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09-15-2018, 02:01 PM   #1
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My new KP overexposes nearly every short

Last month I bought a new KP. At first everything was great but recently I have begun to notice that when outside and in brighter light the camera often over exposes and by quite a lot. I've read through the manual and tried different settings but the results are the same. When I take a picture indoors the exposure is usually correct. Outside (especially in sunny conditions) I have to set the EV to -2 or 3 in order to get an acceptable exposure. I have had many Pentax cameras over the past 20 years but I have never experienced anything like this. Am I missing some setting?

09-15-2018, 02:10 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by Appoggiatura Quote
Last month I bought a new KP. At first everything was great but recently I have begun to notice that when outside and in brighter light the camera often over exposes and by quite a lot. I've read through the manual and tried different settings but the results are the same. When I take a picture indoors the exposure is usually correct. Outside (especially in sunny conditions) I have to set the EV to -2 or 3 in order to get an acceptable exposure. I have had many Pentax cameras over the past 20 years but I have never experienced anything like this. Am I missing some setting?
What exposure mode? Spot can be tricky.

Is the lens stopped down? It could be that it isn't operating. Try the preview to see it if stops down as expected.
09-15-2018, 02:46 PM - 1 Like   #3
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The fact that the camera started out OK, and then went wrong after a while suggests that some exposure settings have been changed somewhere along the line.

A couple of suggestions:

- shoot in full Auto mode for a while, not P or Av etc, and see if that solves the problem. If yes, it's a user setting somewhere that still needs to be reset.
- ensure exposure compensation is set to 0;
- ensure your ISO is set to ISO Auto over a decent range, and not a fixed value;
- ensure camera metering set to Multi-segment, not to spot, to get the full benefit out of the 86k metering sensor and ensure your metering can read the scene properly;
- ensure your metering isn't linked to your AF point;
- ensure your White Balance settings are for Auto White Balance;
- set the program line to Auto or Standard, not for example DOF priority;
- ensure AE-L isn't being engaged at the wrong time, or hasn't been assigned to a button you are pressing accidentally all the time;
- ensure your Custom Image settings aren't set to deliver too much brightness (eg set Custom Image to Auto, not Bright);
- check your LCD display settings aren't set too bright;
- reset all your custom settings to the defaults to clear any weird exposure compensation or other settings that may be at work.

It's always possible too that your camera settings are fine, but the settings in your PC monitor, or the image viewer/editor you normally use on your PC to review pictures, have changed or are causing your issues. Some image viewers/editors may auto apply some image adjustments the moment you open them.
09-15-2018, 03:01 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by derekkite Quote
What exposure mode? Spot can be tricky.

Is the lens stopped down? It could be that it isn't operating. Try the preview to see it if stops down as expected.
This happened to me. I had several outdoor pictures that were over exposed. I realized I had spot metering set and was focusing in darker areas. Switched to center-weighted and the problem was solved.

09-15-2018, 04:55 PM   #5
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Can you post a sample photo straight out of camera? The exif should tell us if it's a settings problem.

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09-15-2018, 04:57 PM   #6
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As already mentioned, spot metering is a likely culprit.

Post some images with full EXIF data and the cause should be easier to diagnose.
09-15-2018, 07:10 PM   #7
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My new KP overexposes nearly every shot

Thanks for the advice. I will certainly try these suggestions first thing tomorrow morning. As suggested, I am including a couple of pictures for you to evaluate. Example #1: Shutter speed - 1/80, F10, ISO640, EV 0, AF.S, TAv, custom image - landscape, AWB. Example #3 - Shutter Speed - 1/80, F10, ISO500, Ev 0, AF.S, Custom image - landscape, AWB. I really appreciate all your help.

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09-15-2018, 07:33 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Appoggiatura Quote
Thanks for the advice. I will certainly try these suggestions first thing tomorrow morning. As suggested, I am including a couple of pictures for you to evaluate. Example #1: Shutter speed - 1/80, F10, ISO640, EV 0, AF.S, TAv, custom image - landscape, AWB. Example #3 - Shutter Speed - 1/80, F10, ISO500, Ev 0, AF.S, Custom image - landscape, AWB. I really appreciate all your help.
Look at page 104 of the manual, Optical Preview. Page 102 you can set it to the button on the shutter. Set the aperture to F8 or higher, look through the viewfinder at a light of some kind, then switch the preview. The image in the viewfinder should darken.

