Originally posted by explr1 Why can't the K10d meter correctly when Canons and Nikons can?
For the first one, you set it Spot Metering, and therefore it metered using Spot Metering. Why did you change it from the default to a mode which requires you to know exactly what you are doing? as it is, the camera did *exactly* what you asked it to. The problem is, you don't seem to know what you were asking it to do!
On the others, the problem is an age-old one - it is simply impossible for a camera to preserve detail in both the shadows and highlights in backlit scenes like this. A camera has a choice - expose for the foreground and blow out the highlights, or expose for the background and have the foreground dark. Neither is "right" or "wrong" - they are just different choices. And your camera is certainly capable of doing either, but you do have to learn to use it. I recommend sticking with center-weighted metering, and learning how to use that to meter off the part of the scene you care about - eoither the foreground or background. So you can choose which part of the picture looks correctly exposed.
Quote: Mmy wifes lowly 3.2 mega pixel Canon PowerShot A75 took better pictures of the same objects and exposed them correctly.
I'd like to see those pictures. As others noted, it's very likely they are full of blown out highlights- meaning *they* are the ones ruined, from a technical perspective. Yours, on the other hand, are completely correctable vi PP.
But also, FWIW, P&S cameras often apply some pretty heavy-handed curves in their JPEG processing in order to *try* to preserve detail in both the lights and shadows, to save you the trouble of doing so in post processing. DSLR cameras generally assume you'll want to do that yourself.
Last edited by Marc Sabatella; 08-28-2008 at 09:29 AM.