Do you find your camera to overexpose?

I've owned numerous compacts over the years by different makes and I find
nearly all of them to be a little hot on exposure by 2/3 to a whole stop.
This is usually apparent outside when some objects tend to be a little
washed out. Gamma correction helps, but getting the shots with 2/3 or 1 stop
under exposure seems to work best as highlight detail is retained. The sky
becomes a deaper blue instead of very light cyan. I assume this overexposure
looks better on store made prints as the contrast can be high (lost
shadows)? For me underexposing looks much better and is like a free stop
worth of anti shake.

John

JohnR66 wrote:
I've owned numerous compacts over the years by different makes and I
find nearly all of them to be a little hot on exposure by 2/3 to a
whole stop. This is usually apparent outside when some objects tend
to be a little washed out. Gamma correction helps, but getting the
shots with 2/3 or 1 stop under exposure seems to work best as
highlight detail is retained. The sky becomes a deaper blue instead
of very light cyan. I assume this overexposure looks better on store
made prints as the contrast can be high (lost shadows)? For me
underexposing looks much better and is like a free stop worth of anti
shake.

John

All digital cameras vary from make to make. My Nikon D70 DSLR underexposes
by about 1/2 stop, which used to make me think it was my individual camera
until I read in 3 separate reviews that Nikon have deliberately made it that
way.

So now I set the exposure to + half a stop, and it's perfect!

Dennis

"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
JohnR66 wrote:
I've owned numerous compacts over the years by different makes and I
find nearly all of them to be a little hot on exposure by 2/3 to a
whole stop. This is usually apparent outside when some objects tend
to be a little washed out. Gamma correction helps, but getting the
shots with 2/3 or 1 stop under exposure seems to work best as
highlight detail is retained. The sky becomes a deaper blue instead
of very light cyan. I assume this overexposure looks better on store
made prints as the contrast can be high (lost shadows)? For me
underexposing looks much better and is like a free stop worth of anti
shake.

John

All digital cameras vary from make to make. My Nikon D70 DSLR underexposes
by about 1/2 stop, which used to make me think it was my individual camera
until I read in 3 separate reviews that Nikon have deliberately made it
that
way.

Some Canons err on the side of underexposure, also. This is better than
overexposure as a little underexposure can be readily fixed.

"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...

All digital cameras vary from make to make. My Nikon D70 DSLR underexposes
by about 1/2 stop, which used to make me think it was my individual camera
until I read in 3 separate reviews that Nikon have deliberately made it
that
way.

So now I set the exposure to + half a stop, and it's perfect!

My d70s "underexposes" quite a few shots, but I can see why Nikon err on the
side of caution as overexposing is very bad news compared with
underexposing, which is much easier to correct if you shoot NEFs rather than
jpegs.

-Adrian www.boliston.co.uk

"Charles Schuler" wrote in message
. ..

"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
JohnR66 wrote:
I've owned numerous compacts over the years by different makes and I
find nearly all of them to be a little hot on exposure by 2/3 to a
whole stop. This is usually apparent outside when some objects tend
to be a little washed out. Gamma correction helps, but getting the
shots with 2/3 or 1 stop under exposure seems to work best as
highlight detail is retained. The sky becomes a deaper blue instead
of very light cyan. I assume this overexposure looks better on store
made prints as the contrast can be high (lost shadows)? For me
underexposing looks much better and is like a free stop worth of anti
shake.

John

All digital cameras vary from make to make. My Nikon D70 DSLR
underexposes
by about 1/2 stop, which used to make me think it was my individual
camera
until I read in 3 separate reviews that Nikon have deliberately made it
that
way.

Some Canons err on the side of underexposure, also. This is better than
overexposure as a little underexposure can be readily fixed.

In my experience, all these cameras exposed a bit hot:
Kodak DC280
Olympus D360L
Fujifilm 6800z, A330
Canon Digital Rebel (6mp), A610

These are cameras I own or owned. Looking on the sample shots on steves
digicams, most models seem hot to me.
John