Canon FTb - picutures are dark

Equipment is Canon FTb, FD 50mm f1.8 or f1.4

no filter

Grey sky (bright sun wash).

People posed against this background.

Their faces are darker than with disposable camera.

Facial features disappearing.

Shots taken with "circle" for aperture over

meter needle. and Shots taken with "circle" top edge

touching meter needle.

Pictures are consistently darker than with

disposable camera.

Proper film speed set. Various shutter speeds, but

all above 60.

Help. and thanks.

( I new at 35mm manual picture taking, what am I missing here?

<p>

One note: When I check my battery with the "C"

switch, the needle is a good "two circles" above the index point. Maybe the meter needle is showing more light than is acutally available.

The reason for this is simple and is to do with the way the cameras

work.

<p>

I assume you used a similar film in each (e.g. 400 ISO colour print

film).

<p>

I assume also that you set the film speed correctly on the FTb - the

film speed marked on the film box should appear in green in the

little window in the shutter speed dial. It will be marked ASA - this

is just the same as ISO as far as you and I are concerned. You must

do this manually as the FTb does not detect what type of film you put

in.

<p>

Finally, I also assume you have the correct battery fitted and that

it tests correctly. For an unmodified FTb the correct battery is a

1.3v PX625 mercury battery or 1.3V replacement. The camera may have

been modified to take a 1.5v replacement. Exposures will be slightly

off if you use the wrong battery. This probably won't matter if you

use modern print film.

<p>

To test the battery, note the ASA seting. Set the film speed to ISO

100 and the shutter speed to 1/1000s. Move the meter switch (settings

'ON', 'OFF' and 'C') to 'C' and look at the needle in the viewfinder.

It should be just above the meter index - a square protrusion low on

the RHS. Reset the film speed to the film speed in the camera.

<p>

If all these are correct, then the reason is simple. The FTb takes an

average reading from the center section of the viewfinder, which is

indicated by the grey region in the viewfinder. If this is not

representative of the average brightness of your intended subject,

exposure will be wrong. I suspect that the sky was the main (or even

only??) element in this area when you took the photo.

<p>

Your disposable camera did better because it was pre-set to get a

reasonable exposure of normal subjects under typical daytime outdoor

conditions, such as those that existed.

<p>

To get a better exposure, fill the grey area with something the same

brightness as the intended subject. You could zoom in on it, move

closer to it (but don't refocus), or point the camera at the ground

near it. After you have set the exposure correctly for this subject,

recompose and shoot.

<p>

You should know that the FTb is not alone in being fooled by this -

most modern metered cameras will underexpose in this scenario.

<p>

See for example Kodak's website for some directions on taking better

pictures - these are valid for more or less any camera:

http://www.kodak.co.uk/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking/exposure/expos

ureMain.shtml