On May 18, 6:42 pm, "JJ" <kebahtp...@ngothabfjy.com> wrote:

I would check and make SURE the exposure compensation isn't set to -2
or something.  That is what it looks like to me, although you claim it
was set to zero.  Which of the auto settings were you using? or did
you read this scene on manual?  This photograph is about 2 stops dark.
If the cloudy sky was very bright from being backlit it would explain
it somewhat but not totally.
Jeff Roush / photography instructor
http://www.roushphotoonline.com

I took this shot in 'P' mode and it's one of 150 photos I took that day, and
all of them are very dark. Exp comp was definetely set to zero. It seems the
Nikon reacts to light differently from the Canon.

J

When you ay 'metered', do you mean the part of the shot where I aimed the
focus-point of the camera? If yes, I aimed it right at the line between the
ground and the water.

J

The D70 doesn't have spot metering so that can't be the problem. Is it
possible light was streaming in the viewfinder (shooting by tripod)? I
really don't know, I'll just confirm that it is way dark & I don't
recall that problem with my D70. Is this a regular problem or a one-time
deal?

I have the camera set to center weighted (8).

J

I played with some of the images. They appear to be about 2/3 stop under.
The shadows were easily corrected with a small levels adjustment.

I am guessing, by looking at the sky. It looks like a hazy day causing a
scattering of the light, giving a false reading as your camera tried to
reduce the reflected light into 18% gray.

So you have nothing better to do with your time than make dumb comments in
newsgroups. You are a prick!
In order to learn how to use something like a DSLR it helps (a lot) if you
do actually own one first.
Don't tell me, 'you' went to classes first...'then bought your's when you
became 'expert' with it. Yes?
Don't know if you can read or not, but this is a PHOTOGRPAHY newsgoup, maybe
you'd be more aptly comfortable in the alt.dumbf*ck newsgoup. Yeah, I's say
so.

J

It looks as though your camera's meter is being fooled by the overcast
sky.

Center-weighted metering patterns vary in their "weighting" -- imagine a
circle in the center of the frame surrounded by a fuzzy circle that
falls off to the corners. The size of the inner circle governs most of
what the meter measures, say 75% - 85%; the gradient around it governs
the rest. Your other choices are spot (which covers a circle
representing 2% of the image area), center-spot (which is a hybrid of
center-weighted and spot), and evaluative or multi-segment or other
terms (which divides the image into numerous areas and compares the
pattern to several thousand stored image patterns to calculate the
correct exposure).

None of these are foolproof, however, and a large very bright object
such as the overcast sky usually results in the meter wanting to make
that darker. There are custom functions in the D70 which change the size
of the center area for both spot and center-weighted (way in the back of
the manual) but it is better to learn to see what the meter sees. The
easiest way to do this is to set the camera to auto-bracket + and - one
stop (you may have to fire off three individual shots, I don't have a
D70 to practice on) and then compare the results to what you thought the
scene looked like.

It could be that your Canon was set for evaluative metering and since an
overwhelmingly bright sky happens pretty often it compensated the
exposure.

Popular Photography magazine used to publish 3-D graphs of meter
sensitivity patterns along with their camera reviews. I just checked
their site and couldn't find one for the D70.

One website I recommend to everyone, no matter their skill level, is
<http://www.photo.net>. There is a wealth of information there to be had
via their search engine, and the folks who populate the boards are very
friendly and helpful.

Popular Photography <http://www.popphoto.com> used to be a fantastic
resource -- I haven't read it in years -- and their website has a
collection of camera reviews going back many years.

Hope this helps,

--k