This is to verify that the lens is being stopped down when you take the shot. The lens is wide open when you compose and focus, and stops down when you expose. If it isn't working it definitely will be overexposed.

The photos in your post don't have very dark areas that spot metering would mess up.
09-15-2018, 08:23 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by derekkite Quote
Look at page 104 of the manual, Optical Preview. Page 102 you can set it to the button on the shutter. Set the aperture to F8 or higher, look through the viewfinder at a light of some kind, then switch the preview. The image in the viewfinder should darken.

This is to verify that the lens is being stopped down when you take the shot. The lens is wide open when you compose and focus, and stops down when you expose. If it isn't working it definitely will be overexposed.

The photos in your post don't have very dark areas that spot metering would mess up.
I'm no botonist and I don't know what flower that is, but it looks like the center of the flower is dark. I've taken pics of yellow flowers before that kind of look like these that had a very dark brown center.
09-15-2018, 08:26 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Appoggiatura Quote
I am including a couple of pictures for you to evaluate.
Images have no EXIF, save for resolution and filename. Must have been processed and EXIF stripped.

Is it possible to post a full straight-out-of-camera JPEG or DNG somewhere? - like Google Drive or MS OneDrive - and post a link?
09-15-2018, 08:28 PM   #11
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Can you try a different lens?
09-15-2018, 09:18 PM   #12
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As above. Ideally, we'd need several examples with different (identified) lenses, with full EXIF.
There are a lot of variables to consider.
09-15-2018, 10:19 PM   #13
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Appoggiatura, did you tell us what your metering mode is set to? If you are set to spot meter and the centers of those flowers are very dark, that would explain the overexposure. Also several other possibilities including mechanical. Good luck.
09-17-2018, 11:45 AM   #14
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I agree with the other posters, spot metering on the dark brown center of the flower is the most likely cause.
09-17-2018, 11:56 PM - 1 Like   #15
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Do you know how to change the metering mode in this camera? For most normal shooting, the default is for the "matrix" multi-segment pattern. The metering mode selected is shown at the top of the rear LCD screen next to the hand representing the SR setting. If it is set on "spot" metering, it will show a spot in the middle of the square. If it is on center-weighted, it will show a clump in the middle of the square. If it is on the most common- matrix, the square will be green and filled up divided into segments. Reason I'm asking is because the issue has been raised, but no info as to your setting has appeared.

As was said, if on spot metering and the flower's center is actually dark, the camera's automatic exposure setting would try to make it lighter for a "correct" exposure, since it is only reading the dark center. OTOH, if it is set to the usual matrix full-segment metering, and the background you show here is actually darker than it appears in the photo, that also makes sense, because the background in the photo is "properly" exposed, increased to a mid-tone, since it takes up most of the frame and the matrix metering would include it in evaluating the scene. At the same time, this increase would also whiten the fewer too much. So the actually darker background as well as the flower wind up being lighter than they should be.

You see, in conditions of considerable contrast between the lightness/darkness of the subject and the rest of the scene, any camera meter can be fooled into an automatic exposure which is off compared to realty. No auto-exposure mode is perfect, and can be fooled by certain conditions, which would be best addressed by using the Manual mode.

The metered auto-exposure modes are set up by the camera's metering of the scene to "correct" lighting that is "too dark" as the meter sees it. Or to darken lighting that is read as "too white". You have your mode dial set to Tav, so you set both your preferred aperture and shutter speed as well- but this is still not a manual exposure setting. It is still an auto-exposure mode, because the camera will still meter and automatically set exposure by adjusting the ISO sensitivity.

You also have not supplied lens info, nor the focal length used. This would have a bearing on the aperture and shutter speed needed for a handheld shot.

I would suggest for such a high-contrast subject/scene, turn the 2nd top dial to AE to change your metering pattern using the 3rd dial to center-weighted, for this case of the brighter flower in the middle of the frame. See if that does a better job.

Often when I am dealing with high-contrast scenes, I will either use exposure comp to quickly compensate for what I know the metering will do and the nature of the resulting exposure error, or I will go to Manual mode, and spot meter, to take spot meter readings from a mid-tone area of the scene, then reposition the camera to take my shot. This is worth practicing. For some circumstances, the good old Manual mode is still best.

Actually, Iv'e found the KP's metering to be more accurate overall than most of the past Pentax DSLR models, which have tended to underexpose to some degree, probably to protect highlights. I have been especially enjoying the metering of my KP, more than any DSLR I have owned.

Last edited by mikesbike; 09-18-2018 at 11:25 AM.
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