I don't think I understand exposure.

Hello! New to the forum, and I've got a question about exposure. I've got a D7100 and my brother has a D5300. Today I took two pictures with the same lighting condition (Two minutes or so apart), nearly identical framing, same exposure compensation, both recording large size fine detail JPEGs, same shutter speed (1/50), same aperture (f8), same ISO (2500), and same lens - One with the d7100 body and one with the D5300 body. Everything I could possibly think of to control was the same , except the camera bodies. I can't come up with any reason that explains the significant difference in exposure between the two pictures. What am I missing? Why are the D5300 picture so much brighter with the same settings? Let me know if I missed any critical info.

d5300 pic 1 and d7100 pic 1 were taken with the same lens.

d5300 pic 2and d7100 pic 2 were taken with different lenses (Tokina 12-28 and Nikon 18-55), but with the same settings, both at 18mm.

Thanks!

You are right, they should be the same brightness. Did the camera making dark images have a polarizing filter on the lens?

Kelly

The OP forgot to mention the MODE in use!

KCook wrote: You are right, they should be the same brightness. Did the camera making dark images have a polarizing filter on the lens? 

What difference would it have made in any priority mode, Kelly?

Your example is a problem because all of the images are seriously underexposed.  My recommendation would be to repeat your test outdoors on a front lit subject.  If you get a correct exposure then all is well.  If not, then you need to calibrate your meter using the exposure compensation feature.

Meters don't perform well in the very difficult lighting you used for your test.

You didn't specify mode, but we'll assume manual since you indicate aperture/shutter/ISO.

Being underexposed is irrelevant. As is metering. You're making an apples-to-apples comparison, and the same settings should produce reasonably consistent images.

What you didn't mention was exposure compensation. While I don't think it should be involved, check it.

Also: use auto mode on the two cameras and take shots. What do the cameras decide to use?

Finally: reset both cameras to factory settings and try again.

Resetting to factory settings sounds like a good idea. Filters could make a difference because they're filtering light, so usually less light is coming into the camera.

The camera was set at a fairly slowish shutter speed and high ISO which would tell me the camera needed more light and maybe a larger aperture setting might have helped. Or maybe since a camera is recording light, there just wasn't enough existing light for the camera to get a proper exposure.

I'd try some test shots outdoors in decent light. Indoors it may not seem too dark for us to see but most likely is really low light for the camera to be able to record as good a picture as might be expected. What I do on occasion if I'm using existing light at home indoors is try on a sunny day, open all the blinds/shades/curtains, turn on all the lights, etc. Or, you might need to use a flash.

Both are quite underexposed, but certainly one a lot more than the other. As noted, the same settings should produce very similar results if everything was truly the same in terms of lighting conditions, etc. 

Are you sure that the sun didn't go behind clouds or something like that prior to taking the 2nd set? In that case, if shooting manual you would see different results with identical settings. (FYI - your camera clocks are an hour apart )

As others have asked, what mode were you shooting in on both cameras? Was it manual? No auto-ISO, etc? If so, that rules out some other options. But if you were shooting aperture priority for example (not likely that it would choose identical settings for all 4 pics if shooting aperture priority), one body could have a max ISO set that would prevent it from going higher. Seems unlikely, but if not shooting full manual it could be something of that sort. 

The suggestion to try again outdoors in good lighting is a good one. But even the smallest thing like the sun going behind a cloud can have a big impact on the 'correct' exposure. 

Nikon Shooter wrote: The OP forgot to mention the MODE in use!

KCook wrote: You are right, they should be the same brightness. Did the camera making dark images have a polarizing filter on the lens? 

What difference would it have made in any priority mode, Kelly?

Eh?  I made no mention of the shooting mode???

A polarizing filter darkens the light by about 2 stops.  If the camera with decent exposure did not have such a filter, and the one with dark results did have a CPL, that could explain the difference.  A lesson I learned the hard way back when I first used a polarizer.

Kelly

KCook wrote: Eh?  I made no mention of the shooting mode???

I know you did not… nor did the OP.

I just think that the selected mode would be, in the
equation, of more pertinence in solving the problem.

Since the info was not given, it makes it more difficult.

The shooting mode doesn't matter since the exif for the images match. Why would it matter how you got there if the exif matches? The meter or something is off on one of the cameras. I suggest going outside on a sunny day and metering off a paved road that has some age on it and see which one matches the sunny 16 rule. That will let you know which camera is accurate. If you have a gray card, then that's better but the old pavement trick works if you don't have or want to buy a gray card.

Shadowfixer1 wrote: The shooting mode doesn't matter since the exif for the images match. Why would it matter how you got there if the exif matches? The meter or something is off on one of the cameras. I suggest going outside on a sunny day and metering off a paved road that has some age on it and see which one matches the sunny 16 rule. That will let you know which camera is accurate. If you have a gray card, then that's better but the old pavement trick works if you don't have or want to buy a gray card.

Thanks for backing me up on the shooting mode

Alas, any meter reading is also irrelevant.  All of the settings used are identical.  So even if the cameras did meter differently, the "bad" reading makes zero difference.  This is still a mystery.

stumped

NM Ben wrote: same shutter speed (1/50), same aperture (f8), same ISO (2500), and same lens

Hi Randy and Kelly,

…and same lens… this suggests that no filter was in the equation.
OTOH, if a body was on a priority mode or program and the other
on manual…

Nikon Shooter wrote:

NM Ben wrote: same shutter speed (1/50), same aperture (f8), same ISO (2500), and same lens

Hi Randy and Kelly,

…and same lens… this suggests that no filter was in the equation.
OTOH, if a body was on a priority mode or program and the other
on manual…

Agreed, seems very unlikely that the same lens would be moved from one body to another and a filter added as well. 

But while the shooting mode would be interesting to know, it also shouldn't have any impact in this case as the EXIF data is identical. No matter what the mode, the Aperture/Shutter/ISO were the same (which means manual mode is likely, as an auto mode probably wouldn't pick the same settings while producing very different results). 

Barring one of the cameras being outright not functioning correctly, the only thing that makes sense is that the sun went behind clouds and changed the ambient light in the room. However having said that, it also seems unlikely that in between two sets of pictures on the two bodies, the same change in lighting condition would occur between the first and second shots to coincidentally give the more underexposed results on the same body.  

KCook wrote:

Shadowfixer1 wrote: The shooting mode doesn't matter since the exif for the images match. Why would it matter how you got there if the exif matches? The meter or something is off on one of the cameras. I suggest going outside on a sunny day and metering off a paved road that has some age on it and see which one matches the sunny 16 rule. That will let you know which camera is accurate. If you have a gray card, then that's better but the old pavement trick works if you don't have or want to buy a gray card.

Thanks for backing me up on the shooting mode

Alas, any meter reading is also irrelevant.  All of the settings used are identical.  So even if the cameras did meter differently, the "bad" reading makes zero difference.  This is still a mystery.

stumped

You are correct. I went brain dead. The meter reading doesn't matter either since the exifs were the same. I am stumped as well. One camera is not closing down the aperture as much as the other when triggered or something.

I'm going to say make sure the firmware is up-to-date on both cameras. 


And then... I'm going to throw gas on the fire: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVuI89YWAsw