Custom 'Safe' Mode - use with care

[excessnoise]

Just a word of warning to others who may be new to their 10D. I set the custom setting C.Fn.16 "Safety Shift" in TV or AV modes about 2 weeks earlier but forgot about it. I had set it with the logic that it might save me at times. Well I was in charge of taking my daughters wedding reception pics. Wedding pics were taken care of already. It was at Caesars Las Vegas in a big ballroom that was dimly lit. I was using my 28-135 IS lens most of the time. I turned off the IS as I've had problems with it before in dim light but I forgot about my custom setting. I had the aperature opened all the way (f/3.5-4) and I was in TV mode so I could keep my speeds up so as not to blur. The camera kept overriding and setting shutter speeds around 1/4 to 1/2 sec. Needless to say approx. 85% of the pics were blurred even using tripod. Since I don't have wedding experience, things were moving too fast to take time and fiqure out what was going on (and no 2nd camera). It was hard being "father of the bride" and trying to take as many pics as I could. If money wasn't a issue I would have had this taken care of too but the wedding was $$$ enough.

[toddb]

The first month I had my 10D I had somewhat of the same problem, except the last time I shot I left it on ISO 1600. I then shot in high noon on a sunny day. It looked fine in the lcd, but when I got home, every pictures was really grainy.

I think you have to go through this at least once before you teach yourself to go over all settings before shooting. Now that I've been shooting with this for a couple months, I can kind of guess the settings are wrong if for example my shutter speed seems a little fast for the lighting.

[scottbergerphoto]

excessnoise wrote:
Just a word of warning to others who may be new to their 10D. I set the custom setting C.Fn.16 "Safety Shift" in TV or AV modes about 2 weeks earlier but forgot about it. I had set it with the logic that it might save me at times. Well I was in charge of taking my daughters wedding reception pics. Wedding pics were taken care of already. It was at Caesars Las Vegas in a big ballroom that was dimly lit. I was using my 28-135 IS lens most of the time. I turned off the IS as I've had problems with it before in dim light but I forgot about my custom setting. I had the aperature opened all the way (f/3.5-4) and I was in TV mode so I could keep my speeds up so as not to blur. The camera kept overriding and setting shutter speeds around 1/4 to 1/2 sec. Needless to say approx. 85% of the pics were blurred even using tripod. Since I don't have wedding experience, things were moving too fast to take time and fiqure out what was going on (and no 2nd camera). It was hard being "father of the bride" and trying to take as many pics as I could. If money wasn't a issue I would have had this taken care of too but the wedding was $$$ enough.
If in fact you were in Shutter Priority Mode (Tv), then it seems that the following happened: the camera opened up the aperture as wide as it could to try to meet the demands of your shutter speed and still maintain adequate exposure; when it did that and the in camera meter still read under exposure, it slowed your shutter speed to give adequate exposure. If it had left the shutter where you set it to stop motion(you didn't say what speed you set) you wouldn't have gotten any picture, or a seriously underexposed one. You wouldn't have done any better with Cfn.16 turned off. Your options in this situation are: using a higher Iso and accepting more noise, using flash, having your subjects remain absoloutely still while taking the picture using a tripod, and using a lens with a wider maximum aperture like the 50mm f/1.4. IMHO your best bet in shooting indoor receptions in dim light is to use an off camera flash on a flash bracket using the Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord 2. It works with Canon dedicated flash units. Using the flash on a bracket creates an angle between the flash and your subject, giving your pictures more depth , less washed out look, and less red eye.

[excessnoise]

Thanks for the replies,
I've had trouble day one with this camera in low light situations. In this case I did use my 550 flash and I had the iso @800, sometimes I tried 1600 but I was trying to stay away from that due to higher noise (grain). (if you've ever tried to any cloning, etc in Ps @ 1600, it doesn't work very well).
I ended up using my tripod as a monopod to try and eliminate as much movement as possible. With a film camera I probably would have been fine with iso 400 film due to films greater latitude. Anytime indoors with this 10D, I have to have it set to 800-1600. This is one of the reasons I sent it back to Canon but they say its within specs. I did use my 50 f/1.4 some of the time. I still think the pics would have come out better without the override since I was using flash. I'm very frustrated with this camera in low light, otherwise I love it. It will just take some time to learn the characteristics of this equipment.

