Why do exposures vary in Aperture Priority when I change aperture?

Asked 11/8/2015

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2 answers

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I’m new to DSLR photography and was testing Aperture Priority mode on a Nikon D5200. I shot several images at 18mm and ISO 100, changing only the aperture. The camera adjusted shutter speed automatically:

  • f/22 at 1/60
  • f/14 at 1/200
  • f/9 at 1/500
  • f/3.5 at 1/3200

I expected all of the photos to have the same brightness, since in A mode the camera should change shutter speed to compensate for aperture changes. Instead, the images look different in exposure, with the smaller-aperture shot appearing brighter.

Why doesn’t Aperture Priority always produce identical exposure when only the aperture is changed?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

5

In each of the 4 photos, the amount of sky and foreground has changed.

The sky is very bright and everything else is much darker. This makes for a very challenging exposure for any camera. The camera metering had to decide between the light and dark areas and come up with a guess as to what the correct exposure should be. Your camera actually did a very good job considering the variations in the each scene.

If you want to repeat your test, use a tripod with completely static objects.

Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user39427

10y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Aperture Priority does not guarantee identical results frame to frame; it only meters each shot and chooses what it thinks is the best matching shutter speed.

A few things explain your result:

  1. The framing changed slightly. Your photos contain different amounts of bright sky and darker foreground. That changes the meter reading, especially in a high-contrast scene.
  2. The settings are not exact stop-for-stop matches. Your first exposure is about half a stop brighter than the others, so the camera did not choose mathematically identical exposure values.
  3. Meters and camera settings are approximate. The “correct” shutter speed may fall between available settings, and the camera rounds to the nearest value.

So the camera was reacting to both the scene content and normal metering/rounding limits.

If you want to test exposure consistency, use a tripod, keep the composition identical, and shoot a static subject in stable light (indoors is even better). Very bright skies plus dark foregrounds are difficult scenes for any meter.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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