Light Meter Problems... :/

[blue-october-fan]

I have a Nikon D3000 i got about 3 months ago and i noticed today that the light meter both in the viewfinder and on the LCD screen tell me that I'm underexposed, so I slow down the ss to where it says I'm level and it's way blown out. I have to go about 10 clicks faster than what it's telling me is normal to get normal results. Is there a way to fix this? Any info on this problem? It's never been dropped or beaten up either...

HELP?!?!?!?!

[texxter]

Check that your don't have Auto ISO turned on.

[blue-october-fan]

I don't. I was outside around noon for photojournalism class at school. It was sunny and we weren't in the shade. my ISO was 200. It was telling me I had to slow my ss to around 1/100, but it was correctly exposed at around 1/1000 or so...

[texxter]

Does the meter work when you are in Aperture priority?

[shnitz]

Why didn't you just ask your teacher? There are a bunch of settings, and a bunch of modes that you could have "messed up." I'm assuming that this is happening in M mode, right? Are you using the 18-55 lens? Are you in spot metering and pointing the focus point into a shady spot? Have you adjusted the exposure to +2 stops by any chance?

My recommendation, do a reset all in the menus. Go back to factory settings, and re-adjust to your liking. Take a test shot after changing each setting, just in case.

[blue-october-fan]

thanks Ariel! I had it on exposure compensation from my sister's volleyball game last night. Didn't notice it. Thanks a bunch! My own stupidity/obliviousness. thanks again

-Lauryn

[shnitz]

No problem. Happens to everyone, I once did a custom white balance and was shooting in jpeg. Forgot, and my outdoor shots later had the craziest blue cast to them. What lenses are you using for volleyball, are you getting enough light? When I used to shoot it indoors, I had good luck with primes. Depending on how close you can get, I'd recommend the 35mm and/or 50mm AF-S lenses. Both about $200 each, very good performance for the price. Can't be beat, and when you upgrade cameras, they're still something you'll want as part of your bag. Great field of view if you are on the sidelines, or in the first row of the game. Gives good context. Unfortunately there's no affordable autofocus option for a lens between 85 and 120mm, so you'd have to live with either the Nikon 85mm f/1.8d without autofocus, the Samyang 85mm f1.4, etc.

[blue-october-fan]

Yeah I'm gonna buy a 50mm f/1.8 lens as soon as my mom will let me :/

I'm gonna be shooting lots of volleyball games, basketball games, and the band section during football games, as well as bus rides to band events for the yearbook, so I'm trying to get a good fast prime lens for those things.
My photojournalism teacher says that I'm gonna have the best pictures in the class based on my shooting of band practice and knows my name out of about 200 students because I'm "the one who knows about cameras" haha

thanks for the advice! It's really helpful!

-Lauryn

[venchka]

A real flash never hurt either. Learn to use it so only you know it was there.
Good luck!