Does the 300D underexpose by nature?

[BobT]

I think that I read (a while back) that this was the case.

In cruising through pbase while checking out lenses, I seemed to be able to tell from the thumbnails which camera took the shots with uncanny success. It was nearly always the thumbnail appearing somewhat darker than the others. This was especially true if there was a darker area in the photo appearing nealy black in the thumbnail. All was not as "gloomy" when I increased the size of the image to fill the computer screen. But those smaller pics were nowhere near as bright(and I don't mean overexposed)than most other cameras using those same lenses.

Try it and see if you don't agree. The Nikon D70 and Pentax 'ist were exceptionally bright and cheery as compared to the 300D images.

Is this the rule rather than the exception? Can this be conquered? I'm certainly up for some constructive advice over buying a new camera. (I own a 300d).

Thanks
Bob

 

[ledittmar]

check where the exposer readings are aimed before taking the shot, also check the exposure + & - readings on the lcd.

 

[BobT]

OK. What exactly am I checking for here?

The real question is---is it the nature of the 300D to go darker than lighter, though?

I usually shoot with the center focus point. If it hits on a dark area, the pic is overexposed. And the opposite is true as well. So that "focus point" apparently also doubles as a "metering point" as well. Right?

In my experience, and with this being the case, I usually will take a couple shots of the same image with a slightly different target zone, thereby hoping to get at least one with correct exposure. Which I usually get, by the way.

But I feel this is sort of the "shotgun" technique. I'd rather know how to get the shot right away(in one shot rather than many)the first time. Yet I shoot a lot of nature photos, and often simply don't have the time to think about dealing with slight camera setting changes. Hence, the shotgun approach.

Bob

 

[BobT]

Was just thinking..would AEB be the answer for me? 3 shots of differing metering. Can the AEB be set to my desired degree of over and under (based on the original shot)exposure? Will the settings remain even after the camera has been turned off? If both these last 2 answers is 'yes", I must try this.

And...does the camera internally make the other metering changes , or do I need to hold extra steady while it shoots off 3 images(like the H-1 I use to have did)?
Bob

 

[Paul De Bra]

When the 300D was the latest model it was debated at length that the 300D was metering correctly whereas many P&S cameras tended to overexpose. The metering was "conservative" in the sense that it tried to preserve highlight detail. Shadow detail can be recovered to a larger extent than highlight detail, and the camera has pretty low noise so this does not create noisy pictures. Still, many people thought the 300D was underexposing, and perhaps as a result the metering in the 350D was made to be different.

So the debate went on that people prefered the 350D metering but in fact the 350D tends to overexpose more. On average the images don't look overexposed, just nice and bright, but more highlight detail is lost. I recall the "expert consensus" to be that in order to meter correctly you need a bit of negative EV on the 350D.

With the 400D it appears that Canon has reversed the situation. The camera is again metering more conservatively, thereby preserving more highlight detail but on average producing a somewhat darker image. If you like the overexposure of the 350D, just dial in some positive EV. If you are happy with conservative metering, the 400D will make you happier than the 350D when you do not apply any EV.

The way I do metering is often just guesswork combined with checking the histogram. I installed a split prism focusing screen in my DRebel/300D so the metering is now always off. (This supposedly is not true for the commercial screens, but I made my own from an old film slr.)

I think that I read (a while back) that this was the case.

In cruising through pbase while checking out lenses, I seemed to be
able to tell from the thumbnails which camera took the shots with
uncanny success. It was nearly always the thumbnail appearing
somewhat darker than the others. This was especially true if there
was a darker area in the photo appearing nealy black in the
thumbnail. All was not as "gloomy" when I increased the size of
the image to fill the computer screen. But those smaller pics were
nowhere near as bright(and I don't mean overexposed)than most other
cameras using those same lenses.

Try it and see if you don't agree. The Nikon D70 and Pentax 'ist
were exceptionally bright and cheery as compared to the 300D images.

Is this the rule rather than the exception? Can this be conquered?
I'm certainly up for some constructive advice over buying a new
camera. (I own a 300d).

Thanks
Bob

--

Slowly learning to use the DRebel (only around 26.000 shots) and now also the Fuji F11.
Public pictures at http://debra.zenfolio.com/ .

 

[Sinecure]

I find that mine has a tendecy to over expose even with needle in the middle.

But knowing that I just use the + - to adjust.

Cheers,
Erik

 

[jimdill]

Yes, in my experience is does seem to underexpose slightly. In most of my photos, there's always a gap on the right hand side of the histogram. I usually correct in PhotoShop. That gets to be a headache, but it's much better than dealing with overexposure.