G2 sometimes underexposes in bright shots

[doug117218]

I took a bunch of picturs in P mode and some in Av mode where we were outside in the snow and all the came out shots underexposed. I do not think there is anything wrong with the camear because of the 8,000 pictures I have taken, only a handfull have been like this and I noticed it only happens when the overall scene is really bright.

I can repeat this anytime and I just took another shot today that did the same thing (underexposed) and I checked the settings such as auto white balance, EV = 0, P mode etc.

Is this a white balance problem or the exposure is being fooled??

Here is a link to the picture that was taken in JPEG mode (not raw):



Here is a link to the spectrum from photoshop 7.0:



Below is the EXIF info:

File: - H:\Canon G2\picture.jpg

Make - Canon
Model - Canon PowerShot G2
Orientation - 1 (top left)
XResolution - 180
YResolution - 180
ResolutionUnit - 2 (inch)
DateTime - 2002:12:26 16:01:08
YCbCrPositioning - 1 (center of pixel array)
ExifOffset - 196
ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 4.0000
ExifVersion - 220
DateTimeOriginal - 2002:12:26 16:01:08
DateTimeDigitized - 2002:12:26 16:01:08
ComponentsConfiguration - 1 2 3 (YCbCr)
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 2 (average)
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/500 seconds
ApertureValue - F 4.00
ExposureBiasValue - 0.0000
MaxApertureValue - F 2.00
MeteringMode - 5 (multi-segment)
Flash - 24
FocalLength - 7.0000 mm
UserComment -
FlashPixVersion - 100
ColorSpace - 1 (sRGB)
ExifImageWidth - 2272
ExifImageHeight - 1704
InteroperabilityOffset - 1416
FocalPlaneXResolution - 8114.2857
FocalPlaneYResolution - 8114.2857
FocalPlaneResolutionUnit - 2
SensingMethod - 2 (other)
FileSource - 3 (digital still camera)

Maker Note (Vendor): -
Macro mode - Normal
Self timer - Off
Quality - Normal
Flash mode - Auto
Sequence mode - Single or Timer
Focus mode - Single
Image size - Large
Easy shooting mode - Manual
Digital zoom - None
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal
Metering mode - Evaluative
Focus type - Auto
AF point selected - Center
Exposure mode - Program
White Balance - Auto
Image Type - IMGowerShot G2 JPEG
Firmware Version - Firmware Version 1.10
Image Number - 1818198

 

[Eric Haglund]

Most camera (film & digital) will underexpose very bright scenes- especially snow and sand. Jack up the EC when shooting such scenes.

--
Eric
Disclaimer: Snapshooter, and proud of it ;-)
http://www.pbase.com/haglunde

 

[UHan]

You just discover how limited is digital camera's dynamic range.

Obviously underexpose, the exposure time is snip:

Below is the EXIF info:

ExposureTime - 1/400 seconds
FNumber - 4.0000

Solution: Try SPOT meter dark stuff (the people or the trees) not bright stuff (the horizon or the snow).

Hope this helps

--
TVG riding a Train à Grande Vitesse. Life is fast. With G2 since Feb 2002.
My photo albums: http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=cronostvg

 

[UHan]

One more thing, the picture is not a total lost. It still can be salvaged

--
TVG riding a Train à Grande Vitesse. Life is fast. With G2 since Feb 2002.
My photo albums: http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=cronostvg

 

[Justme]

Yes, focus on something darker or better yet - on something not too light and not too dark.

One more thing, the picture is not a total lost. It still can be
salvaged

To see how, see this thread: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=3918520

--
TVG riding a Train à Grande Vitesse. Life is fast. With G2 since
Feb 2002.
My photo albums: http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=cronostvg

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

 

[Justme]

I've had this happen to me a few times too. When it's very bright (sunshine, afternoon) outside you might get away with focussing on the snow or something very bright but when the light is getting dim (late afternoon but still dull light outside) it can produce the results you see in the picture.

One more thing, the picture is not a total lost. It still can be
salvaged

To see how, see this thread:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=3918520

--
TVG riding a Train à Grande Vitesse. Life is fast. With G2 since
Feb 2002.
My photo albums: http://www.imagestation.com/member/?name=cronostvg

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

 

[mcveed]

Please excuse the lesson in basic photography. The light meter in your camera is a dumb machine. It has been programmed to make every image come out to be an average tone (18% reflectance). If you point the camera at a pure white sheet of paper it will adjust the exposure so that the picture comes out at 18% grey - in other words it will turn the white paper grey. If you point it at a pile of coal it will adjust the exposure so that the coal comes out 18% grey. You see, the camera doesn't know what it is being pointed at.

When you take a picture in the snow, where most of the image is snow, the camera meter adjusts the aperature and shutter speed to get the overall image to come out to 18% grey (the color of a grey card). So naturally the snow comes out grey instead of white. The solution is to overexpose the image to make the snow come out white. You may have to overexpose by 1, 2 or even 3 stops. At least with digital you can do it without wasting film, and you can see the results right away. Try it - you'll like it!!
Cheers
'It's all about light'
Don McVee
http://www.pbase.com/mcveed/gallery01