Camera Labs

Just got my new camera, an Olympus E-520 and I love it, but I had a problem today. I was trying to get pictures in afternoon sunlight, and they were turning out extremely dark. I was using manual mode, and adjusted the settings so that the compensation wad at 0. But it wouldn't come out. Tried using aperture and shutter priority modes, same result. But when I put it in automatic mode, the picture would come out fine. I was not standing in the shade or anything. I had to overexposed every picture to +3 to get anything close to a decent pic. Found this weird. Any suggestions?[/list]

Exposure compensation doesn't work in manual mode, I suspect that was your problem.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

I meant that I was adjusting the aperture and shutter speed so that the compensation was 0. In the same way that you would have a slower shutter speed in order to overexpose a picture...Without directly adjusting the exposure compensation

It could also depend on what you were shooting. DSLRs can only detect "reflected light" (light bouching towards the camera, from the subject), but can't detect the actuall amout of light falling on the subject. therefore, a subject that reflects more light (a white wall, previously I have had this trouble with sand & light coloured dirt), might be underexposed compared to something that reflect a normal amount of light. (i hope that made sens)

I read an article on this the other day, and I'll post it up if i find it.

another tip: use "spot metering" on the subject, just in case the background is blowing the picture out.

post up some pics as an example of what your talking about.

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No guts, no glory
Canon 5D mk II, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L USM, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS USM, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Sigma 24-60 f/2.8, canon 430EX II, 2x Yongnuo YN560, Cactus v4 triggers

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That's odd. If the meter is showing +/- 0 in A, S or M then the exposure should be very similar to what you would get in auto. Did the metering mode change between the ASM modes and auto?

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Graham
Flickr

can you post some pics that went wrong and the auto one with the exif data

Having trouble posting them here, so I posted them in flickr. Here is the link:
www.flickr.com/photos/brianjgoldsmith
They are the first two photos, also under the "Camera Test" set, and all the exif info is on there.
Thanks for looking at them and helping me, i appreciate it

I suspect that you have your metering modes set wrong. On your dark picture, the metering is set to Spot metering, whereas on the lighter picture it's set to Multi-Segment.

Have a read of the below topic, and see if it helps improve your picture's brightness.
http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtop ... t=metering

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Phil Diggle - Freelance Graphics Designer, Full Time University Student and Novice Photographer!

Camera Kit - Sony A200K 18-70 DT | Minolta 70-210 AF 'Beercan' | Sony 50mm f/1.8 | Jessops Flash Gun

http://www.phildiggle.co.uk | Flickr Photo Portfolio - Working Progress

Hi brianjgoldsmith,

I've moved this thread over to the Olympus section (the DSLRTips section is supposed to be for "The forum for the DSLRTips.com website!").

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Well, you realize that you were at F/22 for the picture in Aperture priority mode right? There is no reason for you to be at such a small aperture.

The camera should have compensated for that, but you should still go back and try taking the image at a normal F number.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

That was weird. in apeture priority with F/22, and his shutter speed was still 1/1250? I would imagine with such a small aperture, the shutter speed would have automatically been slower in apeture priority.

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

You'd think so. I've never had this problem when stopping down, thats for certain. Maybe he was using Spot-Metering and focused on a bright point?

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

That's what I thought too. But if that's the case, shouldn't one area in the photo look normal, instead of the entire photo looking severely underexposed?

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!