D7200 exposure problems

Dave G

New member
Hi. I have had the 7200 for several months and am very happy with it on the whole. However, I do seem to be getting exposure problems. If I use the matrix setting as suggested, then the sky is more often than not over-exposed. I try the centre-weighting, which gives me the clouds, then there is some under-exposure. I use the NEF files with Neutral setting and Aperture priority. I can correct using post-processing but the results can look a little strange. I don't know if it is my expectations, my settings, or the camera to blame. Before I start bothering about getting it checked over, I wondered if anyone else has noticed this problem and, if so, what they did. Thank you.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
There are 3 different exposure modes for your camera. Depending on the "scene/composition" they produce different results... There are videos on-line that explain the differences, and under what conditions you should change modes, and make adjustments.

There is probably nothing wrong with your camera.
 

Dave G

New member
Thank you Fred. I really do hope there is indeed nothing wrong with the camera it is just the huge variation in results between the three exposure modes. In essence, two over-expose and the centre one exposes for sky OK but not for land. I will have a good look at the videos. I had the D5200 for two years and cannot remember thinking that exposure was a problem with that camera. I used matrix most of the time.
 

nickt

Senior Member
Make sure you don't have any + exposure compensation accidentally dialed in. Metering should behave pretty much like your old camera.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Man invented circular polarizers because, face it, he can't come up with a metering system that does both earth and sky (yet - there's those folks at MIT I read about last month...).

Age old problem, so use exposure compensation knowing it's easier to recover shadows than it is to recover blown out highlights. That said, if you have Lightroom, pull a gradient adjustment down over the sky and bring it down 2 stops EV. As long as you didn't blow out the highlights you might be surprised with the results. And if you've got LR CC you can use a brush to block the gradient in unwanted areas. I do it all the time - easier than a polarizer. :)
 

aroy

Senior Member
Hi. I have had the 7200 for several months and am very happy with it on the whole. However, I do seem to be getting exposure problems. If I use the matrix setting as suggested, then the sky is more often than not over-exposed. I try the centre-weighting, which gives me the clouds, then there is some under-exposure. I use the NEF files with Neutral setting and Aperture priority. I can correct using post-processing but the results can look a little strange. I don't know if it is my expectations, my settings, or the camera to blame. Before I start bothering about getting it checked over, I wondered if anyone else has noticed this problem and, if so, what they did. Thank you.

No matter what metering mode you use, you will always have exposure problems - over exposed or under exposed regions. The reason is the Dynamic range of the scene. What you see in jpeg or on the screen is 8 bit data, while the camera RAW provides 14 bits. Normal mapping between the 14 bit input and 8 bit output just takes the 8 bits, so there are either blown highlights, or dark shadows regions. What you have to do to get all areas visible, is
. Use the "Spot Meter" and meter the brightest region
. Use RAW software to "recover shadows"

What that does is to map the 14 bit data to 8 bits using different curves depending on how much shadow you want to recover (no linear mapping).
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Tacking on to aroy's post, when the dynamic range of a shot is such that you cannot get it all to expose optimally, make sure that regardless of the metering method you use, you check your histogram so you know that you haven't lost information in either/both the shadows and highlights. If you cannot get a single exposure that will give you that then you'll need to use HDR if you want to show everything in the scene.
 

Dave G

New member
Thank you to nickt, Fred, aroy, and BackdoorHippie for taking the time to answer. I have checked, and re-checked, all my settings and have never found anything remiss. The problem really lies in Landscapes with a lot of sky (other types of shooting seems OK.) I live on the edge of The Pennines (in the UK) and love getting long-distance views which inevitably involves plenty of sky. I have spent the last two days deliberately taking test shot with all sorts of permutations but none of them has jumped out as being THE answer. Sometimes it is Matrix which "wins" but the next shot will turn out better with Central. In truth, I have been taking such shots for years and really cannot remember having this trouble with the D5200 (the last two years.) I suppose it could be that the D7200 is a much more sophisticated camera and needs more careful handling. I can get results with the post-processing (DxO Pro 10 followed by finishing with an old CS5) but at times even that produces artificial looking results. I agree with the under-exposure route and will endeavour to stick with that. (At least my wild-life shots are OK - exposure wise, that is, not skill!!) Thanks again for your time.
Regards, Dave
 

aroy

Senior Member
Thank you to nickt, Fred, aroy, and BackdoorHippie for taking the time to answer. I have checked, and re-checked, all my settings and have never found anything remiss. The problem really lies in Landscapes with a lot of sky (other types of shooting seems OK.) I live on the edge of The Pennines (in the UK) and love getting long-distance views which inevitably involves plenty of sky. I have spent the last two days deliberately taking test shot with all sorts of permutations but none of them has jumped out as being THE answer. Sometimes it is Matrix which "wins" but the next shot will turn out better with Central. In truth, I have been taking such shots for years and really cannot remember having this trouble with the D5200 (the last two years.) I suppose it could be that the D7200 is a much more sophisticated camera and needs more careful handling. I can get results with the post-processing (DxO Pro 10 followed by finishing with an old CS5) but at times even that produces artificial looking results. I agree with the under-exposure route and will endeavour to stick with that. (At least my wild-life shots are OK - exposure wise, that is, not skill!!) Thanks again for your time.
Regards, Dave

For landscape shots which are giving you exposure problems try auto bracketing with 5 Shots
-5.0EV
-2.5EV
0.0 EV
+2.5 EV
+5.0EV
Mount the camera on a tripod, as some software do not align hand held shots perfectly.

