Three basic Z6 III questions...

Sorry, some basic questions, but I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.

1. Would you have any guidance on which setting is responsible for this weird dark picture, please? I played around with the white balance for the first time (*). The settings in the i menu were on auto if I remember correctly, but it seemed I could override it with the dedicated button. Still, despite readjusting the WB to the normalized level and the auto setting in the I menu, the images got really dark. In the viewfinder, everything looked fine. I could not find the correct setting, so did a factory reset, then saved my default mode in U1 and adjusted safely from there. However, I would love to avoid such a scenario in the future. I can bring back the picture in post, that's not the issue. It just seems a bit strange. Light was still decent at the time, so playing around with the shutter speed should also not be the big factor..








(*) I blame Youtube. Saw a video that showed this "dark bird against the sky" image. I thought - hmm, that's happens all the time. Why don't I fix this?

2. Is the Z6III a bit finicky when it comes to the charger? During a trip to Gabon which was the first one with the camera, it did not charge. I blamed the voltage or whatever and went the detour via the powerbank. Now, the same thing happened again in SW Africa. After my return. I started to dig into this issue and found several threads online with people having similar issues. As a consequence, I ordered a PD compliant charger as per the recommendation - still not working. Now I have an order for another one with even more W - it seems to be strange that my most expensive electrical toy is very sensitive when it comes to its power source (1 out of 4 chargers working is not great ).

3. I bought a new card for the camera. During the holiday, I transferred the photos to my tablet via USB card reader. Everything got really hot. My SD card in the tablet got corrupted, and now I'm wondering if there could be a connection. Is it possible that the transfer overwhelmed the external SD card (simple Sandisk, nothing fancy)? It has happened also twice now, never with the transfer from the slower cards in tze previous Z6.

I own a Z6III that I use as a travel body. There’s certainly something strange going on that I’ve never encountered.

What exposure mode were you using?

I personally use full Manual with Auto ISO and back button focus on my Z6III and Z9’s and never have problems as long as I’m operating within the ISO limits that I’ve set up in the menu.

I use Auto WB. I can mess with it in Lightroom if necessary.

What lens were you using? Does it have a control ring that got inadvertently rotated? I have mine turned off in the camera’s menu.

I always carry spare fully charged batteries with me and use the Nikon MH-25a charger when I get to a power source. It’s never failed me.

I use a CFe card rather than a SD card. I’m using Delkin Black cards and never have problems. The general consensus is that these and ProGrade are some of the best cards. SanDisk does not get very good press these days.

Charging:

My Z6 iii charges the battery when it's plugged into my Anker 20w PD charger. It can take 10 seconds or so before the camera's orange charge light turns on. (I rarely use this though, since I have the older Nikon battery charger.)

I used the thin USBA to USBA cable that came with the charger.

Dark image:

I checked your photo EXIF for negative exposure compensation, but it's at zero, so that's not it.

It's Shutter priority, so the auto exposure adjusts aperture first, then adjusts the ISO if you have auto ISO turned on. In this photo, the aperture is wide open, at f/5.6 and 360mm focal length, so only ISO is available to keep the scene from being too dark at your selected 1/500 second shutter speed.

Was the auto ISO turned off, and the Z6 iii set to it's ISO 100?

~~

The light meter, Exposure Indicator

When the scene is too dark for the range of exposure adjustments, the light meter on the right side (Nikon calls this the "exposure indicator" becomes visible, and the tick marks show how much underexposed the scene is. The light meter is normally not displayed in Aperture or Shutter modes unless it's out of range, or the Exposure Comp is set.

You can see the Exposure Indicator appear if you block most of the lens with your hand.

~~

Out of range!

It's easier to get out of exposure range in Shutter mode, since the aperture has a limited range from wide open to minimum aperture. Aperture mode has a much wider range of shutter speeds to adjust, so it's harder to hit the exposure limits.

(I'm used to Aperture with it's very wide exposure range, so I'll sometimes be confused by a dark Shutter mode image, until I remember to check the data.)

The FastStone viewer's EXIF panel:

You say "playing around with the shutter speed should not be a big factor" - but of course, if an image is underexposed, shutter speed is a major factor (depending on how your aperture and ISO level is set). With an ISO of 100, you may simply be underexposed - not a flaw with the camera, simply a result of your settings.

