Help! New G3 problem...

[Binister]

Hello all,

First day with my new G3. I spent 2 hours reading the manual and decided to take some test shots indoors under fluorescent lighting. The shots all had a dark bottom right corner. So I sat down with the manual again and tried to figure out what was happening. Nothing seemed to fix the problem. The problem only seems to occur when the flash fires. I have red-eye reduction turned on. Any suggestions? There are some sample images below...

http://www.pbase.com/binister

Rgrds,
Rob

 

[Stanley Chan128848]

This is because of the lens barrel where it blocks the flash lights a little bit. This is a design problem and nothing wrong with your toy. A solution is to zoom in a little bit.

Regards

Hello all,

First day with my new G3. I spent 2 hours reading the manual and
decided to take some test shots indoors under fluorescent lighting.
The shots all had a dark bottom right corner. So I sat down with
the manual again and tried to figure out what was happening.
Nothing seemed to fix the problem. The problem only seems to occur
when the flash fires. I have red-eye reduction turned on. Any
suggestions? There are some sample images below...

http://www.pbase.com/binister

Rgrds,
Rob

 

[Bart van Elderen]

Just a wild guess, and please be gentle with me if this is stupid, but could it be a shadow from the lense if you are using the built-in flash (the flash being on the top left of the camera, looking towards your subject)? I can imagine this is the case when the distance between the camera and the subject is relatively small. You could test this by making the distance larger: the shadow should disappear or at least diminish,

Bart

Hello all,

First day with my new G3. I spent 2 hours reading the manual and
decided to take some test shots indoors under fluorescent lighting.
The shots all had a dark bottom right corner. So I sat down with
the manual again and tried to figure out what was happening.
Nothing seemed to fix the problem. The problem only seems to occur
when the flash fires. I have red-eye reduction turned on. Any
suggestions? There are some sample images below...

http://www.pbase.com/binister

Rgrds,
Rob

 

[relate22]

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the lens blocking the flash output.

I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[Bart van Elderen]

I would like to disagree for several reasons, two of them being:

• he tested the flash on a white wall, in 'normal world' circumstances you would hardly notice the shadow,
• you know what it is with built-in flashes: you don't want to use them seriously. For good flash photography you need an external flash like the 420EX. I think it would't make any sense to design an entire camera around something bitterly unuseful as an internal flash ...

Bart

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon
would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the
lens blocking the flash output.
I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest
that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very
expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[Binister]

Thank you all for your responses. Sure enough when I was taking the shots I was at full-wide. I went to full-tele and the problem went away which makes sense if the lens barrel was in the way. Seems any full-wide picture taken against a light background will result in some darkening of the bottom right corner. Pity but hey, all the more reason to start saving for the 420ex.

Thanks again,
Rob

• he tested the flash on a white wall, in 'normal world'

circumstances you would hardly notice the shadow,

• you know what it is with built-in flashes: you don't want to use

them seriously. For good flash photography you need an external
flash like the 420EX. I think it would't make any sense to design
an entire camera around something bitterly unuseful as an internal
flash ...

Bart

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon
would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the
lens blocking the flash output.
I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest
that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very
expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[eddy1123]

Hello,

I am getting a G3 soon. I don't understand how;s the barrel in the way at full -wide, but not full-tele? when you are at full-tele, doesn't the lense barrel extend further out? that why it would block even more lights.. hmmm ..

thanks.

Thanks again,
Rob

• he tested the flash on a white wall, in 'normal world'

circumstances you would hardly notice the shadow,

• you know what it is with built-in flashes: you don't want to use

them seriously. For good flash photography you need an external
flash like the 420EX. I think it would't make any sense to design
an entire camera around something bitterly unuseful as an internal
flash ...

Bart

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon
would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the
lens blocking the flash output.
I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest
that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very
expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[relate22]

The other thread I saw mentioning the shadow was a proper photograph taken by someone. And also who wants to have to think about the flash causing a shadow when taking a photograph or having to drag out an external flash for those candid shots.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[rpant]

I agree with Bart. I didn't even notice this on my pics until people started to complain about it. When I looked back at some shots I'd taken, sure enough there was this little darker area in the corner. I then looked at some of my previous shots taken with my A40, same problem, but again it wasn't noticable enough to draw my attention to it.

I don't think the G3 is the only model out there that exhibits this kind of problem. I think it's virtually unavoidable on cameras that have large protruding lenses.

Regards,

Rob

• he tested the flash on a white wall, in 'normal world'

circumstances you would hardly notice the shadow,

• you know what it is with built-in flashes: you don't want to use

them seriously. For good flash photography you need an external
flash like the 420EX. I think it would't make any sense to design
an entire camera around something bitterly unuseful as an internal
flash ...

Bart

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon
would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the
lens blocking the flash output.
I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest
that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very
expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[Lexx]

Here's my guess. At wide angle, the coverage of your shot is wider. Put it this way: when you zoom in, the area where the lens barrel blocks the flash will not be captured.

Besides, it seems that the lens barrel extends both at widest angle and full tele.

CY

Hello,
I am getting a G3 soon. I don't understand how;s the barrel in the
way at full -wide, but not full-tele? when you are at full-tele,
doesn't the lense barrel extend further out? that why it would
block even more lights.. hmmm ..

thanks.

 

[relate22]

I can see that the Cannon defense mechanism has been activated so I will withdraw and leave you to your justifications.
--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[Bart van Elderen]

One down, how many to go? ;-> >

Bart

I can see that the Cannon defense mechanism has been activated so I
will withdraw and leave you to your justifications.
--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

 

[Chris Beney]

I don't think the G3 is the only model out there that exhibits this
kind of problem. I think it's virtually unavoidable on cameras that
have large protruding lenses.

The flash only has to move a bit further away or be made a pop-up to avoid both lens masking and red eye. I don't know why more cameras don't do it.

But having said that, internal flash is a kind of emergency thing as I see it, and a proper external flash produces so much better results both easier and with less disturbance to the subject (bounce).

With the high power batteries in cameras like the G3, I am surprised a kind of built-in proper flash using that power source isn't offered as an add on option.
Chris Beney

 

[Derek Clarke]

Like the moon during a solar eclipse, there is a cone of shadow being projected from the lens, in wide angle or tele.

Its just that it's only in wide angle that the field of view is wide enough to see the edge of the shadow.

thanks.

Thanks again,
Rob

• he tested the flash on a white wall, in 'normal world'

circumstances you would hardly notice the shadow,

• you know what it is with built-in flashes: you don't want to use

them seriously. For good flash photography you need an external
flash like the 420EX. I think it would't make any sense to design
an entire camera around something bitterly unuseful as an internal
flash ...

Bart

Not to start a flame war or anything but it amazes me that Cannon
would release this camera with such a blatant design fault as the
lens blocking the flash output.
I have seen this problem mentioned in other threads and to suggest
that you just zoom in a bit to get past the shadow for a very
expensive camera is just crazy.

--
http://www.pbase.com/relate2

--
Derek