Used 40D producing more grain than expected?

MuteGoose, before you get too far into things you might want to see how to go about going back to the factory defualt settings, then learn and make changes from there.

John from PA wrote in post #13774588
MuteGoose, before you get too far into things you might want to see how to go about going back to the factory defualt settings, then learn and make changes from there.

Didn't even think of that; but yes, this is very good advice.

It's precisely because of the "guesswork" that's involved in using evaluative metering mode that I don't generally use it.

Instead, I use spot metering and manual mode. I point my spot meter at something in the scene, and set the exposure so that the meter reads the tone value that I want the area under the spot to have.

In the case of the OP's image, I'd either meter off the snow and set my exposure to +2 (the idea being that it's supposed to be white looking, but not quite so white that you can't see the highlights in it), or I'd meter off the bird and set my exposure to +1 1/3 or so.

That approach works nicely for most situations. It's only when the light itself is changing relatively quickly that an automatic exposure mode is more appropriate, and even for that you can still use spot metering in the same way: set the exposure compensation so that the meter reads the tone you want the area under the metering spot to have.


Evaluative does have its uses, mainly when the light and the scene is changing quickly, such that there really isn't anything you can meter off of that should have a constant tone in the shot. Such situations are relatively rare.


Ultimately you have to figure out what method works best for you. The above method works best for me because it is logical and relatively straightforward. It just takes a bit of practice to learn how the tones you tell the camera to expose for wind up looking in the shot after the fact.

I did wipe the camera before I started using it, had some very strange settings on it when I received it.

Thanks everyone for the great info!