Picture turns out darker than it is on LCD

[n9505605]

Hi All,

I have taken some pictures in the dark without any flash. I have set my shutter speed to 6 and 8sec and f/2 to 2.2. The picture looks cool and bright in the LCD, but when I download the pictures into my PC, it turn out so dark that you can't tell what it is.

My settings are below:

ISO: 50
f/stop: 2.0 to 2.5
shutter: 6 to 8sec
exposure: manual
focus: auto
compensation: nil

Does it happen to you too?

Thanks,
Boshala

[wpope]

When you say the pix look OK in the LCD, do you mean
when you playback the images from the memory or do
you mean while you are shooting or right afterward?
Also, tell us if you are using RAW or JPEG. I personally
have not see this. I have taken quite a few night shots
and they look good both on the LCD and the PC. If you
are shooting RAW mode mabe something is going wrong in
the conversion. If you are using RAW, try shooting some
test shots using JPEG.

Woody :p

[n9505605]

Thanks for your respond, Woody.

First of all, What I meant is that right after I took the picture, the image looks fine in the LCD when I replay it. I have checked the brightest control and it's already set to the lowest setting. The only thing I could think of is the ISO speed. I was using ISO 50 when shooting. I will try other ISO setting in the dark again to see if any difference.

But I just find it kind of weird that the picture didn't turn out exactly what it appears on the LCD... all I see is almost complete darkness.

Thanks,
Bosh

[mpkirby]

How old is the monitor?

Over time, monitors will darken. THe LCD on the canon camera is supposedly calibrated to be roughly equivalent of a "modern" monitor. Your milage will vary though. I've found that images displayed on my Sun monitor, are very dark, where the PC monitor, it looks good.

Technially, you need to gamma correct the monitor. If you bring the image into photoshop, and auto-level, do things change much?

Mike

[Whistlepig]

Here's something I've found with the swivel LCD display.
If I'm looking at it straight-on with the LCD parallel with my face, the picture looks brighter than it does on my monitor. However, if I tilt the LCD a little bit up or down the picture gets a bit darker and the colors a bit more saturated which more closely matches my monitor.

Try it with the camera hooked up to your computer.
Take a picture and transfer it to your computer. With the same picture on your monitor as well as in playback on the G1 see if you can find "the angle" that gives a closer match.

Good luck,

--Eric

[robertmealing]

Are you using a Mac? What program are you viewing the photos in?

If you are importing into photoshop, its possible that you are seeing a shift in colorspace. I have a Mac, and use Photoshop 6. My images always open darker in Photoshop then when viewing them with browser utilities, or from the LCD. I have my monitor and printer calibrated, but the colorspace used by the camera seems more like sRGB than Adobe98. sRGB has a more limited gamut, and is oriented towards PCs, which have a darker gamma.

If the digital information is there, using Curves or Levels in Photoshop will usually bring it back up to the brightness you are expecting.

-robert

[n9505605]

Thanks Guys.

I think you are right about the angle of the LCD and the Monitor too. Since then, I have changed the monitor and corrected the gamma... but this is quite a subjective thing since I'm the only one who looks at it... is there a standard colour temperature for the monitor? if so, what is it or what should be the standard settings for the 3 colours (red, blue and green)? I have started playing around with it becos my printer prints doesn't really match whats on the screen.

Thanks,
Boshala

[Kevin M]

Checking your monitor by eye can be reasonably accurate.
First check brightness by changing your desktop colour to black. Then with the monitor size control reduce the desktop size so it can be distinguished from the background. Then adjust the brightness until the background and desktop almost merge. This should be your standard brightness setting.
Then change the colour of your desktop to r128 g128 b128 (middle grey) and see if it is in fact a neutral grey without any blue,green or pink tinges. If, with adjustment, you can achieve as near neutral grey as possible, your monitor should be good enough to work with for anything but the most demanding pro output.