D30 metering way off?

[Gabe]

I finally used my D30 on a model, but I'm disappointed with some of the results. I was shooting her with a 28-70 and a 420EX flash (it's E-TTL), and when I pulled back for some wider shots, the resulting image was REALLY washed out. I doubt I can save any of these in Photoshop (there are a few). I tried setting the camera to P mode (auto; it's usually on Av or manual), but that wasn't going to work as it kept wanting to shoot at f/22. It was a bright sunny day for sure...

When I got in closer, the pics were still overexposed (second pic) but nowhere near as bad as the first. Now for reference, I'm including the third shot which shows that this camera CAN shoot proper exposures - if it's washed out at the top, that was intentional (glare) and it will get toned down in PS some. I used spot metering for this one.

Is there something wrong with the white balance (on auto)? Something in the camera's settings I should look at? I keep meaning to restore all settings to default to remove the previous owner's preferences, though so far we've matched on all but a couple of things which I changed. Is there something about the way that this camera meters that doesn't let me leave the flash on? I shot some nature stuff last week, no flash but wide shots, and they were all spot on.

What do you guys think?

[SmartWombat]

I don't know the D30 control layout, but could you have inadvertently set an exposure lock from a dark subject?
Until I got used to the A1/A2 layout I was setting AE lock by spot metering something at random!
And I didn't notice the AE lock indicator in the viewfinder until I re-read the manual for the 3rd time

[Nate]

Well, this definately isn't a white balance problem you're having in this situation. One idea I came up with while contemplating your problem was that maybe you were using too slow a shutter speed which would explain the really washed out background when using flash. Another possibility is that you metered a dark spot in the frame and the camera and flash used the reading from a dark shadow to calcuate flash exposure leading to the overexposure. With E-TTL try and meter from as close to a mid tone as you can find to get the most accurate flash exposures. Also, did you check the shooting info with these files to make sure you didn't accidentally have exposure compensation dialed in or some other function that would affect exposure? I don't know if any of these are definitive solutions to this problem but they're reasonable theories to look into.

[Gabe]

I'm going to look at the shot info (I keep forgetting I get that with the D30!) and also at all the settings. I may have some exposure compensation in there from the previous owner, I remember seeing that but thought I had fixed it.

Is E-TTL more or less sensitive than a film body's TTL meter? Or the same? I forgot that this was also my first time using this flash outside.

I'll let ya'll know what I find!

[Sebastian]

If in broad daylight it wanted to shoot at f/22 ISO would be the first thing I would check. The last shots look a bit noisy, which leads me to think so even more.

[Gabe]

Dang, I forgot all about that ... I'm used to just dropping in a roll of whatever speed corresponds to the conditions and forgetting about it It sucks being a digital n00b ... yes, it's probably set at 800 right now, 400 at best because of my last shoot ... 50 would have sufficed in that light, especially with flash.

Well, it's good to know there's nothing wrong with the camera, just me, but I can fix that ;)

I'll check it out later and report all my settings .. the answer is probably in them, from the looks of it...

[Gabe]

Wombat, now that I think of it, I did that too with one of my older cameras a couple of times, lol.

But this time I think it was the settings: some exp comp dialed in, though ISO was only at 200 (at least a full stop more than was needed), and the 420EX doesn't have an easy way to fine-tune the output.

Thanks for helpig me figure this out, guys .. turns out to be nothing more than a classic case of overexposure! I just read in a mag how you should treat digital like slides when it comes to metering. I guess I should go for the highlights then? I'll also experiment more with that flash to get a better idea of its output in certain lighting conditions.