D40 and lack of understanding?

[ArtandStructure]

The D40 is an excellent and very capable camera. I don't recall having to spend much time getting decent photos in Auto mode when I first purchased mine. If your photos are consistently that poor in Auto it suggests there is an incorrect setting somewhere or something simply wrong with the camera.

A number of the posters above are correct, the original poster should not have to learn all about photography to get decent photos out of Auto mode. That is why it's Auto mode and in my experience it has worked well.

For the record, I find the D40 to overexpose slightly...or at least to blow out some highlights too easily and therefore set my exposure compensation to -0.3, -0.7 depending on the situation. Beware the idea that "as long as there is detail left in the shadows you can bring them back up properly" is not a good rule of thumb to rely on. Chromatic noise appears harsher to me in darker areas and relying on this advice, then cranking the exposure in post processing will only result in nastier, noisier images than if the photo was properly exposed in the first place. That said, it is better to preserve the highlights than shadows if you have to make a choice because digital is less forgiving on highlights, or at least decide how much of the highlights you are willing to blow out to get the overall exposure you want.

Lastly if you are going to use an Auto mode I suggest using the P or Programmed Auto mode. It is a more flexible auto mode with more options.



Happy shooting,


Jesse Widener
Art and Structure

 

[admwright]

From the limited example photos it does appear that there is a problem with this camera. I have a D40 and as others have said it is more likely to overexpose than underexpose. In addition the first photo shows some very obvious dust spots in the sky. If the shop has not taken the time to clean the sensor before selling a second hand camera they probably have not reset the settings either. A full reset would be good to do to make sure that something has not been set to a wayout value. If you are going back to the shop I would ask them to clean the sensor as well.

 

[Knomad]

It's a very common problem when shooting at the wide angle end of the range. Basically, no matter how "smart" your cameras computer chip is, it still doesn't actually know what it is you're photographing. While it assumes that a brighter top half of the frame = sky, the designers can only take that so far... without compromising say, an indoor shot with a lighter-colored wall and ceiling but a dark floor.

So when you're shooting wide angle, and 60% or more of the image is sky, the results are fairly predictable. The land part of the image will often be underexposed. This is typically the case even with higher end cameras. Put a wide angle on my D300, it will meter much the same way. I've tried it with an 18mm lens, and it does only a little betetr than your D40. An old manual camera with a wide angle would also be fooled, IF you blindly believed the meter.

Here's how to get around it: Assuming you want the foreground, the land part of the image, to be properly exposed, You need to meter off that part of the image. Point the camera down, take a meter reading with very little sky in the frame. Meter an area representative of what's important to you in the final image, with similar tones.

Then you need to lock in that exposure. With my D300, I would probably switch over to manual metering to do that, but many cameras also have an AE (auto-exposure) lock button you can hold down while you re-frame... I'm not familiar with the D40, so you'll need to check. All that matters is that you take that same ISO/shutter speed/aperture combination that you just metered the foreground with, and apply it to the reframed final image.

The sky will of course then be overexposed, you won't get that deep blue, although it's possible to get part of that back in Photoshop later if you care. But my philosophy has always been to get as close as possible in camera for the more important parts of the image. Starting from a proper exposure will always get you better end quality than trying to fix a poor exposure later.

Bottom line is that no matter how sophisticated the camera gets, we can't stop using our own brains if we want to consistently get quality images. The first step is understanding how the camera "sees" and then applying that knowledge and practicing until you can consistently get it right. That's the beauty of digital, it doesn't really cost you anything to practice and then delete the images when done.

 

[compuwar]

What???



See below.

Both were shot in Aperture Priority at f8 (D70 left, E-420 right). The shots are a week apart, but taken under the same conditions during the exact same time of the day.

The Nikon Lens is an old one from my N70, but I've used that lens on the E-420 and it looks warmer, but not that underexposed ...

I guess these Nikons take some figuring out...

The Nikon is holding more detail in the clouds by bringing the exposure down to account for the brightness in the sky. I'd suggest trying center weighted metering if you don't want the entire scene to be accounted for.

 

[heesey1010]

Well, like it or not, the camera's on it's way back...didn't take it to a camera shop but whatever. the true verdict will come next week when i get the "new" camera.

i also must say, as much as cameta is lauded on ebay, I don't appreciate their tech department. kind of rude and tried to push a different package on me for "only $50 more"; although I HAVE to admit it was a good deal...

 

[gkarris]

The Nikon is holding more detail in the clouds by bringing the exposure down to account for the brightness in the sky. I'd suggest trying center weighted metering if you don't want the entire scene to be accounted for.

Thanks, but took it back - Canon and Olympus keep me busy enough...

Well, like it or not, the camera's on it's way back...didn't take it to a camera shop but whatever. the true verdict will come next week when i get the "new" camera.

i also must say, as much as cameta is lauded on ebay, I don't appreciate their tech department. kind of rude and tried to push a different package on me for "only $50 more"; although I HAVE to admit it was a good deal...

What did you get?

I bought my E-420 body only from the Cameta Store on Amazon and they had the best price. You must have gotten a bad rep...

 

[heesey1010]

Turns out I WAS right (that's a first). New camera came back and it (literally and figuratively) was like night and day; this camera rocks! Altho I'm a bit disappointed that Cameta didn't send the new camera in the shipping I had requested for the original shipment.

The BEST part though was that the "new" camera had only 30 shutter actuations!

Thanks all for your help