Since I don't have upload & sell membership. The first 3 are with no compensation and the last with 3/4 stop increased. I don't think any of the scenes were that challenging where my cell phone gets a decent metering.
These pictures are so crap it's hard to tell what a proper exposure should even be. My D750 overexposes and underexposes in matrix metering all the time based on what I'm aiming it at: aim it at something with a bright background/bright windows, etc... and it'll typically underexpose my main subject, aim it at something with a dark background and it'll commonly overexpose a bit. I know this and I expect this and I'm frequently dialing in +/- 0.3 to 0.7 exposure compensation. Try shooting a person (from the side) standing in front of some window light. Or bright sunshine falling on someone's face with a primarily dark background- you'll get overexposure every time when using an auto mode like matrix metering.
Reading books or using manual exposure wii fix hardware inconsistency? I'm simply asking if it's within the reason or a defect, not a work around.
You're seriously asking if your camera is defective because you're getting inconsistent results when you use it in a "scene " mode ?? holy crap !! I took a picture the other day of my grandson and his eyes were half closed. Do you think maybe there's a focus issue with my D750 ?
I'm not on a great monitor at the moment but those samples look fine to me. The one you edited looks a little hot if anything.
In the first 3 images, you had predominantly white subjects, and another with a reflective/shiny rim (the Bose speaker). The Bose shot actually looks quite perfectly exposed to my eye. Your camera is going to try and not blow those out, which may make it look like you're getting some darker images. A better test would be of subjects you actually plan on shooting, and the reason the exposure comp. button is so easy to access is because camera meter's can't read your mind, but they are usually very accurate. Try shooting a predominantly black scene, you will notice the camera will likely overexpose slightly in Matrix.
I was taking some shots of my Niece the other day, and she was lying on a bright white blanket. I had to add about +0.7 EV to get a proper exposure with matrix, which is very normal.
I understand the desire to immediately test the heck out of your new camera, and it's in that phase where you are most likely to discover "problems" that don't exist. Read the manual cover to cover, then get out and shoot some real-world subjects. Nothing you've posted so far suggests there is a problem with your D750.
Hello codeninja, your samples look to me to be within the norm. I may be biased because of the sort of conditions I usually shoot in - I've become accustomed to, essentially, never taking the built-in metering at face value.
If I judge the light conditions to be fairly consistent at a venue, I usually dial in EC and lock it down using AE-Hold - so the meter gets taken out of the equation at that point. If the conditions are going to vary from scene to scene I do my best at setting a 'reasonable' value for EC and otherwise let the meter do its thing - but always with the understanding that I will check and adjust in post.
Digital image-making gives us all (who shoot RAW, at least) incredible flexibility. As an older guy, I remember the film days when I routinely took a reading off my hand for "people" pictures where the complexions of the subjects did not, to my eye at least. vary noticeably from my own, and, if they friends--real friends, not strangers--of a different race, I sometimes asked if I could take a reading, close-up, off their skin, just to get it "right" for our mutual benefit. Less strange, perhaps, and, obviously far less invasive, for landscapes, many of us took readings of the subject at about a 45 degree angle to the ground to compensate for the sky effect on the metering. How lucky we are with histograms, exposure comp, post-processing and the ability to delete the non-keepers without burning costly film stock.
I agree that the last pic is just a tad hot on the arm of the chair - rh side, middle
toss the nikon user manual and get that color printed book on Nikon cameras, I forget the author's name but he does one on each model
more importantly, set up a scene with a tone range of known light levels using artificial floods and a spot meter if you have it - then photo that with your camera & examine the histograms for each color and the final pic; rinse, repeat until you internalize the exposure response of your body
my understanding is that Nikon has the best exposure latitude of anything out there, but the "philosophy" is a bit different from some other manf.s
If you are sure that it is off by half a stop, then just push the +/- button next to the shutter, and dial in (rear thumb wheel) the compensation value you want. Problem solved. btw your samples look right to me
p.2 #10 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
codeninja wrote:
Thanks for the ideas. But, the histogram shows all at the bottom half which indicates underexposure, isn't it?
It's more left/right rather than top/bottom when you're looking for underexposure. If it were shifted to the left with no data on the right, it would likely be underexposed. Histograms can still be shifted one way or the other and still show a proper exposure depending on the subject (eg. a primarily dark/black scene may show very little data on the right side of the histogram, but still be properly exposed). Data spilling off either end the chart indicates it has been clipped/lost (very high contrast scenes may show this). You also don't need to look for a perfect bell-curve every time, since it is entirely dependent on the scene.
The up/down (Y axis) data is how many pixels in the photo are at that particular brightness level with relation to it's position on the X axis.
The left side is shadows (black), the right side is highlights (whites).
If your photos were under exposed, it would most likely look like all the data was on the left side of the histogram, with nothing at all on the far right. That still doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong, as that may be a certain exposure you were trying to achieve.
With some help from Google Images, here is a good little diagram that might be more clear than a bunch of words:
p.2 #13 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
codeninja wrote:
Actually, I meant left not top...sorry for the confusion. With the first 3 photos, I have only left half.
That goes back to what we were saying before, when you take a photo of something shiny and/or predominately white (like in all of your examples, which look OK to my eyes), that isn't unusual. For example, photographers often have to add positive EV compensation when taking pictures of a wedding dress, and negative EV compensation for, say, a group shot of the groomsmen all in black suits - the opposite of what you might think is logical. Your camera is going to try balance the exposure the best it can, prioritizing what's under the focus point, without blowing anything out or crushing blacks.
p.2 #16 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
Slightly different subject. I read it's better to slightly overexpose because there is more information in light area than dark area I can bring back. I also hear we should watch out for blown highlights.
In an extreme lighting situation where both bright and dark areas coexist and they're equally important, which way do you go?
p.2 #17 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
Andrew Pece Photography wrote:
It may sound crazy, but the best thing you could do in the world is set that switch to m and start setting exposure yourself for a year or so. You can use spot or center weighted to set exposures. Meter off things like sidewalks or even the sky. You'll learn how much you need to compensate fter a while. You won't regret doing this in the long run, believe me, but it is hard to convince people of it nowadays.
Sounds like an exercise my photo class required too many year ago. We had to walk around for a month with a light meter taking readings of a wide variety of scenes. Object was to understand reflective light.
To the OP, use Auto for both aperture and shutter. Take a pic of properly lit scene. Then use a light meter to read the same scene. That should give you an idea if your camera is metering wrong. Improperly lit scenes require some experience.
p.2 #19 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
A light meter and manual setting for awhile is excellent advice. The Matrix Metering is supposed to be somewhat like Zone System Metering but it can be fooled. I use a Df in Manual Mode and manual focus lenses a lot; back to basics. But when I am chasing little birds in my yard sometimes I use AF lenses and Spot metering. My cat is black so it is -1 to 1 1/2 EV for her.
p.2 #20 · D750 with matrix metering underexposing?
codeninja wrote:
Slightly different subject. I read it's better to slightly overexpose because there is more information in light area than dark area I can bring back. I also hear we should watch out for blown highlights.
In an extreme lighting situation where both bright and dark areas coexist and they're equally important, which way do you go?
With the D750, you have enormous shadow range, and not as much highlight range. In an extreme situation, you would be best off either bracketing, or exposing for the highlights since you have almost 5 stops of noiseless shadow leeway (at base ISO). It's much easier to recover shadow information than highlight information, so you're better off exposing for the highlights and fixing the shadows in post. It's nice to have options.
