Out of focus and washed out photos

[Bintryin]

Hi I need some help my d800 wont seen to take sharp shots as of the weekend, Ii went out Saturday and Sunday almost 400 shots and not one useable shots it also seems that it exposure meter is not right the photos are washed out I have tried with 2 lens and still not happy as you can see from my normal standard it should take great photos I'm thinking on taking it in for a service repair any advise. the t shots i have posted you can download them at a high res if you like the shot with the duck is straight out of the camera there is no colour and very grainy this was the case for all shots taken on both days
out of focus-2 by Mike Schurmann, on Flickr

out of focus by Mike Schurmann, on Flickr

Cheers Mike

[ricktas]

focus looks fine to me. As you took this in manual any issue with exposure is purely related to the settings used. The exposure meter plays no role in the results when you use full manual mode. It is purely the settings you choose that determine the resultant photo.

Camera Make = NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model = NIKON D800
X-Resolution = 300/1 ===> 300
Y-Resolution = 300/1 ===> 300
X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
Software / Firmware Version = Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Last Modified Date/Time = 2013:10:20 14:38:44
Artist = Mike_Schurmann
Y/Cb/Cr Positioning (Subsampling) = centered / center of pixel array (1)
Copyright Owner = Mike_Schurmann

EXIF Sub IFD

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/1250 second ===> 0.0008 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 8/1 ===> ƒ/8
Exposure Program = manual control (1)
ISO Speed Ratings = 640
EXIF Version = 0230
Original Date/Time = 2013:10:20 06:46:15
Digitization Date/Time = 2013:10:20 06:46:15
Components Configuration = 0x01,0x02,0x03,0x00 / YCbCr
Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 10298/1001
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/1250 second
Aperture Value (APEX) = 6/1
Aperture = ƒ/8
Exposure Bias (EV) = 2/3 ===> 0.67
Max Aperture Value (APEX) = 18325/3649 ===> 5.02
Max Aperture = ƒ/5.7
Metering Mode = pattern / multi-segment (5)
Light Source / White Balance = unknown (0)
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 600/1 mm ===> 600 mm
Original Subsecond Time = 90
Digitized Subsecond Time = 90
FlashPix Version = 0100
Colour Space = uncalibrated (65535)
Focal Plane X-Resolution = 366664/179 ===> 2048.4
Focal Plane Y-Resolution = 366664/179 ===> 2048.4
Focal Plane X/Y-Resolution Unit = centimeter (3)
Image Sensing Method = one-chip color area sensor (2)
Image Source = 0x03,0x00,0x00,0x00
Scene Type = directly photographed image
Colour Filter Array (CFA) Geometric Pattern = 0x00,0x02,0x00,0x02,0x00,0x01,0x01,0x02
Custom Rendered = normal process (0)
Exposure Mode = manual exposure (1)
White Balance = auto (0)
Digital Zoom Ratio = 1/1 ===> 1
Focal Length in 35mm Film = 600
Scene Capture Type = standard (0)
Gain Control = low gain up (1)
Contrast = normal (0)
Saturation = normal (0)
Sharpness = normal (0)
Subject Distance Range = unknown (0)

[Bintryin]

Thanks for that i know this but the meter is giving me a wrong reading i always under expose but now if I underexpose as I did before the picture is still way overexposed .If you look hard the focus is way out as to what is was before . thanks for helping
Cheers Mike

[ricktas]

what metering mode are you using to take a reading, prior to moving to manual?

[fillum]

Mike, firstly (based on the exif Rick posted) your exposure comp is set to +2/3, so if you're 'centering' the meter indicator to get your settings your shot will be 2/3 of a stop over.

Metering-mode is shown as "pattern / multi-segment" (ie matrix). Matrix metering looks at the whole scene then tries to work out what you are shooting and adjust accordingly. If you subject is darker than the background it can sometimes bump up the exposure a bit. Maybe this coupled with the +2/3 is causing some of the issue.

Are you shooting raw, if so how do the raw files look? If you are judging results from out-of-camera jpegs it might be your in-camera settings (Picture Mode, saturation, brightness, etc) etc that need adjusting.

I assume it's possible to do some sort of 'factory reset' - have you tried this?

Hope this helps some...



Cheers.

- - - Updated - - -

Forgot to mention, not sure if it's relevant, but the histograms on the above shots look odd to me. They show a sharp vertical drop on the right side.

[arthurking83]

Thanks for that i know this but the meter is giving me a wrong reading i always under expose ....

The only situation where exposure compensation works(as in does anything) in Manual mode, is if you enable AutoISO too.

If ISO adjustment is set to be manual, then exposure compensation will not do anything(automatically) while you are in manual mode. All it will do is give you a compensated meter reading in the viewfinder.

Further to this, from what I think you have said on this topic, you would normally dial in -Ev .. but in the exif that Rick extracted from one of the images, it's referring too 2/3Ev compensation.(ie. over exposure).

Judging by the metering mode used(Matrix) and the exposure compensation used and the brightness levels of the entire images posted .. the images look quite fine.

