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03/23/2007 09:39:39 AM · #1 |
Hi all,
Finally got my new free Canon 400D today! Woohoo! (For details of how I got it, check out here.)
Ha ha, had you all looking for free cameras. :) I was very excited to win, as I've been drooling over this camera since it was released, but hadn't convinced my wife that it was worth the money!
Anyway, I got a question...
In taking lots of photos today (my family, loungeroom, pets, my computer, the wall, you know how it is with a new toy), I noticed they are all coming out quite dark. In looking at the histograms, the top 25% of the histogram is pretty much empty on almost all the shots. I borrowed a friends 300D a year ago, and noticed the same thing then. Is this common?
I've adjusted the EV to +1 and the flash EV to +1, and the histogram is much better to my view. Is this the right way to fix it?
I'll be shooting anything I find this weekend, so I'll give it a good run and see how it goes with the adjusted settings. I'll try out a little extra sharping and saturation too, because the Canon images are a little soft out of the camera for my liking, and I don't want to edit every shot.
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03/23/2007 09:45:39 AM · #2 |
What is your ISO setting?
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03/23/2007 09:47:10 AM · #3 |
| Shoot in manual mode and create raw images. |
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03/23/2007 09:57:16 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by quiet_observation:
Shoot in manual mode and create raw images. |
If his settings are not correct, RAW will not help. You DO have a good bit of lattitude for adjustments with RAW, but that will not make up for poor camera settings.
Surfdabbler, your ISO for indoors should be somewhere around 400 - 800 unless you are using studio lights or more than one flash. Outdoors in sunlight or in studio situations ISO can be 100 and give good results (less noise). I think the default setting on Canons is always 100 so unless you changed it, you are too low for indoor conditions.
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03/23/2007 10:06:37 AM · #5 |
I often shoot ISO 200 because generally speaking, the Sensor has a native setting of ISO 200. ISO 100 is merely adjusted via software, so provides no real photographic benefit unless there is TOO much light. This is seldom the case (unless you are mucking about with a 50mm f/1.2L or something), but if you are, I doubt you need advice from the likes of me! ;)
Indoors on my 30D, I'll shoot between ISO 400 and 1000 generally depending on a number of factors.
If shooting by light that is a strong color, try to find the ISO preset that matches best and shoot with that. Shooting RAW in that case will help with post processing, but matching the ISO preset will help a lot with exposure and such.
Pay attention to how you are metering and where you are pointing the camera. Remember, the camera is color blind, but still tries to match everything to an 18% grey.
I was wearing a black shirt the other day letting a friend take some pics of me for a school assignment, and had to show him how to use the AE Lock (*) button. Be careful of using spot metering on people with big black eyes as well...
I've shot 30D and 300D and found both to be pretty good for automatic exposure with this kept in mind. |
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03/23/2007 10:07:19 AM · #6 |
I've used a whole range of ISO from 100 to 1600, but probably mainly 200 or 400. (Yes, cindi, you are right, the default is 100). Whole range of apertures and shutter speeds, both with and without flash. Some shots came out better than others, but a significant blank area in the top of the histogram is surprisingly common in the shots so far.
I've mostly been using P mode 70% of the time, but also Tv and Av modes. This is probably reflective of the modes I will use the camera in.
Does the camera not automatically adjust the exposure to fit the ISO? Or does it only partially compensate for it? There was a whole series of flash shots of my son, taken at 100 ISO, 1/60s, aperture wide open(F3.5-5.6), but using flash. I had to push the highlights heaps on every one.
Just seems wierd.
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03/23/2007 10:07:40 AM · #7 |
nice!
looks like you remember the golden rule of most photo competitions...
successful use of the rule of thirds = win |
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03/23/2007 10:36:46 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by surfdabbler:
Does the camera not automatically adjust the exposure to fit the ISO? Or does it only partially compensate for it? There was a whole series of flash shots of my son, taken at 100 ISO, 1/60s, aperture wide open(F3.5-5.6), but using flash. I had to push the highlights heaps on every one.
Just seems wierd. |
Camera light meters tend to be fallible since they are blindly trying to match the "average" colour in the scene to "average" grey. Depending on the conditions this means it will sometimes overexpose and sometimes underexpose.
Use of exposure compensation as you mention in the first post is the correct way to deal with this if you are using an automatic mode (P, Av or Tv). Obviously in full manual mode you just adjust the exposure itself until it looks right...
splidge
edit: Congratulations on your free camera btw :).
Message edited by author 2007-03-23 10:37:14. |
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