20D Settings help in AV mode.

[rrpruett]

I was shooting some baseball games this weekend and had my 20D set to AV mode and f/2.8 to blur the background. It was a very bright day out. The shutter speed was ranging between 8000 and 3200. After looking at most of the pictures they were a little over exposed. The exposure meter was reading right in the middle during shooting but the pictures were too light. I did check out the histogram during shooting and seen that the middle was too high but did not change to M mode at that time. It was easy to correct in PS, but I want to get the settings right to start with as to not have to bump in PS.

Should I just shoot in M mode and set the exposure and everything? I shoot all my night football games in M mode but thought I could get away with AV in the daytime. I like the AV mode because I do not have to adjust the speed based on more or less light and the direction I am facing with the sun. Any suggestions?

[Mark_Cohran]

f2.8 seems a bit big for an aperture in a daylight setting. Also, if I was using that setting on a long lens, I would be worried about too shallow a depth of field. There are many solutions to your problem, but mine would be to shoot at about f4 (using a long lens), and dial in about 1/3 - 2/3 negative exposure compensation to keep from clipping the highlights (expose to the right of the histogram but don't clip).

[robertwgross]

If you were shooting in Av mode (before changing to M mode), then what exposure meter were you reading? To my knowledge, there isn't one.

After the shot, you can see the histogram. Often, there are some fine details of overexposure that don't seem to be displayed fully on the histogram. They are hidden in the little horizontal line that extends from the main histogram "hump" over to the right edge.

Also, make sure that you don't have any flashing indicators, like aperture or shutter setting, in the viewfinder.

---Bob Gross---

[Jim_T]

I wouldn't shoot sports in M mode.. Ugh. Too cumbersome... Too slow for action shots...

If you want DOF, stick with Av and use exposure compensation to 'fine tune' the exposure... In bright daylight you'll also want ISO 100..

PS.. It's OK for the histogram levels to peak on the top of the display.. What you don't want is the 'haystack' going too far to the left or right sides of the display... If part of the haystack is past the sides then you've got exposure problems. Too far to the right indicates overexposed and too far to the left indicates underexposed.. If your shots are a bit overexposed then try adjust the exposure compensation so there's a gap between the right side of the 'haystack' and the right side of the histogram display....

[Kennymc]

Was the 8000 flashing... In AV mode set @ f/2.8 once the maximum shutter speed is reached over exposure will occur unless Cfn16 is set to 1...

[rrpruett]

All,

Thanks for the quick responses. This is what I like about this forum fast answers and lots of ideas. At some points in the shoot I did get the 8000 flash and at that point I went to f/4 or higher. However the background I was shooting in was not so great and I was trying to get as much blur behind the target as possible. You know how it is when you have chain link fences and lots of stuff going on in the background. So when I went to f/4 or higher it brought my speed down to a safe setting but I also got a better or worse if you want to call it DOF. I was at ISO 400 so I need to try to go down to 100 and see what that gets me. I am so use to shooting low light football and gym settings I forget to get my ISO down when I can. I did not go in and set my exposure compensation to -1/3 or -1/2 so I will also give that a try and I do not know what my C.Fn-16 is set at but I will check tonight, from the sounds of it, it is set to 0.

Bob, The exposure level indicator I am referring to is the one in the main view window. Of course in AV mode it will always be centered since it is adjusting the speed to get a 0 exposure. I did see some of the histogram details to the right after loading the shots in PS that I did not see when shooting on the camera histogram.

Once again the shots were not badly overexposed I just want to get the best I can out of the camera and learn as much as possible on how to make corrections on the fly.

[robertwgross]

Bob, The exposure level indicator I am referring to is the one in the main view window. Of course in AV mode it will always be centered since it is adjusting the speed to get a 0 exposure. I did see some of the histogram details to the right after loading the shots in PS that I did not see when shooting on the camera histogram.

That's what I thought might be going on. Confusion.

There is no exposure level indicator in the main viewfinder window!

You see the little scale with 0 in the center and a needle pointer? That is showing you your exposure compensation setting. Since you probably left exposure compensation set to 0, then it will always point to 0, no matter whether your scene is bright or dark.

You might want to re-read the part of the 20D manual about exposure compensation.

---Bob Gross---

[Todd Jacobsen]

All,

Thanks for the quick responses. This is what I like about this forum fast answers and lots of ideas. At some points in the shoot I did get the 8000 flash and at that point I went to f/4 or higher. However the background I was shooting in was not so great and I was trying to get as much blur behind the target as possible. You know how it is when you have chain link fences and lots of stuff going on in the background. So when I went to f/4 or higher it brought my speed down to a safe setting but I also got a better or worse if you want to call it DOF. I was at ISO 400 so I need to try to go down to 100 and see what that gets me. I am so use to shooting low light football and gym settings I forget to get my ISO down when I can. I did not go in and set my exposure compensation to -1/3 or -1/2 so I will also give that a try and I do not know what my C.Fn-16 is set at but I will check tonight, from the sounds of it, it is set to 0.

Bob, The exposure level indicator I am referring to is the one in the main view window. Of course in AV mode it will always be centered since it is adjusting the speed to get a 0 exposure. I did see some of the histogram details to the right after loading the shots in PS that I did not see when shooting on the camera histogram.

Once again the shots were not badly overexposed I just want to get the best I can out of the camera and learn as much as possible on how to make corrections on the fly.

Try using an ND filter with the lower apeture settings.

[liza]

I typically shoot sports as you do, wide open on Av to blur background, and at high ISO's to get a faster shutter. A fellow on the FM sports board suggested to me the other night that I shoot in M rather than Av at 1.8 (wide open) and at 1/500 to freeze motion. I had shutter speeds all over the place, and he said that this should give the exposure of my shots more continuity.
Do you shoot in RAW? That also helps a great deal when you have exposure issues.

[rrpruett]

I have not been shooting sports in RAW unless I am shooting some team shots or something that I want to mess with later. It takes too much space on the flash. I shoot about 200 shots per game depending on the number of clients plus it slows down the burst mode.

I did reread my manual and seen how to set the exposure be setting the power switch to half and adjusting the exposure. In M mode I can just adjust exposure with speed or aperture settings but in Av or Tv mode I had not ever done that, so now I know. I will give this a try next weekend. I do not have a ND filter but maybe I will pick one up and try that as well.

Thanks

[liza]

I shoot about the same if not more, and all in RAW. I just carry 4GB of memory with me at any given time! :)

[tim]

If you ever see 8000 in your viewfinder go to a lower ISO or smaller aperture, you have HEAPS of light, probably too much. Evaluative metering with 0EC should usually work ok.