If you wanted more accurate metering on the subjects in the images, then spot metering would have been the better options.
Note tho with this(with the assumption that both images are not cropped in any way) with respect to #1 .. the subject is far too small even for spot metering(I think the metering area constitutes about 6mm of the vf spot) so the metering would have most likely registered the background as the metering reference.
If #2 is the full frame of this image, then spot metering on the pelican would have resulted in much less overexposure on the white feathers on the pelican. With this image, basically you've told the camera to indicate to you +2/3Ev exposure of the blue sky .. which it looks like it did for you.
Also did you add the vignetting, or is it natural lens shading? It's looking like a 300mm lens with a 2x TC attached. If this combination has any amount of vignetting inherent in resulting images, then this magnifies the problem to a degree. The metering should be able to see this vignetting, and when using matrix metering mode, this effect will be taken into account .. and therefore a slightly brighter exposure should result than expected too.

Easy solution is to try spot metering and see if this helps in any way first. If this doesn't really help, then maybe a checkup may be in order.

Also! Don't get overly fussy about exposure differences between some lenses and others, even on the same camera. This can be a common issue. Some lenses just expose differently on some cameras, then they can do on others. As long as you are aware of this, you can compensate for it easily enough(I do this all the time).

For example, the moment I mount the Tamron 24-70/2.8 onto the D800 I also immediately set -2/3Ev compensation, as any higher exposure than this results in overly bright images. Most of my images with this lens may have up to -1Ev or more bias to give a 'correct' exposure.

Other lenses vary to other degrees, and I seem to have to learn it all over again, after having almost mastered what I needed to know on the D300!

[Bintryin]

Thanks for all the help but it is odd that for 1 year I have never had a problem now on this weekend not 1 out of 400 shots are useable so something is not right I tried spot and matrix and it made no diff also I tried auto iso and it was all over the shop some over some under still no sharp image. the meter I use is in the viewfinder as a guide because taking BIF you dont always have time to check the back of the camera I have used this as a guide for 1 year with great results . that pelican should be tack sharp and it is far from that . its very hard to nail the problem so i will send it back for a checkup i think

[A J Alderson]

Sounds like thats the solution Mike. Your past photos suggest you know your equipment inside out. Its a shame to have such an expensive piece of gear not play the game.

[farmer_rob]

I am always wary of "spontaneous" failure, and would be looking to see if some setting has been inadvertently changed, or something unusual happened with the camera between the previous time you used it and this time. Also, have you tried some test shots since you took all the unusable images?

I think you need to be clear to Nikon how it is failing, beyond "my images are washed out and not sharp" which immediately suggests - wrongly - user error. Otherwise, it could cost you a service fee to be told "we can't find a problem."

[ricktas]

Agree with AK. If you are using the meter bar in the viewfinder to set your camera for 'correct' exposure via manually dialing in the settings for your shots, but have the EV set to 2/3 then the result will be over-exposed photos and doing so also makes the noise from ISO 640 more visible.

I would do a 'factory reset' before sending it in for service, and see if that resolves the issues. But I too believe the +2/3 EV could be behind it.

[Bintryin]

Thanks for all your help i dont know why the +2/3EV is stuck on when the camera is in full manual mode and iso is not on auto and easy exposure comp is off ! anyway I have sent it back as it is under warranty the worst part it could be gone for 6 weeks and I hope they find something I will let you know how I get on Thanks again for all the help. Its going to be a long long six weeks BUGGER
Cheers Mike

[arthurking83]

Thanks for all your help i dont know why the +2/3EV is stuck on when the camera is in full manual mode and iso is not on auto and easy exposure comp is off .....

It's not stuck on, it is set this way.

'Easy compensation' is not an option in manual mode. The two terms are actually mutually exclusive.
Exposure compensation has to be set via the compensation button on the top plate. There is no other way to do this in manual mode .. whereas in any of the program modes, you can use either method(easy compensation, or the compensation button).

As already said, with the 2/3Ev compensation made on the camera, your meter would be indicating to you to expose the scene with +2/3Ev. The camera doesn't actually compensate the exposure.
If you use the meter indicator for your metering, and have a preference for -2/3Ev (not unusual, as this is usually my preference for most lenses), then the compensation set in manual mode will have you exposing with 0Ev, not -2/3Ev as you'd have thought.

Also note, there is also an option to set a global compensation setting on the camera, in 1/6Ev increments. If this has also been inadvertently set up, you won't know it at all. There is no indication that this setting is enabled, other than the setting in the menu.

With the camera sent off now, you won't know.

But I'm with Rob on this one .. for a cameras metering to just pop off into nah-nah land like this, out of the blue .....

The easiest(but not very precise) way to check your metering is to simply shoot a blank white wall with nice even and preferably strong lighting(no shadowing).

I should do a quick 'how too' about this one one day.

[I @ M]

Just as a thought ----

Are all the over exposed shots occurring with the one lens?

If so, check that the aperture blades in the lens are actually stopping down to the value set in the camera. It wouldn't be the first time that a lens has suddenly developed sticky blades and it may be that which is causing your troubles.

[Bintryin]

I got the camera back today. 4 day turn around I'm impressed, they dismantled the camera adjusted and re calibrated it. The few test shots I did today looks like its all good again. If its not raining I will head out tomorrow . So this has ruled out my 3.500.00 lens and myself out as the problem so glad I sent it back
Cheers Mike