That will give you around 20EV useful DR. Then use HDR software to process the shots and get one HDR image.
 

big al

New member
The problem i have is most of the time my shots are pale and washed out, no colour saturation even when i purposely take a photo of some tall flower stems consisting of leaves in shadow and a lovely rich green but when i look at the back of the camera its all washed out. Jessops said nothing wrong but they just snaped away outside the shop, and told me i hade used the wrong shutter speed i had to walk away at that point, but my shots with all metering are washed out.....(HELP)
 

Danno

Senior Member
Welcome to the form big al, It is hard to say exactly what your issue is without any photos, but the advice in this thread is all pretty good. Not sure if you are shooting in manual or auto, but it sounds like an issue of overexposure and with the approach outlined in this thread you should see some improvement.
 

JH Foto

Senior Member
Hello and welcome...:)....I am very impressed with my 7200 but to be fair I have not had your problem but I do not normally shoot landscapes.
 

Danno

Senior Member
Thanks for the welcome.

big al, I do shoot a lot of landscape and I do have the same issues of washing out the sky and or underexposure of the ground and choices: using a filter on the camera or fixing it in post. I love my D7200 it does a great job and in most cases I use the suggestions outlined above to manage over and under exposure in post. Usually just in LR, but this time I went into PS to take out my car. Below is a before and after. All shot in manual. Needless to say i underexposed it to keep from completely blowing out the sky.

Sunrise-4653.jpg
Sunrise-4653-Edit.jpg
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The problem i have is most of the time my shots are pale and washed out, no colour saturation even when i purposely take a photo of some tall flower stems consisting of leaves in shadow and a lovely rich green but when i look at the back of the camera its all washed out. Jessops said nothing wrong but they just snaped away outside the shop, and told me i hade used the wrong shutter speed i had to walk away at that point, but my shots with all metering are washed out.....(HELP)
Probably a setting(s) error. It would be helpful if you could post some example shots with the EXIF so we can see what you're talking about.
 

Calum

New member
Thank you to nickt, Fred, aroy, and BackdoorHippie for taking the time to answer. I have checked, and re-checked, all my settings and have never found anything remiss. The problem really lies in Landscapes with a lot of sky (other types of shooting seems OK.) I live on the edge of The Pennines (in the UK) and love getting long-distance views which inevitably involves plenty of sky. I have spent the last two days deliberately taking test shot with all sorts of permutations but none of them has jumped out as being THE answer. Sometimes it is Matrix which "wins" but the next shot will turn out better with Central. In truth, I have been taking such shots for years and really cannot remember having this trouble with the D5200 (the last two years.) I suppose it could be that the D7200 is a much more sophisticated camera and needs more careful handling. I can get results with the post-processing (DxO Pro 10 followed by finishing with an old CS5) but at times even that produces artificial looking results. I agree with the under-exposure route and will endeavour to stick with that. (At least my wild-life shots are OK - exposure wise, that is, not skill!!) Thanks again for your time.
Regards, Dave

I wonder if this thread is still live. I have had a D7200 now for 6 months and have generally been very pleased - BUT...this question of metering issues with the 7200 is one that I have recently started to worry about. I upgraded from a D90 - a camera that I do not recall causing me this issue. In Landscapes with a reasonable amount of sky any foreground is underexposed despite the meter in Matrix setting suggesting all is well. Of course I have used spot and centre weighted allied to locking exposure and re-composing but that does not seem right. I am about to head off this weekend to try various test shots before taking it in to be checked out. Before doing so just wanted to check if anything has moved on in terms of wider issue being acknolwledged by Nikon? cheers. Calum
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I wonder if this thread is still live. I have had a D7200 now for 6 months and have generally been very pleased - BUT...this question of metering issues with the 7200 is one that I have recently started to worry about. I upgraded from a D90 - a camera that I do not recall causing me this issue. In Landscapes with a reasonable amount of sky any foreground is underexposed despite the meter in Matrix setting suggesting all is well. Of course I have used spot and centre weighted allied to locking exposure and re-composing but that does not seem right. I am about to head off this weekend to try various test shots before taking it in to be checked out. Before doing so just wanted to check if anything has moved on in terms of wider issue being acknolwledged by Nikon? cheers. Calum
Well depending on the specifics of the shot, it could very well be that the shot IS correctly exposed... For the sky. However, this means the foreground may be darker than you want. It's a "pick your poison" sort of issue. If you want the foreground to be more exposed than what Matrix metering is doing, you may have to do so at the expense of the sky being blown out; again, pick your poison. This is a common problem for ALL photographers: Dynamic Range.

The solution, in my opinion, is understanding fully how metering works in your camera; that the meter, really, only exposes for middle-grey. Matrix is supposed to be better at being able to determine the type of shot you're taking (Portrait, Landscape, etc.) but I think that's more marketing than anything practical. If it works, great, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I would advise you to assume your meter is metering for middle-grey every time, all the time. And that's a hugely important concept to understand. The meter is not trying to give you correct exposure, meaning exposure as you see it with the naked eye; it's trying to give you CONSISTENT exposure based on middle-grey. If the camera's meter is doing that, then there is nothing wrong with your camera. The solution is to learn to use some of the information your camera can provide you so you can go from just exposing consistently for middle-grey to getting the exposure you WANT because these may be two very different things.

Fortunately there are two things your camera can show you that will help you achieve the exposure you want. The first, most critical tool, is the Histogram, the other is "Blinkies" and I don't think I can over-emphasize how important I think understanding how to read a histogram is. Understanding Blinkies is helpful, understanding histograms is essential.

These two articles will teach you everything you need to know:
.....
.....
 
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