Shooting manual washes a lot of stuff out

Hiya! I'm still quite a rookie with photography, and I've started recently taking a lot video material. My camera is EOS 700D.

I'd like to shoot manual, as for every clip I like to set manually framerate, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance. Even though I try to set these best to fit every scene, for some reason the manual setting absolutely washes a lot of information out. If I switch to just about any other mode, be it Av, Automatic etc, much of the colors get corrected. Can anyone explain why is this happening. Here is an example:

Image 1: Manual mode with all the settings done

Image 1 scopes

Image 2 Av mode

Image 2 scopes

So as you can see the difference is drastic. I'm doing color correcting in post production and as you can see the first image is so washed out that even if I start to bring the high tones down, there's just so much information lost that it will never be as good as what I have shot with Av mode.

What is the camera doing here because the colors clearly are corrected in some way in any other but manual mode? I've tried to change all the aforementioned manual settings to just about anything, plus I've tried to use awb and auto iso settings, plus I've tried playing around with the picture settings (the wheel icon with six bars). Changing those settings do give a slightly different result, but nowhere near to what I can get with any other mode.

Greatly appreciate all the knowledge you guys are spreading here. Thanks!

ToniOnatsu wrote:

Even though I try to set these best to fit every scene, for some reason the manual setting absolutely washes a lot of information out.

Toni,

The same thing was happening to me. I recently started using Av mode, and I'm getting much better pictures.

Steve Thomas

Are you watching your meter when you set up the shot? You want to have the meter pretty well zeroed out as a starting point. If the meter is toward the right, you will get what you have shown us. Toward the left and things will go dark.

One of the tricks with manual is knowing that although you have total control of all your settings, the available light you have (and your camera's intrinsic limitations) still have ultimate control. For instance, if you want a lot of depth of field, you'll have to set your aperture to a higher number. But this limits the amount of light getting to the sensor, so then you have to compensate somehow, maybe with a slower shutter speed or higher ISO. It's a dance, and often a compromise to get what you want and keep the meter where it needs to be.

Yes. The meter is a starting point, especially for a beginner. And metering mode matters a lot, which I failed to mention.

Ashley I am confused all three of my cameras T6 80 and 90D have spot metering . What do you mean by not supported? Or did I misread something? Thank you.

Thank you I swore choosing spot meter on my T6 was an option but haven't used it forever, and now with your wonderful explanation I see on the 90D there is a spot meter mode but a limited one, Thank you for the explanation.

ToniOnatsu wrote:

Hiya! I'm still quite a rookie with photography, and I've started recently taking a lot video material. My camera is EOS 700D.

I'd like to shoot manual, as for every clip I like to set manually framerate, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance. Even though I try to set these best to fit every scene, for some reason the manual setting absolutely washes a lot of information out. If I switch to just about any other mode, be it Av, Automatic etc, much of the colors get corrected. Can anyone explain why is this happening.

Capt. Obvious: "Your manual settings overexpose the scene, the auto settings don't"

Pay attention to what the auto mode is choosing for shutter/aperture/ISO and compare to your manual choices.  Or pay more attention to the meter scale as you make your settings.  You'll have to either choose a combination of shorter shutter speed, smaller (higher f-number) aperture, and/or lower ISO.