Question About New Lense

[tlc]

Hi Guys, I have recently bought a new lense for my D80, it is a tamron 18 - 250 and so far Some of the pics are ok Im pleased with them but Im finding on sunny days where the sky is nice and blue and not glarey most of my shots seem to come out really over exposed. I cant figure out what Im doing wrong, I am only shooting on P and my iso is on 100 maybe I just need to adjust the exposure compensation for the sunnier days?? any one else have any suggestions?? If it is sunny I have to make my EX com in the minus not in the positive yea?? gee im sounding like a dummy. The other think Im finding with this lense is at times it seems very slow to focus, could this be because of too much light? I have only had this happen if it is too dull or not enough light. And today on occasion even though I was in P mode it just wouldnt take the shot and in the display it was giving a F_ _ _ in the top right hand corner?? If anyone can shed any light id be really greatful!

[Snap]

Hmm I'm no expert at all but if you try shooting in manual mode you could probably control this problem more. Or even A or S modes where you only have to choose which Aperture or Shutterspeed you want and the camera does the rest for you.

In manual mode there's an exposure meter (think this is what it's called) which helps you determine the correct exposure. Just point it at the sky and toggle the settings until the line is on 0.

The number line thing is what I'm talking about, which is what you'll see in the viewfinder on manual mode.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Snap

[tlc]

Thanks Ill give it a try. I havent done a lot of shooting in manual, but I guess now would be a good time to start, I know Ill get more out of this lense shooting in Manual but have just been to lazy. Thanks again.

[Snap]

Manual seems kind of big and daunting at first, but it's not so bad! My biggest tip for you to is to always pay attention to that exposure meter because otherwise you can get some really big duds. If you have any questions feel free to ask or better yet, ask one of our more experienced members

[rocco]

tlc if I was you I would be learning your camera and getting it off P. Start on A for aperture priority and just start reading your meter. Hopefully LukeW might pop in here to give you some tip's. If not maybe PM him as he is really very helpful.

[rugerfly]

your light meter on auto is reading the brightest reading and takings the settings going off that. Is it on matrix, spot or pattern? put it on spot and focus on a middle range colour (using manual). what are you focusing on when you are taking this shot you are speaking of. is it birds etc? try iso 200 also. can you post the photo here? D80's can get confused sometimes with bright colours so i have heard. Try setting your camera to -0.75 EV to allow for this.

Edited April 13, 2009 by rugerfly

[kja]

If you want to stay on P mode, you can make your camera do what you want with exposure (more or less) by "tricking" it.

Point your camera at an area that you want properly exposed and that is at the same distance as your subject. Try to fill the centre of your viewfinder with what you want properly exposed. Half press and hold the shutter. Keep holding the half press, recompose and then shoot. Your subject should be properly exposed as the camera's meter won't be fooled by the stuff you don't want.

This method works with point and shoots, too

[tlc]

Thanks Guys, I have finally found a way that work, with a few of your suggestions, I changed the Exp com and I just took a couple of pics till the preview shot had no flashing black bits, (the over expeosed bits) not ideal but I have tried going with A mode or S mode but I am usually taking pics at random so it is easier to have it on P and let the camera set the S and A. But by changing the exp comp and bumping up the iso slightly it has worked a treat.

So just for instance before I fiddled around with my exp comp the sky in this pic was white.

Thanks again.

[rugerfly]