HELP: Problems with RebelXT's reflective metering

[arvin.07]

Hi everyone. I've just recently purchased a delta gray card to help assist me in finding the best exposure and for better auto color balance (yes, gray card is my preference, not white)

But on to my problem. When I tried metering the gray card using the camera, the meter wouldn't keep still. It would jump around between 2/3-1 whole stop. I've turned off my indoor ligts to use the daylight coming out of the window, but I'm still having the same probelm. I think this also happens during normal situations without a gray card, but I've not been able to notice.

The camera and gray card are both still, I tried using all three metering modes, and they gray card fills the entire frame.


Is there something wrong with my equpiment? I was contemplating sending it to Canon so they could look it up, but I hate not having a camera to take pictures for a while. It's not a serious drawback (its not my profession, just hobby), but I never know if my friends are going to do some fun thing or if it'll snow again where I'm currently living (college, they say it never snows down here, but yesterday it did...)

Also, is anyone else having this problem where their meter (RebelXT) just wouldn't make up its mind?

Thanks!

[Mark_Cohran]

If the lighting is constant, and the gray card is filling the whole frame (for evaluative metering) then the exposure values should not be changing.

What kind of results are you getting on your photos? Good? Hit or miss? The key is to note whether the light is changing or not. If not, you may have a metering problem. If the light is changing, i.e. partly cloudy conditions, the a change metering in normal. Of course, if you're getting good photos, the problem may not be significant enough for you to worry about.

Mark

[chris clements]

Affected by light coming in via the viewfinder?
What's important is the value the millisecond the shutter is pressed - do the histograms look OK?

The equipment is designed to take pictures: if they're exposed correctly(whatever the metering seems to be saying either side of the actual exposure) then you can have no complaint.

[kalmo]

Thats a real perquiliar(sp) problem, never had that with mine. and i like to use the grey card when I feel like having a bit more 'polish' to my picks. Are you keeping your eye on the viewfinder, silly, but it could be. I always find that my SLR problems are usually me, doing someting ridiculous!
????
Let us know...
K

[arvin.07]

INITIAL TESTS
Yes, I did some controlled tests, mainly indoors. Gray card and camera on stable/still surface. Light hitting the card was made so there was minimal brighter spots on the card.

First I tried with flourecent lighting and my desk lamp for illumination. Thought that the very quick flickering of the light was messing with the meter, so I waited till the next morning

By morning, I used only sunlight coming through the window. It was a clear morning with few clouds. The meter was still acting weird.


So basically, the card being metered from and the light source wasnt causing the problem. I'm pretty confident that my meter is somewhat miscalibrated or something.


OBSERVATIONS
Through my observations, the meter would not stay still for more than half a second. It would bounce around 1/3 stops back and forth, and sometimes in full stops - it's as if the meter couldn't make up its mind. It wouldn't even stay still when I tried finding the 'optimal exposure' (0 EV). And I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the exposure modes (evlauative, partial, or center-weighted) since the meter kept bouncing around no matter what (less bouncy in evlauative). Although the meter did bounce around, it never bounced more than 2EV back or forth, but thats still pretty bad...

COMPARISON TESTS
I thought that it was normal, but when I compared the metering to a friends Rebel 2000, the meter didn't bounce around like my Rebel XT did.

Well, you might argue that the Rebel 2000's metering system isnt as great (as it is 6 years old, about?) so I borrowed another friend's 20D (i luv it). But when I did the same tests, the meter didn't bounce around, and it was more accurate as well.



Everything else works on my RebelXT just fine. But I'm afraid that I can't rely on my meter and have to rely on bracketing even more. Does anyone have an explanation for all this? And do I have to resort to sending the camera to the Service Center?

[arvin.07]

Bump.. :)

Well, is there a way to recalibrate the meter without having to send it to Canon? Or would that just void the warrenty?

[Jon]

Bump.. :)

Well, is there a way to recalibrate the meter without having to send it to Canon? Or would that just void the warrenty?
If it's not holding steady under conditions where it should be, then recalibration isn't going to stop it jumping around. You'll need to send it in if it does this on regular scenes as well as on the grey card.