc.
 

Patrick M

Senior Member
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are the key three. Usually one would leave the camera set to Auto-ISO
Also try opening the shutter to f5.6


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Djrfan0824

New member
It was dark outside with some ambient light coming from behind the camera from lights in a nearby parking lot. The ISO was 400 to begin with but was switched to 1600 to see if that would correct the problem which it didn't. I'm confused why it would be flashing 4" and saying subject is too dark when the camera is capable of going to 30" in aperture priority mode. There were a variety of models being used but the issue primarily happened with the D5600. My D7200 was functioning normally and it set the shutter speed around 15".
 

Patrick M

Senior Member
Did you try iso at higher levels? Try 3,200 - 6,400 and higher.
I doubt on a dark night that 1,600 would be enough.
Have you got it on auto-iso?


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Djrfan0824

New member
I'm not using auto ISO and generally don't like to go above 400 if I can avoid it, although I would adjust it higher it the shutter speed was maxed out at 30" using my current settings, but like I said before its stopping at 4". I haven't updated firmware or changed any hardware in several years and have never come across an issue like this before. Typically aperture priority is very easy to use for low-light photos.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
So you are using flash? When I use flash, I prefer Manual Mode. If you are using flash, have you tried that?
 

nickt

Senior Member
I thought 'subject too dark' is an auto focus message? Try manual focus to get rid of that.
Not sure on the 4". The d7200 has menu e2 to set minimum shutter speed available with flash but I don't think you have that setting on the d5600. I would guess it should go to 30" depending what the meter determines.
Just wild guessing but maybe the camera/flash felt it could pull off the exposure at 4". You said you raised iso to see if it helped, I would think lower the iso if you wanted the shutter speed to get slower.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
It was dark outside with some ambient light coming from behind the camera from lights in a nearby parking lot. The ISO was 400 to begin with but was switched to 1600 to see if that would correct the problem which it didn't. I'm confused why it would be flashing 4" and saying subject is too dark when the camera is capable of going to 30" in aperture priority mode. There were a variety of models being used but the issue primarily happened with the D5600. My D7200 was functioning normally and it set the shutter speed around 15".

Welcome to the forum, just let me check you are saying the slowest shutter speed you could get with the D5600 was 4sec but the D7200 you got 15sec, did either give you a correct exposure.
 

editorial_use_only

Senior Member
Since you say you changed flash to rear-curtain, it sounds like you are using flash. You might check the Custom Settings menu. In the D7000 for example, option e2 controls flash shutter speed. Maybe you have set this minimum and that's your limit.

Outdoor low light photography issue: In aperture priority mode set at an F8, the camera wouldn't select a shutter speed higher than 4 seconds when it should be able to go up to 30 seconds. The only way I could correct this issue was to change the flash to rear-curtain. Can anyone explain what the issue was and what the flash setting fixed the issue?
 

Patrick M

Senior Member
Good spot. I’d question even using the flash for a general outdoor shot. We don’t know what the objective is, but 99% of my night shots would never need the flash.

Since you say you changed flash to rear-curtain, it sounds like you are using flash. You might check the Custom Settings menu. In the D7000 for example, option e2 controls flash shutter speed. Maybe you have set this minimum and that's your limit.




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