D3300 getting exposure wrong

[mommy-medic]

I've been shooting Nikon for a number of years. I started with a D40 then moved up to a D7000 and a D610 after that. I shoot in full manual with no issues.

A friend asked me to take a look at his parents D3300. He said that they "pushed some buttons" and now everything is either too dark or too bright. No problem- I figured they had adjusted the exposure compensation and said I'd be happy to take a look at it. Well- I'm eating my words. I'm stumped.

In auto, if the camera uses the flash (test shots taken indoors in good daylight but the camera still thinks it needs the flash) the images are almost entirely overexposed. (Whole image is white with very little identifiable objects). If I turn it to auto without flash, it's underexposed (iso automatically set by camera, shutter speed too high for correct exposure.) A variety of test shots in numerous lighting yields the same results- the camera is drastically overexposing images with the flash.

In program, shutter, aperture, or manual mode, the exposure compensation seems to be working correctly, allowing me to adjust as needed.

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to why the camera is getting it drastically wrong in auto modes but allowing me to get it correctly manually and how to correct it?

Resetting everything hasn't helped either. I'm stumped.

 

[robbins.photo]

I've been shooting Nikon for a number of years. I started with a D40 then moved up to a D7000 and a D610 after that. I shoot in full manual with no issues.

A friend asked me to take a look at his parents D3300. He said that they "pushed some buttons" and now everything is either too dark or too bright. No problem- I figured they had adjusted the exposure compensation and said I'd be happy to take a look at it. Well- I'm eating my words. I'm stumped.

In auto, if the camera uses the flash (test shots taken indoors in good daylight but the camera still thinks it needs the flash) the images are almost entirely overexposed. (Whole image is white with very little identifiable objects). If I turn it to auto without flash, it's underexposed (iso automatically set by camera, shutter speed too high for correct exposure.)

In program, shutter, aperture, or manual mode, the exposure compensation seems to be working correctly, allowing me to adjust as needed.

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to why the camera is getting it drastically wrong in auto modes but allowing me to get it correctly manually and how to correct it?

Resetting everything hasn't helped either. I'm stumped.

My guess is your probably set up for spot metering - check to see if such is the case, and if so change to center weighted average or matrix metering.

 

[SCraig]

Or someone has the flash exposure compensation (NOT the normal exposure compensation) maxed out.

 

[robbins.photo]

Or someone has the flash exposure compensation (NOT the normal exposure compensation) maxed out.

Another good possibility.

 

[fmw]

Have you tried resetting the camera? That may fix the problem without having to find it.

 

[mommy-medic]

In auto/auto without flash mode it won't allow you to change it, but it's set to matrix by default.

 

[robbins.photo]

In auto/auto without flash mode it won't allow you to change it, but it's set to matrix by default.

So this only seems to be happening in auto mode?

 

[mommy-medic]

Or someone has the flash exposure compensation (NOT the normal exposure compensation) maxed out.

Another good possibility.

It only allows me to adjust that in manual modes, but even when turned down as far as it will go (1/32) it's still overexposing in auto. (I realize adjusting it in the manual settings shouldn't affect it in auto modes, but anything is worth a try right now).

 

[mommy-medic]

In auto/auto without flash mode it won't allow you to change it, but it's set to matrix by default.

So this only seems to be happening in auto mode?

yes, as well as any of the scene modes, but not in manual ones. I think I'm going to recommend they take it in to a camera repair shop. Think this is above my area of expertise but thought I would ask you guys since there's a wealth of experience and knowledge in here.

 

[robbins.photo]

Or someone has the flash exposure compensation (NOT the normal exposure compensation) maxed out.

Another good possibility.

It only allows me to adjust that in manual modes, but even when turned down as far as it will go (1/32) it's still overexposing in auto. (I realize adjusting it in the manual settings shouldn't affect it in auto modes, but anything is worth a try right now).

Just want to make sure I've got the problem description right, if you shoot in anything other than auto mode the pictures are exposing correctly, but when you change to auto mode they aren't.

You mentioned the auto-iso was set, did they set a max ISO by chance?

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, some real quick research here, you mentioned you "reset" the camera, there are actually two menu options for resetting on the D3300, probably be best to make sure you reset both:

How to Restore Default Settings on the Nikon D3300 - For Dummies

One is in the shooting menu, the other is in the setup menu apparently. Be sure you get the one in the shooting menu, that will reset all the flash compensation, etc.. hopefully that will fix the issue.

 

[mommy-medic]

Yes, the problem is only occurring when the camera is having to expose for itself, not in any of the manual options (M, A, S, or P). Any other mode- auto, auto without flash, and the scene modes (sports, portrait, landscape, flowers, night, etc) and the exposure is horribly wrong.

I have completely reset everything numerous times and it hasn't affected anything. (Edited to add- reset both options twice. No luck. Thank you anyway)

Certain options are only able to be adjusted in the manual modes- like exposure compensation, the ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, etc.

The ISO sensitivity was set to 100 and the max iso was at 3,200 out of a possible 12,800. Adjusting that again hasn't affected the exposure in the auto shooting options.

I sincerely appreciate you guys offering your input.

 

[robbins.photo]

Yes, the problem is only occurring when the camera is having to expose for itself, not in any of the manual options (M, A, S, or P). Any other mode- auto, auto without flash, and the scene modes (sports, portrait, landscape, flowers, night, etc) and the exposure is horribly wrong.

I have completely reset everything numerous times and it hasn't affected anything.

Certain options are only able to be adjusted in the manual modes- like exposure compensation, the ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, etc.

The ISO sensitivity was set to 100 and the max iso was at 3,200 out of a possible 12,800. Adjusting that again hasn't affected the exposure in the auto shooting options.

I sincerely appreciate you guys offering your input.

Well if you've reset both in the shooting menu and in the setup menu back to factory defaults, I'm guessing that you'll probably have to have them take it to a repair shop of some sort.

 

[robbins.photo]

One other thought occurs, though a reset I think would have dealt with this but worth checking I suppose, are you shooting JPG, RAW or both? If the camera is set in JPG try shooting both RAW and JPG and look at the RAW file, see if maybe they adjusted the settings on how the camera is processing the JPG file.

 

[jcdeboever]

Have you tried resetting the camera? That may fix the problem without having to find it.

I guess they are ignoring you...

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