5DII speedlight underexposure

I just got my 5D/II this week.

It has consistently dark speedlight exposures (1.5 - 2 stops)

I have a 420EX and a Yongnuo YN565EX (a 585EX clone except for the master part and only $155. Nice solid feeling/working flash).

Both speedlights work fine on my T2i over the last 6 months in various situations. Never any issue with external flash exposure.

I usually shoot on manual with the speedlights. Sometimes Auto.

I swap speedlights back and forth between the cameras. All the same manual camera settings (tried Auto setting also) & subject. Flash set on E-TTL.

A BIG difference in image exposures of the same subject. T2i fine. 5DII dark.

Trying both speedlights on my new 5D/II consistently are 1.5 - 2 f-stops darker. I have tried resetting the camera factory settings. Gone thru all the menu settings. The Custom function settings. No exposure or flash compensation is set.

Of course if I set flash compensation of 1.5 - 2.0 f/stops the exposure is fine.

Do many others show this issue? Or am I missing something or does just my 5D/II have an issue. (I saw some brief references several years ago from a search)

Any suggestions or insight appreciated.

Return/exchange or get Canon to adjust it?

Thanks

Can you post the histrograms and resulting images? Ive found that the 5D auto LCD looks darker than my Rebel but the resulting images are of the same exposure.

JakAHearts wrote in post #13610744
Can you post the histrograms and resulting images? Ive found that the 5D auto LCD looks darker than my Rebel but the resulting images are of the same exposure.

will do

Yes, the 5D Mark II also has the automatic brightness setting of the rear LCD, so if you are using that it may fool you into thinking your images are something they aren't.

The histogram will tell you the truth.

apersson850 wrote in post #13611795
Yes, the 5D Mark II also has the automatic brightness setting of the rear LCD, so if you are using that it may fool you into thinking your images are something they aren't.

The histogram will tell you the truth.

Indeed. Ive seen my images "drop" over a stop by tilting it towards a recessed light. Silly automatic stuff.

5DII on Auto (no metering selection allowed), 420EX on Auto
RAW image in ACR 6.6 default settings & Lens correction

Set the flash metering to average instead of evaluative. I noticed i usually get "brighter" pics with the 5d2 like this.

First make sure you fec is in the middle or at 0

The LCD can be misleading for sure, but I do use +2/3 - +1 1/3 compensation in matrix metering mode with a flash.

Actually I find I generally need positive compensation with the 5DII. Part of it might be that the ISO values are 'cheated' (i.e. higher than they should be) by 2/3 stop.

Used the 5DII MENU: External speedlight control (new camera, for the first time). Went back and forth between average & evaluative metering as a test. No other changes from my initial test pics. All seems normal now with other changes. All direct flash exposures are decent. Bounce light tests were exposed ok also. I can't explain why all is OK now. But a good thing! Never-mind.

Did you notice that the 5D shot is at ISO 400 and the G11 shot is at ISO 800? Big difference in sensitivity to the light from the flash between those two settings.

Mark-B wrote in post #13667695
Did you notice that the 5D shot is at ISO 400 and the G11 shot is at ISO 800? Big difference in sensitivity to the light from the flash between those two settings.

Yep,I would try it on matching iso settings.

In the shot you posted, it's going to underexpose to try to preserve the highlights on that reflective surface in the center of the photo - especially if you're using a metering mode that gives more importance to the center of the photo (evaluative or spot).

In a shot where you're not blowing the highlights/reflections with the flash, I suspect it would work just fine.

Your G11 Shot was also at f3.5 1/15 vs f4 1/160

One thing I've learned buying almost every Canon camera from the 10D on is none of them are exactly the same.

I also learned a long ago that FEC is a must on just about every body. However 2 stops does seem excessive. My norm is +2/3 - 1 2/3......depending on subject & distance.

Bottom line is all cameras have their sweet spots, it's our job to find & learn to work with them.......IMO.

Mark-B wrote in post #13667695
Did you notice that the 5D shot is at ISO 400 and the G11 shot is at ISO 800? Big difference in sensitivity to the light from the flash between those two settings.

Yes. In that test I just put each camera in AUTO mode