As for charging, I would look to the specs of your set up. If you're charging in-camera, the body needs to be connected to some kind of usb power brick that plugs into the wall, not just an outlet to usb adapter. And if you're traveling internationally, that power brick needs to be compatible with the local power supply. Or, buy the Nikon battery charger and plug that into wall (adapted as necessary) and charge the battery outside the camera.

Chrissi_82 said:

Sorry, some basic questions, but I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.
1. Would you have any guidance on which setting is responsible for this weird dark picture, please? I played around with the white balance for the first time (*). The settings in the i menu were on auto if I remember correctly, but it seemed I could override it with the dedicated button. Still, despite readjusting the WB to the normalized level

Click to expand...

What does "readjusting the WB to the normalized level" mean?

Chrissi_82 said:

and the auto setting in the I menu, the images got really dark. In the viewfinder, everything looked fine.

Click to expand...

Check setting d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" in the Custom Settings menu. Set it to "Show effects of settings". In this mode the viewfinder will approximate the image that will be acquired, and will show under and over exposure. You probably have it set to "Adjust for ease of viewing", which adjusts the brightness of the viewfinder image, so does not show over or under exposure in the captured image.

I think this is a simple exposure issue and not a white balance issue. How bright was the light in this scene? Full sunlight, or cloudy or overcast? The simplest explanation is that the image is underexposed because the light was dim for the f/5.6, 1/500, and iso100 settings. That combination will give enough exposure under full sunlight, and might even overexpose if the sun is very bright, but will not be enough for overcast lighting. You would need higher ISO or lower shutter speed. Make sure auto ISO is on, and set a high limit for the maximum ISO.

Another way to get a dark image is by a bad adjustment to the Picture Control setting, such as setting the brightness too low. I never make adjustments to the picture control settings in the camera.

My Live View is "stuck" when in Shutter Priority mode! The Live View doesn't get dark when it's out of exposure range.

Update -- my old Z6 works the same way!

So I was changing some menu settings to recreate this thread's too dark photo. I don't think I changed anything that would affect Live View. (and the Z6 is the same, anyway).

~~~~~~

Note that Aperture priority is a wide range, so it's hard to have an auto exposure that over or under exposed.

Aperture priority, with it's range of 30 seconds to 1/16000 second, almost always is "correctly exposed", so this "show a dark view when the scene is underexposed" is very rare.

For example, Aperture priority:

An extremely dark basement, too dark to see by eye:

Set ISO 100: 30 sec, f/4. The photo is reasonably close to the Live View.

Set Auto ISO: 3 secs, f/4, ISO 8000. The photo shows more detail and color than the Live View, which was near it's limits without using Starlight view.

A somewhat brighter area in the basement: 1/3 sec, f/4, ISO 8000, matching the Live View.

Shooting directly into the late afternoon sun, with spot metering and thin haze over the sun: 1/8000, f/4, ISO 100 -- it's a reasonable exposure (but the extremely bright sun disk affects the photo exposure).

~~~~~~~

Shutter priority doesn't show the effects of underexposure (or overexposure)!

Z6 iii. Starlight view is OFF. Lens is the 24-120 f/4 Z.

d10: View Mode(photo lv)= Show effects of settings.

But if I get out of range for a proper exposure, it doesn't darken the exposure. The "light meter" bar does appear, and shows how much it's underexposed.

