D90 Meter reading question.

AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
Lately I've been doing a lot of shooting in manual (finally). I'll look at the meter reading in the view finder and the camera "thinks" I have the right settings, but when I preview the shot the sky and everything in general looks over exposed and highlights are flashing.

So with a little experimenting I have learned if I take my shot two "bars" to the under exposed side it looks great and I get no highlight warnings. Been doing this now for about a week or two and it works in high and low light conditions.

With my 18-105 lens I'm trying to keep my shutter speed between 200 and 500 and adjust my aperture from there as needed. My ISO is set to 200 unless I need more for speed or more aperture. I'm also shooting JPG and RAW. I under stand the ISO triangle. But I don't think my D90 does LOL

Any thoughts on this? Yes my EV value is set to zero and bracketing is off and I'm not using the Active D lighting filter. Is this the nature of the beast or do I have something set wrong somewhere that I'm forgetting about.

To dark today to show some samples but as soon as I can, I'll post two shots off the tripod of the same shot with both settings and EXIF data.
 
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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Well Rick, I'll try to explain what might be pertinent to answer your question.
The D90's meter wants to make everything 18% grey. This is equivalent to the grey card old photographers used to use to meter. When you take a picture with the D90 and there is a lot of dark that is darker then the grey card, the meter wants to overexpose to make everything grey, so the skies or faces or whatever will be overexposed. Now if you want to take picture of a face for example and the person is standing in front of a lake and she is backlight, the meter will want to make the lake and the light darker that it is. Then you would have to overexpose to get the details in the person's face that you'd want.

Try to find a grey card and take it with you. Just by looking at the card and comparing it to what you'll be photographing will get you to understand this principle. Better even, use the card to take a camera meter reading and it should be 95% right.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy your D90, I took mine out this week and it's still a very nice camera to work with.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
What metering mode are you using, Rick?

By default, the D90 is set to Matrix Metering, which is an overall average reading of the scene. It's a bit smarter than that, but that's the basic premise. You might try playing with the Center-Weighted or even Spot metering modes and see how they improve your results.
 

AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
Thanks Marcel and Anthony. The icon is full frame so I'm still in default mode Matrix, see I might have over look something, well I got something else to play with and read up on now.

When it come to metering mode is there a preferred setting for certain settings i.e. daylight, cloudy, night? Haven't done much experimenting with metering modes and the subject is new to me outside what I have read here in and out of the threads.

In the mean time my little walk around seams to be working for me, it may not be "right" but until I get a handle on things it will work.

If anything else I can always switch into a program mode, as strange as it sounds some of better looking photos have come out of sports mode, lol

I try Manual if I don't like that then I try Aperture, and if that don't work I flip into Sports mode, unless it's low light or night. Or I chicken out and only have one chance to get a shot.

Playing is fun thanks for the input.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Check out my comments on this post regarding metering modes.

When shooting outdoors, the sky is almost always going to be the brightest thing in your frame. Compare that against what you're actually wanting to shoot, and odds are high that it will be darker, at least in part. Below is a photo that I pulled from the internet, and a prime example:


Untitled-1.jpg


This scene would be difficult to meter accurately. We have a bright, sunny day as evidenced in the foreground where there is no shade. Yet the tire swing hanging from the tree (our main subject) is under a lot of shade. Compounded by the additional problem of obscured sky in the background because of the woods. You can clearly see the hot spots in this photo, as well as some underexposed areas. Just looking at this, I can say with 95% certainty that this was shot using Matrix or Evaluative (Canon/others) metering mode.

When it come to metering mode is there a preferred setting for certain settings i.e. daylight, cloudy, night?

Preferred setting would be Matrix. In most situations, it's close enough for government work, and you will have much more consistent results. However, if your subject is clearly backlit or there is other dynamic lighting going on, you'll have better results if you switch modes.

For what it's worth, you can also invest in a separate hand-held light meter. I can recommend a good one if you're interested.
 

AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
I can recommend a good one if you're interested.

Well, since your offering why not. A light meter is on my NAS list. The Sekonic L758 DR is the one I keep seeing coming up here and there. Like what I see, but like everything else a little on the pricey side. I'm sure there are others out there just haven't run into them yet.

Guys, spare the link delight referrals, we'll save that for another thread.:p:p
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Rick, why spend money for something that is already inside your camera. The light meter in the D90 is fine. You would save a lot of money by buying a grey card and learning how to use it. Or, experiment with spot metering, you might start to understand what is at stake when we just push the button.

OK, the sekonic is a little different since it read the incoming light instead of the reflected light, but a little practice and reading (Ansel Adams "zone system") will open new possibilities for your photography.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Marcel, a gray card is for white/color balance, not light metering. You can use a gray card in that manner, but it must be positioned to reflect the most prominent light source and then used in conjunction with a specific kind of light meter.

Rick:

Have a look-see at the Sekonic L-358. It's half the price of the model you listed. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it's about the best bang for your buck. I had to purchase one for a photography class and never thought it would see the light of day (no pun intended). As it turns out, it's become an invaluable tool, and I use it all the time.
 

AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
Ok guys, relax.:p I'm in uncharted waters here and I'm on a learning curve. Marcel I know the D90 has a light meter in it, and I a confirmed private message some someone on this board just as I thought the D90 is known to read about 1 stop too bright. Which in part has answered my question. Anthony has brought up the point about metering mode, which has also answered part of my question. So were on the right track here.

I have not had a lot of time to research metering modes, and the last two days have been dark and gloomy here so I haven't had chance to try anything out.

Thanks for the recommendations Marcel on white cards and the "zone system" I AM going to check that out.

I like to point out, we shot RAW partly because we don't trust or camera to set white balance and such, why should I trust my camera with a meter reading? I think I'm a little smarter than my camera.

As for a hand held light meter that too is something I want to explore. At this point in time I feel it still a good move / buy just for the simple fact untill I do get better with meter readings in general I can always check myself instead of second guessing myself. Also the long-term plan is to set up a real three light setup, be it Speed lights or canned lights. A light meter here would help me set the power of each light a lot easier then guessing at it.

I respect both your opinions and appreciate your input. You both produce great work in your photos and I hope some day to be right up there with you guys (and not trying arrogant or anything) maybe even better lol :p
 

ThePilot

New member
What you need to be thinking about is the REFLECTIVITY of the scene you are taking pictures of.
If it is composed of bright tones ie snow or sky, then the camera will under expose the scene since it tries to make it look 18% grey. The reverse is true for dark scenes.
If you take a test shot using the cameras' suggestion then adjust exposure until you just get the "Blinkies" on the highlights on the Histogram. Back off from this about 1/3 or 1/2 a stop and you exposure should be pretty good.
For a dark toned scene you could adjust exposure until the left end of the histogram is not clipping.
The meter inside your D90 is ace, you do not need to buy another! I will admit to using an incident meter at times which gives me a pretty near exposure to start with, but so will the meter in your camera if you remember the above tips.
HTH
Iain
 
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