Digital limited contrast range?

[Bsmooth]

Maybe that title is incorrect and it should read dynamic range.Anyway heres the question.Ialways tried to have a great range in my pictures with film cameras.However I seem to keep running into blowing the highlights in my shots with my 20D,unless I underexpose my shots drastically.I always shoot in manual as I did with film and i try and focus on a middle toned object to set my exposure and then I shoot what I'm actually aiming at.I'd say about 40% of the shots have a nice histogram and the others show my little picture with the highlights blinking to show there overexposed.Usually I try and underexpose those particular shots to capture the shot ,however the darks seem to be underexposed.
Is there some sort of "dark" secret to consistantly get correctly exposed shots,or is it maybe I'm shooting pics that are just very difficult to get right.I don't think thats it because some of the shots iclude sky and that is usually too bright.
Any info would be gladly appreciated. Thanks!

[EOSAddict]

I read somewhere that digital generally has 5 stops of dynamic range...

Are you shooting RAW or JPEG?? As a relative newcomer to RAW I am finding you can get a lot more out of those extra 4 bits of data!

[Bsmooth]

I've tried shooting in both RAW and large jpeg.How does say print film and digital compare as far as range ? I do remember reading that slide film didn't have the range of print film somewhere,but digital seems more restrictive.Hopefully somehow I can figure this out with some help.

[EOSAddict]

I don't know the direct answer to your question but I understand neg film has a lot more exposure latitude than positive. I recently had problems capturing the dynamic range of a scene (into sun near sunset) and shooting RAW has allowed me to wonders afterwards.

[PhotosGuy]

You could try using a white sheet of paper to get the histogram reading right to adjust the exposure. The sky will almost always cause an exposure that's too low.
Gray card: Why your meter may be lying to you! (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54281)

Since you're using RAW, you could make a normal & dark conversion, then blend them in PS. There are several examples here:
Post Processing Tutorials List (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34606)

[Bsmooth]

Just wondered then,like I said before when doing film all I had to do was shoot a middle toned object such as a rock or something similar in the same light as my subject.Then I would use that same exposure and shoot away.How do you hold the exposure in the 20D,just keep holding the button half way down and refocus on my subject?

I had great success with that method in my film camera,just hope I can do the same with my 20D!

[Todd Jacobsen]

I read somewhere that digital generally has 5 stops of dynamic range...

Are you shooting RAW or JPEG?? As a relative newcomer to RAW I am finding you can get a lot more out of those extra 4 bits of data!

Because of RAW, digital histograms show 5 stops but one can actually get 7 stops (with recovery) via RAW manipulation.

[PhotosGuy]

I had great success with that method in my film camera,just hope I can do the same with my 20D! Personally, that's why I do 99.99% of my shooting on "M"! ;-) Life is SO much easier that way!