Over Exposure Problem

[jdomke1]

I see a lot of postings here about under exposure and they have some great advice about how to correct this. My problem seems to be the only one out there so I decided to post and let you people pick away at the problem.

I've had my D30 for 18 months now using it to shoot weddings and portraits. When I first got it, it took a while to get used to shooting with it. I made my share of mistakes but they pictures gradually got much better. The problem I'm having for about the past five months, just after the warranty ended, is that my pictures are terribly over exposed when shooting in P mode. Even with exposure compentation set at -2 they are still over exposed by at least 1-2 f stops. This was never a problem before and my equipment has remained consistant from the beginning. The only solution I've found it to shoot full manual in all conditions. I'm not against manual because it makes me a better photographer, but I would like the camera to function correctly in all its modes. I've gone round and round with cannon about this and all I get from them is to send the camera in for a checkup. With a busy wedding schedule until the end of October and the bugger being out of warranty, I'm hoping someone here might help.

[David Miller]

Dear jdomke1,
I would bite the bullet and send the camera back to Canon for a check-up. The one thing I liked about my D60(never had a D30) was that the exposures were right on the money. Remember that digital cameras work the same as film cameras when it comes to determining exposures. I have to bias the exposure, usually no more than + or - .5, depending upon the scene or portrait that I am taking. If you are shooting weddings with a dedicated Canon flash such as the 550EX your exposures can vary widely. My studio is no longer using the D60 because we were getting poor flash exposures shooting candid wedding shots. We are now using the FujiS2's because of the 3D matrix metering system designed by Nikon. This is a big pill to swallow because my studio owns 4 Canon bodies and about 8 Canon lenses. I hope you have a back-up camera system for your wedding coverage.
Respectfully,
David Miller

[jdomke1]

want to sell one of your D60's to me?

[David Miller]

Dear Jdomke1,
We owned three D60's and we just sold our last D60 last week. We have purchased three of the Fuji S2's. We are expecting our third Fuji S2 today which will be put into service in the St. Louis, Mo. area. We also have some Fuji S1's that will be used as back-up. The only reason I sold the D60's was because we were getting about 25-35% underexposure on our candid wedding pictures. Some of these files were as much as 2 stops underexposed! I can live with 1 stop max underexposure. My purchasing of digital cameras is over until I see the next generation of digital cameras. My next digital camera will have a full sized 35mm sensor, CMOS sensor, and about 11-13mb file. This sounds like the new Canon digital but I will definately try out the flash system for wedding candids before I purchase. I am also going to look at the new Kodak digital camera which also meets the above specks. The one thing I have read about the Kodak is the variable-file size when shooting RAW. It seems like a never ending cycle, next the storage cards will be bigger and then the computers will have to be faster. I have used Canon cameras for more than 20 years when I started with a CanonFTb! It painfull to say but, the Nikon 3D matrix flash system is better than the ETTL system, at least for wedding candids.
Respectfully,
David Miller

[marqui]

Well jDomke,

I think from what I read on your post, if you scroll down to my earlier post you may see an answer to your problem. Also we are VERY busy photographers 70+ annually, I genuinely think you should buy a D60. the quality is MUCH cleaner than the D30. (We have one of each,D30 for the more candid shots)

It's under

Re: This is Bad! (Exposure)

Regards

Mark

[Motorsports Photo]

jdomke1 wrote:
The problem I'm having for about the past five months, just after the warranty ended, is that my pictures are terribly over exposed when shooting in P mode. Even with exposure compentation set at -2 they are still over exposed by at least 1-2 f stops. This was never a problem before and my equipment has remained consistant from the beginning. The only solution I've found it to shoot full manual in all conditions.

Aha, so I'm not the only one!!!

I noticed that problem just before my warranty was up. I had exposure problems now and then and just thought it was a quirk of the camera until it started doing it all the time!

It was sent back to Canon and supposedly repaired. The problem came right back.

Unfortunately my schedule has kept me from sending it back until next week. I have been doing ALL my pics on manual and checking the histogram. I did some comparisons of pics from earlier in the year (before the problem) and they looked much better that what I get now.

I also found out last weekend that it can't take a decent flash pic either. )-:

Post a note if you get your fixed satisfactorily. This last year I had three cameras go in for service at Jamesville, NJ and they came back "unfixed" but the invoice showed a repair.

Unhappily,

-Peter Smakula
Strasburg, OH

[gmitchel]

You're not alone when it comes to the D30 over-exposing.

I now use a D60. It's evaluative metering is not perfect, either.

I wound up using partial metering with the D30 and being very conscious of exposure compensation because my D30 tended to over-expose by 1/2 to 2/3 of a stop. It was really prone to burning out highlights.

I used a Sekonic light meter in incident light metering mode and manual a lot of the time on sunny days.

Mitch