D300 BUG in Aperture Priority & Shutter Priority Mode

I posted something similar recently and have now asked Nikon but
figured I would post here also in case someone may have a solution.

This is bugging me bad so I edited the orignal post which was written
well and submitted it directly to Nikon Technical Support lets see
what they say about it. Message posted read:
My meter display reads LO or HI erroneously or way to soon in my
opinion. LO and HI pop up in the display when proper exposures can
still be made.

My understanding is that LO means that the "picture will be
underexposed" if the user intends to stick with his selected F-Stop
(in A-mode) or Shutter Speed (in S-mode). The reason for underexposure
is because in A-mode, the camera has run out of shutter speeds (a
shutter speed greater than 30 seconds is required at the given
aperture). In S-mode, LO is displayed when the camera runs out of
F-Stops (the maximum aperture for that lens has been reached and you
still need to open up more to get the proper exposure). For HI, it
works the other way and overexposure results.

Okay, so I performed the following test that you may want to try:
I set my camera on a tripod and aimed it at a fairly dark wall. I set
the camera in Manual Mode at ISO 200 and balanced the exposure. It
read 1/4 second @ f/2.8. You can use any metering method for this.

Then, I switched the camera over to Aperture Priority (A mode) and
dialed the aperture dial to smaller and smaller apertures (higher
f-numbers) until "LO" was displayed. It didn't take long. This
occurred when it hit f/4. Yes, f/4 at what should be 1/2 second. The
same test with my N90s and F5 go all the way to f22 (at over 15
seconds) until finally displaying LO at f/32. At f/32, a shutter speed
greater than the camera's maximum of 30 seconds was required to make
the proper exposure.

Moreover, increasing the ISO doesn't improve things either. And that
shouldn't matter anyway. But, when I cranked up the ISO to 3200 on the
D300, LO was still displayed at f/4. But, the exposure is a very
respectable 1/30 second @ f/4. Whoa!

Pictures taken at LO and HI seem to give good results. The display is
screwed up. However, it is very important to have these numbers
properly displayed so that the user can make decisions. For instance,
with landscape photography, most of my images are really slow and the
wind is always a factor. So, I really need to see the shutter speed
that's being chosen. And if A & S modes don't work properly, then it's
$1,800 for a camera that can only be used in Manual Exposure Mode.

I purchased a Sekonic light meter yesterday but hope that I am just
doing something wrong and that the camera meter is not really this
inaccurate or unable to produce readings at what should be a very
respectful settings range.

Chico <somewhere.DeleteThis@mexico.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:26:59 -0500, Chico <somewhere.DeleteThis@mexico.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I posted something similar recently and have now asked Nikon but
>>figured I would post here also in case someone may have a solution.
>>
>>This is bugging me bad so I edited the orignal post which was written
>>well and submitted it directly to Nikon Technical Support lets see
>>what they say about it. Message posted read:
>>My meter display reads LO or HI erroneously or way to soon in my
>>opinion. LO and HI pop up in the display when proper exposures can
>>still be made.
>>
>>My understanding is that LO means that the "picture will be
>>underexposed" if the user intends to stick with his selected F-Stop
>>(in A-mode) or Shutter Speed (in S-mode). The reason for underexposure
>>is because in A-mode, the camera has run out of shutter speeds (a
>>shutter speed greater than 30 seconds is required at the given
>>aperture). In S-mode, LO is displayed when the camera runs out of
>>F-Stops (the maximum aperture for that lens has been reached and you
>>still need to open up more to get the proper exposure). For HI, it
>>works the other way and overexposure results.
>>
>>Okay, so I performed the following test that you may want to try:
>>I set my camera on a tripod and aimed it at a fairly dark wall. I set
>>the camera in Manual Mode at ISO 200 and balanced the exposure. It
>>read 1/4 second @ f/2.8. You can use any metering method for this.
>>
>>Then, I switched the camera over to Aperture Priority (A mode) and
>>dialed the aperture dial to smaller and smaller apertures (higher
>>f-numbers) until "LO" was displayed. It didn't take long. This
>>occurred when it hit f/4. Yes, f/4 at what should be 1/2 second. The
>>same test with my N90s and F5 go all the way to f22 (at over 15
>>seconds) until finally displaying LO at f/32. At f/32, a shutter speed
>>greater than the camera's maximum of 30 seconds was required to make
>>the proper exposure.
>>
>>Moreover, increasing the ISO doesn't improve things either. And that
>>shouldn't matter anyway. But, when I cranked up the ISO to 3200 on the
>>D300, LO was still displayed at f/4. But, the exposure is a very
>>respectable 1/30 second @ f/4. Whoa!
>>
>>Pictures taken at LO and HI seem to give good results. The display is
>>screwed up. However, it is very important to have these numbers
>>properly displayed so that the user can make decisions. For instance,
>>with landscape photography, most of my images are really slow and the
>>wind is always a factor. So, I really need to see the shutter speed
>>that's being chosen. And if A & S modes don't work properly, then it's
>>$1,800 for a camera that can only be used in Manual Exposure Mode.
>>
>>I purchased a Sekonic light meter yesterday but hope that I am just
>>doing something wrong and that the camera meter is not really this
>>inaccurate or unable to produce readings at what should be a very
>>respectful settings range.
>>
>Nikon Responded and said basically the following
>
>Nikon responded and said they are looking into it but that they
>beleive this is normal for the D300, D2X, D3, D70 and other DSLR
>cameras. They stated that their belief is that the LO in this case is
>evaluating the scenes overall exposure value such as -2EV. See page
>404.
>
>This is why we are getting LO. I think LO comes on in two
>circumstances when underexposure occurs and when the meter is
>returning a negative value (so it does not matter what ISO you choose)

In your previous thread I explained this more than once;
but I can see that you would not necessarily have
understood the technical discussion.

An exposure reading of -2 EV is outside the range of the
camera's light meter. It isn't the fact that it is a
negative number, as that is just part of the scale, much
the way -1 F is a temperature that just happens to be
lower than 0 F.

The light meter on your D300 is specified as from 0 to
20 EV, except with spot metering it is from 2 to 20 EV
(or, I assume that it is the same as the D3, which I
have a manual for).

The point is that a light level of -2 EV is lower than
the light meter can *accurately* read. It might in fact
give you a reading, but it will almost certainly
indicate more light than there actually is (because it
will also see a noise signal and add that to the light
that it reads).

For that reason the descriptions given in the Nikon
manuals, which all say that "Lo" means the picture will
be underexposed, is correct whether it is too little
light to read correctly or not enough range for ISO,
shutter speed or aperture.

I believe that if you redo your experiment with taking
readings from a dark area you can demonstrate that the
above is in fact true by actually taking a picture when
you are not at the maximum aperture but are getting
"Lo". If you then look at the Exif data it will
probably indicate 0 EV or lower.

>I am new so can someone translate this into english. I looked at page
>404 and it was not helpful I dont understand what I am looking at.
>
>Thanks

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd.DeleteThis@apaflo.com