Over exposed

Love my new 50mm f1.4 lens but I reckon it will be a steep learning curve, keep over cooking everything not used to so much light and I think I need to adjust something but not sure what.
Do I have it in AV and shut it down.
Do I have it in TV and increase the speed.
Change the temperature controls to something higher or change the way it is metering.
Or something else all together, the shots look ok in the camera until you switch the levels on.

Help and advice please as you can tell I am not sure how to adjust for this lens as the cameras automatic system is not coping and neither is it’s operator.

If it's over exposed then, like you say too much light is getting in - try a faster shutter speed

Not sure what the mode is on yours but on mine it is 'S'.

Both Sammy and I have noticed that when shooting in Av mode the image is sometimes over exposed. To get around this I dial in some compensation and deliberately under expose the shot by a 1/3rd of a step.

Yeah I forgot to say, that on my D40 I had to put the exposure compensation down a notch too

I don't understand this? Why would it need some compensation? So long as the camera and lens are set to auto it shouldn't make any difference should it? Aperture settings should represent the same amount of light being transmitted to the sensor on any lens, just that fast f1.4 will give you a brighter viewfinder image and the ability to photograph in lower light? Are you sure it's not a defective lens, maybe a sticking aperture diaphragm or an electrical contact a bit dirty?

In theory every lens you use on your camera should give the same exposure settings.

However, metering systems, as good as they are, do give erroneous readings in certain circumstances. One example is if you are using a wide angle lens and including a fair bit of bright sky in the composition of a picture, then the metering system will look at the whole scene and slightly underexpose the image due to the amount of bright sky in the scene.

However, if this is the only lens in your armoury that is significantly overexposing then I would suspect a mechanical/electronic problem with the new lens. The fact it is an f1.4 lens should make absolutely no difference to the metering and subsequent exposure.

Try taking photos of the same scene with different lenses (same light conditions) and see if there are major differences in exposures. If there are then I would exchange your new lens as faulty.

Steve

http://www.pentax.co.uk/_uk/photo/pr...&id=uebersicht

If this is the link to your camera and you say you have it in AV mode. I would suggest you try aperture priority AE mode see list below with auto white balance

EXPOSURE MODES
(1) Auto Picture mode; (2) Picture mode; (3) Program AE; (4) Shutter-Priority AE; (5) Aperture-Priority AE; (6) Metered Manual; (6) Bulb.

If this isn't your camera I would still suggest you make the aperture setting the priority until you get to know your camera. Getting the correct amout of light onto the sensor is one of the arts of digital photography and we have all struggled with it at some time or other.

The mistake I keep making is standing in the shade and taking pictures of scenes with bright sunlight, on my camera I can lock in the sunlight setting then move into shade and get the correct exposure but I keep forgetting to do it (erm who's dumb then?).

Bazza