[Sagitta]

FWIW, that lamp photo is (probably) exposing correctly - its a very bright point of dominant light so the camera is throttling down on the exposure to compensate. If you go out on a bright snowy day or a out to the beach youll find things shooting dark as well since the camera is seeing a lot of light and is trying to adjust for it.

Try the same shot with your flash on and see what results you get - I'd bet it will look a lot more 'normal' to you.

[shanx]

The grainy pattern that you are seeing when you look at the mirror through the lens mount is the pattern of the Fresnel of the focusing screen. That might also be what you are seeing though the view finder.

I see! That is a big relief to know Thank you!

FWIW, that lamp photo is (probably) exposing correctly - its a very bright point of dominant light so the camera is throttling down on the exposure to compensate. If you go out on a bright snowy day or a out to the beach youll find things shooting dark as well since the camera is seeing a lot of light and is trying to adjust for it.

Try the same shot with your flash on and see what results you get - I'd bet it will look a lot more 'normal' to you.

I did take the same lamp shot with the flash on and it seemed pretty normal this time around.

I have another question - which lens should i get next for regular street and night photography?

[vankasteelj]

I tried to take the same picture as you, although my bulb (in the lamp) is not a bright one at all (I think 40W), you can see your pic isn't really dark compared to mine.

[shanx]

Hey guys thanks for the quick responses!

I have another question - i am clicking in manual mode, i have set the AF button to be used for back button focus. The other day i had pressed the AF button to back button focus while i was in manual mode for the lens as well and lo and behold the focus point started lighting up in my viewfinder when I focussed properly on a subject! I switched off the camera and tried to see if the points would light up if I didnt press the AF button and it did not even when the subject was in focus. On pressing the AF button, the camera started highlighting the points in focus again.

Is this normal for my camera to do this?