Problem with new D5100 found..

I was having odd exposure problems with my new camera. I first noticed it do some macro shooting outside. I was focus bracketing some shots and noticed the exposure from shot to shot was slightly different. Not a -lot- but maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of a stop from the darkest to the lightest. It was very noticeable. Nothing that couldn't be "fixed" in PP but this shouldn't be happening. This was using a tamron 90mm lens and at first thought maybe was something flakey with the matrix metering and a 3rd party lens. I was shooting in A mode so switched to center weighted and same thing. I then tested some more and noticed I was getting inconsistent exposures from  f8-1/50 to f11-1/25 even in M mode, which should look exactly the same.

So I setup the camera and started testing equal exposure pairs starting at F4 and working down to f16 with auto ISO turned off and ISO set at 800. I then made a group of 5 exposures at 1/15. All in manual mode. I did this with two different lenses, the other a nikkor 16-85. The results? The exposures were all over the place even though they should be the same! The only thing I can figure is there was something mechanically wrong with the shutter. Especially since 5 shots in M mode one right after the other without changing shutter speed or F stop didn't have consistent exposure.

So I take the camera back (this is a pro camera shop) and the first person I show these test shots to looks at me like I am speaking a foreign language. They didn't seem to grasp that a shot at f8-1/50 and f/11-1/25 should be the same exposure. They want to "reset the camera to default settings and shoot in auto" to test it. *sigh* I start to get a bit peeved and show her 5 shots all at the same setting in M that have different exposures and they start talking about the metering modes again. So I ask to speak to someone else. The next guy seems to understand what I am saying and finally after playing with the camera, he concedes it's defective.

I guess my point is, if you are having weird metering problems, maybe do some "back to basics" testing. The meter can be the most accurate thing ever made but if the shutter or some mechanical part isn't working right or isn't consistent, it's not gonna give good results.

After using the D5100 for a week, I did decide to upgrade to a d7000, mainly so my old MF 300mm F2.8 ed nikkor will meter on it. I didn't realize the D5100 wouldn't when I bought it. It does have a lot of nice features and was worth the extra $$.

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Stacey