X-Pro1 always overexposing?

[Spanik]

Got a secondhand X-Pro1 in very good condition form someone that upgraded to a X-T1. Paired it with a 16-50 to have a small light camera. Added a diopter to actually see something in the viewfinder. This thing has more settings in its menu than any dslr I have ever touched! So far for simplicity.

Went out with it a few times but if I look at the jpegs, they are all overexposed. And not a little bit. I set everything in the camera at "0" (sharpening, saturation, exp comp etc), standard setting, no film emulation. Almost always use aperture priority and set iso to have a speed around 1/60 to 1/1000. Metering is set to "multi".

But about 2 in 3 photos are badly overexposed. Is this common on this body?

Got some other gripes, but this is the most important.

 

[Kwesi]

Have you tried resetting to default setting in menu?

 

[f16sunshine]

No not common.
I have my gripes with the xpro1 but since adopting in 2012 upon release. Exposure is not one if them.
I shoot a lot of Portraits and events mostly with primes.
Center weighted metering almost exclusively unless I use a tele and spot meter.
Are you set for version 3.4 of firmware?
Do you have exposure pre-view turned on?
This will give you a live pre-view of exposure on the lcd and evf.

 

[GaryLH]

I find u are better off using the evf instead of the ovf in tricky lighting situations where the metering can be fooled. But I do tend to set my exposure comp either at -1/3 or -2/3 most of time just because I feel the xp1 tends to ETTR IMHO.

Also watch that exposure comp dial.. It is very easy to have it move to +2 w/o knowing it. I have had it happen to me enough just by taking it in and out of my messenger bag.

Yes - Andy is right, if u use the evf or LCD make sure preview is active.

Gary

 

[Spanik]

I'm running the 3.4 firmware on the body and the lens is at 1.12.

Don't use the lcd as a viewfinder and exposure preview is off. I find that with exposure preview it is even far worse! Even things that are exposed correctly after taking a photo look far overexposed with preview in the ovf. Colour is also way off in the evf (yellows turning withe for instance). Had the same experience with a X-E1 I borrowed.

The exp comp dial is indeed a bit easy to turn, but from the exif I see that it was a 0.

DR setting is at "100", is that a possibility? This is a rather obscure setting I find. Even from what I googled it isn't clear what tis actually does, nor what it achieves.

Going to try with the "center weighted" metering and a hand held meter with manual metering today.

 

[willie_901]

It is rather odd you experience this problem with two different cameras and lenses.

Over exposure with my X-Pro 1 is practically non-existant. I've owned mine since the first weeks they arrived in the USA. The metering system works remarkably well.

There must be improper menu parameters or a metering mode issue. Or perhaps your lens aperture mechanism is defective.

1. Turn off all automation

2. Make sure you understand how to change the metering modes. Multi mode works best.

3. Make sure you have the manual supplement for your camera's firmware. Pay attention to the Exposure Preview Options.

4. The Exposure Lock menu feature could cause odd exposures. Again make sure you understand how it interacts with other menu options.

I suggest you see what happens when you auto-bracket exposures by 1 stop. One of these should be under exposed.
------------------------------
DR is only useful for in-camera JPEGs.

When DR is set to 200 or 400 ISO three things automatically happen happen. First ISO is increased to 400 0r 800 respectively (unless it is already at those values or higher). So, regardless of the meter reading exposure is decreased by one or two stops, respectively. Finally, during in-camera JPEG rendering the highlights are selectively pulled and shadow regions are selectively pushed.

The exposure is automatically decreased to prevent inexperienced, naive users from blowing out highlights. Ironically the underexposure decreases the analog dynamic range of the raw data. Fujifilm's use of DR for this common in-camera JPEG manipulation feature is another example of clarity lost in translation

 

[Spanik]

@Willie:

- I only have a single lens, the XC16-50. So a defective lens isn't excluded. Don't have another to try but maybe could borrow one for a test.
- I'll try all manual this evening. Got my meter with me.
- that isn't a problem, know how to change them and using "multi" at the moment
- don't have it, good idea.
- another good idea.
- thanks for that explanation about DR100. If I get it then setting it to "100" is the same as off?

 

[_lou_]

I've had over-exposures in bright sunlight when the shutter could not cope with the light (it's easy to forget ISO at 1600 or more and want to shoot at f/2).

 

[Bike Tourist]

I usually use exp comp at -1/3 just as an old transparency shooter's precaution against blown highlights and in PS it's easy to recover shadow detail if needed. I suppose your monitor is not to blame?

 

[Spanik]

Could be the monitor, it isn't calibrated. But the histogram also shows a lot of activity at the right edge.

I'm use to shoot slides, still do tens of rolls a year. With a hand-held meter and a "stupid" camera. Works very well. Didn't had time today to try that way of working.

 

[macjim]

If you shoot in full manual, if you choose the wrong settings for the situation, you will get overexposed images. Experiment with the settings by shooting the same scene over and over while adjusting either shutter speeds/aperture/ISO to see what gives you over and under exposures.
Does this over exposure happen when shooting fully automatic? If yes, then I would say it needs a service/repair. If you were registered at the time of purchase, you should have had a five year professional free service booklet which gives you vouchers to have the camera checked out. If you did get these, then I'd use that to have it serviced and get this problem seen to at the same time.
I had a similar problem when I got a Nikon D600 where it over exposed when I shot fully manual and that was down to user error. When in auto mode, it shot well balanced images, Hope that helps.

Flickr: thesrpspaintshop

 

[macjim]

PS. The X-Pro 1 I have does slightly overexposed a little but I can dial that out by using the the exposure compensation dial by adjusting it towards the minus. What is urges set at? It could be you haven't noticed it's set to plus rather than none or minus. That's the dial on the top right of the camera. It can easily get knocked to a plus or minus during use as its a bit loose.

 

[jsrockit]

Try different metering modes and dial in exposure comp. If in manual, under expose a little and bring it back in post. Cameras aren't perfect.

 

[om.ch]

It could also be the lens, I overexpose by 2/3 for my 35mm while with the 18mm I have the exposure compensation dial set to 0 or -1/3.

and what Lou said, if you're too open in bright sunlight you might just be hitting the max shutter speed.