Indoors With The 40D-Ugh

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Graelwyn

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I just cannot seem to get a good result from this camera, when shooting indoors... it is seriously peeing me off and making me reconsider the d300 instead. I have tried high ISO, wide aperture, slow shutter speed, flash and the results all come out totally c**p.

Can this camera actually take a shot indoors, or is it's only use outside?
 
have you got an image??
 
The 40D can produce very good in-door shots, I have a D80 however I have played with the 40D and got some very good results with it... Alot depends on what lens and settings you are using...

Shutterman
 
ISO1600 gives me good results in low light. It isn't going to shoot in pitch black but will handle low light.
 
dark_pic1.jpg



fairly lowlight if i remember correctly

nothing done other than crop, resize for web and white balance
 
Eh, I shot on iso 800. Not uploaded them yet, but I am really struggling...on auto the results were absolutely terrible, even set to tungsten white balance. Even had 2 sidelamps on the subject but didn't much help.Shall post when I have sorted these abysmal things out, but I am disappointed at the difficulty in getting the indoors shots right as I had no such issues with my nikon.
 
Exposure Time = 1/60"
F Number = F1.8
ISO Speed Ratings = 400
 
Did you intend the image to be that soft? I am assuming it is soft.
 
Graelwyn said:
I just cannot seem to get a good result from this camera, when shooting indoors... it is seriously peeing me off and making me reconsider the d300 instead. I have tried high ISO, wide aperture, slow shutter speed, flash and the results all come out totally c**p.

Can this camera actually take a shot indoors, or is it's only use outside?
Click to expand...

What lens were you using? Flash onboard or a speedlight?
 
Im really sorry to write this but after looking on your recent threads on this forum you complain all the time on canon :shrug:
I love my new 40d as i had no probs with it (yet;) ) and it provides me great pics.
And as I remember, you bought it recently, so what I would suggest is to give it back, get money back for it and get other body ;) and then hopefully we will see loads of lovely pics here from you and you will be happy with them :thumbs:
If you want to avoid changing bodies, I would advice patience,patience and even more patience :) Dont be so hard on You .
Luke
 
Graelwyn, you really do need to slow down gal and take it easy - you're trying to assimilate far too much info all at once. The 40D is more than enough camera for anyone. Both these shots are available light shots by tungsten room light only... the first at 1600 ISO and the 2nd at 3200 ISO with no NR used on either, using the 50mm 1.4

2290183318_1b89a16d6a_o.jpg


2290183486_449ab084f2_o.jpg


White balance on DSLRs works pretty well on Auto with daylight and flash but for anything else it's abysmal. The 'Tungsten' and other setting don't really hack it either. Under artifical light the best thing is to take a custom WB shot and use that to set your WB.

Another way is set the WB in Degs Kelvin... around 2800K or just set it as low as it will go.
 
I didn't dare shoot at such a high ISO and so stuck to 800 or so.
Struggling with the whole white balance thing. Tried it set to tungsten, tried it set to auto because I do not fully understand the setting your own custom wb, even after reading the manual. Wouldnt believe my iq is 155 would you, lol. Just doesn't seem to be going in.
 
Graelwyn said:
Struggling with the whole white balance thing. Tried it set to tungsten, tried it set to auto because I do not fully understand the setting your own custom wb, even after reading the manual. Wouldnt believe my iq is 155 would you, lol. Just doesn't seem to be going in.
Click to expand...

shoot in raw and leave the white balance on auto, no need to worry about wb then ;)
 
Whats wrong with the pics? and what mode are you using?

Not sure if you know this but canons AV mode will default to fill-in flash... which means that the shutter speed will still be as low as a normal exposure without flash active.
It can catch people out sometimes.
 
you say soft, but it is 80-90% crop(prob should have mentioned that) and the jpeg from camera. i wouldnt say it is that soft for a 80-90%crop myself, i havent even sharpened it. oh, and at f1.8 on a 50mm, that is going to leave a pretty shallow dof, so that will be most of the softness.
 
If it's struggling with the white balance, keep trying at learning to set a custom one, or you can shoot in raw and adjust it so it looks right after
 
Graelwyn said:
I didn't dare shoot at such a high ISO and so stuck to 800 or so.
Struggling with the whole white balance thing. Tried it set to tungsten, tried it set to auto because I do not fully understand the setting your own custom wb, even after reading the manual. Wouldnt believe my iq is 155 would you, lol. Just doesn't seem to be going in.
Click to expand...

through what you are saying, im guessing we are talking white balance problems over anything else?
 
CT said:
Graelwyn, you really do need to slow down gal and take it easy - you're trying to assimilate far too much info all at once. The 40D is more than enough camera for anyone.
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:agree: and :amstupid: Please slow down and master one thing at a time :) there's a saying about a bad workman blaming the tools that springs to mind :thinking:
 
LOL. I'm not having a go at Graelwyn - I know she's getting frustrated with herself, but she's bought a complicated piece of equipment, which takes some getting used to. We also tend to forget that as well as coping with the camera, newcomers have also got to get their heads around digital processing, so they're hit with a double whammy, and coming to terms with it all doesn't happen in five minutes, as much as we'd all like it to.
 
