Image Review Problem with AR7iii

[pflower]

Just got the A7Riii and am playing around with it but have encountered a problem when using flash.

I am using a speedlite in manual mode triggered from the camera. I also have the camera on Manual mode (and am shooting raw) and so to determine exposure I need to make a test shot and then adjust either aperture or flash intensity accordingly. This is where my problem starts.

When taking a photograph the instant image review in the viewfinder shows a rather dull picture but then suddenly brightens. Pressing the review button and looking at the image on the lcd it appears to be well exposed but when imported into Lightroom it is immediately clear that it is at least 1 1/2 to 2 Stops underexposed. So there is no way of judging my exposure accurately through the camera. The histograms in camera and in lightroom are not wildly apart although the camera histogram does appear to be a bit more to the right than the lightroom histogram.

Clearly there is a setting that affects the display of the image on the lcd in review. At the moment it is way out of kilter with the actual image. It shows a well exposed image when in fact it is grossly underexposed. Can anyone help in suggesting what part of the (really convoluted) menu system I should look at to try and get an accurate (or at least reasonably accurate) review of the actual image as captured?

Thanks

 

[iiiNelson]

My first question would be to ask if you have auto-adjust setting on in Lightroom while importing. Without actually knowing more details of the issue like camera settings (for instance are Auto DRO modes turned on) it’s sort of hard to definitively say. I can tell you how my camera is setup for flash when I get to a place where I can share.

 

[Vivek]

Have you read the manual? Highly recommend it!

Try this: Turn "settings effect" to "off"".

Just got the A7Riii and am playing around with it but have encountered a problem when using flash.

I am using a speedlite in manual mode triggered from the camera. I also have the camera on Manual mode (and am shooting raw) and so to determine exposure I need to make a test shot and then adjust either aperture or flash intensity accordingly. This is where my problem starts.

When taking a photograph the instant image review in the viewfinder shows a rather dull picture but then suddenly brightens. Pressing the review button and looking at the image on the lcd it appears to be well exposed but when imported into Lightroom it is immediately clear that it is at least 1 1/2 to 2 Stops underexposed. So there is no way of judging my exposure accurately through the camera. The histograms in camera and in lightroom are not wildly apart although the camera histogram does appear to be a bit more to the right than the lightroom histogram.

Clearly there is a setting that affects the display of the image on the lcd in review. At the moment it is way out of kilter with the actual image. It shows a well exposed image when in fact it is grossly underexposed. Can anyone help in suggesting what part of the (really convoluted) menu system I should look at to try and get an accurate (or at least reasonably accurate) review of the actual image as captured?

Thanks

 

[iiiNelson]

Have you read the manual? Highly recommend it!

Try this: Turn "settings effect" to "off"".

I thought people generally did that so that the screen would still be visible before adding the flash (assuming there's no modeling light to use). I don't know that it'll change his ability for image review... but I agree reading the manual is probably a good idea.

 

[iiiNelson]

Just got the A7Riii and am playing around with it but have encountered a problem when using flash.

I am using a speedlite in manual mode triggered from the camera. I also have the camera on Manual mode (and am shooting raw) and so to determine exposure I need to make a test shot and then adjust either aperture or flash intensity accordingly. This is where my problem starts.

When taking a photograph the instant image review in the viewfinder shows a rather dull picture but then suddenly brightens. Pressing the review button and looking at the image on the lcd it appears to be well exposed but when imported into Lightroom it is immediately clear that it is at least 1 1/2 to 2 Stops underexposed. So there is no way of judging my exposure accurately through the camera. The histograms in camera and in lightroom are not wildly apart although the camera histogram does appear to be a bit more to the right than the lightroom histogram.

Clearly there is a setting that affects the display of the image on the lcd in review. At the moment it is way out of kilter with the actual image. It shows a well exposed image when in fact it is grossly underexposed. Can anyone help in suggesting what part of the (really convoluted) menu system I should look at to try and get an accurate (or at least reasonably accurate) review of the actual image as captured?

Thanks

I just want to be sure that you are using the speedlight on the camera and aren't triggering wirelessly correct? Do you have any flash compensation set in the menus? This would possibly explain the image being underexposed then changing in the review. I haven't actually seen that happen for myself but I'm almost sure that there's an automated setting turned on between the camera and the RAW processor.

 

[pflower]

I just want to be sure that you are using the speedlight on the camera and aren't triggering wirelessly correct? Do you have any flash compensation set in the menus? This would possibly explain the image being underexposed then changing in the review. I haven't actually seen that happen for myself but I'm almost sure that there's an automated setting turned on between the camera and the RAW processor.