Changing the Exposure Comp does brighten or darken the view.

~~~~~

Some Shutter priority examples, in a fairly dark room.

Set to ISO 100. In a fairly dark room, proper exposure is 1/4 sec, f/4.

1/20 sec is 2 1/3 stops underexposed, on the light meter, but the view is just as bright as the proper 1/4 sec shot. The photo at 1/20 sec is very dark, of course.

A longer shutter time will reduce the aperture for a proper exposure. 1 sec uses f/10, for example. It's correctly exposed.

The other end of the lens range is 8 seconds using f/22 for proper exposure. So 20 seconds at f/22 is 1 1/3 stops overexposed, and the photo is too bright as expected, but the view doesn't change. The light meter shows the 1 1/3 stops over.

~~

Examples of Shutter priority with Auto ISO indoors:

Turn on Auto ISO. ISO sensitivity=100, Auto ISO control=ON, Max sensitivity=8000 (my usual range).

1/4 sec sets f/4, ISO 100, the same as the ISO 100 test above.

1/250 sec reaches ISO 8000, still correctly exposed.

1/320 sec blinks the f4 aperture icon, showing it's out of range. The light meter appears, but this isn't yet 1/3 stop, so it's on zero. The photo is slightly darker.

1/2500 is 3 stops darker on the light meter. A very dark photo. The view hasn't changed, like in all these other examples.

Or slowing the shutter past 8 seconds, the light meter is showing the overexposure, but the view hasn't changed.

~~~

Outdoors:

Some examples, late afternoon outdoors, in the shade:

Shutter priority from 30 seconds to 1/16000 (the fastest when using electronic shutter) all show the same view brightness:

10 sec uses f/22, ISO 100, the photo is a few stops overexposed.

2 sec uses f/22, ISO 100, correctly exposed.

1/1000 sec uses f/4, ISO 5600, correctly exposed.

1/16000 uses f/4, ISO 8000, the photo isvery dark with faint highlights.

ZapperVT said:

Chrissi_82 said:

Sorry, some basic questions, but I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.
1. Would you have any guidance on which setting is responsible for this weird dark picture, please? I played around with the white balance for the first time (*). The settings in the i menu were on auto if I remember correctly, but it seemed I could override it with the dedicated button. Still, despite readjusting the WB to the normalized level

Click to expand...

What does "readjusting the WB to the normalized level" mean?

ZapperVT said:

and the auto setting in the I menu, the images got really dark. In the viewfinder, everything looked fine.

Click to expand...

Check setting d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" in the Custom Settings menu. Set it to "Show effects of settings". In this mode the viewfinder will approximate the image that will be acquired, and will show under and over exposure. You probably have it set to "Adjust for ease of viewing", which adjusts the brightness of the viewfinder image, so does not show over or under exposure in the captured image.

I think this is a simple exposure issue and not a white balance issue. How bright was the light in this scene? Full sunlight, or cloudy or overcast? The simplest explanation is that the image is underexposed because the light was dim for the f/5.6, 1/500, and iso100 settings. That combination will give enough exposure under full sunlight, and might even overexpose if the sun is very bright, but will not be enough for overcast lighting. You would need higher ISO or lower shutter speed. Make sure auto ISO is on, and set a high limit for the maximum ISO.

Another way to get a dark image is by a bad adjustment to the Picture Control setting, such as setting the brightness too low. I never make adjustments to the picture control settings in the camera.

Click to expand...

Yes, and I wonder if the OP's "reset to factory" might have reset his ISO to Auto ISO. I think he might have used ISO 500 for the elephant. So it looked like the problem went away after the reset.

But see my long post about how Shutter priority doesn't show a dark view when the exposure is out of range (like the elephant was). It only shows the effects of Exposure Comp. That's very surprising to me!

jthomas39 said:

ZapperVT said:

Chrissi_82 said:

Sorry, some basic questions, but I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.
1. Would you have any guidance on which setting is responsible for this weird dark picture, please? I played around with the white balance for the first time (*). The settings in the i menu were on auto if I remember correctly, but it seemed I could override it with the dedicated button. Still, despite readjusting the WB to the normalized level

Click to expand...

What does "readjusting the WB to the normalized level" mean?

jthomas39 said:

and the auto setting in the I menu, the images got really dark. In the viewfinder, everything looked fine.

Click to expand...

Check setting d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" in the Custom Settings menu. Set it to "Show effects of settings". In this mode the viewfinder will approximate the image that will be acquired, and will show under and over exposure. You probably have it set to "Adjust for ease of viewing", which adjusts the brightness of the viewfinder image, so does not show over or under exposure in the captured image.

