Welcome to the Pentax Forums! I am late to this thread, but am willing to weigh in.
Originally posted by Doug Stanley Here's a puzzle. When using live view and all the settings are right for a properly exposed image, that is the meter is 0 or centered.
As noted above, it reads like you are using M mode to set exposure manually.
Originally posted by Doug Stanley But without changing settings and just switching over to view finder the meter reads +5 and still a good exposed image .
Changing over to the optical viewfinder, the display now reads +5 EV rather than being centered. That is a pretty big jump!
Originally posted by Doug Stanley Just to get my facts right, I was just playing with the bracketing reset ( the green button ) and it reset the settings so the meter read 0,
You lost me here. I am going to assume you did not mean bracketing and just meant letting the camera meter your M-mode exposure using the green button (default is program line).
Originally posted by Doug Stanley but switching back to live view it read -5 and underexposed image.
This would be expected given that you saw a 5 EV difference in meter reading between the two modes before.
Now, a few comments and requests and maybe a few questions:
- As noted by Adam above, the optical viewfinder and live view approach metering differently and it is not unusual for there to be a difference on the EV scale for meter readings between the two
- As also noted, the K-70 supports three different meter modes: matrix (the default), center-weighted, and spot metering. The icons for each mode are on page 58 of the camera manual. The icon for the current set mode will be displayed in the viewfinder and on the rear status screen
- You can set meter mode using the menu system or the Info screen
- Meter modes apply to both viewfinder and live view meter systems and unless you have reason to do otherwise, it is usually good to leave the mode on matrix. There are situations where both center-weighted and spot are useful, but only if one knows when and how to use them.
Now a few suggestions/requests
- Confirm that your camera is set for matrix metering
- Confirm that you are set up for single exposure and not bracketing. Bracketing is a nice feature, but things can get complex quickly and simple is good when troubleshooting.
- Confirm that the camera is not set up to do HDR. (HDR is basically just a bracketed merge...see above point.)
- Confirm that you are not set up to link AF point and metering (menu --> C1 --> 5. Link AE and AF point)
- Confirm that Exposure Compensation is set to 0 (zero) by holding down the EC button while pressing the green button; that should clear any set EC.
- Be aware that viewfinder metering is most accurate when one's eye is at the viewfinder. When this is not the case (e.g. using a tripod), light may enter through the eyepiece and cause a false meter reading, sometimes 5 or more EV in error. To avoid this, you can shade the opening with your thumb or something else.
Now a controlled test (will work better on a tripod or table or some other fixed support):
- Point your camera at a blank evenly-lit white wall. Focus is not critical except that it should be the same for the entire test. The test may actually work better with AF turned off and the lens focused to infinity.
- Using M mode and the optical viewfinder adjust exposure to center the pointer at zero (0) on the EV scale. Be sure the viewfinder eyepiece is not exposed to stray light.
- Release the shutter to take a photo using this setting
- Pointing at the same portion of the wall at the same distance, switch to live view and note any difference in the meter reading on the EV scale. If not the same, adjust to zero.
- Take another photo using the live view metering
The expected results are for the two meter readings to be very close on the EV scale with little or no difference in recommended exposure. After all, it is a blank wall. Also expected is to get two plain gray photos of close to the same brightness with almost identical centered histograms.
Steve