OutBack Loc: North Central Florida

Sorry I will shut up now! Hate the internet...

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Come back and start again.

Go to the Introduce Yourself section and tell us a little about you. Post a photo or two. This can be a very friendly forum.

Link to Intro section:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-3-1.html

coco1964 Loc: Winsted Mn

Like I said I was not trying to be a jerk and the criticism I gave you is valid. I have 4 Nikons and have used the dummies book for all I can get them for. To me they're so much easier to understand than the manuals that come with the cameras. David Peterson's books on light and exposure have been recommended on this forum more times than I can count!! But if you're that thin skinned you can't take recommendations then why did you even ask for help?? You just don't take a D800 out of the box and have the expectation that it's a miracle machine.........

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Good reason not to use P mode Steve.

If you have a good handle on the exposure triangle, all you ever need is aperture priority and manual.
And then you don't even need to consider why P or Auto or anything else might do some of the weird stuff it does.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

It's not a matter of expecting the D800 to be a miracle machine. I have been amazed in the past at the light gathering capabilities of the 50mm f1.8, so I decided to put it to the test just to see what it could do in that situation. Actually, if you will look at my original post, my concern was not that the photo was not sharp, but that it was blown out. I wondered why the camera wouldn't choose the correct exposure. I received good information that indicated that the problem was my metering mode. Once I retook the picture using spot metering, the exposure was correct. Yes, the photo was blurry, but that was not the problem that I was concerned about. I learned two things from taking this photo. One, I needed to use spot metering in this situation. In the past I have not worried about metering as much as I have the three elements of exposure. Two, I learned the limits of the lens without a tripod. Again, however, I asked only one specific question, to which I got the answer. You're free to tell me how frickin' dumb a photographer I am, but please, stay on point. My question was answered pages ago.

Isn't this the way we learn? By experimentation?

coco1964 Loc: Winsted Mn

Where did you see I called you a dumb photographer. That is the actual name of the book, they are great books and you definitely need the one on understanding exposure!! With a camera setting that you had I could have called you a frickin dumb photographer but those are your words not mine!! Now go out and buy the books I recommended and stop putting words in peoples mouth!!!

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I didn't select the camera settings. The camera did.

tradergeorge Loc: Newport, Kentucky

The people who write software that selects camera settings can hardly be expected to anticipate every scenario. If the settings the camera selects are not giving you the results you seek, you need to try something else. Either you can tell what needs to be adjusted, or perhaps you would profit from the books the other poster suggested.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Your settings suggest an EV of -3 which would be too low to comfortably navigate a room.

Greater experience would have alerted that it was an operator error and that the camera settings were inappropriate.

May I suggest that you invest the time to develop the ability to read the light and have at least a ball park value in mind for settings when making an exposure.

Rob.

mdsiamese Loc: Maryland

I understood your original question and had two thoughts. The first was already discussed - the metering mode. The second is what format you were shooting? I have a D700 and have found that jpg format pretty much just sucks. The camera is horrible at making decisions when converting the images to jpg. Photos that looked like they had blown out areas in jpg were actually much better when I worked with the NEF format version. Of course, that's just a thought. You may already have been shooting NEF, in which case the metering (as you already found out) is the issue.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Tough to do with a squirming baby when your shutter speed is 2.5 seconds.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Correction, the camera you are using is a precision, programmable recording device and it responded exactly in accordance with your chosen settings.

OutBack Loc: North Central Florida

Okay - ah, I think things went badly my first time on here but what the heck... Yea if you let the camera choose there is nothing more to say. Why? I have never seen a Nikon go down to f/1.8 is it the lens you were using? I asked that before but I must have missed the answer. I can see by the postings that we only know what we know. Have you learned that it is not always best to let the cam decide. I think I used "P" mode once to test what the choices were. I am most satisfied in "M" mode but I understand completely the principals of inverse reciprocal mathematics.(exposure)
That is the prime directive for cams. Anyway I always get the defining first shot in Auto; the perspective. It is so easy to do that then check to see what the cam thinks it should be and then adjusting the setting if need be. Light does not change that rapidly usually. I strive to be able to create, modify and manipulate my photos inside the camera. Most people do not even think it is possible. When you got to that point you will be able to show motion in a still photo. - the avatar is really me.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

What on earth are you talking about?

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Not to throw any fuel to the fire, but this is why the "hand held meters are useless these days" crowd are just plain wrong. 2 seconds with my meter, and I know what my settings should be without having to fiddle and worry about what metering mode I'm in.

It was mentioned above, but P mode is good for some things, but if your photo comes out improperly exposed, changing ISO shutter or aperture won't help. You need to learn to use the exposure compensation feature. (unless you spend a few bucks on a second hand meter from those that claim they are useless), and you'll save a lot of time and monkeying around with settings. (KEH has some analog ones for like $30)