Serious over-exposure

seeker

So I shot my daughter's soccer game on Sunday, like I typically do, and ended up with some very strange results. Most if not all of my "action" shots throughout the game are significantly over-exposed. Some are pathetically bad, as a matter of fact.

The only think I can think is that my ISO was set too high - at 320. I had it this high to ensure I could get a fast enough shutter speed (1/1000) to stop action, while still having sufficient depth of field (around f5 on average) to be able to focus all the way out to 200mm.

My equipment is a D200 with the 70-200 f/2.8 with VR. Two samples are shown below.

Any thoughts?

-- BK

pyry

What mode were you shooting with? Did you have any exposure compensation on?

Post the exif, that'll help us help you.

seeker

pyry wrote:

What mode were you shooting with? Did you have any exposure compensation on?

Post the exif, that'll help us help you.

I was shooting in shutter-priority, with absolutely no exposure compensation (I checked that to be certain).

EXIF for the second shot - by far the worst:

Exposure: 1/1000 sec at f/5.6
Focal Length: 98 mm
Focal Length 35mm: 147 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
ISO Speed Rating: ISO 320
Flash: Did not fire
Exposure Program: Shutter priority
Metering Mode: Pattern

-- BK

Mitchell

I can't explain why these shots are overexposed. I can only imagine that the bright, sun somehow fooled the meter.

When I shoot soccer now in bright sun, I take a spot meter reading off one of the player's faces and shoot in manual mode. If I change my vantage point, I just check my spot metering again.

As always, the histogram is your friend. I always set my rear LCD to "highligts" mode so I can check for "blinkies" (blown highlights). You would have known that something was amiss if you had seen that second shot in your LCD.

Also, no need for ISO above 200 on such a bright day.

Dave Clee

Like Mitchell said, check your histogram at least for the first few shots..I always take a few test shots, have a look at it and adjust accordingly.

Not sure why it happened as even with shutter priority and ISO 320 it should of given you the right aperture for correct exposure. Now your exposure compensation would do it, but looks like that was fine.
The only other thing I can think of is if the camera had taken its metering from a much darker part of the frame and exposed for it, which would of caused the blowouts.
Any chance you had the exposure lock on ? I have done that b4.

In any case make the histogram your friend.

Cheers

Dave

pathfinder

At ISO 320 on a sunny day, Sunny 16 predicts 1/320th at f16, or 1/640th at f11, or 1/1280th at f8. You were shooting at 1/1000th at f5.6, so that is "about" one full stop more exposure than indicated for direct sunlight and that is what your image looks - over exposed by about 1 stop.

I suggest rechecking about Exposure Compensation, and about what type of light metering was used. Spot metering off a dark jersey could contribute to mis metering. Always chimp the histogram to be sure about your exposure.

A Nikon meter is usually very accurate, so something is awry here, I agree. Shutter priority should not cause this over exposure, it could have stopped the lens down further to f8 or f11 easily.

seeker

pathfinder wrote:

At ISO 320 on a sunny day, Sunny 16 predicts 1/320th at f16, or 1/640th at f11, or 1/1280th at f8. You were shooting at 1/1000th at f5.6, so that is "about" one full stop more exposure than indicated for direct sunlight and that is what your image looks - over exposed by about 1 stop.

I suggest rechecking about Exposure Compensation, and about what type of light metering was used. Spot metering off a dark jersey could contribute to mis metering. Always chimp the histogram to be sure about your exposure.

A Nikon meter is usually very accurate, so something is awry here, I agree. Shutter priority should not cause this over exposure, it could have stopped the lens down further to f8 or f11 easily.

Well, I definitely did not have exposure compensation on ... I know this because I specifically made sure it was off, and I can see it in the EXIF as well.

I had the camera set to 3d-matrix metering, which is not what I typically use (not sure when it got changed). I typically use center-weighted, which is odd because I would think 3-d matrix would have done a better job.

My concern here is that something is awry with the metering in the camera. I took some shots before thte game started in manual mode and had absolutely no problems at all.

-- BK

seeker

Dave Clee wrote:

Like Mitchell said, check your histogram at least for the first few shots..I always take a few test shots, have a look at it and adjust accordingly.

Not sure why it happened as even with shutter priority and ISO 320 it should of given you the right aperture for correct exposure. Now your exposure compensation would do it, but looks like that was fine.
The only other thing I can think of is if the camera had taken its metering from a much darker part of the frame and exposed for it, which would of caused the blowouts.
Any chance you had the exposure lock on ? I have done that b4.

In any case make the histogram your friend.

Cheers

Dave

Well, there is definitely an issue with metering in the camera, and it even affects TTL flash.

I have a second D200 body that does not exhibit this problem at all. I set them side by side and compared every single menu option. The only difference was the firmware, which I upgraded on the offending body, hoping this would resolve the issue - it does not.

When shooting manual, no flash, the bodies are identical. When shooting manual with an SB800 in TTL mode, the offending body consistently shoots over-exposed by approx. 1 stop. The only thing I can think is that something is messed in the metering.

Something else I notice which isn't good at all, is that occasionally the SB800 will fire all by itself on this camera body, but not on the other. That's just not a good sign!

-- BK