Lumix GH4 automatic exposure setting not functioning, overexposed

Hi all,

Ran into a little setback this evening. While shooting, my GH4 and I got a little wet from a breaking wave on a coral bluff, and now will not function in automatic exposure mode. It is stuck on the lowest aperture of the lens attached and a shutter speed of 1/8, causing all shots to be vastly overexposed.

I can shoot normally in all other modes. Shooting manually, I can adjust aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Sensor and lens is fine, and in manual, images result normally.

Has anyone encountered this problem? Could it just need a little dry time R&R?

I would not hesitate to take it into my local shop in Portland, Ore. for a look, however I am in Barbados for the month, so a little bit of a fish out of water (no pun intended).

Any help would be vastly appreciated.

Archie

Archie Frink wrote:

Hi all,

Ran into a little setback this evening. While shooting, my GH4 and I got a little wet from a breaking wave on a coral bluff, and now will not function in automatic exposure mode. It is stuck on the lowest aperture of the lens attached and a shutter speed of 1/8, causing all shots to be vastly overexposed.

I can shoot normally in all other modes. Shooting manually, I can adjust aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Sensor and lens is fine, and in manual, images result normally.

Has anyone encountered this problem? Could it just need a little dry time R&R?

I would not hesitate to take it into my local shop in Portland, Ore. for a look, however I am in Barbados for the month, so a little bit of a fish out of water (no pun intended).

Any help would be vastly appreciated.

Archie

In M, it seems that you can control f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. I guess that the parameter control set should have no problem.

Can you elaborate more on what automatic exposure mode you used? iA/iA+, P or S/A? Had you tried S (you set shutter speed) or A (you set f/stop) to see would your camera adjust the corresponding parameters accordingly? If so, you in-camera metering should work (accurate or not is another issue).

When your camera be frozen at wild open and 1/8", had you tried to switch off the camera? When power back on will do no good, take out the battery for a few seconds to see would it work? For the later scenario, I suspect that your camera might have certain internal problem (I had hardware lockup on G1 after a water accident caused serious erosion of the electronic parts inside).

what lens?? is it a weather-proofed lens??

Even when you think you got it all dried out, residual salt with continue to corrode everything it can.  I would get your camera into a service center ASAP.

Archie Frink wrote:

alcelc wrote:

In M, it seems that you can control f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. I guess that the parameter control set should have no problem.

Can you elaborate more on what automatic exposure mode you used? iA/iA+, P or S/A? Had you tried S (you set shutter speed) or A (you set f/stop) to see would your camera adjust the corresponding parameters accordingly? If so, you in-camera metering should work (accurate or not is another issue).

When your camera be frozen at wild open and 1/8", had you tried to switch off the camera? When power back on will do no good, take out the battery for a few seconds to see would it work? For the later scenario, I suspect that your camera might have certain internal problem (I had hardware lockup on G1 after a water accident caused serious erosion of the electronic parts inside).

Hi Albert,

Thank you for your response. I used iA while shooting. When I try S and A, the camera does adjust its parameters accordingly, but its overexposure remains consistent with iA. This leads me to believe that the metering accuracy may be the issue? Then again, the metering works normally when setting manually...

I switched out the battery, which did not affect this. So sad. Three and a half weeks to the camera repair shop.

Archie

Do you have similar problem?

Under iA/iA+, the camera will suggest the 3 parameter for a center metering exposure. Basically we do not allow to adjust any of these settings (f/stop, shutter speed, ISO). There must be a reason for the camera to think wide open of the lens at 1/8" shutter speed be appropriate. How about the ISO? Had it be kept at the base ISO?

Might post a sample let us to study the strange behaviour behind.

However, you can modify the exposure value by adjustment through exposure compensation. When you set -ev in Exposure Compensation, could you manage to reduce the brightness of the shot?

Might worth to check the above before sending it to service center.

Archie Frink wrote:

Do you have similar problem?

Under iA/iA+, the camera will suggest the 3 parameter for a center metering exposure. Basically we do not allow to adjust any of these settings (f/stop, shutter speed, ISO). There must be a reason for the camera to think wide open of the lens at 1/8" shutter speed be appropriate. How about the ISO? Had it be kept at the base ISO?

Might post a sample let us to study the strange behaviour behind.

However, you can modify the exposure value by adjustment through exposure compensation. When you set -ev in Exposure Compensation, could you manage to reduce the brightness of the shot?

Might worth to check the above before sending it to service center.

Albert,

I just checked the exposure compensation, and yes, it was somehow set to +4.5 in iA+.

How did that happen? Couldn't say, but this problem is resolved. Thank you for your support!

Archie

Happy to know you have your issue been solved.

I'm not sure would it be the same for your camera, but under the Setup Menu of some recent Panys, there is an option "Exposure Comp Reset". Set it to on, any exposure compensation adjustment would reset to 0ev on power down.  So, you will have a fresh 0ev every start.

Otherwise, Pany will memorize the Exposure Compensation disregarding power on/off.