nikon d5100 forgets settings in manual modes

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szabidoki

New member
Hi guys!

I have my D5100 for a few months now, and so far I used it mostly on auto as it takes great pictures that way anyway, but after a while I started to play around the M/A/P/S modes - I wanted to do some light painting :)
The problem is, when I start take pictures in any of the advanced modes, the camera seems to forget the aperture and shutter speed settings after each shots, which makes the trial and error procedure rather painful.
Is this normal, or do I need to fiddle around some settings?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Szabidoki
 
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Flugelbinder

Senior Member
I guess what he's saying is the settings (shutter speed and aperture) change with each shot... That happens if: you use A (aperture priority) the shutter speed will change as the camera tries to adjust to what it "thinks" is the best option for the exposure of what it "sees": and S (shutter priority) will change the apertura in the same way. IIf you chose P, it will change both settings accordingly... Hope this will help.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
szabidoki said:
Hi guys!

I have my D5100 for a few months now, and so far I used it mostly on auto as it takes great pictures that way anyway, but after a while I started to play around the M/A/P/S modes - I wanted to do some light painting :)
The problem is, when I start take pictures in any of the advanced modes, the camera seems to forget the aperture and shutter speed settings after each shots, which makes the trial and error procedure rather painful.
Is this normal, or do I need to fiddle around some settings?
Click to expand...


I don't know what "forgets" means, but there seems two possibilities to define it.

If the numerical fstop or shutter speed settings are changing to different values in camera Manual mode, that seems impossible, and operator must be changing the dials accidentally.

But maybe more likely, if it just means the exposure is changing, but still at the same values, that would suggest Auto ISO was left on, and it certainly can change exposure with the same camera settings. Turn Auto ISO off if you don't want things to be changing.

All these values are shown in the Exif data of previous images.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
It sounds like you're simply unclear on how these different modes work on your '5100... Have you sat down and gone over the manual that came with it? If you don't have one, you can Google it; the manual is free for downloading from Nikon's website.

I say this because modes "P", "S" and "A" aren't really "manual modes"; I'd call them semi-automatic in that at least one aspect of exposure is determined by the camera's internal processing -- either shutter speed or aperture (and in "P" two aspects are controlled in conjunction with one another) -- in order to produce correct exposure. The third aspect, ISO, is either controlled manually or by the Auto ISO setting in the menu. If you shoot in "M"anual then you set, and control from shot to shot, both shutter speed and aperture. ISO is controlled manually or by the Auto ISO function as you have it set in the menu.

......
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
The most frequent problem is that people have problems with explaining their problems to other people (who might have their own problems). This means: dear "Szabidoki", make it clearer.
 
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Flugelbinder

Senior Member
I would recomend turning Auto ISO off, but that might lead to more problems... The ISO is the first setting the camera will change (I've seen images in bright sun light when the camera set the ISO at 800!!!), so I'd suggest you set the maximum ISO to a lower value (don't know what the factory sets the 5100 at) like 1600. If you're shooting under good light, change it to 400.
 
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szabidoki

New member
Hello again!

Looks like I wasn't entirely clear about the problem...
Simply in manual mode (and it's true for the semi-automatic modes too) after a shot was taken the shutter and aperture settings are changing randomly without me touching anything (I'm using a remote).
As far as I understand, this shouldn't happen :(
Auto-ISO is off.
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
"As far as I understand, this shouldn't happen". Definitely, it shouldn't. But, let us be sure: 1) do the factory reset (nothing dangerous or complicated, just go into the menu and by 1 single click, revert all settings to their default values), 2) turn the camera off and on again, 3) set the main knob (mode selector) to "M", 4) set the values of the aperture and exposure time. Don't use the remote commander, just use your hands. Make a shot. Now, whatever you do in terms of focusing to the different direction(s) etc., should not affect the chosen aperture&exposure time values. If they get changed as if the camera was set to any other mode (other than "M"), your camera is malfunctioning.

I forgot to warn you about the firmware of your camera possibly being outdated! Check it.
Consult this:
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1744071&seqNum=6

 
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szabidoki

New member
Hi, I think I have the root of the problem.
I took a few shots in manual mode as you suggested, and apparently only the shutter speed was changing, but it wasn't random, it was cycling through a few values, so I became suspicious, and yes, the auto-bracketing was on...
Since it's off, the manual mode works perfectly :D
Thanks you all!

Szabidoki
 
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