Underexposed RAW (Sony A6700)

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mdela

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Mario
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Hi everyone,

I’m new to photography and recently bought a Sony a6700. I’ve been shooting in RAW, but I’m having trouble with my photos—they all seem to be very underexposed. I wanted to attach some examples but it seems I can’t as this is my first post on this forum.

I know I can fix this in post-processing, but I have to bring the exposure up to +2.00 to +2.50 in Lightroom to get a usable image. While I understand that it’s okay to adjust exposure a bit in post, needing such a large adjustment seems unusual.

I also know that I can manually increase the exposure when shooting, but I’m wondering why my photos are coming out so underexposed in the first place. For context, I shoot in aperture priority mode.

I’d appreciate any advice or tips on how to fix this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
mdela said:
Hi everyone,

I’m new to photography and recently bought a Sony a6700. I’ve been shooting in RAW, but I’m having trouble with my photos—they all seem to be very underexposed. I wanted to attach some examples but it seems I can’t as this is my first post on this forum.

I know I can fix this in post-processing, but I have to bring the exposure up to +2.00 to +2.50 in Lightroom to get a usable image. While I understand that it’s okay to adjust exposure a bit in post, needing such a large adjustment seems unusual.

I also know that I can manually increase the exposure when shooting, but I’m wondering why my photos are coming out so underexposed in the first place. For context, I shoot in aperture priority mode.

I’d appreciate any advice or tips on how to fix this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help!
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Check the camera hasnt got any exposure compensation dialed in first. Then I'd check the metering modes to make sure your on matrix (or whatever sony call it) I dont have that camera or know it well enough to be able to know what other features may be affecting the exposure.
 
thanks! Yes, exposure compensation is set to 0 and metering is set to multi which should be the same as matrix
 
My initial thought is it's under exposed because you have underexposured it.

Are you trying to say your liveview/EVF looks fine but your files (RAW or otherwise) are coming out underexposured?
In which case you should check if you have live exposure settings effects on.

Metering mode will of course affect what the camera thinks should be the correct exposure. So if the scene you are shooting isn't evenly lit then multi metering will almost always get it wrong.
 
Thanks. I see what you mean, but yes, it looks fine in the EVF, and it also looks fine when I view the image in the camera’s preview. It’s only when I then open it in Lightroom that it looks really dark. I will try and post some examples soon.
 
mdela said:
Thanks. I see what you mean, but yes, it looks fine in the EVF, and it also looks fine when I view the image in the camera’s preview. It’s only when I then open it in Lightroom that it looks really dark. I will try and post some examples soon.
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camera's preview generally doesn't lie
have you checked your monitors brightness is calibrated appropriately?

I think examples will help a lot, i am just guessing at the moment....
 
I can't comment about the specifics of your camera but pose these questions:-

AFAIK in most (all?) mirrorless cameras have a setting that boosts the view in the EVF so that you don't actually see any underexposure (no idea if the same applies to the review?)

Have you looked, in review, at the Histogram and what does that show? Mostly to the left 'underexposed' end?

Taking into account my above questions are you shooting in manual and as mentioned by @nandbytes simply underexposing?
 
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Here’s 2 examples, but they all have a similar outcome. Was trying to find a way to share as couldn’t upload here directly. Let me know if you have any problem viewing them.

I uploaded examples from lightoom on iphone as that was easier than doing it from PC, but it’s the same on my PC.

Also, i’m shooting Aperture priority

Link:
Underexposed Images
 
Box Brownie said:
I can't comment about the specifics of your camera but pose these questions:-

AFAIK in most (all?) mirrorless cameras have a setting that boosts the view in the EVF so that you don't actually see any underexposure (no idea if the same applies to the review?)

Have you looked, in review, at the Histogram and what does that show? Mostly to the left 'underexposed' end?

Taking into account my above questions are you shooting in manual and as mentioned by@nandbytes simply underexposing?
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I’ve just added another photo showing the histogram of photo as taken. It Doen’t seem to be underexposed on my camera, however the histogram in lightroom is different and definitely underexposed.
ashishtamhane said:
Check if you are on highlight weighted metering? Having a quick look at the photos it seems that one is exposed for the white top and the other one for the sky which would be cor
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Metering mode is multi. Also shown in the new image i just uploaded
 
My two thoughts are: Have you got the camera's screen brightness boosted? Is Lightroom applying a camera profile that's different to the one on your camera?
 
ashishtamhane said:
Check if you are on highlight weighted metering? Having a quick look at the photos it seems that one is exposed for the white top and the other one for the sky which would be correct.
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I see what you mean by being exposed for the white top when we look at it in lightoroom. But how come would the camera preview not show it that way?

Basically if i’m out shooting, i have a look at the preview and the histogram there and it looks mostly ok. But when i get back and import my photos, it seems i have something completely different.
 
