Av mode way off on exposure

I was at a football practice this morning and as usual I was shooting in Av mode and I noticed I was maxing on shutter time (1/8000) after I snapped a couple of shots to check out the exposure. The sun was at my 7 O'clock. Camera body is 60D.

i switched to manual and 1/2000 showed good on the cameras metering.

What could possibly have been going on? If the camera's meter wanted 1/2000 why did it shoot at 1/8000 in Av? I had ISO locked at 100.

Exposure compensation?

Av/Tv exposures vary based on your subject; I'm guessing that you were simply pointing the camera at white jerseys and shooting away. with no Exposure Compensation (EC). In which case, the camera sees a bunch of bright white and tries to tone that down to mid-gray; thereby, underexposing your shots.

This is one of the things that drives me nuts about Av/Tv modes. If you're moving your frame around a scene, you have to verify your exposure for every shot, and possibly adjust; even when the actual light remains constant.

I am a moron, my exposure compensation was down 4 stops!

Did I do that manually somehow? I sure don't remember doing it. Could it be some other setting changed the exposure compensation?

What metering mode? You weren't in spot were you, and picking up white shirts etc.?

EDIT - You answered your own question whilst I wrote this...

Are those shots gone? If I try to fix it in lightroom I will get a ton of noise correct? sorry for the dumb thread, I just switched from a T1i that doesn't have the wheel on the back that can control exposure compensation.

Yeah trying to recover 4 stops would be a real bother. Unfortunately, those shots are indeed gone.

Ok thanks guys.

If you look at your power switch you will note that it can go beyond the "on" position. This "advanced" postion allows your dial, just above it, to control your exposure compensation.

If you had this switch to advance, chances are you bumped your dial to change your EC down 4 stops. Happens to me from time to time. Flipping your switch to just on will prevent this but intoduces an extra step to apply EC when you want to.

On the flip side, if you ever find that adjusting your aperture with the dial isn't working (manual mode) check your power switch.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Is that an example shot from 4 stops down? If so, I think they are perfectly fine...a bit dark but not unrecoverable. Depending on final print size (if printing) they will show little if any noise.

robbug wrote in post #12910977
Edit: Is that an example shot from 4 stops down? If so, I think they are perfectly fine...a bit dark but not unrecoverable. Depending on final print size (if printing) they will show little if any noise.

No this is just one of the snapshots I took in manual and didn't totally mess up. New body and lens so growing pains I guess.

In addition to the exposure bias that you had set, you didn't say what the aperture was when using Av and in Manual. You might have it set to f/2.8 in Av and f/16 in Manual.

If your camera model has the safety shift feature, set it to ON (CFn 1-6 on the 7D).

Bill Boehme wrote in post #12911130
In addition to the exposure bias that you had set, you didn't say what the aperture was when using Av and in Manual. You might have it set to f/2.8 in Av and f/16 in Manual.

If your camera model has the safety shift feature, set it to ON (CFn 1-6 on the 7D).

No I was on f/4 and ISO 100 in both modes. I will check out the safety shift feature, thanks.

Ouch...at least you found the issue New bodies are always fun

At work, I can't see anything you posted, but: At ISO100, if you were shooting in raw, you've got a little bit of leeway to recover them. They won't be GOOD but they will be viewable... no worse than iPhone pics :P