[scottbergerphoto]

excessnoise wrote:

Thanks for the replies,
I've had trouble day one with this camera in low light situations. In this case I did use my 550 flash and I had the iso @800, sometimes I tried 1600 but I was trying to stay away from that due to higher noise (grain). (if you've ever tried to any cloning, etc in Ps @ 1600, it doesn't work very well).
I ended up using my tripod as a monopod to try and eliminate as much movement as possible. With a film camera I probably would have been fine with iso 400 film due to films greater latitude. Anytime indoors with this 10D, I have to have it set to 800-1600. This is one of the reasons I sent it back to Canon but they say its within specs. I did use my 50 f/1.4 some of the time. I still think the pics would have come out better without the override since I was using flash. I'm very frustrated with this camera in low light, otherwise I love it. It will just take some time to learn the characteristics of this equipment.
Now you have me confused. The exposure of a foreground subject is controlled only by the flash in flash photography. The shutter speed and aperture control the exposure of the background. The distance the flash will carry is also dependent on the aperture. The larger the aperture (smaller f number) the farther the light will carry. Any subject in the foreground should be frozen by the flash as it fires faster then 1000th of a second. You shouldn't need to shoot at ISO greater then 400. If your foreground subjects are within your flash's distance range for a given f stop (Distance=Flash Guide Number/f stop) your subjects should be nailed. If your subjects are blurry then you have a focus problem, the subjects are too far away, or your flash is not set correctly or functioning properly.

[excessnoise]

scottbergerphoto wrote:
excessnoise wrote:


Now you have me confused.
Oh NO! One of us is enough.
I truly appreciate all/any help. I suspect it is most likely user error.

The blur is not focus but movement. Many pics looked as if I took pics of ghosts (you can see thru them). I'm confused I guess, in that if I set correct exposure, I thought the flash would auto adjust for fill and stop any movement like you stated. But here the flash would go off, and the shutter would just stay open for what felt like an eternity. I would think that the flash would be enough light to expose properly, thus closing the shutter. ?? What little I've shot indoors with this camera, I've noticed that the flash has NO effect on the shutter speeds. I could see that if I was in Bulb but not in a "creative" mode. Maybe I just don't fully understand how this camera works? I probably should try full auto just to see how it reacts.

[scottbergerphoto]

Flash photography is really like taking two pictures at once and overlaying them on top of one another. First the shutter opens and the flash takes one picture of objects within its range and stays on long enough to get adequate light reflected back off the subject as long as you are within range. This takes less then 1000th of a second. Second, the camera takes another one with a reading based on the overall lighting and the shutter now closes. The result is the combination of the two. In the situation you are describing the shutter opens, the flash goes off to get the subject (nearground) and then the shutter closes after it has stayed open long enough to get the background. In this situation you are not really doing flash fill because the flash is providing most of the light for the subject. It will only work if the camera is on a tripod and the subjects are motionless. This is "Slow Sync" flash, not fill flash. In fill flash there is a significant amount of ambient light and you are trying to "fill in" some shadows or throw some light on eye sockets. You actually reduce flash output in fill flash 1-1and2/3 stops. In situations where the ambient lighting is giving you shutter speeds less then about 1/60 of a second, I suggest you switch to program mode or manual and set a shutter speed of at least 1/60th of a second. The in camera meter will show under exposure. Ignore it. It only means that the background will be underexposed. Remember, the flash will only light the foreground. If you hope to capture the background as well, you sacrifice the ability to freeze movement. The same ambient light that lights the background is lighting your subject after the flash goes off and the shutter remains open. That reflects off your subject and is recorded on your picture as blurr. And yes, disable CFn. 16 when using flash.