Nikon D700 "Lo" metering warning

PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
edited February 14, 2009 in Cameras
In Aperture priority, when light gets low, the shutter speed creeps down to 1/15s then 1/8s then 1/6s then it says "Lo". Why does it give up at 1/6s? Shouldn't it get down to several seconds of SS before giving up? That's at f/1.4 and ISO 1600. At ISO 6400, it goes from 1/25 to Lo.

I understand if it falls below the metering range of 0-20 EV, but neither my 5DmkII nor any of my past Canons have this problem. I got the 5D to go to 6" in Aperture Priority on f/1.4 and ISO 1600 and that was with the lens cap on and the viewfinder blocked.

Is this hidden in one of the many Nikon custom functions?

Comments

  • Scott_QuierScott_Quier Registered Users Posts: 6,524 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    That does sound a bit strange. Question: Have you attempted to take some shots at a number of different "Lo" shutter speeds and read the EXIF data? Would be interesting to know if the camera continued to adjust the shutter speed to account for differing conditions.
    Scott
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  • angevin1angevin1 Registered Users Posts: 3,403 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    I could have sworn I'd seen this myself....tho I don't shoot AP mode.

    Anyway, so I just managed to take this D700 down to 30" by stopping down and cranking the EV+. AND it reads LO when it is beyond that; as in bulb time.

    tom
    tom wise
  • jhelmsjhelms Registered Users Posts: 651 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    On my D200, the meter will read 'Lo' sometimes but will still take a pic with various SS, whatever is needed. I think below a certain SS it reads Lo, but will still take the pic with the SS needed to get the proper exposure.

    Not sure why it doesn't just say 1", 2", etc. instead of "Lo" though...
    John in Georgia
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  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    Scott_Quier wrote:
    That does sound a bit strange. Question: Have you attempted to take some shots at a number of different "Lo" shutter speeds and read the EXIF data? Would be interesting to know if the camera continued to adjust the shutter speed to account for differing conditions.

    Tried this and with the lens cap slowly hoving into view, covering the lens, I took a succession of photos down to 1.3" at f/1.4 and ISO 200. Then 3", then 8". With the lens cap fully on it remained at 8". It's definitely ISO dependent. But why?
  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    angevin1 wrote:
    I could have sworn I'd seen this myself....tho I don't shoot AP mode.

    Anyway, so I just managed to take this D700 down to 30" by stopping down and cranking the EV+. AND it reads LO when it is beyond that; as in bulb time.

    tom

    Yes, I was able to reproduce the same thing by adding +5.0 EC at the above settings. I wonder why, then Nikon feels the need to tell me I'm out of "a normal range" rather than just tell me what the SS is going to be. Clearly the meter is within it's normal operating range.

    Shouldn't I be making the judgments around here? This seems like a very Canon-style philosophy, which I read as "Save the user from himself at the expense of inconvenience" whereas I feel the Nikon philosophy is "Give the user enough rope to hang himself."
  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    jhelms wrote:
    On my D200, the meter will read 'Lo' sometimes but will still take a pic with various SS, whatever is needed. I think below a certain SS it reads Lo, but will still take the pic with the SS needed to get the proper exposure.

    Not sure why it doesn't just say 1", 2", etc. instead of "Lo" though...

    Indeed! Thanks for putting your heads together to answer this anomaly. I think I've convinced myself there's nothing wrong with my camera, but it's still kind of odd behaviour.
  • jonh68jonh68 Registered Users Posts: 2,711 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    Shouldn't I be making the judgments around here? This seems like a very Canon-style philosophy, which I read as "Save the user from himself at the expense of inconvenience" whereas I feel the Nikon philosophy is "Give the user enough rope to hang himself."

    It's not an anomaly, it's just the cameras way of saying you are getting very low shutterpeeds. If one is in S mode, you will get a "lo' warning for aperture. If you want total control, switch to M mode and you will not get the lo warning. The camera doesn't give up, it just tries the best it can with the conditions set by user and lets said user know it is pushing the envelope.

    This has occurred on my D50, D300, and D700. It's no big deal.
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  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    Nikon tech support confirmed my suspicions. The camera judges that you're gonna get an underexposed photo or a blurry one and telling you about it. The camera has no problem achieving up to 30" of SS.
  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    jonh68 wrote:
    It's not an anomaly, it's just the cameras way of saying you are getting very low shutterpeeds. If one is in S mode, you will get a "lo' warning for aperture. If you want total control, switch to M mode and you will not get the lo warning. The camera doesn't give up, it just tries the best it can with the conditions set by user and lets said user know it is pushing the envelope.

    This has occurred on my D50, D300, and D700. It's no big deal.

    Okay. I just figured the photographer was educated enough to know what to do with the numbers the camera shows you. But since the camera can't make me take better pictures, I'll take what assistance I can get.
  • EkajEkaj Registered Users Posts: 245 Major grins
    edited February 13, 2009
    Pindy wrote:
    Okay. I just figured the photographer was educated enough to know what to do with the numbers the camera shows you. But since the camera can't make me take better pictures, I'll take what assistance I can get.

    I bet this isn't an issue in manual mode.
  • PindyPindy Registered Users Posts: 1,089 Major grins
    edited February 14, 2009
    Since the camera is not making decisions for you, no not at all! I wouldn't have noticed it if my Canons did the same thing, but they don't. They give you a shutter speed to the bitter end.
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