Exposure issue

[Eyal_bin]

When I shoot with AE set (no compensation values AE = 0) The images are very dark (as if I shoot with AE = ~-1, comparing to SLR).
At the beginning I was thinking that this is O.K and that this is the camera's setup, but now I am thinking that maybe my exposure meter is lying and need to be calibrated.
Is it even possible? does this make any sense? am I becoming paranoid?
please advice...

 

[aldobonnard]

Hi
well, this is a centered-average meter, but covering quite a larger area than usual meters indeed.
So at first it is surprising, because it seems to over-protect the highlights and even just a few but strong light spots will be over-weighted within the entire metering area => the first impression is that it seems to underexpose; but this is only the first impression;I suppose you have to learn how the R-D1 meter works. My experience is that it does NOT underexpose but is quite sensitive to highlights.
Bottom-line...the R-D1 is not a point-and-shoot camera; the meter will have its own "character".
Otherwise - but I doubt it - is something obliterating the light sensor in the chamber ?

 

[Eyal_bin]

Thanks, I guess I will have to learn how to work with the light meter. THought that it might have been a problem with the camera. Thanks for the explanation

 

[RichC]

Also, have a read of the R-D1 FAQ website (sticky at top of R-D1 forum): http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_03.htm

 

[MCTuomey]

when i owned an R-D1 i rarely used AE because of inconsistent exposures, especially indoors in mixed lighting. much preferred to work manually.

i often used the "back of hand plus a half-stop" method with the R-D1's onboard meter with good results.

 

[Eyal_bin]

i often used the "back of hand plus a half-stop" method with the R-D1's onboard meter with good results.

What is this technique? can you exlpain?

 

[ampguy]

AE works fine for me, check your histograms.

 

[MCTuomey]

sorry for being unclear. what i do is place the palm of my hand in the prevailing light, then read my palm with the camera's ttl meter. let's say the lens aperture is f4 and the meter reads 1/125. i'd set the shutter speed to 1/125 and the lens to f3.2 (click stop halfway b/w f2.8 and f4), for example.

some people call this "the poor man's incident meter."

 

[Al Kaplan]

You can also tilt your hand a bit and see both highlight and shadow readings.

 

[andreas.pichler]

Eyal_Bin,

I have the same slight feeling - but I have made the experience, that it depends on the lens.

A high affinity has the Jupiter 2.8/35 mm - one dark point, and you have considarable OVER-exposure.

Totally different the CV 4/21 - with standard settings you get pretty dark pics, but all details are available with level correction, try out this link:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1068804&postcount=12

Perfect experiences with Summicron C 2/40, Jupiter 1.5/50, Jupiter 2/50, Leitz 4/90 - no under/over exposure.

So I take the Summicron 2/40 instead of the Jupiter 2.8/35 as the walkaround-lens (difference in FOV is normally one or two steps back - remember the Carteir-Bresson saying: "Buy good shoes, if you can not afford good lenses" - or so), and change to the specials if necessary.

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Andreas

 

[Tuolumne]

The built-in meter of the R-D1 tends to underexpose slightly to protect highlights, which are easily blown on a digital sensor. Depending on the scene, you may have to compensate more or less. Sometimes you just have to look at the image and see what happened (apologies to those who hate chimping.) This is just one reason why I never use AE exposure on my R-D1. I find I have to tweak my exposure too often to let AE do the work for me.

/T
BTW, underexposure is easy to fix in almost any editing program. Blown highlights are very hard to recover. Hence underexposing is almost always preferable to overexposing with a digital camera.

 

[andreas.pichler]

######
Hence underexposing is almost always preferable to overexposing with a digital camera.
######

Yep, thats exactly my experience. Thats the reason why I has sorted out this Jupiter 2.8/35 - too diffiult, tends to over-exposure.

Cheers,

Andreas

 

[1joel1]

I agree, check your histograms. I had to send mine back to Steve's due to underexposure. The beauty of the R-D1, one of them anyway, is that it has tremendous detail in the shadows as well. If you're underexposed, then they get noisy as you try to get them back. If the camera comes back and still is underexposing, then I will either shoot +1 or stop using AE. My test shots showed that it was almost exactly 1 stop underexposed.

Joel

 

[1joel1]

Well, apparently, something strange is going on with my shutter, not the metering. Steve says that he's never seen this problem before and that at higher shutter speeds, the shutter is not operating correctly, thus underexposed images. He'll know more early next week. Unfortunately, he's not working on it now and has put me on the shelf for the time being. Camera exposure was spot on before I sent it in for CLA and LCD repair so I am a tad disapppointed in the delay. I would imagine that it is a free repair, but I would expect it to be a priority. I'll be without the camera for a total of nearly 2 weeks.

Joel

 

[back alley]

I'll be without the camera for a total of nearly 2 weeks...

bummer!

that's why you need 2.