View Full Version : Saturation problem in Minolta Dimage 7Hi


I_Green
10-28-2006, 03:35 AM
The problem that I encountered could be either due to a malfunction or wrong setup. I hope that you will be able to help me find which is the case and what can be done about it.

I own a Minolta Dimage 7Hi camera. Recently I noticed that when I try to take a picture under very bright light conditions with a white background such as snow or white buildings, I run into saturation conditions where I get a saturated picture and the Shutter-speed and the Aperture displays turn red on the monitor.
It happens in the Program (Automatic), Aperture priority and Shutter priority modes. The only way that I can take pictures under these conditions is in the Manual mode.

According to the manual, the shutter speed range in Program exposure mode is 8 to 1/4000 sec. The problem is that it never gets to these values when it runs into saturation and the most that I got when I played with the aperture was 1/750 to 1/900.
When I am using the manual exposure mode, I can get to the higher levels but in this case I am limited to 1/2000 sec.

Is there any solution for this problem?
Thanks in advance

another view
10-28-2006, 05:20 AM
Can you post a sample? That would help a lot.

I'm not sure what you mean by saturation; usually that refers to how intense the color is with an image but I'm guessing that's not what you're talking about.

I_Green
10-28-2006, 12:23 PM
When I am talking about saturation I mean that the picture is completely washed out. It looks as if you forced the brightness with a photo editor much beyond where it should be.
I don't have an example for how it looks like when I encountered this situation because I am changing in these cases to manual mode but I will try to create the right environment and to post these pictures in the coming days

Ronnoco
10-28-2006, 02:49 PM
FYI, the accurate term is exposure, NOT saturation.

Ronnoco

another view
10-28-2006, 03:57 PM
So it's overexposing, and it could do that with an improper setting. One idea - check the metering pattern (a spot meter selection that picks up a dark area could throw everything else off). The manual should tell you if your camera even has a spot metering mode, and what mode they suggest for general use (something like matrix or evaluative but they may call it something different). There may be a way to reset all the functions back to their default settings as well, this would be worth a try.

Nikonmutt
10-28-2006, 06:11 PM
Try running the aperture up to f22 or even higher, if possible. It sounds like the shutter is not fast enough for the conditions. Set your ISO as low as possible. Neutral density filters can be a real friend.

If your shutter will not reach the speeds it's supposed to, that calls for a trip to the repair shop.