Strange observation on E-3's metering and exposure

Hello folks, how goes?

Today in my local camera shop, I had the opportunity to test run a used E-3. Looks pretty used but OK enough to warrant a consideration. However, while shooting some test pics, I noticed smthng rather bizarre.

A lot of the pics I took indoors (not very brightly lit) look massively overexposed even when set to EV 0 . I had to actually dial down to -1 EV to make it look 'neutral'. I checked all settings I could think of, namely Gradation (always normal), Metering (set to ESP all the time), EV adjustment count to 1/3 steps and ISO was always at 200 and below. But when shooting outdoors in bright light, in some cases I had to dial down all the way to -2 EV. Results are similar whether in A or M mode.

Any thoughts on what could have happened? BTW, lens used was the 12-60mm SWD.

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'All men will die, but few have truly lived'

Rob Chan said:

Any thoughts on what could have happened? BTW, lens used was the 12-60mm SWD.

Click to expand...

Maybe it had a custom focus screen? I can't remember if it's + or - EV but I recall the custom screens can mess with metering.

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You say it was the same in Manual mode, how did you determine the "correct" exposure?

--
What is responsible for a photograph, a photographer or a camera?

That effects could be made by bad body lens contact. Clean them and look again. If it's not doing well, that body is defective.

Inigo Montoya said:

Maybe it had a custom focus screen? I can't remember if it's + or - EV but I recall the custom screens can mess with metering.

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Hey Inigo, how goes?

The focusing screen looks totally stock to me. I highly doubt it was changed in any way. There's the standard 11 AF points, but nothing looks different than what I tried before on other E-3s.

However, one thing I did notice was that the mirror looks kinda smudged, but I had to squint to see it. Could that be a cause as well?

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_chan/

'All men will die, but few have truly lived'

gbbiv said:

You say it was the same in Manual mode, how did you determine the "correct" exposure?

Click to expand...

Hi gbbiv, how goes?

Well, what I did was I ensured that whether in A or M mode, the EV is always at 0 as my base EV. When I did the same test on my E-520 and E-1, the same scene will look a little underexposed, but on the E-3, the highlights were blown out really badly. It's as if the E-3s metering was so much more sensitive than the other bodies.

I'm sorry I couldn't furnish you guys with an example as I didn't have my CF card with me to take home the samples. Maybe if I return to the shop, I can use my card to record them for observation.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_chan/

'All men will die, but few have truly lived'

dingenus said:

That effects could be made by bad body lens contact. Clean them and look again. If it's not doing well, that body is defective.

Click to expand...

Hi dingenus. That's an interesting suggestion there. I'll be sure to try it when I get back to the shop soon.

One thing that got me thinking was, is it just the way the E-3 behaves, or maybe there's smthng wrong with the body itself. I did the same thing using my E-520 and E-1, and they both underexposed a little (with the same parameters), but the E-3 blew the highlights out like crazy. I have to mention that the pics were taken at 12mm under some bright florescent light.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_chan/

'All men will die, but few have truly lived'

Hi Rob,

Two areas to check are the LCD brightness setting (if you are not reviewing on your own monitor) and the histogram. If you can take a picture of a gray card or something of one tone near that, the histogram should spike at that tone near mid point. Spiking off center could indicate a meter problem.
My LCD is brighter than my monitor, but I am used to that.
--
Bob

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... when the photograph annihilates itself as medium to be no longer a sign but the thing itself...

I'd be willing to bet the AF metering is set to Hi key!
I've accidently done this myself a couple of times.

Rob Chan said:

gbbiv said:

You say it was the same in Manual mode, how did you determine the "correct" exposure?

Click to expand...

Hi gbbiv, how goes?

Well, what I did was I ensured that whether in A or M mode, the EV is always at 0 as my base EV. When I did the same test on my E-520 and E-1, the same scene will look a little underexposed, but on the E-3, the highlights were blown out really badly. It's as if the E-3s metering was so much more sensitive than the other bodies.

Click to expand...

There's no EV settings available in M mode - naturally. If you were in M mode and tried to adjust EV using the same dial as you would in A mode, you would be either changing aperture or shutter speed, and that could have been worsening the overexposure problem.

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Tim
'I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.'
E3/7-14/12-60/35-100/150/25/EC14/EC20
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timskis6/

+1EV is not massively overexposed in my book, particularly if the camera is accurately metering in bright light in ESP.

There are so many metering settings in the E-3 that without checking the boxes for each one you can't draw conclusions on much of anything. First, you have ESP versus spot metering, et al. Next, you have AF-point priority metering. Third, you have a highlights- and shadow-metering option that is available in spot metering.

Were you checking the histogram for these images, or simply looking at them on the LCD screen? Can it be strictly an LCD screen issue?

Did you test the DOF preview, to manually stop down the lense (and therefore see the viewfinder darken), to ensure it isn't a lense issue?

Did you view these images on a computer monitor and then draw the conclusion that they were overexposed? Is the monitor you viewed them on calibrated?

Did you turn off the camera after you had adjusted these settings? Did you check to see if the settings were reset after you turned the camera off?

There's just so many variables it's impossible to diagnose without the camera in-hand and/or some sample pictures.

--
Tim
'I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.'
E3/7-14/12-60/35-100/150/25/EC14/EC20
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timskis6/

Either the camera was set to HI Key like you said, or the lens blades are sticking.
Worst case with a beat up camera, is a failing shutter.
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Ken

Hello guys, thank you for all your tips.

OK, I think I'll need to actually get back to the camera with my own lens and CF card to get some samples. So I'll run through the checklist again on what to look out for later:

1. LCD brightness

2. Hi-key metering (although yesterday, I double checked to make sure that was not turned on)

3. DOF preview button (although when the pics were taken, they all looked sharp and not all of the image was blown out, only specific parts esp. near the ceiling lights)

This is rather important as I was offered this E-3 at quite a nice price. Just wanna make sure it's all OK, and to iron out the quirks before getting it, if any. But oh man, I still cannot forget the massive OVF as well as the super solid construction. I esp. checked the LCD seams to make sure there's no cracks, and seems OK to my eye.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_chan/

'All men will die, but few have truly lived'

Have had two like that. Two for two.

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Thanks,
brent

http://lossing.zenfolio.com/

I have seen nothing like this on my E-3. The metering is pretty predictable - in fact, in ESP, unless it's forced to clip highlights (e.g., harsh sun or specular lights at night) the E-3 will appear to expose just shy of blowing out one color channel. My camera seems to underexpose more often than not, which I prefer over burned highlights.

Check the LCD histogram, bring a memory card, take home some shots.