30D and Exposure

[Ryoichi]

Hello Forum:

I'm using a 30D w/ the EF-S 17-55.
I've noticed that the 30D does not accurately expose images as well as my Olympus C-765 Point-and-Shoot on the P, Av, Tv modes. On the Manual mode, if I tweak the aperture, exposure value, white balance, and shutter speeds correctly, I can obtain an image that is as good or better than the Olympus (but it takes a lot of trial and error).

For example, on the auto mode of the Olympus, if I took a photo of a brick building framed by a blue sky, the photo will turn out right the first time. With the 30D, on auto mode, or Av or the Tv modes, the image will be underexposed or overexposed. Getting a similar result w/ the Olympus requires me to use the Manual mode on the 30D.

Therefore, for candid shots, and other shots that require no prep work on the camera, the Olympus delivers better image quality in sunny, daylight conditions w/ lots of contrast.

Any thoughts on this matter? Perhaps I'm using the wrong setting on my 30D.

I'm currently using:
"Standard" picture style. (I tried Faithful and Neutral)
Color Temp: 5200K
ISO speed: 100 or 200 when outdoors.
White Balance: "daylight" when outdoors in sunny conditions
Metering Mode: Evaluative mode
Exposure comp: "0"

Thanks,
Ryoichi

[lungdoc]

Would be really helpful if you could post pics with Exif intact. Otherwise we're kind of guessing. Offhand I would have thought maybe you were inadvertently in spot metering mode or perhaps adding or subtracting EC by mistake (easy to move rear dial) - but sounds from your setting info that that isn't it. Usually if a camera error it should be consistently over or underexposing, not a mixture. This doesn't seem right - a 30D in any auto-metering mode should perform as well as a P&S and should meter correctly in MOST scenarios, though clearly sometimes EC is needed e.g. bright or dark subject etc.

Is it possible to test another body (camera store? friend?) and ideally another lens as well?

[PhotosGuy]

Try this & see if it helps: Need an exposure crutch? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89123)

[Ryoichi]

Lungdoc and Photoshuy, thanks for the info. Will do some more experimenting.
I'll try a different lens and shoot different subject matters. Today's shots might have been an anomaly or "user error" on my part.

[Ursie]

I've found that the 30D underexposes consistantly at 1/3 to 2/3 stops. If I set the apurture and shutter speed so that it's over the midline by that amount, I'm usually getting a properly exposed image, (in manual mode, by the way)

[Ryoichi]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. After further experimenting, I'm getting consistently better image quality w/ the 30D over the C-765. I occassionaly bump up the EV by 1/3 and I sometimes use spot metering as well.
I noticed that the C-765 applies a certain amount of "contrasting" to juice up the photos but results in noisy artifacts. The 30D on the other hand delivers extremely clean images.
R