G5 issue - shutter speed way high causing dark photos?

[NinjaMoses]

Hi everyone,

Found this forum while searching for an issue I'm having with my G5 at the moment. Looks like a great forum, have already learnt a few things about the camera I didnt even know about.

Just wondering if anyone has any idea what could cause the problem I am having....

On bright/sunny days in auto/landscape/p modes etc (basically anything where the shutterspeed is automatic) photos taken with the bright blue sky as a background are extremely dark (to the point of being pitch black if you try and take one of the sun/sky directly.

Checking the photos afterwards shows the camera is using a very high shutter speed (1/800 plus) for these shots which I'm pretty sure is whats causing the issue (I'm a bit of a photo newby so I hope I got this right). Using TV mode and setting the shutter speed manually the photos are perfect. Also using the camera in any setting apart from bright/sunny days is perfect regardless of mode also (ie. indoors, away from the sun, night, flash etc).

Any ideas what could be wrong with it and if its going to be expensive to fix?
I can upload a sample photo with exif data if it would help at all.

In auto mode photos taken away from the sun seem to be about F4 and 1/60 while photos that include the bright sky are F4 and 1/800.
White balance and ISO speed don't seem to make a difference, even with them set to Auto in TV mode the photos are still perfect. The only difference I can see is the shutter speed....

Thanks heaps,
Kris
PS: I'm a bit of a newby with the manual modes so hopefully what I have written makes sense to someone :)

[NOsquid]

I don't think anything is wrong, it's the cam's meter compensating for the bright sky and averaging everything out. There's a more complex to metering and some percent of everything being gray if you feel like looking it up. Point the camera away from the sky (at the subject), press the shutter halfway to lock the exposure and then recompose to include the sky in your picture however you want. Everything other than the sky should come out better, but the sky will be bright and whitish, not a pretty blue. For close ups/portraits you can use the flash on sunny days too.

[rmford]

k, in a nutshell, there's three ways to control how bright your pictures are: Shutter speed, Aperture, and ISO.

In auto modes, the camera detects how much light is in the scene, works out appropriate settings based on that, and then takes the picture. If you have a really really bright thing in the scene (say the sun, or the sky), the camera's going to try set the settings to account for that, which is why everything else is dark.

the reason it'd be working on Tv mode is because the camera won't automatically adjust ISO, and there's only so far you can push the aperture.

If you're taking photos of someone against a bright sky, you can do one of a few things:

Make the flash fire. This'll boost the light on your subject.
Use the recompose trick like NOsquid said.
Change how the camera checks the light in the scene. It'd be called metering in the manual, or metering mode. If it's got 'spot' metering, use that, cos it'll meter for whatever you point the middle of the viewfinder at.
Work out the exposure manually. That'll take a lotta practice, but it's the most rewarding.

you might get some odd looks taking pictures of people during the day with the flash on, but they should turn out better.

[NinjaMoses]

Thanks for the replies guys but I am pretty sure there must be something wrong with the camera internally still. I have done a reset of the settings back to factory incase I changed something by accident but its still happening.

I use it mainly just for happy snaps so the majority of its life its just been kept on auto mode and it never used to do this. In auto mode I don't believe you can even change the metering mode it uses etc.

I just went outside then and took a few photos all on auto mode.
The first one was angled towards the ground as you can see and its fine.


http://members.westnet.com.au/krism/test1.jpg

The second one I aimed slightly higher with it focusing just at the top of the fence. As you can see that photo didnt turn out so well.

http://members.westnet.com.au/krism/test2.jpg

Its almost as if the more blue sky there is in the photo the darker it will be.
Out the front of my house looking down the street its even worse still.

http://members.westnet.com.au/krism/test3.jpg

I have taken hundreds of photos around the house like these shots before in auto mode and I can guarentee it never used to be like that.
I was hoping it was just going to be a setting or something I changed by accident but the more I look into it the more it looks like something is stuffed big time. :(

cheers,
Kris

[rpolitsr]

Hi NinjaMoses

I think you may have a problem with the metering system analyzing image #3.

Things are not too bad ??? though because image #1 looks normal and #2 is almost what you can expect from full auto.

Some time ago I posted in other thread:

I am not a fan of ‘removing batteries to see what happen’ but it has sometimes worked.

There was a report of a Pro1 doing weird things with Auto White Balance until the date battery was replaced so you may check or replace the small date battery. . .

On the quoted thread there were no further reports, so we don’t know if the OP solved his problem or not.

If a weak date battery affected white balance can also affect the metering system, so I would repeat here: remove the main battery, be sure it is fully charged, replace the small date battery, it is not expensive and you will find it in the local stores and repeat your test.

Just to be sure, set the ND filter to on and off several times in the menu and leave it in the OFF position.

If this is of no help, you are ready to call to the Canon Service unless someone else post a known solution.

Let us know your progress.

Good luck.

[NinjaMoses]

Thanks mate. I will give that a shot and will let you know.

Stupid question time - where exactly is the date battery on the G5? Cant find the manual at the moment and google is giving me much luck either.

[NinjaMoses]

Nevermind I found the date battery (its the little pull out slot in the main battery compartment if anyone else wants to know). Ive got the camera charging now and will get a replacement date battery when I go to the shops later.