Nikon D200 Colour. Help!

[Ed Winchester]

After spending 2 days looking through some of the excellent shots in the random photos sections here, I've been inspired to dust off the camera again!
However, since I've been using the D200, I've been getting some really poor results (which is why I put it away in the first place!). Whilst I'm happy to use PS, I'd much rather take get the 'in camera' settings right and save hours of time.

The first photo below is taken at the same time and in the same conditions as the second shot which was taken on my mate's D40.
Mine seem to be underexposed and when I lift the exposure on the raw files the colour balance goes really green/yellow!




Any feedback would be gratefully received!

Edited by Ed Winchester on Friday 23 January 13:14

[Cabinet Enforcer]

It does seem slightly underexposed, but the main difference seems to be the white balance. Check camera settings, also if you shot in RAW you can change this retrospectively.

Also, if the shot from the D40 was in camera jpeg, you would expect a consumer grade cam to produce more colourful contrasty images, rather than accurate ones.

Edited by Cabinet Enforcer on Friday 23 January 13:47

[CivicMan]

Exif data shows:

Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D200
Image Date: 2009:06:16 02:30:11
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 95.0mm (35mm equivalent: 142mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0031 s (1/320)
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Flash
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)


Looks to me like you're not due to take this photo until next June!!

[Established 1984]

CivicMan said:

Exif data shows:

White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Flash

I'm a newbie to photography but could those camera settings be the problem. Like a previous poster said shoot in RAW (when you can) then adjust the white balance at your desk. I takes a little more time but the results are worth it.

Edited by Established 1984 on Friday 23 January 13:59

[dumbfunk]

I hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs but I think your problem is an incorrectly set white balance. The image has quite a green/yellow tinge and the exif says it was set to "manual" do unless you properly adjusted it with a grey card then it may be out.

Do you shoot RAW or jpg? If it's the latter then you need to get this right in the camera.


dumbfunk

[VxDuncan]

First off, looks like the white balance is wrong. Set it to RAW + jpeg so you can check camera output vs what you're doing with the raw file. That way you'll know if it's the camera or you.

Set white balance appropriate to the scene or leave on auto if it's reliable. Seems to be in shutter priority mode with matrix metering so should be okay. Check the exposure compensation(+/-) is off (ie 0).

An alternative, if you haven't spend a lot of time tweaking the camera to your liking would be to reset it (usually a combo of three buttons with green dots iirc). This will clear any white balance settings, exp. compensation, odd colour settings/saturation etc it might be set to. Obviously it will clear any personalisation you've done too (like menu detail, scroll wheel settings etc).

As said before I'd expect the D200 to be slightly more subdued an a consumer DSLR.

[Ed Winchester]

CivicMan said:

Exif data shows:

Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D200
Image Date: 2009:06:16 02:30:11
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 95.0mm (35mm equivalent: 142mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0031 s (1/320)
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Flash
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)


Looks to me like you're not due to take this photo until next June!!

Thanks for the quick responses!

It seems I need to have a look at the settings! I'm not much of a manual reader but I'll grab a strong coffee and get stuck in.
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Flash
The white balance confuses me. I very rarely use flash and am pretty sure I wouldn't have tried to set manual White Balance settings??

I shoot raw files so will go back and adjust the balances again. Is there an average/normal colour temperature? Is it worth completely resetting the camera and starting again?

[Ed Winchester]

VxDuncan said:

First off, looks like the white balance is wrong. Set it to RAW + jpeg so you can check camera output vs what you're doing with the raw file. That way you'll know if it's the camera or you.

Set white balance appropriate to the scene or leave on auto if it's reliable. Seems to be in shutter priority mode with matrix metering so should be okay. Check the exposure compensation(+/-) is off (ie 0).

An alternative, if you haven't spend a lot of time tweaking the camera to your liking would be to reset it (usually a combo of three buttons with green dots iirc). This will clear any white balance settings, exp. compensation, odd colour settings/saturation etc it might be set to. Obviously it will clear any personalisation you've done too (like menu detail, scroll wheel settings etc).

As said before I'd expect the D200 to be slightly more subdued an a consumer DSLR.

