Photos 2 stops under exposed why?

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Hi folks I was using a yn568 flash tonight and whilst just messing around in the house shot after shot on my 50d was about 2 stops under exposed. I had to dial in plus 2 time and again. Any ideas if this could be something in the settings? I started with program mode then went through TV and finally full auto but the same thing happened. It wasn't a big deal to dial in plus 2 but I shouldn't have to.
 
Make sure flash exposure comp and 'normal' exposure comp are set to zero
 
I was just taking shots of my son sitting near me. What do you mean metering pattern?

Admiral I'll have a look tomorrow morning and see if I can see the settings you've mentioned. Thanks.
 
Post one of the photos, should be easy enough for someone to explain what's going on then.

Shooting with the exposure meter set to zero doesn't mean you will get a 'correctly' exposed image every time. If it did, then the meter and compensation would be utterly pointless. It's perfectly reasonable to be dialling in +2, +3, -1, whatever, depending on the circumstances.
 
Jayst84 said:
Post one of the photos, should be easy enough for someone to explain what's going on then.

Shooting with the exposure meter set to zero doesn't mean you will get a 'correctly' exposed image every time. If it did, then the meter and compensation would be utterly pointless. It's perfectly reasonable to be dialling in +2, +3, -1, whatever, depending on the circumstances.
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Yes, if the meter is picking up a very bright area, maybe a white wall, or a white shirt in spot mode, then it willl under-expose for sure.
 
Jayst84 said:
Post one of the photos, should be easy enough for someone to explain what's going on then.

Shooting with the exposure meter set to zero doesn't mean you will get a 'correctly' exposed image every time.]
Click to expand...


Correct but my thinking was he may have FEC set to -2 without realising and trying to compensate for it by dialling in +2 exposure comp? The reason I said put both to zero was to start at the beginning and see what happens.
It'll be something simple.
 
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scottduffy said:
I was just taking shots of my son sitting near me. What do you mean metering pattern?

Admiral I'll have a look tomorrow morning and see if I can see the settings you've mentioned. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I presume he was meaning are you using spot, centre weighted, matrix or average metering modes
 
The flash metering can be set to evaluative or CWA. I find I get more consistent results with CWA.

As for exposure modes, when using the flash as the main source of light, you'll enter confusion by switching modes. My favoured mode would be Manual, but Program is good too.

In manual, just set the camera so that the ambient is comfortable for your shot. This could be anything from a well exposed night scene to complete darkness in a studio setting (where you won't want the ambient to encroach on your carefully balanced lighting).

Indoors where you want some ambient, you might choose ISO800 and a shutter speed around 1/60 as a start point.
 
rpsmith79 said:
I presume he was meaning are you using spot, centre weighted, matrix or average metering modes
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I'm not sure what metering mode it's on as i recently purchased the body and haven't changed the settings. I'll have a look tonight when i'm in.

Phil V said:
The flash metering can be set to evaluative or CWA. I find I get more consistent results with CWA.

As for exposure modes, when using the flash as the main source of light, you'll enter confusion by switching modes. My favoured mode would be Manual, but Program is good too.

In manual, just set the camera so that the ambient is comfortable for your shot. This could be anything from a well exposed night scene to complete darkness in a studio setting (where you won't want the ambient to encroach on your carefully balanced lighting).

Indoors where you want some ambient, you might choose ISO800 and a shutter speed around 1/60 as a start point.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phil. I have never had exposure issues with Canon speedlights but i'll give the settings a thorough going over tonight as i only had 20 minutes or so last night.
 
Jayst84 said:
Post one of the photos, should be easy enough for someone to explain what's going on then.

Shooting with the exposure meter set to zero doesn't mean you will get a 'correctly' exposed image every time. If it did, then the meter and compensation would be utterly pointless. It's perfectly reasonable to be dialling in +2, +3, -1, whatever, depending on the circumstances.
Click to expand...

I can't mate as my laptop won't accept any more and i can't transfer them directly to the forum. I'm in the process of purchasing a new laptop because no matter how much stuff i delete from my old one it won't free up any disk space. I have no idea why.
 
HoppyUK said:
Yes, if the meter is picking up a very bright area, maybe a white wall, or a white shirt in spot mode, then it willl under-expose for sure.
Click to expand...

Hi Richard,

My son was wearing a white t-shirt and the walls behind him we're lilac. I'll check the metering mode tonight. I should have brought it with me and i could have messed about in here whilst i pretend to be busy !!!
 
scottduffy said:
Hi Richard,

My son was wearing a white t-shirt and the walls behind him we're lilac. I'll check the metering mode tonight. I should have brought it with me and i could have messed about in here whilst i pretend to be busy !!!
Click to expand...

