burger Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Please help. I took some bird shots yesterday. The birds was in a Magnolia grove and it was a bit dark. I used a 40D and a 100-400L lens at 400mm. IS was on, ISO was set to 500, F-stop was f5.6 and speed was 1/60. Some of the shots was shot at ISO 600 and others that sat on top of the trees was shot at ISO 100. All of my photos (I took about 60 shots) came out totally over exposed - look at the example. My cameras exposure was set at 0. It somtimes happens with my 24-105L lens as well. I have two 40D bodies and it seems that it is just the one doing it. Any advice.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bueh Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 How did you meter and which mode did you shoot in? The picture is lighter than normal exposure but far from "totally over exposed"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_g10 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 It's kinda flat not overexposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danield Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 The result is normal - this is how the camera works. The camera meter will always calculate an exposure such that the picture is average gray - neither too bright nor too dark. This is how your picture came out. The camera has no way of knowing if the scene you shoot should be darker of brighter - it just calculates an average based on that scene. If you want your picture to be darker than average then you should use negative exposure compensation. This reading may be useful: http://www.photozone.de/light-metering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milton-chris Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Seconding Daniel D - this just needs a small amount of PP to be fixed - in Camera Raw some recovery, some contrast, and some vibrance would prolly do the trick, plus some capture sharpening. If you want, I'll give it a whirl this evening after work. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canfred Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I agree it seems a little flat rather than over here is the shot with just a small amount of level control and contrast. I think you need to get to know the camera. Manfred<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milton-chris Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 As it's just the one body 'doing it', have you checked every single setting in both of them, to make sure they are exactly the same? I've found in the past that disparities between bodies are often corrected by resetting both cameras by clearing all camera settings and then manually inputting whatever setting I want. Clear all camera settings is in one of the menus in the 40D. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_hall4 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Chris Newell beat me to it...You can even remove both batteries for a while to be sure. Also the image you post did not look over exposed to me. Maybe a little bright, but that seems to be from the meter try to get the dark colors to middle gray. If you can try both cameras at the same subject and same light and then compare. That should give you an idea. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken munn Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Boring bird, boring background, boring light, but there's not much wrong with the exposure - maybe a half stop over - nothing that couldn't be put right in RAW in about 5 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh_baker Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I agree with what others have said. If the soil was dark/black it dominates the scene. The meter would expose to get that to a mid tone grey, which it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
link Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Yes, it's a little overexposed. That is for jpeg. If you had shot RAW, it would be within the normal range and easily adjusted in your RAW converter. This just shows why it's a good idea to shoot RAW. If you shoot jpeg only, it's a good idea to review the images and adjust exposure accordingly for the next one, or bracket your exposures. There is very little exposure latitude when shooting jpeg and if you want a perfect exposure you'll usually have to work for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burger Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Thanks for all your help and advice, sometimes one's worring can play with your mind - thus I posted the question just to make sure. Again thanks. Ken Munn, thanks for your boring answer:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burger Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Thanks for all your help and advice, sometimes one's worring can play with your mind - thus I posted the question just to make sure. Again thanks. Ken Munn, thanks for your boring answer:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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