Why does this happen?

[Old Timer 56]

I came to this thread somewhat late, having been away on a photo jaunt. I agree with what everyone says here, especially regarding the specific images in question. However, it's not always the fault of the camera operator. When one of my K10D bodies came back from Pentax (back-focus problem, amongst others), ALL the subsequent photos I took were consistently underexposed by about .7 stop, regardless of the meter mode, lighting, or subject matter. I have since dealt with that issue by routinely setting exposure comp. at +.7 and sometimes further tweaking the exposure in ACR. Before the camera went to Pentax, the exposures with this body were pretty much on the money.

Richard

[explr1]

I would like to thank everyone for all of your help. I'm now shooting with P (MTF,) SV and TV modes using multi-segment metering with +0.7 exposure compensation and my pictures are much better now. I've also ordered the book Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers by Harold Davis.

[monochrome]

Great read, tips and technical help - amazing Forum! Lots of bookmarks for reading later.

Interestingly I have struggled with constant overexposure and blown highlights and sky with my K10D. DK why yet (but perhaps I can start to figure that out now) but my Q&D fix has been to use -0.7EV as a memory setting, shoot RAW and fix in PPB or PSE.

[Marc Sabatella]

Originally Posted by monochrome

Interestingly I have struggled with constant overexposure and blown highlights and sky with my K10D.

Generally speaking, matrix metering will only produce overexposure with blown highlights udner the most extremes of dynamic ranges - usually it just underexposes to preserve highlights. But center weighted metering (or spot) will certainly allow overexposed areas often enough if you center on a darker area of the picture.

I suppose matrix could blow out more highlights if you set the option to link AE point to AF point, and focus on a dark object.