Phil is right, spot metering is not available with flash, my bad. But that sounds like a situation that would fool the meter in any mode, especially if you're square to the subject/wall and a lot of light is bouncing back to the camera.
 
Hi Folks,

Just got a chance to check the settings and in the menu mode the seller had indeed dialed in between -1 and -2 so thats been sorted now. Just out of curiosity is the CWA symbol the brackets with nothing inside them? I think it is but i'm just looking for confirmation. I will maybe get outside and lunch time and see if these settings help which i'm sure they will now.

That'll be a lesson to me to check the settings that the previous owner has dialled in.

Thanks again folks. Helpful as always.
 
Glad you got it sorted :)
 
admirable said:
Glad you got it sorted :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim, I have just come acrosss another site that makes me think the brackets with nothing inside might be partial. When i get home i'll be able to check my 50d handbook. Am i right in thinking that they go like this

[()] Partial - Brackets with no spot
[(*)] Evaluative - Brackets with large spot inside
[*] Spot metering - Spot with no brackets
[ ] Centre weighted - Nothing inside
 
scottduffy said:
Thanks Jim, I have just come acrosss another site that makes me think the brackets with nothing inside might be partial. When i get home i'll be able to check my 50d handbook. Am i right in thinking that they go like this

[()] Partial - Brackets with no spot
[(*)] Evaluative - Brackets with large spot inside
[*] Spot metering - Spot with no brackets
[ ] Centre weighted - Nothing inside
Click to expand...
Yes but that's the ambient metering. The flash metering is in menu settings.
 
Okay. I'll check this out at lunchtime. You'll be charging me at this rate !!
 
scottduffy said:
I can't mate as my laptop won't accept any more and i can't transfer them directly to the forum. I'm in the process of purchasing a new laptop because no matter how much stuff i delete from my old one it won't free up any disk space. I have no idea why.
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It's sort of stating the obvious, but if it's a Windows machine, when you delete things they go to the recycle bin, you only free up space when you subsequently empty the recycle bin (it's an option on the right-click menu).
 
Faldrax said:
It's sort of stating the obvious, but if it's a Windows machine, when you delete things they go to the recycle bin, you only free up space when you subsequently empty the recycle bin (it's an option on the right-click menu).
Click to expand...

Hi Jonathan,

Ive done that too mate and uninstalled programs etc. Nothing is working. The most i managed to free up after deleting 3000 odd photos and umpteen programs was about 5GB which is shocking. I don't know what's wrong with it but it's 7 years old and i think it's just gave up the ghost.
 
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Is it windows 7?
 
Check the 'temporary Internet Files' folder isn't releasing the deleted files

C:\Users\Your Name Here\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

You may have to show hidden files and folders
 
scottduffy said:
Hi Folks,

Just got a chance to check the settings and in the menu mode the seller had indeed dialed in between -1 and -2 so thats been sorted now. Just out of curiosity is the CWA symbol the brackets with nothing inside them? I think it is but i'm just looking for confirmation. I will maybe get outside and lunch time and see if these settings help which i'm sure they will now.

That'll be a lesson to me to check the settings that the previous owner has dialled in.

Thanks again folks. Helpful as always.
Click to expand...

Buy yourself a light meter and save yourself a lot of headaches and time :)
 
I used to have a light meter but by the time I meter and shot my son would be anywhere else. I still might get one though for posed shots.

I'll try the suggestions for the laptop guys. Thanks
 
scottduffy said:
I used to have a light meter but by the time I meter and shot my son would be anywhere else. I still might get one though for posed shots.

I'll try the suggestions for the laptop guys. Thanks
Click to expand...

You already have an excellent light meter in your camera. It can do everything a hand meter can, and much more besides.
 
Finally got the yn622c's out of their wrappers today and having taken a few shots of mickey mouse with his back to my living room window i was pretty pleased. The window was blown out time and again and after a quick youtube tutorial where the person upped the shutter speed to higher than sync speed i gave it a go. It worked brilliantly. Mickey was exposed and i could clearly see the detail in the house across the street. The flash menu settings were confusing me a tad though as it gives me the option in there to change one of the settings which had a few options and one of then was af-beam assist on or something like that which i chose but not sure if i did the right thing. I can't remember the other options. Looking at the histogram for my photos tonight they did seem to lean mostly to the left so underexposed a tad but not sure why. I used a softbox with one inner and one outer diffuser and had the stoffen on the yn568 flash head so maybe overkill. I'm sure i'll get the hang of it.
 
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