Shutter speed changing in manual mode

[Julia]

Hi!

I am at a loss! I cannot figure out why my camera is changing my shutter speed after every picture I take. I set everything I need for the appropriate lighting, etc... in manual... and I look at the info/picture after, and it's different. For example, I had it set at 1/60, f/2.8, 4500K, 800 ISO and so on... but the camera thought it was necessary to change it to 1/100 and it was too dark. What's up?

 

[Eduard]

Not to second guess, but are you sure that you had the camera in manual mode? Did you check the EXIF info?

 

[Julia]

Yes, it's in manual mode. I have it set up to display all info, I believe it's the same that you are speaking of, after each picture with the histogram, shutter speed, etc...

 

[Eduard]

What program(s) are you using to edit/view your images? Most of them will be able to let you see the settings that were used. If you can post them here we might be able to assist.

Take a look here for an example of what I mean: EXIF Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia

 

[zx7dave]

Instead of full manual have you tried the "S" Shutter priority mode since you mentioned setting the shutter speed? Unless you have a lot of custom settings on your camera you could consider doing a reset to wipe the settings, and then program back in what you want just to be sure you have only what you want in the settings. I personally rarely use "M" mode as a lot of my shots are brief momentary opportunities so I set my camera ahead of time to "S" or "A" depending on available light, lens, and if I need to stop action or what depth of field I need..this way when I go to shoot I can get into action quickly...Manual is best only when you have time to think about it and time to check/verify settings...good luck...

 

[Julia]

I might just go back to doing that. Personally, i think that my camera might have been a return and the settings weren't set back to default. When I got it and started shooting the first thing that I noticed was a delay in shooting. I poked around and poked around until I found exposure delay mode was turned on. I turned it off and it clicked clicked away.

I just find it odd that I set up everything that I need, get my settings right. I take a picture, it looks ok, then I take another it looks darker. But why? I just used the same settings. I look at the histogram and all the information, and the shutter speed is different than what I had originally set it to. What's even worse than that I have a great picture with my setting where I want them, take the picture and it looks great, the next one is blown out, the next one is great, the next on is blown out... ugh

I'll have to do some more looking around and just do a reset.

 

[Lela Whiddon]

Julia, my D3 did this to me at a wedding once! I was at a loss, then discovered that I had the camera set to bracket the exposure. I still don't know how it got to that setting, but that was the problem. Hope this helps!

Lela

 

[blueiron]

I'd bet that the camera store sold you a display model or the sales staff used it for product familiarization. My first digital [a D70] was that way with over 400 shutter activations.

There is nothing inherently wrong with buying a known display model, but they should sell them at a slight discount or throw in a free memory card for the trouble.

 

[Julia]

LELA! You are the best... Like I said, it was really beginning to get me down, especially after my newborn/family session yesterday A lot of the pictures didn't come out because of this. I checked and it was the bracketing.

Blueiron - I completely agree... It's a little annoying

Thanks guys! I believe it's all figured out now.

 

[Lela Whiddon]

You are very welcome! Now you can love your camera again! lol

You know, it's a good thing that we are shooting digital and are able to see the images as we shoot. Can you imagine how horrible it would be to get film back from the lab after shooting a wedding and ...... ohhhhhh, I think I'm getting a little sick just thinking about that!!!

 

[fotojack]

Dammit, Lela, ya beat me to it! I was going to suggest that very thing to Julia. Good thing you're quick on the trigger.

 

[Browncoat]

I just got my new D90 less than a week ago and had this issue myself.

Like most people I assume, I was anxious to go out and take photos with my new camera and didn't RTFM first. I accidentally pressed the [BKT] button while holding the camera and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was having issues. After an hour of headaches and reading the manual, I finally figured it out LOL!

Gotta be careful how you hold these things!

 

[RDarylA]

My D90 did the same thing to me. Prior to finding this thread I gave up and pressed the two green buttons to return to factory defaults. I only have a couple of settings to change to get the camera back the way I like it from this. Doing this fixed the problem, so I don't know how I'd caused it and it may have been accidentally setting bracketing... I'll never know - until next time!

