D30 Pics To Bright - HELP!

[sfa88]

I can't seem to get outdoor, bright sunlight pictures to expose correctly on my D30. What would be the best settings to try for either manual shooting or automatic shooting?

[Jon]

What happens at f/16 and 1/ISO (manual)? Is that properly exposed (bright sunny day)?

[RichardtheSane]

A couple of examples along with the camera settings used would be incredibly helpful in determining what is wrong.

[EoSD30fReAk]

i agree

let's see some examples and then maybe we can help you :wink:

[sfa88]

This was taken with the landscape mode.

http://home.comcast.net/~sfa88/home1.jpg

[RichardtheSane]

Below is the exif for this scene

2004:09:29 12:25:35
28-300mm @ 28mm
1/500 sec, f/13
Mode: Landscape
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 800
AF mode: One-shot AF
Drive: Single frame shooting
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 745KB
Image size: 2160 x 1440
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn 1: Long exposure noise reduction: ON
CFn 6: Shutter speed in Av mode: 1/200 (with flash)
CFn 8: Shutter curtain sync: 2nd-curtain sync
CFn 11: Menu button return position: Previous (top if powered off)
CFn 12: SET button function when shooting: Change ISO speed

I can see it is completely over exposed, posibly because the ISO is set to 800 not 100. But the meter should have compensated for this I would have thought.

One idea that you really should investigate is the lens. It looks like the sort of result you would get if the lens doesn't stop down properly. Which lens is it and has it worked properly before?

You can test the lens by setting the camera to AV mode and the aperture to F16. Look through the viewfinder and press the DOF preview button (usually on the camera lens mount, near the bottom left withthe lens away from you_. You should see the viewfinder get lots darker and hear the lens stop down.

Otherwise try shooting AV mode and see how it goes, get out of the PIC modes of the camera :)

[sfa88]

The lens is a Sigma 28-300 aspherical. It hasn't given me any trouble in the year that I've had it. I'll try your suggestions tomorrow.

What do you mean by "get out of the pic mode of the camera"?

[rsnadel]

Without trying to speak for sfa88, I think the "get out of pic mode" suggestion means dialing the knob on the top left side of the camera out of "landscape" mode and in to something like P (Program) or Av (Aperture Priority, where you can set the camera to f/13) to see if it makes a difference.

[sfa88]

I tried checking the depth of field but nothing happened when I did. I also tried using Av mode and adjusting the aperture value, but regardless of which position the quick control dial switch was in the aperture value would not chance when I turned the quick control dial. I tried M mode and found a similar problem, when I tried to adjust aperture value, it would not change. I was able to change shutter speed in M mode however. Could there be a setting that has aperture value locked?

[Jon]

Have you got another lens to try? Or can you borrow one? It sounds like your lens has a problem.

[EoSD30fReAk]

i agree with the rest! looks like a problem with the lens

if you get the same result with an other lens, than maybe the shutter is worn out :wink: