Patw28 Loc: PORT JERVIS, NY

My images taken on the D3000 are 2-3 f-stops dimmer than those taken on my FZ1000. 100 f4.0 1600 EC=0. Subject: uniform wall painting.
Is this fatal for the D3000? (We have an emotional relationship. Sob!)

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

The D3000 is notorious for poor ISO performance, but wall paintings aren't going anywhere. Set it for ISO 200.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

...but wall paintings aren't going anywhere. Set it for ISO 200...
...f/5.6 and use a tripod!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Gee, the camera doesn’t perform well at the lowest end of the ISO range. So sorry to hear that. Use a higher ISO and adjust your other settings until you get an acceptible image. You camera is not a static object, you have to interact with it.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

It could be that your copy of the FZ1000 might tend to overexpose. Or, maybe a little of both. It might make sense to test with a third camera to get a sense of what is going on. Also, for the test I would use an 18% gray target or any other target that has uniform reflectance, and spot metering, or simply filling the frame with the target and using average metering - this will tell you if it is a metering mode setting that is causing the differences in exposures. Obviously you don't need a third camera to check this.

Patw28 Loc: PORT JERVIS, NY

Good response, Gene! I chose an off- white painted wall as my target. While not gray-card, it s a uniform, simple pattern for a comparative test.
I had tested the FZ1000 exposure performance against my D750 before I started off loading all my Nikon gear.
I used area (matrix) metering for an averaging reading off a uniform density target.
I made comparisons at various exposure settings. Since I was concerned with the higher ISO performance of the D3000, used the settings of 1/100 f4 ISO 1600 EC=0 on both cameras.
I had kept the D3000 with one zoom lens to serve as a loaner when helping a newbie try a DSL camera. The test satisfied me that this would be a bad camera for that purpose and that I could not sell it as is.
Hence, is the camera reasonably reparable? (No). I apparently failed to explain what I was trying to do and how I was going about it as I received several doltish replies and a couple of sarcastic trolls which have no place on UHH.
Again, thanks for your concern and constructive response.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I'm glad I was able to help. Yes, the behavior among some people here reminds me of what I observed when my daughter was 12 yrs old as she interacted with her 12 yr old friends -