Problem - Metering on D40x

[Droolinggimp]

I have been using my D40x for a good month now and really gave it some welly last week in Wales. We had one really good day, mixture of sun clouds and rain. I was trying to take some pictures of landscapes but the sky was over exposed and vice versa.

My partner gave me some tips on what to do but as she had a different camera this proved slightly confusing. I have read the user guide that came with my camera and followed it step by step and still the images all come out wrong.

Is there a way I can practise this in my own home? Maybe set up some card and lighting..and doing it that way.

I would like some advice here on what settings to use and how to go about metering in general..

Thanks in advance.

 

[RaV]

are taking photos in full manual mode?

If you are you have to decide what to want to expose correctly for 1st.eg. if shooting a landscape, obviously that is the most important bit. so i would point the camera at the ground near my feet in sunlight, out of shadows and balance the exposure there. This way atleast the land will be correctly exposed. but depending on the lighting conditions the sky may be blown out.

There are neutral density filters, to help darken the sky. But there are a few cheaper ways. plus im sure the others will give better metering advice than mine.

Does you D40x have a bracketing mode? this would let you take 3 or so photos at different exposure. you could then find the one that you liked the best, or combine them into a HDR.

 

[Droolinggimp]

Thanks for that. My D40x doesnt have the Bracketing mode (although the D40 does) which is a shame because I want to dabble in HDR, I have to set the shutter speeds manualy instead.

I shall try a few metering tests to see what I can come up with..

 

[robmiller]

(although the D40 does)

It doesn't, so don't feel too hard done by

 

[Ixon]

Shoot in RAW & Underexposing slightly will help sort out those blown out skys then if it to dark for your liking then you can increase or decrease exposure contrast ect it in photoshop or Nikon own software.

Also a cheaper option to ND's is a Polarizing filter this to will help loads and give you richer blue skys and give clouds more detail.

 

[Droolinggimp]

It doesn't, so don't feel too hard done by

I read in a tutorial somewhere that thats the only thing the D40x is lacking compared to the normal D40. It was a HDR tutorial and i read I was to set up AEB to shoot the 3 different exposures...

 

[robmiller]

I read in a tutorial somewhere that thats the only thing the D40x is lacking compared to the normal D40.

Nope.

 

[Droolinggimp]

Ok fair enough.....

 

[xolotl]

It's probably a case of the dynamic range of the scene being higher than what the camera's sensor is capable of capturing. ND Grad filters will help a lot and HDR might be useful if you must.

 

[robertgilbert86]

I sometimes find a polariser can help equalize the light in harsh situations.

 

[barnettgs]

There was some comments in some photo forums about the metering on D40, D40x and D80. There is a slight difference in metering between these cameras and D70, D100, D200 etc.

It's all depends on what you're focusing on - Like D40/D80, D40x's metering puts more weight towards the focus area so that means if focus area (of 3 focus areas in viewfinder) is selected towards a darker object, the photo would comes out over-exposed because the camera tries to compensate for darker object.

To work around, you have to - 1) Select different focus area 2) focus on lighter object then re-compose 3) adjust exposure compensation

Hope this helps