overexposed

V

voop

Senior Member
Hi all
Please could someone explain why some of my pics are so overexposed even though I make sure it is all perfect using the metre on the camera. This really only happens when I shoot manual.

I adjust my shutter to compensate for either under/over exposure but when I shoot the picture is like a bright white wall or just a blurry mess. Then if I take the same shot with a higher shutter speed the picture is pretty decent but the metre suggests that it would have been way over exposed......I am quite confused.
:confused:
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
I'll take a guess. But it's just a guess.

Your lens blades might be sticking in the open position. The camera meter thinks the lens will be closed at f8 but when you depress the shutter, the lens stays open at 3.5 or whatever is your max opening.

To check for this, take pictures with your lens wide open and follow the meter's setting in manual. Then, right after, take the same picture at f8 and then f11 still following the meter's suggested settings for shutter speed. If your f8 and f11 pictures look more and more overexposed, this is what your problem is.

You can try a different lens to see if it's the lens or (heard of it before) the lens-camera connections might be faulty as well.

Try different things and let us know what happens. Maybe we can troubleshoot it for you.

​Good luck.
 
N

nickt

Senior Member
Are you possibly using spot metering when in manual mode? That could easily over or underexpose your shots.
 
V

voop

Senior Member
nickt said:
Are you possibly using spot metering when in manual mode? That could easily over or underexpose your shots.
Click to expand...

Spot on, I am using spot metering. What would you suggest I use?. I am using the 70-300mm Tamaron lense no AF only manual.
 
N

nickt

Senior Member
Yes, matrix is probably best. But explore the other modes too. Matrix uses fancy camera smarts to give the best overall exposure. Center weighted is similar, but gives more consideration to the object in the center. Spot is exactly that, measures on the focus point.

Spot is good if you have a particular object of interest. Let's say you photograph a black or a white cat on green grass. Spot meter on the cat and you will get great detail on the white or black fur, but the grass will be under or over exposed. With spot metering on the cat, white cat= underexposed grass, black cat=overexposed grass. Also good for someone's face when bright sun is behind them.

So by you using spot metering only a tiny portion of your scene was considered for exposure, causing over or under exposure for the rest. Also look at exposure compensation for some scenes. Without changing meter modes, you can add or remove exposure to a scene. For instance if you had many black cats on the grass, adding +1 would show the cats better, but over expose the grass slightly.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
It's a bit complicated but another method is to learn how to read your histogram and use it to determine the exposure. This is what I do along with bracketing.
 
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