I think this is a simple exposure issue and not a white balance issue. How bright was the light in this scene? Full sunlight, or cloudy or overcast? The simplest explanation is that the image is underexposed because the light was dim for the f/5.6, 1/500, and iso100 settings. That combination will give enough exposure under full sunlight, and might even overexpose if the sun is very bright, but will not be enough for overcast lighting. You would need higher ISO or lower shutter speed. Make sure auto ISO is on, and set a high limit for the maximum ISO.

Another way to get a dark image is by a bad adjustment to the Picture Control setting, such as setting the brightness too low. I never make adjustments to the picture control settings in the camera.

Click to expand...

Yes, and I wonder if the OP's "reset to factory" might have reset his ISO to Auto ISO. I think he might have used ISO 500 for the elephant. So it looked like the problem went away after the reset.

But see my long post about how Shutter priority doesn't show a dark view when the exposure is out of range (like the elephant was). It only shows the effects of Exposure Comp. That's very surprising to me!

Click to expand...

That's very weird but I can confirm. In my kitchen, in M mode, 1/50s, f4, iso100 looks very dark in my viewfinder. In S mode, the same setting look bright in my viewfinder but the exposure meter appears at the right side, indicating underexposure. The images are underexposed in both cases.

Why is the response in S mode different?

ZapperVT said:

jthomas39 said:

ZapperVT said:

Chrissi_82 said:

Sorry, some basic questions, but I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.
1. Would you have any guidance on which setting is responsible for this weird dark picture, please? I played around with the white balance for the first time (*). The settings in the i menu were on auto if I remember correctly, but it seemed I could override it with the dedicated button. Still, despite readjusting the WB to the normalized level

Click to expand...

What does "readjusting the WB to the normalized level" mean?

ZapperVT said:

and the auto setting in the I menu, the images got really dark. In the viewfinder, everything looked fine.

Click to expand...

Check setting d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" in the Custom Settings menu. Set it to "Show effects of settings". In this mode the viewfinder will approximate the image that will be acquired, and will show under and over exposure. You probably have it set to "Adjust for ease of viewing", which adjusts the brightness of the viewfinder image, so does not show over or under exposure in the captured image.

I think this is a simple exposure issue and not a white balance issue. How bright was the light in this scene? Full sunlight, or cloudy or overcast? The simplest explanation is that the image is underexposed because the light was dim for the f/5.6, 1/500, and iso100 settings. That combination will give enough exposure under full sunlight, and might even overexpose if the sun is very bright, but will not be enough for overcast lighting. You would need higher ISO or lower shutter speed. Make sure auto ISO is on, and set a high limit for the maximum ISO.

Another way to get a dark image is by a bad adjustment to the Picture Control setting, such as setting the brightness too low. I never make adjustments to the picture control settings in the camera.

Click to expand...

Yes, and I wonder if the OP's "reset to factory" might have reset his ISO to Auto ISO. I think he might have used ISO 500 for the elephant. So it looked like the problem went away after the reset.

But see my long post about how Shutter priority doesn't show a dark view when the exposure is out of range (like the elephant was). It only shows the effects of Exposure Comp. That's very surprising to me!

Click to expand...

That's very weird but I can confirm. In my kitchen, in M mode, 1/50s, f4, iso100 looks very dark in my viewfinder. In S mode, the same setting look bright in my viewfinder but the exposure meter appears at the right side, indicating underexposure. The images are underexposed in both cases.

Click to expand...

This makes me pay attention and when to check too... S, A, both work something like jthomas39 described in the Z8 and with the Z7 II. When the exposure is correct, the lines with the -/+ appearing at the bottom of the viewfinder or on the side of the monitor disappear indicating the correct exposure. And also it seems that using A or S set automatically the 'view mode (photo Lv)' to 'Adjust for ease viewing'.

ZapperVT said:

Why is the response in S mode different?

Click to expand...

no idea... where is nikon when is needed!

He said you should use highlight weighted metering for birds in flight. I tried it on my Z6iii for about 5 minutes. Everything was dark. Changed it to spot metering, then center weighted, then matrix metering. They all worked fine. His advice is... bad.

If highlight-weighted metering was selected, that might explain something - the tusk is 'perfectly' exposed....

AWG_Pics said:

He said you should use highlight weighted metering for birds in flight. I tried it on my Z6iii for about 5 minutes. Everything was dark. Changed it to spot metering, then center weighted, then matrix metering. They all worked fine. His advice is... bad.

