Overexposes every shot

Thomas Edison wrote:

canuck dave wrote:

Thanks.

Both of these were shot 2-3 years ago, so it took a while to determine there was a 'problem'.

I'm not sure why you used 'manual' exposure, but perhaps you were not happy with the results in Auto? In both of these there is a great range of exposure values, and it is impossible for a camera to expose them all well. In the first, a ND might help, even 1/3 stop -EV was not enough.

The 2nd image is not all that bad. Again, no camera can expose all the range well; if you expose for the highlight water the other areas will be too dark.

I don't think the camera rates your over poor rating, as it is really doing the best it can, and the fact is much better cameras will not necessarily do better! Hopefully this input will help you to get better images in the future.

I appreciate the reply. We've defaulted to using manual settings and backing down the exposure a bit because of how bright the pictures were coming out when we first got it (and any other time we tried 'auto' since then).

Another few slightly more recent examples are attached, one in auto (the street sign) and one in manual (the house). I think both are poor representations of the actual scenes. The street sign shows too bright and the leaves in the scene are all too 'white' for me. I know there is a lot going on there, though, and the sensors can only do so much. The house (mansion?) is pretty close to actual, with the grass looking good and most of the house looking alright... but the roof and some of the sky washing out due to reflection of the sun.

Street sign; auto mode

Mansion; manual with exposure turned down

Certainly no $250 camera shooting JPEGs on a whim will be perfect, but overall I have been disappointed over the past 4-5 years with the types of pictures I get from this camera. People too, but I'm hesitant to upload those without the subject's consent. For our next vacation we're thinking of upgrading to something with a better sensor and the ability to shoot RAW... don't want to throw money at a camera when I may be the problem, but regardless I need to give something else a try. The Canon IS200 hasn't been doing it for me. Maybe a Sony RX100-II but I don't like the sharpness of sample images. Sony NEX-6 seems closer to what I'd want, especially since I like zoom from time to time. We'll see...

The sign image looks like it was shot on a bright day, yet the camera has selected a wide-open aperture at 1/80 sec with ISO 80. Makes no sense to me! It's as though the light hitting the sensor has been reduced?