I am shooting with the speed light off the camera and triggered from the camera. But everything is in manual mode - i.e. no attempt at automatic adjustment from the camera or from the trigger. This is the way I have always worked - test exposure and then adjust either my aperture or the flash output. So nothing from the camera should be influencing the flash. One problem I have identified is that the monitor was set to something called Sunny Day. I changed that to manual and -2. That seems more accurate. But at the end of the day I suspect that instead of relying upon the image on the lcd (which is what I do with my X1D and A7ii) I am going to have to pay much more attention to the histogram when adjusting things.

 

[iiiNelson]

I am shooting with the speed light off the camera and triggered from the camera. But everything is in manual mode - i.e. no attempt at automatic adjustment from the camera or from the trigger. This is the way I have always worked - test exposure and then adjust either my aperture or the flash output. So nothing from the camera should be influencing the flash. One problem I have identified is that the monitor was set to something called Sunny Day. I changed that to manual and -2. That seems more accurate. But at the end of the day I suspect that instead of relying upon the image on the lcd (which is what I do with my X1D and A7ii) I am going to have to pay much more attention to the histogram when adjusting things.

Sunny day setting only adjusts the monitor brightness so that you can better see the LCD under bright sun conditions.

I understand that the camera is in manual manual mode but in your wireless flash/flash menu there are things that can add adjustments to the picture after you take it like flash compensation. Also are you able to load the images into LR without auto adjust turned on in LR to see if this isolates the problem between camera and raw converter?

 

[pflower]

Sunny day setting only adjusts the monitor brightness so that you can better see the LCD under bright sun conditions.

I understand that the camera is in manual manual mode but in your wireless flash/flash menu there are things that can add adjustments to the picture after you take it like flash compensation. Also are you able to load the images into LR without auto adjust turned on in LR to see if this isolates the problem between camera and raw converter?

Actually Sunny Weather dramatically affects the image on the monitor. Set your monitor brightness to Sunny Weather and then review any image. Change to manual and the image appears completely different.

Finally I have turned monitor brightness to manual and -2. That is better, but not perfect. As far as I can see there is nothing that on the flash menu that could affect the image review - only the treatment of the flash and since I am using a completely dumb trigger and adjusting the flash manually that can't explain it.

After making an exposure the immediate and instant review shows something darker and then immediately is adjusted to much brighter - both in the viewfinder and on the lcd. I suspect that the initial split second initial review is the true picture and then the monitor brightness setting immediately kicks in and adjusts. Time constraints mean that I haven't really verified this.

Also at the end of the day this is not really disastrous. The only way really to judge exposure is from the histogram on the camera which is useful but just not how I have been used to working.

I am going to experiment with tethering the camera to Lightroom (not apparently straightforward but doable) which might verify my suspicion that the monitor brightness affects the image review, but that isn't really a solution since when using flash in the studio I like move the flash and myself around. So I am just going to have to teach myself to study the histogram.

All in all though I am really impressed by this camera. There is a long long learning curve to really understand precisely what it can do. Fortunately I have very simple needs but am intrigued by the AF options which I am going to explore in detail over the weekend.

 

[pegelli]

What you could try to understand the issue better is set the camera to "raw + jpg" and see on your computer if indeed the jpg's are much brighter than the raws at your default conversion.

If the ex-camera jpg is indeed much brighter it's probably a jpg conversion issue (and you can start tinkering with the creative style to see if you can get the results closer), if it's similar in brightness it's a LCD brightness review issue and you can experiment with the monitor brightness to get the results more in line..

 

[pflower]

What you could try to understand the issue better is set the camera to "raw + jpg" and see on your computer if indeed the jpg's are much brighter than the raws at your default conversion.

If the ex-camera jpg is indeed much brighter it's probably a jpg conversion issue (and you can start tinkering with the creative style to see if you can get the results closer), if it's similar in brightness it's a LCD brightness review issue and you can experiment with the monitor brightness to get the results more in line..

Good Call. Thanks

I have never shot Raw+Jpeg so had to work out how to get Lightroom to import both. But you are right. The jpeg is at least a stop brighter than the Raw file and has other quite significant differences.

Something I hadn't considered - I knew that both the histogram and the image preview in camera were based upon the jpeg embedded in the raw file. But hadn't considered that the embedded jpeg would be affected by the camera settings for jpegs - which seems to be the case. Since I never ever shoot jpegs I hadn't bothered to even look at what jpeg settings were.

Now I am going to have to learn about how the camera treats jpegs.

Thanks