CT said:
Graelwyn, you really do need to slow down gal and take it easy - you're trying to assimilate far too much info all at once. The 40D is more than enough camera for anyone. Both these shots are available light shots by tungsten room light only... the first at 1600 ISO and the 2nd at 3200 ISO with no NR used on either, using the 50mm 1.4

2290183318_1b89a16d6a_o.jpg


2290183486_449ab084f2_o.jpg


White balance on DSLRs works pretty well on Auto with daylight and flash but for anything else it's abysmal. The 'Tungsten' and other setting don't really hack it either. Under artifical light the best thing is to take a custom WB shot and use that to set your WB.

Another way is set the WB in Degs Kelvin... around 2800K or just set it as low as it will go.
Click to expand...



Did you edit this?
 
Canon are renowned for their high iso/low light performance (that and making photocopiers :naughty::exit: ) so I doubt that's the problem, I'm not so sure about using 800 iso and flash though.

Even the onboard flash should be more than enough for most home interior shots at the camera's default iso, no need to pump it away up to 800. Try dropping it back down and have a go on auto and see what comes out.
 
Nope- just resized and probably sharpened. (in answer to Admirable)

I don't have the original file now, they were only test shots, but these were jpegs shot on Custom WB using a white sheet of A4 paper IIRC

Graelwyn a lot of the things which are bugging you at the moment could be explained easily enough by someone sitting down with you for an hour or so and explaining things with your camera handy. Trying to do it via the 'net is frustratingly difficult. Don't you know anyone who can spare you an hour or two to help you out? :)
 
would it be a good idea if you put the lens with the lowest f stop on your camera, set the camera to large jpeg, manual settings, lowest f stop you can get, iso 400 or 800 on av mode. leave the light on in the room your in, half press the shutter button, check the shutter speed and make sure it is high enough to eliminate camera shake, check the exposure meter on the camera while half holding the button, if no good up the iso to get it higher. then take a test shot.

crop the shot to 800 pixels in the middle and post. there is a slim chance the camera may have a fault and hopefully someone will be able to see from the 100% crop. make sure you dont edit anything other than a crop.
 
I agree with that Fletch. We all know the benefits of shooting in RAW, but it's just another hurdle you can do without in the early stages. Shoot jpegs for a while - RAW can come later.
 
CT said:
Nope- just resized and probably sharpened. (in answer to Admirable)

I don't have the original file now, they were only test shots, but these were jpegs shot on Custom WB using a white sheet of A4 paper IIRC

Graelwyn a lot of the things which are bugging you at the moment could be explained easily enough by someone sitting down with you for an hour or so and explaining things with your camera handy. Trying to do it via the 'net is frustratingly difficult. Don't you know anyone who can spare you an hour or two to help you out? :)
Click to expand...

My ex might be able to since he has been doing photography for 20 odd years now. He is coming over tomorrow, though he is a nikon man. I can ask if he can give some guidance, *** I always feel somewhat inferior for needing it, lol.

Am assuming from the thread tidying that someone was unpleasant.
 
I'm sure that isn't true, I can take indoor shots with my now pathetic 300D! I just wish I had a 40d.

I'll have one soon, hopefully... :P
 
fletch5 said:
would it be a good idea if you put the lens with the lowest f stop on your camera, set the camera to large jpeg, manual settings, lowest f stop you can get, iso 400 or 800 on av mode. leave the light on in the room your in, half press the shutter button, check the shutter speed and make sure it is high enough to eliminate camera shake, check the exposure meter on the camera while half holding the button, if no good up the iso to get it higher. then take a test shot.

crop the shot to 800 pixels in the middle and post. there is a slim chance the camera may have a fault and hopefully someone will be able to see from the 100% crop. make sure you dont edit anything other than a crop.
Click to expand...

I will try that sometime before bed, the lowest f stop lens I have is my 100mm macro f2.8.
 
No-one was unpleasant, just some leg pulling at my expense because I made a typo, but not really relevant to the thread. ;)

Sounds like you need to be nice to your ex. Honestly I can sympathise - the manuals are mainly crap aren't they? :D
 
that should be good. im assuming you remember that the lower the f stop, bigger the aperture, more light gets in? (also shorter depth of focus). you need to get a 1/100th shutter speed, unless you can rest the camera on a table or something steady.
 
I have a 400d which takes great indoors shots if you care to swap your 40d for it? ;)
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I Agree with Gary, nowt wrong with those,what were the settings?
Click to expand...


I believe I set it to iso 800. I honestly cannot remember the rest, lol. I need to start keeping a notebook around to not exposure times etc. They just don't look 100% right to me. And the rest were terrible, these are the 2 where you can actually see him, lol.
 
What is wrong with the 1st. I think you are being MASSIVELY harsh on yourself, perhaps it is a TINY bit warm, easy fix though!!!

I really think the standards you are setting for yourself can only result in you being disappointed. I think you have to appreciate that you really are new to this camera, and to get the images above with no real experience of the unit is great.

Gary.
 
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