 

[CassidyPhotography]

Re: Shutter speed changing in Manual mode

My Nikon D3, now with over 22,000 shots taken suddenly started automatically changing shutter speed after every shot, though using different lenses. I mean jumping to 1/5,000th or 1/60th second, well outside normal bracketing of exposures for intentionally set/reset 1/320th and f/11. You would think I know my own camera, by now. I DID NOT PLAY WITH BRACKETING -and- IT DID NOT NEED TO BE RESET. So, eliminate that response. As soon as I returned home, I installed a freshly recalibrated and recharged battery. I cleaned the contacts, in the camera and lenses. I reformatted the CF Card. I Reset the shooting menu. I Reset custom settings. I upgraded Firmware from 2.02 to 2.03. Nothing seemed to remedy the situation. Finally, after many tries and no joy, I depressed the ISO and W/B buttons, simultaneously, for 2 seconds. I did that a couple times. I have gone out to take 19 photos and now everything seems to be normal(?). Is the Nikon D3 ever really normal??? Question I have is WHY ON EARTH would the D3 develop a mind of its own and set Shutter Speed randomly, after every shot? Oh well. I bought and paid $5,000 for the camera, when new, back in 2008, putting my Nikon F4S on the shelf. Damned sorry I spent the money for this iteration of Nikon professional digital camera. I should have kept my money in my pocket. If I didn't own about $75,000 worth of Nikon pro lenses and accessories, I would pitch the D3 over the fence! The Nikon F4S/E was the best camera Nikon EVER produced. A real Photographer's camera. My guess, Nikon may finally get it right when the D6 is introduced to the market. Maybe.

CASSIDY PHOTOGRAPHY | Never take "No" for an answer!

 

[egosbar]

i was just about too say i bet its set too bracket lol , forums are great

 

[Marcel]

Re: Shutter speed changing in Manual mode

My Nikon D3, now with over 22,000 shots taken suddenly started automatically changing shutter speed after every shot, though using different lenses. I mean jumping to 1/5,000th or 1/60th second, well outside normal bracketing of exposures for intentionally set/reset 1/320th and f/11. You would think I know my own camera, by now. I DID NOT PLAY WITH BRACKETING -and- IT DID NOT NEED TO BE RESET. So, eliminate that response. As soon as I returned home, I installed a freshly recalibrated and recharged battery. I cleaned the contacts, in the camera and lenses. I reformatted the CF Card. I Reset the shooting menu. I Reset custom settings. I upgraded Firmware from 2.02 to 2.03. Nothing seemed to remedy the situation. Finally, after many tries and no joy, I depressed the ISO and W/B buttons, simultaneously, for 2 seconds. I did that a couple times. I have gone out to take 19 photos and now everything seems to be normal(?). Is the Nikon D3 ever really normal??? Question I have is WHY ON EARTH would the D3 develop a mind of its own and set Shutter Speed randomly, after every shot? Oh well. I bought and paid $5,000 for the camera, when new, back in 2008, putting my Nikon F4S on the shelf. Damned sorry I spent the money for this iteration of Nikon professional digital camera. I should have kept my money in my pocket. If I didn't own about $75,000 worth of Nikon pro lenses and accessories, I would pitch the D3 over the fence! The Nikon F4S/E was the best camera Nikon EVER produced. A real Photographer's camera. My guess, Nikon may finally get it right when the D6 is introduced to the market. Maybe.

CASSIDY PHOTOGRAPHY | Never take "No" for an answer!

Same thing happened to me earlier this week. Now I'll tell you what really happened to me. I did a flash session last sunday and when I use flash indoor, I change my meter to "spot" because this setting makes the camera forget about available light and won't increase my iso to try to balance the flash with the available light. So, the next time I went out to use the camera, I had forgotten about the spot meter setting... Depending on where my reading was made, I was getting quite varying results. If the measured area was black, my shots were overexposed, if metering on white, underexposed.

I think this is probably what happened to you too. As I was taking my shots, I had to check if bracketing wasn't turned on and it took me a few shots to realize what had happened.

Hope this helps.

 

[planetfestival]

Also happend to me,,,,so stupid of me, but I realised after an hour that accidently bracketing had ben turned on. But when your on a wedding, panic strikes and you dont think of the obvious.

 

[RonRR]

Had the same problem, jumping shutter speeds. The suggestions here helped me find the problem.

On the 610 there is an annoying bracket button right below the flash button on the front left of the lens. You push it and rotote the shutter speed wheel to turn on.
Once turned on, it starts changing shutter speeds even in manul mode.
Very annoying and no where to override it in the menu system.
The only warning is a little BKT visible in the view finder right below the word ISO.

 

[Dawg Pics]

Researching the threads finds a lot of good information. Glad you got it figured out.

 

[D.E. Huddleston]

Still helping someone on 19 Aug 2018. Thanks for the solution, Lela!