d60 underexposure in low light

[kentdayton]

Hello,
I'm having what I would call a significant problem getting good exposures in situations where light is low (even bright room light). Oddly, the camera gives good exposure in bright light.

Canon claims it's simply the nature of the beast, which I don't understand, or necessarily believe. It shouldn't matter, it seems to me, if I point my camera at a grey card in bright light or low light. The exposure level of the resulitng image should be the same.

Is anyone else having this problem? I can, of course, correct for it, but it messes with my intuition when shooting film. My eos 1-n, for example would give a me a very overexposed image if I treated exposing with the same quirks.

Input from anyone is appreciated. Thanks. -kd

[Ken Fong]

I am experiencing this problem in low light, but I was not sure if it was just my inexperience. In low light, I need to push it 1 stop, and with the 550EX, I need to boost the flash 2 stops (all in Program mode.) I would be interested in any firmware updates if that solves the problem.

[mikeg]

Ken Fong wrote:
I am experiencing this problem in low light, but I was not sure if it was just my inexperience. In low light, I need to push it 1 stop, and with the 550EX, I need to boost the flash 2 stops (all in Program mode.) I would be interested in any firmware updates if that solves the problem.

Amazingly, I have the same problem : I've to push 1 stop with my 550 ex...

[Ken Fong]

(Clarification) When I had to push the 550 2 stops, I was using a pocket bounce, which would explain some of the loss, but it was still not enough. Even without the bounce, it sounds like the same underexposure amount as Mike's description.

[gthorn]

I posted a similar complaint for my D30 some time ago. It came down to where the camera sets the average exposure to. If I took a picture of white paper in bright sunlight or indoors, the histogram would show all the pixels at 45% along the scale. That means that all the pixels average 45% exposure. To get a good picture indoors I need a higher contrasting composition. i.e a picture with very bright and very dark areas in it. Without this, the camera seems to have no point of reference as to what is bright and what is dark.

My Nikon 955 sets the average to 55% for a sheet of white paper so the pictures are brighter. It's a rubbish camera in all other respects though.

Graham

[sbkearne]

I have been having the same problem. Normally I shot ASA 100 or 200 . This works great for outdoor settings and bright lights but not with any flash I use. Recently I changed to ASA 400 and the problem was basically solved. I'd be interested if this helps you as it has me.

[sandyn]

I suffer similar problems with my D60. I have taken thousands of pictures to try and figure out what was happening. I came to the conclusion that under certain conditions, it is totally useless at metering---simple as that!!!!
I now use the levels for just about every important shot, or experience looking at the LCD display gives me a good idea if the exposure is correct. I have a strong suspicion that there was either a design fault or a yield problem with the D60. Reason----they were like hens teeth to find in the shops when it was in production, when the 10D came along, the D60 was dropped immediatly, now you can fine the 10D easily. I think the underexposure is a result of a design fault, so us poor mugs are stuck with a camera which is not really good enough to rely on if it's set to auto. I have had a EOS 650 and EOS 5. The D60 in comparison sometimes is shamefully bad.
I think Canon should come clean and offer an exchange for D60 owners. It really is just not good enough for a 'semi pro' camera.

[dadsgm]

The D60 is a great camera. Sure it will underexpose in low light (I keep mine on +1 or +1.5 in those conditions). I use the 28-135 IS USM and the 75-300 IS USM shoot at 100 to 800 ISO depending on the conditions and have had very few underexposed pictures and those were my fault not the cameras.

You have to learn the equipment and its idiosyncrasies and adapt. If you want near perfection you can have it for about $7000 in either a Canon, Nikon, or Kodak.