D600 underexposure

Hi - I'm experiencing underexposure with my D600, even in broad daylight, and the only way out was by applying +0.7 to +1.0 EV. I have tried Auto, P, M, and all other shooting modes but to no avail.

The same thing used to happen on my D300.

Anyone with similar experiences? Much appreciated.

Hi and welcome...Can you post an image with the exif data then we might be able to help

I have the D300 for 5 1/2 years and haven't had problems

Just a wild guess since the info you've supplied us with is not that complete:

Check your metering settings. If you are on spot, try the matrix mode. I suspect this could be your problem.
Now you have to remember that the camera's meter is trying to make everything it measures show up neutral grey. So when you are taking a photo of something white, it will make the white grey and will look underexposed. This is where the photographer has to make a decision and apply a little bit of his experience.

Good luck.

Can you give us an example? I was having similar results for a short while when I first got mine. At the time I was using a 70-300mm and thought things looked a little cloudy, thin washed out. I've said it before and I'll say it again - it was while I was trying to apply my D300 knowledge to the D600. Once I got out of this phase and tried to alter "D600" settings, my pics began to look a lot better. I played around with smaller aperture, higher ISO and things like that and then it began change for the better. Yet with the 24-120mm lens I had to look along the lines of completely different settings. The D600 is completely different from a D300 and the settings now available to you demand that you develop your knowledge in a slightly different way, which is unique to the D600. Don't be afraid to really use the settings as you really have to go far out on a limb to get things completely wrong...

If you can, post an affected pic along with some of the settings used and lens details...

I second the suggestion to try the different metering modes. Maybe you are spot metering bright objects in dark conditions (relatively) so the overall photo looks dark? My experience with the D600 is that it's fine, no issues with exposure.

Still waiting for an image...

Hit the reset buttons and try again,my 600 sometimes tends to over exp a bit but that is rare....

Hi again guys, and sorry for the late response. I've been unable to attach any of my photos because they are large in size, I have reduced them several times but still won't be accepted. What's the MAX size allowed? I'm down to 2.7 MB from the original 6.7 MB!! Thx

inkhoury said:

Hi again guys, and sorry for the late response. I've been unable to attach any of my photos because they are large in size, I have reduced them several times but still won't be accepted. What's the MAX size allowed? I'm down to 2.7 MB from the original 6.7 MB!! Thx

Click to expand...

About 1.4 MB should be OK. Remember that the best way to resize is to diminish the resolution. Try lowering to 72 dpi and your file will magically shrink and it is monitor's native resolution so it still looks good on a monitor but if someone wants to steal it for prints, then it just turn ugly in a print.

Marcel said:

About 1.4 MB should be OK. Remember that the best way to resize is to diminish the resolution. Try lowering to 72 dpi and your file will magically shrink and it is monitor's native resolution so it still looks good on a monitor but if someone wants to steal it for prints, then it just turn ugly in a print.

Click to expand...

Marcel

Changing DPI does not change image size in MB it just tells a printer how wide to print it, should you be printing. Try exporting from Lightroom and change dpi from 1 - 72 - 1000. I suspect the 3 files will all be the same size. Ive tried it to prove it to myself. All it changes is the metadata tag. If you change the image size (dimensions of w and h) in photoshop it will probably report a different DPI but that's different. At the end of the day the MB size is just pixels wide by pixels high. Unless you chuck some away using compression or reducing W and H they will not shrink. I keep meaning to post on this subject as it's often confusing.

Best way to achieve smaller size is export from Lightroom and specify max size in bytes. I'm amazed at the quality LR can make a 256k file. Better than anything I've ever tried before.

I've just found an article that explains it better than I did

Marcel, if we are at crossed purposes I apologise for the points above.

Do you have adobe elements just change the image sixe pixals,easy and fast,eg. 6000/change to 1000 pixels.

In Photoshop, I first change the resolution to 72 and the picture stays the same size but there are less pixels. Then, I change the size to be max 900 pixels. This makes the file around 450-900 kb depending on how much information is in the file.

Actually, to get back to the original problem of under-exposure. You might want to go into M (Manual) mode and do all your own settings. This way you get an exposure meter that comes up in the viewfinder or if you press the Info button it appears on the LCD screen too. It will give you a good idea if your shot-to-be is about to be either under or over exposed. That indcator looks like this...

(- . . 0 . . +)

and as you change settings or wave the camera around it may help you by giving you that indication. I suppose you'd already know that the "-" equals under-exposed,, "0" is about spot on, and "+" equals over-exposed and the more the black bars come up towards either side (- or +), the worse off your shot will be. Using the 3 main settings = ISO (ISO button bottom left), Aperture (sub-command wheel up front) and Shutter (Command wheel at the back) you can make your adjustments to each and watch the meter go up or down. Of course I guess you can play with other controls too but the three above come first...

It "MIGHT" help to gauge what's happening, or NOT happening for you...