RAW images coming out very dark ...

[DionM]

Hi all,

Just got my 20D and have been experimenting.

One thing I've noticed is that the RAW images are VERY dark. I generally have to whack the brightness up to about +1.3 or so for it to be close to "as-shot".

This only seems to happen in RAW mode ... in JPG it is fine. I've also tried two lenses (18-55 and 50mm f1.8) and it happens on both.

Is this normal behaviour? I'm using CPP 1.5.

[gramps]

I have noticed the same thing but only when shooting in very low light conditions......what are the lighting conditions when you are shooting?

[DionM]

Thanks for the reply. Bright sunlight is what I was shooting in!

This is some macro stuff, before (as-shot, just converted to JPEG in CPP 1.5) and after (with about +2 of RAW brightness adjustment). I resized them in Photoshop.

Before:
http://www.fotos-files-forums.net/uploads/Misc_Photos/Dark_20D/IMG_0069_no_brightness_resized.jpg

After:
http://www.fotos-files-forums.net/uploads/Misc_Photos/Dark_20D/IMG_0069_resize.jpg

[gramps]

I'm just getin the red x on your 2nd pic.............

[PacAce]

Hi all,

Just got my 20D and have been experimenting.

One thing I've noticed is that the RAW images are VERY dark. I generally have to whack the brightness up to about +1.3 or so for it to be close to "as-shot".

This only seems to happen in RAW mode ... in JPG it is fine. I've also tried two lenses (18-55 and 50mm f1.8) and it happens on both.

Is this normal behaviour? I'm using CPP 1.5.

That doesn't make any sense at all. If you are getting dark images shooting RAW, then you will also be getting dark JPEG images shooting the same scene using the same set of exposure settings. After all, the JPEG starts out life as a RAW image before it gets converted to JPEG and written to the CF card. Maybe it's the raw converter you are using. I'm not familiar with CPP 1.5. Did you mean DPP 1.5? Have you tried using EVU to see if it is, in fact, the camera as you say, or if it's just the raw converter?

[DionM]

Hi guys,

First - I fixed the file. FTP fell over halfway thru.

Second - I am using Digital Photo Professional (sorry, not CPP ..) as supplied with my 20D. Version 1.5. Thru the viewfinder it appears nice and bright, plus on the LCD screen.

[PacAce]

Hi guys,

First - I fixed the file. FTP fell over halfway thru.

Second - I am using Digital Photo Professional (sorry, not CPP ..) as supplied with my 20D. Version 1.5. Thru the viewfinder it appears nice and bright, plus on the LCD screen.

You really can't use the LCD screen to judge the brightness or the darkness of the image because it doesn't always show an accurate image of the picture taken. Your best bet is to use the histogram to guage exposure.

[bgmoore]

the metering is about right. Maybe a little under. You are shooting a white flower in very bright sunlight with a dark background. Is the 1/8000 correct? When the camera exposes for the flower everything else is dark. When you processed it in CPP you blew out all the details in the flower. If you really want the background to show you could do a merged image by processing the raw file two times, one exposed for the flower and one for the background. Or you could try soemthing like the shadow/highlight tool in Photoshop CS or even a curves adjustment.

[Hellashot]

What other settings are you using? ISO, Av, filter? To shoot a bright flower you'd probably want to use the lowest ISO you can with the smallest appeture that'll give you a more normal exposure time ~ 1/250 sec.

[DionM]

Hi guys,

Yeah the flower one isn't a good example; I have other which are just "happy snap" type ones. I'll try and post them later. I am shooting ISO 100, Av, no filter.

[meow]

How to you convert them? Cold it be that you convert linear by mistake or have changed the gamma?

[DionM]

Just converted using the default settings in DPP. But they're dark in the RAW preview, ie before any conversion.

[meow]

Sorry, I misunderstood. :p

[gmitchel]

How to you convert them? Cold it be that you convert linear by mistake or have changed the gamma?

Yes. You need to make sure the checkbox for Linear is not selected. Otherwise, you need to apply a correction to the images.

Linear RAW images have gamma 1.0. Images on the Mac or PC use gamma 1.8 or 2.2.

Cheers,

Mitch

[tonyw3026]

I have noticed exactly the same thing that DionM first mentioned and it is the same on my 300D and 20D.
The JPEG on the camera screen looks fine but the RAW is always too dark when I open the preview in Camera RAW. In bright light conditions I always have to increase the exposure by about +1, (assuming the highs are not already clipped) and in low light conditions it can be as much as +2 to +3.
I know the JPEG's have been processed but why should the RAW always be so dark?

[PacAce]

I have noticed exactly the same thing that DionM first mentioned and it is the same on my 300D and 20D.
The JPEG on the camera screen looks fine but the RAW is always too dark when I open the preview in Camera RAW. In bright light conditions I always have to increase the exposure by about +1, (assuming the highs are not already clipped) and in low light conditions it can be as much as +2 to +3.
I know the JPEG's have been processed but why should the RAW always be so dark?

Have you tried turning down the brightness of the camera LCD screen so that it's matches the raw image more closeely?

I'll say this one more time...you really can't use the image on the little camera LCD screen to judge the exposure of a shot. In bright sunlight, the LCD will tend to look dark and washed out so your tencency will be to brighten it up. When working in the dark, the LCD will appear to be very bright so you will end up turning down the brightness.

[tonyw3026]

OK. forget I even mentioned JPEG or the camera screen and I will rephrase my question.

Why do the RAW images look so dark and need an increase in exposure when I open them in Camera RAW? Even the evenly lit shots taken in bright conditions need up to +1 before they look right.

[jylitalo]

Just got my 20D and have been experimenting.

One thing I've noticed is that the RAW images are VERY dark. I generally have to whack the brightness up to about +1.3 or so for it to be close to "as-shot".

This only seems to happen in RAW mode ... in JPG it is fine. I've also tried two lenses (18-55 and 50mm f1.8) and it happens on both..

This starts to sound interesting. My shots have been mainly taking in bad conditions (christmas concerts, glass houses, etc.) in northern Europe, where the sun is rare luxury (it comes up between 9am and 10am and goes away between 3pm and 4pm). When I've tried to start working with RAW images, I've usually been forced to push EV down to between -0.5 and -1, if I want to get highlights tuned down so that overexposured areas would completely disappear from Bibble LIte (http://www.bibblelabs.com/) preview window (or at least would be limited to lamps and other obvious spots).
Then again, partial overexposure on secondary targets is something that sometimes be accepted, if we want to keep our main target properly exposed. So far I've only done these experiments on 20D with 50/1.8, 28-80/3.5-5.6 (already replaced with better glass, but ...) and 70-200/4. So far I've just considered that to be result from nasty conditions ("night time" photography, shooting indoors, glass houses with dim lights, etc.) and/or wrong metering mode for given task.
Downside on that EV-1 is that histograms usually gets lean on dark side, so I guess I should start to learn to walk on that thin line between overexposure warning and real overexposure that others might comment....

[Hellashot]

I compare post processing digital images to film developing. If you want images to come out good right out of the camera - get a compact digital camera. As long as you can be happy with images after you've post processed them, why worry? Digital photography is making huge leaps but it's not perfect yet.

[Steven M. Anthony]

This is akin to asking if it's plugged in... but are you sure you don't have some negative EV compensation dialed into your camera? I've focused so much on shutter, f value and composition that I've missed the fact that I had dialed in some compensation for one thing or another and had forgotten to reset it to zero...