Nikon D700 "Lo" metering warning

[Pindy]

In Aperture priority, when light gets low, the shutter speed creeps down to 1/15s then 1/8s then 1/6s then it says "Lo". Why does it give up at 1/6s? Shouldn't it get down to several seconds of SS before giving up? That's at f/1.4 and ISO 1600. At ISO 6400, it goes from 1/25 to Lo.

I understand if it falls below the metering range of 0-20 EV, but neither my 5DmkII nor any of my past Canons have this problem. I got the 5D to go to 6" in Aperture Priority on f/1.4 and ISO 1600 and that was with the lens cap on and the viewfinder blocked.

Is this hidden in one of the many Nikon custom functions?

[Scott_Quier]

That does sound a bit strange. Question: Have you attempted to take some shots at a number of different "Lo" shutter speeds and read the EXIF data? Would be interesting to know if the camera continued to adjust the shutter speed to account for differing conditions.

[angevin1]

I could have sworn I'd seen this myself....tho I don't shoot AP mode.

Anyway, so I just managed to take this D700 down to 30" by stopping down and cranking the EV+. AND it reads LO when it is beyond that; as in bulb time.

tom

[jhelms]

On my D200, the meter will read 'Lo' sometimes but will still take a pic with various SS, whatever is needed. I think below a certain SS it reads Lo, but will still take the pic with the SS needed to get the proper exposure.

Not sure why it doesn't just say 1", 2", etc. instead of "Lo" though...

[Pindy]

That does sound a bit strange. Question: Have you attempted to take some shots at a number of different "Lo" shutter speeds and read the EXIF data? Would be interesting to know if the camera continued to adjust the shutter speed to account for differing conditions.

Tried this and with the lens cap slowly hoving into view, covering the lens, I took a succession of photos down to 1.3" at f/1.4 and ISO 200. Then 3", then 8". With the lens cap fully on it remained at 8". It's definitely ISO dependent. But why?

[Pindy]

I could have sworn I'd seen this myself....tho I don't shoot AP mode.

Anyway, so I just managed to take this D700 down to 30" by stopping down and cranking the EV+. AND it reads LO when it is beyond that; as in bulb time.

tom

Yes, I was able to reproduce the same thing by adding +5.0 EC at the above settings. I wonder why, then Nikon feels the need to tell me I'm out of "a normal range" rather than just tell me what the SS is going to be. Clearly the meter is within it's normal operating range.

Shouldn't I be making the judgments around here? This seems like a very Canon-style philosophy, which I read as "Save the user from himself at the expense of inconvenience" whereas I feel the Nikon philosophy is "Give the user enough rope to hang himself."

[Pindy]

On my D200, the meter will read 'Lo' sometimes but will still take a pic with various SS, whatever is needed. I think below a certain SS it reads Lo, but will still take the pic with the SS needed to get the proper exposure.

Not sure why it doesn't just say 1", 2", etc. instead of "Lo" though...

Indeed! Thanks for putting your heads together to answer this anomaly. I think I've convinced myself there's nothing wrong with my camera, but it's still kind of odd behaviour.

[jonh68]

Shouldn't I be making the judgments around here? This seems like a very Canon-style philosophy, which I read as "Save the user from himself at the expense of inconvenience" whereas I feel the Nikon philosophy is "Give the user enough rope to hang himself."

It's not an anomaly, it's just the cameras way of saying you are getting very low shutterpeeds. If one is in S mode, you will get a "lo' warning for aperture. If you want total control, switch to M mode and you will not get the lo warning. The camera doesn't give up, it just tries the best it can with the conditions set by user and lets said user know it is pushing the envelope.

This has occurred on my D50, D300, and D700. It's no big deal.

[Pindy]

Nikon tech support confirmed my suspicions. The camera judges that you're gonna get an underexposed photo or a blurry one and telling you about it. The camera has no problem achieving up to 30" of SS.

[Pindy]

It's not an anomaly, it's just the cameras way of saying you are getting very low shutterpeeds. If one is in S mode, you will get a "lo' warning for aperture. If you want total control, switch to M mode and you will not get the lo warning. The camera doesn't give up, it just tries the best it can with the conditions set by user and lets said user know it is pushing the envelope.

This has occurred on my D50, D300, and D700. It's no big deal.

Okay. I just figured the photographer was educated enough to know what to do with the numbers the camera shows you. But since the camera can't make me take better pictures, I'll take what assistance I can get.

[Ekaj]

Okay. I just figured the photographer was educated enough to know what to do with the numbers the camera shows you. But since the camera can't make me take better pictures, I'll take what assistance I can get.

I bet this isn't an issue in manual mode.

[Pindy]

Since the camera is not making decisions for you, no not at all! I wouldn't have noticed it if my Canons did the same thing, but they don't. They give you a shutter speed to the bitter end.