Program mode

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

I took this image in my backyard last night. I had been fooling around with the Better Beamer and setting the D3S in manual mode. This woodpecker came along and was very backlite by the sky. I had been told by several profesion photgraphers that the Nikon D900 in TTL mode was quit good at exposure if the camera was set to Program mode. I decided to give that a try. Here is the result which really surprised me. This image is right out of the camera and I have done nothing to it in PS. I really did not think the camera would meter as well as it did, especially with the back lighting. Maybe some of you have had experience shooting in program mode and would like to share your outcomes with me, I would surely appeciate it. Shooting data as follows:
Nikon D3S
2011:08:25 19:01:07
600mm
600mm (in 35mm film)
Subject dist: 8.9m
1/250 sec, f/14
Mode: Program
Metering: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
White balance: Shade
Flash: On
File size: 59.0MB
Image size: 1765 x 1412
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)
Better Beamer set to -.7

[Jonathan Ashton]

Maybe I misunderstand but I am puzzled why the camera selected f14 in programme mode was it perhaps f4?? As a guide Canon tend to check the focal length and get as near as possible to provide around the reciprocal shutter speed when in Programme mode.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Jonahan,

I can only say that I copied the shooting information via copying it to the clipboard and then to the website. I agree with you that this seems wrong. I will try again tonight and look at the numbers.

Mac

[Mike Milicia]

I am not a Nikon user but my guess is that you did not have "high-speed sync" enabled so maximum shutter speed was locked at 1/250.
At such a slow shutter speed, it had to shut down to f/14 to handle the back light.

[jack williamson]

This really does'nt look too bad for the camera and flash having figured out everything. I think you sharpened a little too much, I can see a halo around the branches and the bird, and the bird looks just a little crispy. I think that Mike is probably right about the fstop. I leave my D700 set to high speed sync at all times, that way everything works normal at sync speed and below but if I want higher shutter speeds with flash I don't have to change any settings.

Jack