I am an idiot....

For a good while I had problems with my flash. Way too much light and highly overexposed subjects. Because of the highly dynamic situation I shoot (events, +/- candid pictures) I just switched over to my fast prime. I am by no means a professional - so nothing critical.

Today I got the time to figure out what was going on: I accidentally added +3 flash compensation on my 60D. Not quite sure how this happened - but I am very annoyed that it took me so long to figure that out!

May be this public humiliation helps me to remember...

Haha...the thread title made me laugh...thanks for that.

Don't worry, we've all done things like that. The first day I had my 5D2 (which happened to be the first day of my month-long European backpacking trip, and the first time I had been back to the village I was raised in in 19 years) I accidentally bumped the exposure compensation and didn't notice...I was panicking like crazy because all my shots were blown out...massive wave of relief when (thankfully not long after) I realized what was going on...at first I thought the camera's metering was off and that for the next month I'm going to have to deal with that all through Europe haha.

I am also an idiot. I shot a wedding this past Friday, mainly with a 5D and 5DII. The minister was accommodating - go anywhere you like, use flash at will, just don't intrude into the 'triangle'. I changed to the 5D with 35 1.4 for the vows.

No AF!

Checked the AF switch was on; tried again; OOF; checked switch again (because that's what idiots do); manually focused for another three shots until the penny dropped - back-button focus. Moral - keep your settings identical.

I wouldn't worry about it, you got it figured out.

@xhack: Your story remembers me of an other blunder of mine. Trying to take some shots in Florence. I couldn't get it to focus. AF on. The usm motor worked, but everything I focussed on was all blurry through the viewfinder. I already accepted the fact that the lens was defective.

But then after a while I remembered the little wheel on the right of the viewfinder. And voila - turning the dioptric adjustment wheel fixed my problem right away. And it only took me 2 hours to figure that one out.

xhack wrote in post #15697842
I am also an idiot. I shot a wedding this past Friday, mainly with a 5D and 5DII. The minister was accommodating - go anywhere you like, use flash at will, just don't intrude into the 'triangle'. I changed to the 5D with 35 1.4 for the vows.

No AF!

Checked the AF switch was on; tried again; OOF; checked switch again (because that's what idiots do); manually focused for another three shots until the penny dropped - back-button focus. Moral - keep your settings identical.

Had that happen to me also I loaned my XT to a buddy on getting it back I tested it and no AF as I was about to call and find out what happened I then remembered I had it set for BBF .

OP, you didn't intend to, but probably you just created a pretty good thread. Everyone time after time just want to say something like that. This could be the place, heh...

Hallo, my name is Olafs and I am an idiot.

Went to an air show with a new lens. I was so excited to try it out I put my ISO on 1600 instead of my shutter. Took about 100 shots before I realized it.

drmaxx wrote in post #15697518
May be this public humiliation helps me to remember...

we've all done stuff like that. I'm still doing stuff like that

drmaxx wrote in post #15698461
turning the dioptric adjustment wheel fixed my problem right away.

I'm a newbie. Does dioptric adjustment affect the resulting photo or just what we see through the viewfinder? Put it another way, if we see blurry picture in the viewfinder (because the setting is off), will AF be able to focus correctly and give us sharp pictures?

morph2_7 wrote in post #15702483
I'm a newbie. Does dioptric adjustment affect the resulting photo or just what we see through the viewfinder? Put it another way, if we see blurry picture in the viewfinder (because the setting is off), will AF be able to focus correctly and give us sharp pictures?

Diopter only effects the image through the viewfinder.

Thanks Shane.

I shot Matchbox Twenty 2 weeks ago. 2 bodies. I must have bumped the focus button on my lens from auto to manual. Dumped the cards when i got home and every shot I took with my 24-70 was blurry.

I only chimp for exposure in the field. I had to beg his manager to let me shoot from the front of the stage instead of the board. Turns out I would have been better off with the soundboard. I had to create an entire set from the 30% of the usable photos I had.

I'm not a rookie either. I've shot for Rolling Stone.

Happens to the best of us.....

JakAHearts wrote in post #15702507
Diopter only effects the image through the viewfinder.

Unless you are focusing manually.

drmaxx wrote in post #15698461
@xhack: Your story remembers me of an other blunder of mine. Trying to take some shots in Florence. I couldn't get it to focus. AF on. The usm motor worked, but everything I focussed on was all blurry through the viewfinder. I already accepted the fact that the lens was defective.

But then after a while I remembered the little wheel on the right of the viewfinder. And voila - turning the dioptric adjustment wheel fixed my problem right away. And it only took me 2 hours to figure that one out.

I've had this happen to me and now it is one of the things I constantly check. I had a friend come over a few months ago with his 20D. I put my 24-105 on it and was playing since I bought the lens after i went to full frame. I checked his diopter out of habit and was like..."hey you know your view finder is set really strange?" Turns out he was wondering why all his manually focused shots were not turning out for months.