Ed Sutton said:
My two thoughts are: Have you got the camera's screen brightness boosted? Is Lightroom applying a camera profile that's different to the one on your camera?
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Thanks Ed. Brightness of camera shouldn’t be the issue as that wouldn’t explain the histogram being correct in camera…

Lightroom applying a different profile… very possible as i admit i didn’t even know that could be a thing… will look it up now!
 
mdela said:
Thanks Ed. Brightness of camera shouldn’t be the issue as that wouldn’t explain the histogram being correct in camera…
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Camera histogram looks a bit underexposed to me. (NB I hardly ever look at them and rely more on highlight blinkies).
 
mdela said:
Hmmm Looks like I’ve found what it is!!!

A setting called “Dynamic Range Optimiser” was apparently causing the issue!

Found a video of another photographer on youtube who was having the same issue, I’ll link below and thank Nick Page for the solution!

Nick Page YT Video

Thanks all for your help!
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I glad that you have found the solution.

It sounds like the setting you are talking about only applies to in camera processing and LR was not honouring it!

However, a raw file is 'raw sensor data' so LR is illustrating that the file is underexpoed. So of what value when shooting raw is the “Dynamic Range Optimiser" :thinking:
 
Box Brownie said:
However, a raw file is 'raw sensor data' so LR is illustrating that the file is underexpoed. So of what value when shooting raw is the “Dynamic Range Optimiser" :thinking:
Click to expand...

It's likely to prevent details being blown out in highlights.

To OP, glad you got it fixed.
 
Dynamic Range Optimiser doesn't affect RAW only the JPG sidecar preview.

I have three Sonys but menus may not be the same.
It might be ...
In A7Siii 15/59 is 'Shooting Display' it is under still camera icon(?)
That has a sub-menu for Live View Display set, you want setting effect on otherwise it shows you a 'good' exposure of the scene regardless of what you change
 
4wd said:
Dynamic Range Optimiser doesn't affect RAW only the JPG sidecar preview.

I have three Sonys but menus may not be the same.
It might be ...
In A7Siii 15/59 is 'Shooting Display' it is under still camera icon(?)
That has a sub-menu for Live View Display set, you want setting effect on otherwise it shows you a 'good' exposure of the scene regardless of what you change
Click to expand...
Yes the Live View Display was on. Somehow the DWO was causing it, I’m a beginner and really not sure why, but it seems to be an issue quite a few people have reported. Nick Page’s video does a much better job at explaoning it than I ever could, but i think it’s because even if shooting RAW, the preview is a jpeg file? Might be wrong, but that was 100% the issue as i switched that off and all good now!
 
Another thing to check is that in your video mode you are in PP off when taking photos, sLOG3 does strange things to stills even to the RAWs.
Basic video mode settings on some models at least are shared to photo mode if you switch between a lot have sLOG3 on a dial custom number
 
HIPPOing a bit, but could it be that you've just underexposured it and it could be fixed at the post-processing stage? Here is a good guide on brightening dark and underexposed pictures that could be helpful. Doing a full reset is also a great way to go, could be just some system problems.
 
Catherine Bowlene said:
HIPPOing a bit, but could it be that you've just underexposured it and it could be fixed at the post-processing stage? Here is a good guide on brightening dark and underexposed pictures that could be helpful. Doing a full reset is also a great way to go, could be just some system problems.
Click to expand...

Forgive me for being a bit thick but what does HIPPOing mean?
 
Eucris said:
Forgive me for being a bit thick but what does HIPPOing mean?
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It means posting an answer to OP's question without reading other replies! I'm not sure if it's a well-known slang, but another forum I'm frequent at uses it a lot,
 
Box Brownie said:
I glad that you have found the solution.

It sounds like the setting you are talking about only applies to in camera processing and LR was not honouring it!

However, a raw file is 'raw sensor data' so LR is illustrating that the file is underexpoed. So of what value when shooting raw is the “Dynamic Range Optimiser" :thinking:
Click to expand...
DRO is of no value at all if you are shooting RAW - all it can do is mislead you (and did in the OP's case), and eat up a bit of extra processing time (so you might not quite get the max frame rate in burst mode).
It's something I turned off on my first Sony many years ago when I started shooting RAW, and have never switched on in any of my Sony cameras since!
 
Catherine Bowlene said:
It means posting an answer to OP's question without reading other replies! I'm not sure if it's a well-known slang, but another forum I'm frequent at uses it a lot,
Click to expand...

But you still haven't explained what H.I.P.P.O stands for. I take it they are the initial letters of other words. What are those words?
 
A useful tip for other Sony owners. I have just checked and DRO was set to off in my A6600. It may have been luck but I recall setting my Sony after consulting one of the professional reviews.

Dave
 
Eucris said:
But you still haven't explained what H.I.P.P.O stands for. I take it they are the initial letters of other words. What are those words?
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I had to look it up and found HIghest Paid Person in Office. Think this is deferring to seniority which I didn’t think was the intended meaning here. TLDR is what I would expect (Too Long Didn’t Read)
 
Eucris said:
But you still haven't explained what H.I.P.P.O stands for. I take it they are the initial letters of other words. What are those words?
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Sorry, I've never asked people using it, but if you look up the BabyCenter forum (social network for mothers) you'll see it explained the way I did. Maybe they mean hippo the animal, as if by coming in with your answer you're being a metaphorical hippo, inconsiderate of other people's comments? That's how I've always perceived it. Internet slang is wild!
 
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