Click to expand...

I haven't tried this myself, but I've seen recommendations to use Highlight weighted metering with a Exp Comp, in the range +1 to +2.

The useful Hogan Complete Guide to the Z6 iii says it sets the highlights at middle gray. (I thought it just avoided clipping highlights, except for extremely bright spot lights in the scene.)

I've used it with jazz concerts with color stage lighting, and various Exp Comp settings. It worked well there, since the background was so much darker than the performers, but they were the subject and I didn't want any overexposure.

Try Highlight weighted with a +2.0 Exp Comp.

I just tried it with the PC computer monitor: normal Matrix metering got some pure white areas on my 4K monitor blinking in the photo review, close to saturation. Highlight weighted was quite dark, but Highlight weighted with +2.0 Exp comp made a good looking scene with white highlights but not over exposed. It would be interesting to experiment more.

Another test: the kitchen with bright lighting, shot from the next room that's very dark. The scene is a dark wall and floor with a doorway to a very bright kitchen on the left side of the frame. Focus on the dark wall beside the doorway.

Matrix blew out the brightly lit kitchen wall, but showed some dark detail in the darker room. While Highlight and +2.0 Exp comp did much better on the kitchen (maybe +1.3 or +1.7 would be better here), but the darker room had less detail -- just as designed!

camelguy said:

If highlight-weighted metering was selected, that might explain something - the tusk is 'perfectly' exposed....

Click to expand...

It is isn't it?

To 1)

You set the camera to Shutter Priority with a shutter speed of 1/500 s. However, at the chosen focal length, your lens can’t open wider than f/5.6. Since the ISO was set to 100, the camera had no way to compensate for the underexposure by increasing the ISO. You would have needed at least ISO 800 to salvage the situation when shooting in Shutter Priority.

When I am getting use to a new camera I use auto everything and look what the camera comes up with for a setting. Then I switch to full manual (Aperture or shutter modes are also appropriate but I grew into photography with simple film cameras) and starting with the same settings the camera used I readjust shutter, aperture, and iso to what I want in the pic. I most often use spot metering and put the spot on the brightest object that is important to the pic trusting the pp to bring up the shadows. But with a new camera it starts with the all auto to learn how the sensor works with the other settings. It is not fool proof, but it provides a quick and dirty lesson on what the camera can do.

ajr images said:

What lens were you using? Does it have a control ring that got inadvertently rotated? I have mine turned off in the camera’s menu.

Click to expand...

THank you Alan, I don't blame the camera, just my stupidity. It was the 100-400mm. It has several buttons, but I don't have any functions actively attached to it. Not sure if it has out of the box, but I doubt that this would be the reason.

jthomas39 said:

Charging:

My Z6 iii charges the battery when it's plugged into my Anker 20w PD charger. It can take 10 seconds or so before the camera's orange charge light turns on. (I rarely use this though, since I have the older Nikon battery charger.)

I used the thin USBA to USBA cable that came with the charger.

Click to expand...

Thank you, that's strange. The charger that I sent back had 45w. I assumed that because it was split across USB A and USB C, that it wasn't sufficient, but your comment proves otherwise. I don't want to bring a Nikon charger - it's just another thing I might easily forget somewhere.

jthomas39 said:

Was the auto ISO turned off, and the Z6 iii set to it's ISO 100?

Click to expand...

Thank you, that's a point several other users also raised. I'm not using the camera very often, I just use it during my holidays. So similar to what dacrema wrote, I start with auto settings, then go to Shutter priority and adjust the camera speed for animal shots (for landscape, the A settings). The rest I don't actively touch as far as I know. The difference this time was I changed the WB via the dial - but I would have to check on how to adjust the ISO setting. So if I changed it, it was inadvertently.
I adjusted the photo - so in hindsight, ISO 100 looks low, but also not disastrously low when coupled with 1/500. But it was probably the culprit.

wow, that's far too much effort for my little issue. But thank you very much. In hindsight, I think I was in shutter priority but could see the impact of the WB setting in the view finder. However, if it was the ISO setting that was the culprit in my case, I would not have noticed it as per your trials.