jay dougherty Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 There have been widespread reports of the new Canon EOS 10D having an overexposure problem. Apparently the meter in this new camera has issues. I recently got my hands on a 10D myself, and indeed the camera overexposes by anywhere from 1/3 to a full stop or more. What's more, the onboard flash causes consistent overexposure, as it seems to meter only from the center portion of the frame, even when the camera is set to matrix metering. Lots of newbies aren't noticing the problem, not being aware of the characteristics of a properly exposed picture. Example: http://www.pbase.com/supert/san_diego_zoo I would *wait* if you're planning to purchase this unit. Yes, you can ratchet down the exposure, but only 2 stops worth. I've seen cases where that's not enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xre Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 Jay, I must be one of those newbies you're talking about. Frankly, I don't see any difference in your examples and what I might expect, say, out of my EOS-3 shooting Provia under similar conditions. The majority of your examples are long scale pictures - bright sunlight w/ parts of the subject also in shadow. The meter has to make a decision on how to balance the tonality of the image, and makes it's best guess - which frequently is not exactly what you might choose in the same situation. For instance, let's look at this pic of a gorilla (http://www.pbase.com/image/14498851): you've got blown highlights, and solid blacks in the picture - indicating that you've used the entire scale your camera is capable of producing. The gorilla himself appears reasonably exposed, though perhaps a bit overexposed for your taste. What else do you expect out of a meter??? That it read your mind??? All it can do is make decisions based on the values presented it - it doesn't know anything about your subject other than luminance. If anything, this picture of painted dogs (http://www.pbase.com/image/14498926) appears slightly *under* exposed to my taste, as the tonality of the subject is muted, and muddy. BTW - in that pic of the gorilla above, you might notice that the face of the gorilla is not in sharp focus, but his butt, and the plants behind him are. This would indicate (well, to a "newbie") that perhaps you don't understand how to focus your camera and use depth of field? Perhaps *YOU* are one of the newbies???? :) In short, I don't see what you're talking about???? If you're solely relying on matrix metering for all things, you're asking for trouble... FWIW, I quite happily use matrix metering on my EOS-3 for 90% of the shots I take, but I've learned how my meter gets fooled, and I know when to switch to spot metering and manual exposure to make up for it.... Just my opinion. We've seen lots of these threads blaming a camera's meter for what turns out to be a user's misunderstanding of how to *use* that meter.... If you have better examples, please share them???? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 From what I've read, the 10D tends to give more exposure than the D60. However a major complaint of the D60 was that it UNDERexposed and to get the histogram to fill all the way up to the white end you had to give it +1/2 to +1 exposure compensation. Of course the D60 system makes sure you don't blow the highlights out. The 10D is supposed to be more "normal", i.e. it gives more exposure so the histogram gets filled. The downside of course is that there is a greater risk of blowing out the highlights. You can't have it both ways. If a scene exceeds the dynamic range of the sensor, something's got to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dougherty Posted March 20, 2003 Author Share Posted March 20, 2003 Let's get one thing straight: The pictures that I posted a link to are not mine. Thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tennyson Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 Sorry, but I'm going with David on this one.. I have a 10D my self and have seen no problems with it. I also see no problems with the photos you have shown.. don't forget that not only does it come down to personal preference, but also monitor calibration. Do not rely on the screen in the back of the camera. They are far too small to get a good representation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vsevolod_krishchenko Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 <i>Do not rely on the screen in the back of the camera. They are far too small to get a good representation.</i><br> Hey, how about looking at gistogram? It gives some exposure picture, and preview does not! (If you don't know this, you're really a newbie, sorry ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majid Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 Preview will give a histogram if you set the menu item "Review" (in the green section) to "On (info)". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tennyson Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 I must be a newbie because I have no idea what a gistogram is.. now if you mean histogram, you are quite right... But I was just refering to trying to look simply at the image and decide if the exposure is right or not, as not only can you change the brightness of it, but it will also look different depending on the angle you view it... I was trying to be helpful, but nevermind, you obviously know WAY more than I do about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vsevolod_krishchenko Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Oops, it's histogram, not gistogram, i'm sorry.<br> Then read this:<br> <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml">http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml</a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoyo_szeto Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Hi, I have a 10D and do not have the overexposure problem. yoyo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xre Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Jay, I apologize - did not realize they weren't your photos. Looking back on the link, I realize my mistake. Mea culpa. My comments still stand regarding my opinion of the pictures, and their relative exposures, etc, though. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tennyson Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Good link Vsevolod Krishchenko. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_morgan3 Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 Jay, i bought the 10D (and against my camera shop managers advice to wait) as i just had to see what all the fuss is about. i am testing the bejeezus out of it against my D60. so far, i only find that the AF is faster (but not leaps and bounds), and isn't any better than the D60 when set to center point only, (all 7 and you never know). the overexposure is definately a problem, and you really have to check the histogram after shots in good daylight. Canon will obviously update this camera to suit the needs based on complaints, so for now, the 10D goes back, and i'll wait for the improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dougherty Posted March 22, 2003 Author Share Posted March 22, 2003 I'm also getting rid of the 10D I acquired. I agree with the last poster entirely. The 10D leaves me completely nonplussed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erick_kyogoku Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 If this really is a problem that merits correction from Canon: perhaps the digital camera can be fixed via firmware? In such a case, selling the camera might be a bit hasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlund Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 Hasn't anyone here had a meter that was a little off? Calibrate, and go about your business. Respectfully, this isn't such a big deal, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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