d7100 exposure compensation for birds in flight

blackfox

i,m having problems with exposure compensation for birds in flight with the 7100 ,i use a 300mm f4 lens and usually with either a 1.4 or 1.7 tc ,i have used this lens combo very successfully with both the d7000 and d300s so its not the lens or combo ,with the two latter cameras when taking b.i.f it was usually just a case of dialling in a couple of positive bars and the exposure would come out virtually perfect .
however myself and i might add several friends with the same rig set up cannot seem to get exposure compensation right .with most pics coming out either under or over exposed between us we have tried all metering modes ,matrix ,spot,partial etc nothing seems to work consistently ,i am starting to feel that its a design fault .
for ground level birds /insects/butterflies i cannot fault the camera its perfection as soon as the sky is included i want to throw it into the nearest hedge .help please someone before i sell it in temper

PB_PM

First step, stop using Matrix metering.

heartyfisher

lol .. that's when Manual is most useful ! Its there for a reason and i think you just found the reason :-)

blackfox

i suppose manual might be the answer ,will give it a try nothing ventured nothing gained ,metering does seem to be the achilles heel of this camera .

heartyfisher

From what you describe I dont think ANY camera will be able to get you better results when using auto exposure.
Its just one of those situations when Manual Setting of the exposure is the easiest and best option. Note that many BIF and wildlife shooters in general ONLY use Manual settings even when their gear costs over $20K.

Paperman

Expo compensation is meaningless in changing compositions/frames/action/bif ...

Ironheart

You could take a look at assigning the AE-L/AF-L button to "AE lock (Hold)". This will allow you to meter once and lock it.
Page 256 in the D7100 manual

TaoTeJared

Which 300mm f4 do you have? AFS or AFD or other? Which 1.4 tc version? Kind of sounds like the camera can't compensate for the TC properly. I use my 1.7 all the time and exposures usually come out just fine.

Also what mode (A,S,P,M) are you shooting in. If you are in S and turn off the auto iso, have your shutter above 1/1000, with follow focus and shooting in the sky, under exposure is common as the camera is allowing the shutter to override everything else. Check to see if your lens is shooting at F4 & F22 (I think that is the max on the lens) - if the auto iso is turned off, the camera has no choice but to let the exposure to swing. Turning on auto iso may help solve it - but you may lose some detail though.

blackfox

i have the kenko 1.4 dg 300 pro ,and the nikon 1.7tc ,the lens is the f4 afs ed .never had these problems on lets see D200---D300S---D7000 the same lens t.c set up was used on them with no problems ,usually shoot in apeture priority with auto iso enabled .the camera is fine for for low level shots normal height etc ,macro/close focus etc but as soon as the sky is included the results vary .general consensus seems to be use manual to get a meter reading ,but with wildlife you don't get time to set the shot up its there and then gone to quickly .
best bet i think is to throw some bread out for the seagulls and practise on them till i find the right compensation value

spraynpray

Why not use a grey card to set exposure right then hold camera to the sky to see what comp you need to apply to regain the same exposure?

Golf007sd

@PitchBlack: +1 Perfect recommendation. Hence, shoot in RAW, go full manual and meter for the sky for your desired shutter speed, as well as, ISO. Don't worry if the BIF is underexposed. With the amazing capabilities of the D800 dynamic range you will just have to bring up the shadows and details of your subject in post.

sevencrossing

I think, one difference between the D7000 and the D7100 is the way the auto ISO works
is auto ISO turned off ?

heartyfisher

I cant imagine that the D7100 would be worse than the D7000 ..

TaoTeJared

i have the kenko 1.4 dg 300 pro ,and the nikon 1.7tc ,the lens is the f4 afs ed .never had these problems on lets see D200---D300S---D7000 ...

Now we are getting to it... EVERY CAMERA IS DIFFERENT. Just because it worked on an older model or a different current model is not always an indicator that it will work with all of them. The 7100 has something different to it for sure - on another thread someone found out that the new Pocket Wizards are NOT compatible with it at the moment. That is really rare for pocket wizards. There are some 3rd party flashes not working (TTL/Commander modes) as well.

I'm sure the kenko is throwing it off at times. I have a 2x Kenko that I have to use (screw drive) on my Tokina 300 f2.8 and it will throw the meter wonky at times. If I stick with center or spot metering it is much better. My 1.7 exposes on everything fairly good.

The problem with your situation is that with shooting a small subject against a sky is that the exposure difference between a bird and the sky can easily be 2-stops. Early morning that difference can be 4-5 stops. I don't doubt you are having issues, but I'm willing to bet most of what you are seeing is that difference (say 80-90%.) You need to isolate the issue without shooting birds and just shoot a wall or something where the exposure is the same across the frame.

You maybe using a different center-weighted metering size as well (might be smaller now than before.) I saw from another thread that you have had the camera for just about a month now - If you have any of your old one's you might take a look at their settings and see what you may have different. It does take time to get use to the new system and customize it to the way you like.

blackfox

thanks tao ,as i said normal shots are superb its just b.i.f that i,m struggling with and would like to have had it mastered before the raptor season starts round here ,just not enough target birds around at the moment .no problem with either the kenko or nikon t/c's ,and i also tried switching off the auto iso with no change .i have had lots of differing advise from various people here and elsewhere ,which shows that there are lots of ways to overcome this problem .just need to put it into effect now .
it does show how the d7100 is a game changer for nikon though something that till you actually use one in anger that you can't really explain to other users .one things for sure its not a beginners model

blackfox

right luckily i had a good day out today with numerous buzzards against a dark grey ,then light grey and finally blue sky ,using partial metering as i had been doing ground level stuff to .played at upping the exposure compensation first to 1 full stop then up to + 1.67 ,this seems to be the sweet spot although perhaps 2 full stops might be perfect .
this was shooting using the 300mm f4 lens at f8 with a 1.7tc attached and also using 1.6 crop mode in camera ,all shots hand held .pretty near to great exposure ,possible use of a tripod would have helped to eliminate some blur at that length ,but todays object was getting exposure right .

so we can now put this one to bed ,nothing wrong with the camera it just exposes differently to other nikons i have had .i hope this is of help to any other d7100 users that do b.i.f .and thanks for all comments trying to help