I covered a racing event over the weekend that I've covered the last several years. Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed the images from my D850 seem to be a little darker than usual. I particularly noticed it on night shots with my flash. I thought the flash was starting to get weaker and switched to a new one I've had as a back up for some time. That didn't seem to matter. Fast forward to last weekend and I noticed day shots are darker as well. I'm using the same camera, lens, etc. and was standing in the same spot as last year and the same time of the day. Could something be happening to the sensor in the camera or something with the lens? I'm using the 70-200 f4 lens. I'm just fishing for possible causes. (FYI, I had the camera cleaned and serviced over the winter.)
Are you shooting in something like aperture priority, or are you dialing in exact exposure via manual? If shooting in aperture priority with the same scene and same EC, you’d expect the same exposure, which would adjust for changes in light intensity while manual wouldn’t. I guess it’s important to find a place where you know you have consistent light to see if the same exposure settings yield the same results, or if you are having a change in metering.
If the actual images are getting darker, it could potentially be something off with the shutter mechanism. Timing or second curtain not following correctly or the like. Timing would be unusual on a modern camera, but a mechanical failure could start positioning things incorrectly or cause premature release of the second curtain.
Jman13 wrote:
Are you shooting in something like aperture priority, or are you dialing in exact exposure via manual? If shooting in aperture priority with the same scene and same EC, you’d expect the same exposure, which would adjust for changes in light intensity while manual wouldn’t. I guess it’s important to find a place where you know you have consistent light to see if the same exposure settings yield the same results, or if you are having a change in metering.
If the actual images are getting darker, it could potentially be something off with the shutter mechanism. Timing or second curtain not following correctly or the like. Timing would be unusual on a modern camera, but a mechanical failure could start positioning things incorrectly or cause premature release of the second curtain. ...Show more →
I shoot in manual. But the shutter issue is something I have wondered about. I may rent one, use my settings, and see if it something with the camera itself. Now that I've eliminated the flash as an issue, I need to determine if it's the camera or the lens.
Are you now using, or did you in the past and it got reset, custom setting b7 "Fine-Tune Optimal Exposure"? This allows you to set an entirely hidden exposure bias (for each exposure mode), much like exposure compensation except you'll see no sign of it in your usual camera settings. Maybe you had that set to something positive and it got reset when the camera was cleaned and serviced?
kwalsh wrote:
Are you now using, or did you in the past and it got reset, custom setting b7 "Fine-Tune Optimal Exposure"? This allows you to set an entirely hidden exposure bias (for each exposure mode), much like exposure compensation except you'll see no sign of it in your usual camera settings. Maybe you had that set to something positive and it got reset when the camera was cleaned and serviced?
I will have to check that out. The other thing in mind is whether something got accidentally changed.
So far, I have not seen any settings that are not set as I usually have them (I have a chart in case I need to refer to it for these situations). I may rent another one this weekend to see if the problem goes away or it's something else.
I need to back track on my last post. I ran some photos through an online detailed EXIF generator. I compared a photo from last year to this year where I could see the visible difference. I even ran one from earlier this year when things looked fine.
What I found is the external flash exposure comp was set to +1/3 last year and earlier this year, 0 this past weekend. Something called an external flash ready state was reading "ready" last year and this weekend says "unknown (2)". Again, the flash compensation said +1/3 last year and 0 last weekend.
jrscls wrote:
Flash exposure compensation (FEC) can usually be set on camera or the flash. Try increasing your FEC by +1/3 to match your previous settings.
Check DRO settings as well. It’s usually more of a problem if you shoot RAW as it reduces exposure then lifts JPG shadows (so you shouldn’t see it) but if it was on and now off you might see deeper shadows than expected.
After doing some experimenting, I have concluded that my lens is the issue and not the camera. I rented another D850 and got the same results. I went back to my D850 and mounted a different lens. The images were so much better. I'm not sure what's going on with the lens. It's a 70-200 f4 lens. I sent it in to be cleaned and checked. If I remember correctly, they changed out the focusing mechanism. I'd have to find my quote on it. I didn't have any problems until the last month or so. I really don't know what happened. The lens has not been dropped. At least I know what the culprit is. Thanks for the suggestions.
Just to put an end to this conversation, I did buy another lens and it has worked flawlessly. I'm not sure what is wrong with my other one. I may send it in to see and how much it will cost to fix, to see if it's worth fixing. I appreciate everyone's input.
