Over exposure!

[byegad]

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Over exposure!

I still have my E-500 and have not experienced any such problem.

What exposure area are you using ? I tend to use spot or center.

Can you show us an example of the image.

[byegad]

Re: Over exposure!

My! That was fast Graham.

Centre area and 'P'.
Set the camera to Auto and all is well so it's something that's changeable in 'P mode'. I'm just puzzled as to what.

[photo_owl]

Re: Over exposure!

an example image would help with specif advice but I would start by putting it on a tripod and shooting in your P mode, then switch to auto and take anther shot - now look at the settings the camera selected and compare to find a clue.

without seeing an image I would be guessing but I would bet that you are shooting a subject with a dark subject on a light background with spot or CW in P mode, and the camera will only shoot in ESP in AUTO unless Oly did something different with the 500

[Zuiko]

Re: Over exposure!

My! That was fast Graham.

Centre area and 'P'.
Set the camera to Auto and all is well so it's something that's changeable in 'P mode'. I'm just puzzled as to what.

I think you will find in Auto mode CW metering is disabled and replaced by matrix metering. Try setting matrix metering in P mode to see if it makes a difference.

[Ralph Harwood]

Re: Over exposure!

Hi there Byegad!

Just a thought, but does this happen with every lens? If you have a faulty iris on a lens this can give over exposed images when you set a smaller aperture - the iris stays open and the camera lets in more light than it expected. In auto mode it may well be keeping the lens fully open to get maximum light through to keep the iso down. One way to test this is use aperture mode and take 2 photos one with the iris wide open (smallest f-number available) and one with a much smaller aperture (say f-11) and compare the exposures - if the one wide open is correct and the one at f-11 is badly over exposed it is worth looking at the lens. If they are both out it must be something else.

Otherwise I agree with the other posts - try using matrix rather than centre weighted or spot metering and see if it still does it.

I hope you get this sorted,

Cheers,

Ralph.

[byegad]

Re: Over exposure!

an example image would help with specif advice but I would start by putting it on a tripod and shooting in your P mode, then switch to auto and take anther shot - now look at the settings the camera selected and compare to find a clue.

without seeing an image I would be guessing but I would bet that you are shooting a subject with a dark subject on a light background with spot or CW in P mode, and the camera will only shoot in ESP in AUTO unless Oly did something different with the 500

That makes sense, I've deleted all of the useless images from yesterday, weather permitting I'll take some shots this morning and post them here, when I remember how!

[byegad]

Re: Over exposure!

John and Ralph have it right. It's the metering area that's doing it. A trial this beautiful sunny morning has shown that AUTO and P full area metering give correctly exposed results and spot or centre weighted metering give erratic and usually over exposed shots. A trial on a perching seagull using spot metering looked almost like a night shot! While a similar shot of a perching Jackdaw was blown, except the Jackdaw.

This is unlike my EPL5 and EP3 where the best shots of birds seem to come from Centre weighted metering, but hey I can live with this now I have the answer at my finger tips, literally!

Thanks to all who read and helped a relative newbie in the fascinating world of digital photography.