Canon D-Rebel underexposing?

[SashasMommy]

I seem to have a problem with the Digital Rebel underexposing... the photo looks fine when viewed on the camera, but always is dark when put on the computer. I've tried adjusting my monitor, and I can't get them to match. I've also tried printing it and it prints dark, too. I've got the camera LCD screen on the lowest setting and it still looks much brighter than when it gets on the computer. Does anyone else have this problem?

[Hellashot]

Yes, it is a common thing with the Drebel including mine. I have no trouble getting the images to look good on my monitor and printed out using for the most part "auto fixes". The LCD makes the images look brighter than they actually are in part because you are often using the camera outdoors.

This topic has been asked several times on here before.

[ejwebb]

Same issue here - I think the camera default is conservative on exposure to prevent blown highlights. Try adding a little exposure compensation - like +2/3 or +1. You can review the histogram to see if the exposure is correct - much more reliable than the LCD. If you want to use flash exposure compensation you will have to download the hack, though. Once you get used to how the camera works this is a minor issue.

The other option is to shoot RAW - then you can adjust exposure after the fact if needed.

[PhotosGuy]

Have you looked at these?
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=52418

[tim]

Trust your histogram.

[FlipsidE]

Take a few minutes and read this (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml). Trust me, it's well worth the time. Learning how to read a histogram has made such a huge difference for me. I'm not a master at it yet, but I'm learnin!

I guess you could equate trusting your histogram to trusting your instruments in an airplane. No matter what the picture on the LCD may look like, the histogram will always tell you the truth.

FlipsidE

[Dante King]

I have found that setting a custom white balance is key for me and since I have got in the habit of doing this for all but the most candid of shots, my exposure is much better. As well shooting in raw (in all modes with the undutchables hack) is helpful as the digital negative is able to be manipulated to a large degree when somehting does go amiss.

[DocFrankenstein]

I have thought rebel to be underexposing, until I've looked at the separate histograms for RGB channels.

It actually exposes correctly and usually very accurately, to prevent blown out channels.

Cheers

[cmM]

i don't trust the LCD preview, on the Rebel, or the 20D. Histograms rock! the camera doesn't underexpose by itself. It does what we tell it to do :)
Also, you should calibrate your monitor too, that always helps.

[Jon]

All camera LCDs, not just the one on the DR, are notoriously misleading for judging exposure. Remember, their backlighting is designed to make it possible for you to read the screen in bright outdoor lighting conditions. As others have said - use the histogram for checking exposure, with maybe the blinkies as alerts.

[nitsch]

I will second all the histogram opinions its the only way to go. I have set the preview which pops up on the LCD after taking each picture to include the histogram and to be honest its all I bother looking at. I just have it flash up for 2 secs and I glance down and look at the curve and immediately know if its a good'un or not. If its too far to the left (underexposed) just a quick turn of the dial and fire off another shot.

[SashasMommy]

Thanks for all your help. I just bought the camera a couple months ago and took it on vacation. While I know how to use the manual settings, I shot mostly on the Landscape preset in the interest of time (didn't want to waste my friend's time by playing around with the camera too much.) I'll look into all your responses. I considered exposure compenation, but then I thought that if I did that, some of the shots might end up being over exposed and therefore not fixable. I thought maybe darker was the lesser of the evils, and that I could always just fix them later on the computer. Thanks again...

P.S. Sorry for posting a new thread when it's already been discussed. I should have done a search...

[Hellashot]

Same issue here - I think the camera default is conservative on exposure to prevent blown highlights. Try adding a little exposure compensation - like +2/3 or +1.

If you do what he suggests, be very careful. If you use green square setting and set for "over exposure" the camera might very well give you long exposures that cannot be used while handheld. Mine did that to me when I set the EV to +1/3 or +2/3.