Thanks VXDuncan,You beat me to my last question.

The only time the settings might have been changed is when the guy in the camera shop set it for use with a polarising filter. Does this makes sense? Should I be changing any WB settings when I use the filter?

[trackdemon]

I'd advocate not using autoWB as it can occasionally be confused, also if you've shot everything at the same WB then its much easier to adjust from the same point in RAW afterwards. So sunny day, set WB for sunshine etc.

Dont see why you should need to reset the camera TBH.

FWIW when I used to use my D200 all the time I found its WB generally excellent when I did use auto, although it did usually underexpose a bit so I'd normally be dialling in at least 0.3-0.7 +EV

[mph999]

vxduncan is correct, the D200 will under expose compared to the D40. The consumer camera is tweaked to be more point and shoot than the 200.

[CivicMan]

Ed , if you're new to photography, a lot of differing advice will only confuse you SO let's keep it simple for you!

Firstly:

A. The Nikon metering is pretty damn good so don't frig around with different settings.
B. you're not needing to produce commercial work and
C. you don't need giant enlargements so.....

Set the white balance to Auto. Set the light source to auto. Just shoot JPEG. The results you get will be pretty damn good without having do dial in -/+ .7 EV or whatever, or resetting white balance to suit ambient light levels etc. it'll just be too confusing.

Keep it simple and just enjoy taking pics. As your experience grows, try experimenting then with settings.

If you want to know how to get the settings sorted just ask or PM!

[Ed Winchester]

Thanks all for your responses.

Believe it or not I've been an amateur photographer for about 18 years (doesn't mean I'm any good!) Problem is, I'm still using the DSLR as a I would have used a film SLR, hence wanting to get it right in camera.

Seems I should let the camera handle the white balance for now and just shoot high res JPEG. Then, when I find time, read up on the digital piece I'm missing.

Thanks again

[andy-xr]

I'd still go NEF for the flexibility of altering it quickly and easily if it goes tits

[Simpo Two]

My quick thoughts:

1) Resize your gigantically enormous photos to 750px before posting, as per 'posting guidelines' - fortunately there were only two of them and so I waited, mostly because I use a D200 as well.

2) The second photo has actually clipped the highlights, so is overexposed - yours is a better starting point.

3) You are shooting RAW so white balance is immaterial. Keep it on Auto which will get it close, then you can use the dropper or whatever your software has to set a neutral point. If you still don't like it, adjust manually until you do.

Quite easy really


NB: You'll notice that my advice differs from some of the other advice. That's fine. Everybody has methods that they like best, it's just a question of finding one that works for you.

Ed Winchester said:

Believe it or not I've been an amateur photographer for about 18 years (doesn't mean I'm any good!) Problem is, I'm still using the DSLR as a I would have used a film SLR, hence wanting to get it right in camera. Thanks again

That's a laudable approach, however, there is still a surprising step from film SLR to DSLR. You have less exposure latitude and there's no friendly print company to auto-correct your prints. I too found that my results were worse to start with - just stick at it.

Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 23 January 19:43

[Elderly]

Simpo Two said:

there is still a surprising step from film SLR to DSLR. You have less exposure latitude

I find that even shooting jpeg I have much more room for exposure error than in the good old days of shooting Transparency.

[Simpo Two]

Elderly said:

Simpo Two said:

there is still a surprising step from film SLR to DSLR. You have less exposure latitude

I find that even shooting jpeg I have much more room for exposure error than in the good old days of shooting Transparency.

I think we mean different things - by exposure latitude I mean dynamic range. It's true that you can use levels/curves to lighten or darken an image, increase shadow detail etc - we all do that - but that's not the same as dynamic range, which is the breadth of contrast the sensor can capture.

[Ed Winchester]

Simpo Two said:

My quick thoughts:

1) Resize your gigantically enormous photos to 750px before posting, as per 'posting guidelines' - fortunately there were only two of them and so I waited, mostly because I use a D200 as well.

Noted and changed.

[Simpo Two]

Ed Winchester said:

Noted and changed.

Hope the rest was useful.