Photo Discussion - exposure concern

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Charles Loy

Charles Loy

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I snapped these photos a minute apart.. first: 8:25:19 (followed by many that were similar exposed) then 8:26:20 - at which time the camera made a totally different exposure of the subject and sky. I've noticed this several times lately. My only edit is to resize for post, nothing else in edit. What the heck??????? Z9 - 500mm lens

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Wes Peterson said:
Looks more like white balance changed than exposure

edited to add..... you arent using auto picture control are you?
Click to expand...

No, not using auto picture control. Interesting, I'll hope it is me and not the camera. last has a film strip, does not show the time but I was on the throttle and set at low 6 FPS, no pause in the series.
 
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Wes Peterson said:
Looks more like white balance changed than exposure

edited to add..... you arent using auto picture control are you?
Click to expand...

Yikes, That may be it. I checked the Picture Control and it is indeed on auto. Thank you, this is likely the cause. Thanks

StevieJSmall said:
That looks like a White Balance change. Were you using spot metering or another metering mode besides Matrix out of curiosity?
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I was on Matrix, cause I like that word :)
 
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Another possibility is if you had subject/eye detection enabled the AF system can move the active AF point which also moves the center of the matrix metering (or other metering) point from shot to shot especially if the subject moves its head and eyes. You posted the AF area box on the third image but was it in the same place for the first capture? The ISO shifted by half a stop between captures which could be explained by changes in active AF point location within the frame.

It’s one of the subtle risks of AF auto detection systems coupled with auto exposure. It can result in big exposure shifts when using spot metering but can also impact exposure in center weighted or matrix metering in Nikon cameras as the active AF point in the frame gets extra weighting during metering and automated AF tracking systems can move that point as subject detection kicks in.
 
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It's only about a third of a stop difference, but the WB did change. What happens sometimes is that the camera is on the edge of two decisions and will sometimes go one way and then the other. You've probably noticed that sometimes exposure seems to jump a little between two values. WB can do the same thing. When both versions are sort of on the edge of each other, I don't think it's that unusual to see things like this. I'd bet you can adjust the WB to the same value in Lightroom and they would all look the same.
 
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DRwyoming said:
Another possibility is if you had subject/eye detection enabled the AF system can move the active AF point which also moves the center of the matrix metering (or other metering) point from shot to shot especially if the subject moves its head and eyes. You posted the AF area box on the third image but was it in the same place for the first capture? The ISO shifted by half a stop between captures which could be explained by changes in active AF point location within the frame.

It’s one of the subtle risks of AF auto detection systems coupled with auto exposure. It can result in big exposure shifts when using spot metering but can also impact exposure in center weighted or matrix metering in Nikon cameras as the active AF point in the frame gets extra weighting during metering and automated AF tracking systems can move that point as subject detection kicks in.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was not using eye detection - that setting drives me crazy on stationary subjects.

Steve said:
It's only about a third of a stop difference, but the WB did change. What happens sometimes is that the camera is on the edge of two decisions and will sometimes go one way and then the other. You've probably noticed that sometimes exposure seems to jump a little between two values. WB can do the same thing. When both versions are sort of on the edge of each other, I don't think it's that unusual to see things like this. I'd bet you can adjust the WB to the same value in Lightroom and they would all look the same.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your reply. Thanks. All replies were helpful, I appreciate all of you.
This Mississippi Kite is in that tree almost every morning. I'll check him out again, same time, see what happens.
I did change the picture control.
Today I'll have the Z8 back too, to compare. It is on UPS delivery as I type.
 
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I shoot 99% of my shots in manual WB, so I haven't seen this. I have seen some slight exposure changes which I attribute to me moving my focus point (and thus exposure) slightly during a series as Steve points out. When I shoot in full manual I don't see it so for me, it's the camera reacting to something I'm doing (as in not staying perfectly on my target).
 
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