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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Half stop difference between two D3's normal?
Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 5:26 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Okay I hadn't put both my D3's up against each other to compare their output until this weekend. D3 #1 with a 70-200 vr and D3 #2 with a different 70-200 vr in the same gym. D3 #1 is an obvious 1/2 stop brighter across the board. The only difference is that body #1 is on fw 2.0 and #2 is on fw 2.01. Anyone else have 2 D3's and noticed that one is way off from the other when using the same glass?
Thoughts? |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 5:39 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Eric
Are the histograms the same, or are you making a naked eye comparison?
Are all the internal exposure compensators dialed in equally? - including the one that is a set & forget.
And is the LCD brightness the same on both? |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 5:48 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Dave all good questions. I cloned the settings from body 1 to 2 by saving the settings to a CF and loading them to body #2. I am basing my opinions on the histograms.
I am not aware of any setting that wouldn't copy over using the saved settings file. Over the fall I noticed that #1 was brighter but I attributed it to the fact that I was using a 300 on one body and the 70-200 on the other so the extra elements etc would account for a difference. This weekend I let one of my guys use a D3 with his lens. So I'm thinking that the exposures should have been the same. He didn't change any of the settings.
Maybe my high mileage shutter is slowing down? |
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Greg Francis, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 5:57 PM on 11.24.09 |
| ->> Eric, UPS one of the D3's to me for testing against mine, and i'll get it right back to you after evaluation... ;-) |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 5:58 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> If the body that's brighter is the one with your 70-200, the problem might be with your lens...if a lens gets hot, some of the lube in the diaphragm can get onto the aperture blades, and they won't be able to stop down as quickly as they need to.
I'd put both bodies side by side and shoot something with a constant exposure with the same lens, and see what the results are before you decide what to send in for repair. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 6:01 PM on 11.24.09 |
| ->> I'd have a look at custom menu b6 and dial the exposures in if matching is a practical concern. maybe +1/3 on 1 and -1/3 on the other? |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 6:32 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Greg I'll get right on that ;)
Michael good point...... I do believe that we were shooting wide open but I'll have to look at that....... My lens was rebuilt one year ago this month and has worked flawlessly. I don't know about the other 70-200 that my guy was using.
Dave also good advise. I had forgotten about that setting. I'll have to mount lens on both bodies and see what the story is.
I know that back in the days of film I would buy 6 months of stock from a single emulsion batch and sacrifice a roll or two to pinpoint the ASA. Different batches could be off 1/4 to 1/2 of a stop. The 'pro' stocks were tighter but still had play in them. I didn't know if the same was true when then calibrate sensors..... |
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Michael Troutman, Photographer
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Carmel | CA | USA | Posted: 6:45 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> I vaguely recall I noticed this, too, with my bodies...and it's the firmware. Latest version does not expose quite so far to the right. I think I posted about this somewhere at some point, wondering if others had noticed it, too. Stealth modification. With the same firmware, my bodies match. I noticed a change right when I updated (but not a half stop).
You can always fine-tune exposure on your D3 bodies in sixth-stop increments. I had cranked out a third stop until the latest firmware; now they are zeroed. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 6:52 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Michael T. you may be on the mark.... The 'dark' body is the 2.01 version. I'm not sure that the b6 adjustment would be the fix as we were both shooting manual.... Iso4000 1/500@2.8 so while it will correct the issue when I shoot in 'A' manual I'd still be off slightly.
Not a biggie, I will downgrade the FW on the other body to 2.00 and see where it lands. |
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Michael Troutman, Photographer
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Carmel | CA | USA | Posted: 6:53 PM on 11.24.09 |
| ->> And yes, the lenses can also make a difference. I sent one in years ago for a similar issue; the repair worked. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 7:07 PM on 11.24.09 |
->> Eric -
I believe b6 effectvely recalibrates your meter, so shooting in manual would follow as well |
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Michael Schwarz, Photographer
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Decatur | GA | USA | Posted: 7:58 PM on 11.24.09 |
| ->> Dave's right about the b6 adjustment. Just use that to get your bodies matched. |
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David Harpe, Photographer
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Louisville | KY | USA | Posted: 12:28 AM on 11.25.09 |
->> If you're in a gym the lights are probably flickering. That would cause some difficulties in evaluating the exposure.
Try shooting the same test in a room lit by incandescent light and see if it comes out the same. |
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Nik Habicht, Photographer
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Levittown | PA | USA | Posted: 3:02 AM on 11.25.09 |
->> Back when i worked in camera repair in the early 90s, we tested shutter speeds on some kind of testing apparatus, that could measure how long the shutter was open. It was not unusual to see 1/4-1/3 stop variations from what the times should be mathematically....
Also meters in identical new cameras, measuring a constant light source with the same lens could be off by 1/3-1/2 stop.
I can remember photographers who marked all of their secondary bodies with the difference from the primary body's meter --- so that they could set the iso differently to generate equal density film out of all cameras -- because it would make printing faster.... |
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Louis Lopez, Photographer
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Fontana | CA | USA | Posted: 4:04 AM on 11.25.09 |
| ->> I have noticed a slight variation in two of mine. Not that big a difference. I chalked it up to slight variations in the process of making the imaging sensors. both produce great images, just when set to the same exact exposure one is slightly darker than the other. |
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