Why I like The D3100

[bkkoo78]

Seems to me the demo camera setting was being messed up. Can any D3100 owner confirm if in the auto mode, the camera will boosting the ISO up to 12800 with aperture set to fully open under normal light?

I am a d3100 user for 4 - 5 weeks, I am 98% sure it was a setting set by a person using the demo camera before. I have been shooting most of the time since I got the camera. I never come across such thing unless I set the iso to be that high. And yes,it was in auto mode.

 

[Smiles88]

I am a d3100 user for 4 - 5 weeks, I am 98% sure it was a setting set by a person using the demo camera before. I have been shooting most of the time since I got the camera. I never come across such thing unless I set the iso to be that high. And yes,it was in auto mode.

A D3100 user has clarified the matter. :thumbsup:

And I agree tt no camera manufacturer or maker would make the Auto mode so dumb

 

[photobugg]

yeah, I found this strange.
One possibility is that the demo camera has been adjusted by the previous tester(s) to limit the shutter speed to be fast and hence boosting the ISO.
Otherwise, why did 550D select lower ISOs using a similar lens and under the same lighting condition?

Yes, this is strange. Auto ISO should only go up to ISO3200. Anything beyond that needs to be set manually. That's what I understand.

 

[photobugg]

I will give you possible answers to your other complaints as well now that you got me going.



Your target was not moving. but what about your hands? Did you shoot all these shots on a tripod? or handheld? Was it the same scene? with the same contrast in your target? Was the light conditions the same? An accurate conclusion can only be made if the test is done in a controlled environment. tripod is a big part of that.



This I have already shown is user error.



Flash metering and camera metering are two totally separate metering sytems. You need to read up on how i-TTL works. Whether the flash is on or not, has no bearing on the metered exposure from the camera. Do you need proof for that? I can give you many links to this as this is well documented. Or you can google on your own.



What was your metering mode. What was the scene like. What was underexposed and what was not in the scene. No details, no samples. What can we say? You cannot depend on the camera meter to nail it according to what you desire all the time. It is the same in the D90 either, same in the D300s, same in the D700 and same in the D3s. The meter is a result of what the camera thinks is the best exposure with the parameters it was supplied with. But the photographer have to determine what should be the final exposure be. That is what EV compensation is for.

Well said. If one need to shoot at +0.3EV all the time, so be it. It's not a problem.

Anyway, many cameras underexpose when the contrast of the scene is too great so that details could be preserved as much as possible.

 

[photobugg]

Back to the topic. What siamak said made sense. You dont expect a new user to know about the max iso setting the first time he touched the camera. Another way to look at this is : why did the 3100 choose such a high iso for the same conditions? Wouldnt the shutter speed be bumped up way above required then? In many cases its true that the user cannot utilise the camera well, thus having disastrous results. But now in AUTO mode? Give the user some credit for once.

I beg to differ. The reason one opt for a DSLR is because of customization. If one is not interested to read and find out what those features are, then probably getting a DSLR is a bad choice in the first place. I have heard many complained that the DSLR they had took worse picture as compared to a point and shoot. To be honest, the auto mode of a point and shoot is smarter than a DSLR for a simple reason - that's the way the camera is meant to be used. The same theory applies to a DSLR.