All my shots seem to dark no matter what settings I am using- I ran into this once before and it was a setting that was placed at either a half or 3rd value. I can't recall what the setting was...it does this without the flash on. Anyone have any ideas? This time I will write down the answer.

6 Ways To Fix Too Bright and Too Dark Photos

Recompose The Photo This is probably the simplest solution. When taking a photo of a scene with very bright and very dark parts, move your camera to eliminate one of the extremes. In the case of the band, I would have either closed the curtains for the shot, or recomposed completely and photographed from the window looking at the band, and the crowd behind.
Use Exposure Lock If you can't recompose the photograph, instead tell the camera what part of the image you would like to see. The rest of the photo will be either over or under exposed (too bright or too dark) but at least you will see your subject. You can dothis by placing the center of the image at your subject; half depressing the shutter to lock the focus and exposure; move the camera to re-compose the image; and fully depressing the shutter.
In the band image, the camera chose to correctly expose the scene outside, but even if the band member had been correctly exposed, the window would have ended up being over exposed and you would just have seen white.
Some cameras have an option called 'spot metering' to set the part of the image you'd like to be correctly exposed. If your camera has this setting, enable it before using the technique above.
Use Fill In Flash If your scene has a sunny background, but your subject is in the shade (or has a hat on), turn on the flash (as I explained way back in tip number 9 - Using Flash During The Day). I know it seems wrong but it really does work! By using the flash, your subject will look as bright as the background. This would have worked well for the child shot above.
High Dynamic Range Imaging This technique is not for the faintof hearted. It requires a subject that does not move; a good camera with the capability to set the exposure and output RAW images. A tripod and image editing software like Photoshop CS3 are also needed.
High Dynamic Range Imaging (or HDR for short) is a technique for placing both very dark and very light areas in the same photo. It requires you to take a number of photographs of thesame scene - each with a different exposure. First take the shot using the camera's recommended settings. Then, in manual mode and keeping the aperture at the same value as the first shot, take a sequence of shots - each shot having a different shutter speed (above and below the original). You'll have 5-9 shots of the same scene all in different exposures.

Merging the three images to the left creates the HDR image below. Thanks to Photomatix for the images.
Now import these into your favorite paint program. I use Photoshop, but you can as easily use a cheaper program designed specifically for HDR photos like Photomatix. Follow the HDR directions and the paint program will merge these images into one great looking shot!
Use a Filter If your scene is of a brightsky and a dark ground (for instance at sunset, or on a cloudy day), you can use a graduated neutral density filter. This filter cuts out someof the light from one part of the photo (the sky). This will correctly expose the ground and the sky without needing to use HDR. These filterscan be complex to setup, so I don't usually recommend them for beginners.
Fix The Original Photo in an Image Editing Program Finally, if you can't take another shot at the same location, you can fix the original image by changing the levels using a paint program. This works best when your subject is darker than the rest of the photo (because cameras lose detail in over-bright areas). I've brightened the band member in the top image using this technique and while it looks okay in thissmall shot, this technique can tend to amplify any noise in the image. The darker the subject, the harder time you will have fixing the image.
I discuss exactly how to use this technique in lesson 2 of my free Image Editing Secrets course. I have a tutorial for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and the free Google Picassa.
- See more at: http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/140/6-ways-to-fix-too-bright-and-too-dark-photos/#sthash.58eENOTt.dpuf

just change the backlight and contrast settings in camera .....regarding flash try taking photos with new batteries ...

I see your camera has a focus area. If you have a subject with enough contrasting parts in this area, the focusing should work fine.
You must know that not every subject can be focused on as quick or as good as you would like. If there are little contrasting lines in the subject, or when it is getting dark or there are dark and light parts in the focus area, that don't belong together, every camera can have problems to focus correct. Changing the ISO settings won't change anything for the auto focus.
But special when you try to shoot in almost dark places, you camera will have lots of work to focus and in most cases it won't work at all.

You could try to place an object with light and dark lines, on the same distance as the object you want to picture. Then by pressing the shutter half, when focusing on the object with much contrast, you can look if the camera can focus. If it is in focus, keep the shutter pressed half way down, while moving to the object you want to shoot a picture of. Once you have every thing in the frame as you want it, press the shutter complete.

It sounds as if the iris which adjusts to allow the correct amount of light to enter the camera is sticking. Maybe due to foreign matter being wedged between the vanes of the iris. About the only way I can think of to remedy the problem without visiting the repair man is to set up in a dimly lit room with a torch pointing towards you. Turn your camera on and in the auto mode alternatively point the camera into the torches beam and then away from the torch. This may open and close the iris suficiently to dislodge any fluff or grit from between the vanes. You may have to do it a number of times. A few seconds of bright then a few seconds of dark about a dozen times may do the job. If you have a manual mode try using it by adjusting from wide open to fully closed also a dozen times.
If the camera behaves itself after trying this it should be cured. An old trick but it does work occasionally and well worth a try. Otherwise the iris may need replacing. Which could prove expensive.

One other thing, are you waiting for the camera to set itself up by half pressing the shoot button before each shot. You may be underexposing if you just push the button straight down to take the shot. Make sure you only push halfway to allow the auto focus and auto exposure time to set. Then push all the way for your shot.

It could be 1 of 3 issues:-

1) You have to be within about 2 metres of the subject, press the photo button half way and then pause for a half second to allow the camera to measure distance and light, then continue until the photo is taken.

2) Make sure all your settings are on Auto and try again. It may be currently set to a specific scene setting which is distorting your photos.

3) It may require a firmware upgrade. That will involve going to the Sony website, following links to support/downloads and checking to see if there's an update for your camera.

Just pull the plug on it when it has about 15 minutes left

Check your settings, is it still on Auto or have you accidentally changed the settings to manual settings.

Check your flash modes, it may have slipped into slow sync.

If the camera is working properly with other lenses, then you have a problem with that lens. In M, you can set the aperture yourself, and the photos come out properly exposed. When the lens is set to auto, apparently it is going to minimum aperture and not responding to the camera's 'instructions'. The thing that makes me think so is that you say everything looks dark through the optical viewfinder. Normally the aperture stays full open so you can see and compose your shot, and only stops down to the correct aperture when you actually take the shot. I would suggest having the lens checked by an appropriate camera service shop.

I was just out yesterday taking pictures in very hazy conditions, and some of my shots were facing south at about noon. I was actually expecting the sky to be overexposed, so I took two pictures of everything, one on auto, and one on manual with the exposure set to -0.6. Well, it turned out that even the ones on Auto were dark, so the ones on the manual settings were even worse! As it turns out, I had the same problem you had, and should have boosted the exposure. Reading the manual, it does say that you should use positive compensation for very bright scenes or pictures of mostly sky. Try it next time and see how that works. I'm new to this too, but I'll get the hang of it sooner or later... ;)

I've tried some night shots, and I would either adj the exposer compensation level, or you can lower the ap value witch would increase the diaphragm opening. try this out and tell what you get. I believe you can adjust your iso settings, too much you might get some digital noise.