Problems taking indoor pictures.......

[ryanwood]

I seem to be having a problem taking indoor pictures. Here are my specs:

Camera ..... Digital Rebel
Flash ...... Speedlite 380EX
Lens ....... Cannon 15-55

It seems that when I am taking indoor pictures, a majority of them turn out very dark. I am using the [] Auto setting. Here are some examples of my problem:

http://www.woodfam.com/download/camera_dark.html

What am I doing wrong? I've tried stepping back and zooming in, but that doesn't seem to work. As you can see form the examples, some taken from the same distance are different shades. I know I can lighten them up in Photoshop (and have done that with several already), but I must not be doing some technique right? Can you help?

If you need more examples, please let me know. I've got plenty. :)

Ryan

Note: All pictures were reduced and had the text tag added, no other modifications were performed.

[Canuck]

Have you tried to set it to AWB, or to indoor setting, etc?
Have you also tried using flash as fill-in?
Is the exposure compensation on?
Is the needle in the middle?
I can think of several other ideas...

Cheers from England,
Canuck

[ryanwood]

Canuck wrote:
Have you tried to set it to AWB, or to indoor setting, etc?
Have you also tried using flash as fill-in?
Is the exposure compensation on?
Is the needle in the middle?
I can think of several other ideas...


On the [] Auto setting, it has AWB. Not sure how or if I can set those other things on the Digital rebel. As for the needle in the middle, my really old Canon A1 had that, but not this camera..... :)

[maderito]

Ryan,

Underexposure with flash photography seems to be a common experience using the 10D and Canon speedlights. In your shots, the ones with a central main object (one of your kids) seem to be the most underexposed. Try using partial metering mode (instead of evaluative metering) to get the main object better exposed. You have to leave full auto mode ([]) and go into P or one of the "creative zone" modes.

In general, I have found that the evaluative metering mode just doesn't work well with flash in low light settings. Even then, some tinkering with flash compensation is often needed. If you check the histograms after each shot, you'll know when you've got things set up right.

Read: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
Highly informative and essential background for understanding how the Canon E-TTL flashes operate and integrate with other Canon camera functions.

[RichardtheSane]

What aperture are the pictures taken at?

[mlfrancis]

As far as I am concerned, there is a problem with the Digital Rebel and flash photography using the internal and external flash.

I'm actually on my third DR and they all have the same problem. I carried the first back due to dark indoor shots. The second had other issues. The third, although seems to get more better exposed indoor shots than my first, it still gets very dark shots.

One thing to remember about flash photography is the camera doesn't determine the flash power until you fully press the shutter release. If you are in the habit of point, half-press, then recompose... you can shoot yourself in the foot. Whichever AF point was used during the half-press focus will be used to determine the flash output AFTER you fully press the shutter. If you do the recompose and the active AF point is now on something lighter or darker than what you originally focused on, the flash power will not be right.

Using auto the camera might use more than one AF point. In that case, somehow it uses the evaluative metering and factors the multiple points to figure out flash power.

Even with that said... I still think the Rebel has issues. I have a DR and 420EX flash.

Unfortunatly, the DR does not give you a flash compensation option (Come on Canon, firmware 2.0). Anywho, there is a hack that you can use listed around here somewhere. You can download 10d Remote from www.breezesys.com and connect the DR to your computer. You can then set the flash compensation up. I set mine up 1/3 stop and it seems to really help. This setting will only be used in P, AV, TV, and M. I was thinking about bumping mine to 2/3 but haven't done it yet.

Enough rambling. Unless you are doing the half-press and recompose, there isn't anything you are doing wrong; it is just the camera. Try the flash exposure compensation hack and use P and I think you will be more happy with the interior shots.

Oh, BTW, I moved up to a DR from a Canon G2 and I've got to say that the G2 is more reliable for interior shots.

Good luck.

[ryanwood]

Thanks for the info, I do half-click, then resize and take. I will experiment with NOT doing that.

BTW - I too upgraded from a G2 to the DR, and right now I'm questioning that decision....... :(

Ryan

mlfrancis wrote:
Oh, BTW, I moved up to a DR from a Canon G2 and I've got to say that the G2 is more reliable for interior shots.

[ryanwood]

I have updated the website with the info from the digital display:

http://www.woodfam.com/download/camera_dark.html

Also, I added a few more examples from my Father's D10, same problem...... :(

RichardtheSane wrote:
What aperture are the pictures taken at?

[toddb]

I shoot almost all my pics indoors. I use the 550EX Speedlite. I put the Sto-fen Omni-Bounce to diffuse the light a little more: Omni-Bounce link (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=89908&is=REG)

I always bound the flash off the ceiling or wall. This eliminates all those dark spots behind the subject. I don't know how well this will work for you flash since I only ever used the 550EX and it's very powerful flash so it works well for this. But since I found out how good the lighting is when the light is bounce off something compared to direct flash, I use this method unless I can't.