400D - keeps using flash in broad daylight?

[Scooby-Bullet]

Hi - any advice gratefully accepted. 400D in auto mode, taking a general view across gardens at a wedding venue in bright conditions - the flash came on and the end result is a really dark picture - values are 1/500, av = 13.0, iso 400, 28.0 focal length and auto white balance. Seems to be happening quite a lot now. Is it something I'm doing, camera settings gone wrong, lens or what?

Is there a default setting for the camera that I need to reset or something?

Thanks in advance.

[silvrr]

Take it out of Auto!

[blackcap]

Sounds broken to me!

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Scooby-Bullet

Hi - any advice gratefully accepted. 400D in auto mode, taking a general view across gardens at a wedding venue in bright conditions - the flash came on and the end result is a really dark picture - values are 1/500, av = 13.0, iso 400, 28.0 focal length and auto white balance. Seems to be happening quite a lot now. Is it something I'm doing, camera settings gone wrong, lens or what?

Is there a default setting for the camera that I need to reset or something?

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by silvrr

Take it out of Auto!

I agree that taking it out of Auto is your best chance of getting better shots. With the Auto exposure modes the camera is doing all the thinking, even down to whether to use flash or not. And because the camera has chosen to flash, it will try and get the foreground subjects exposed at the expense of under-exposing the background.

Try instead to use the P,A,S,M modes. P is very similar to the "Green Box" auto mode but with extra menu options. A or Av mode gives you control of your aperture while the camera sets your shutter speed. T or Tv stands for Time Value and means you control your shutter speed, while the camera sets your aperture for you. M or Manual gives you complete control and is, in fact, easier than it sounds.

The other thing with the P,A,S,M modes is that the flash will not pop up and fire unless you press the button to pop the flash up yourself.

So for your sunny view across gardens, I guess you want to get everything in focus? in M, set your aperture between f/8 - f/16 and bring your iso down to 100. You are at 28mm so hand-holding the camera you need a shutter speed of at least 1/50sec to eliminate camera shake blur. Use the exposure needle in the view finder as a guide and adjust your shutter speed up until it middles. Take a shot and "chimp" - does it look right or too bright or too dark? If it is too bright make your shutter speed a bit quicker or aperture smaller. Too dark? Open up the aperture a bit or decrease the shutter speed.

Sounds harder than it is so don't be put off! Go out and have a practise and you'll soon forget all about the auto modes!

Oh, and shoot in RAW as you will have a better chance of correcting minor exposure problems than if you shoot in JPEG.

[Scooby-Bullet]

Mike - thanks for the helpful advice, much appreciated! I'll spend some time practicing...

Cheers.

[iamaelephant]

Remove the lens cap before shooting.

(I kid, I kid)

[Highlight_Photography]

Originally Posted by iamaelephant

Remove the lens cap before shooting.

(I kid, I kid)

Someone could of told me earlier!