7D Mark II is overexposing my basketball photos

To be fair, this is not a problem I'm encountering for first time. My 7D Classic behaved the same.

So I'm shooting a college basketball game, and home team's white uniforms are frequently overexposed. Not a big problem because I reduce brightness in Canon's Digital Photo Professional software. But I'd love to know of an in-camera fix, if there is one.

My camera is set up like so: AV mode with aperture at 2.8, ISO at 5,000. Camera is giving me shutter speeds of 250 or faster.

Should I tweak the Expo.Comp./AEB? To -1 perhaps?

I dare say that this is one of the situations where M mode is perfect. At least if we presume lighting is reasonably even.

I shoot a LOT of basketball games, and this is one sport where using an automatic mode like AV is not really beneficial. You should shoot in Manual for this sport. Meter off of the uniforms, and set white balance and exposure accordingly. In a college gym, lighting should be very constant, and your meter in your camera won't always be trying to adjust for someone's hair, or a dark background when the AF point moves off of the player. Shutter speed should be at LEAST 1/800 of a second, and ideally, 1/1000 or so. You might need to up the ISO a bit to achieve that setting, but you should be good to go with that. Good luck.

I'm shooting manual mode. I put the shutter speed at 1/1000 second (unless I accidentally bump it), the aperture at 3.2 or 2.8, and put it on auto ISO. Where I shoot, this gave me shots that were just a little dark. So, I bumped the exposure compensation up a little. Note: You can set up the "set button" in custom controls to where you hold the "set button" in and turn the upper wheel to change your exposure compensation on the fly without having to go into the menu.

Doc

Agreed, reflective metering, the basis for AV mode, doesnt know ehat color is in front of it do its easily and quickly fooled. Meter once and lock it in, as thr light doesnt change.

Using manual mode with auto ISO is still at the mercy of reflective metering.

Thus why I hate auto iso, but I am apparently a luddite.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17328872
Thus why I hate auto iso, but I am apparently a luddite.

My opinion is that Auto ISO is fine but only if it were used with its own position on the wheel (additional to Av and Tv). Manual should be manual only in my book.

I agree that something like basketball, assuming the lighting is even across the court, should be shot in manual exposure mode with NO Auto ISO. Find the right set of settings and use it for the whole game.

Ralpho wrote in post #17328486
To be fair, this is not a problem I'm encountering for first time. My 7D Classic behaved the same.

So I'm shooting a college basketball game, and home team's white uniforms are frequently overexposed. Not a big problem because I reduce brightness in Canon's Digital Photo Professional software. But I'd love to know of an in-camera fix, if there is one.

My camera is set up like so: AV mode with aperture at 2.8, ISO at 5,000. Camera is giving me shutter speeds of 250 or faster.

Should I tweak the Expo.Comp./AEB? To -1 perhaps?

There is an alternate technique, used successfully in these basketball images.

IMAGE LINK: http://i1174.photobuck​et.com …114a0000b_zps8b​498ed7.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://i1174.photobuck​et.com …301b0000b_zpsba​adc309.jpg

Which could be just as easily with a $5 gray card and his camera's meter.

Not to be an ass (but I probably am anyway), but I find the statement that it is the 'camera' that is overexposing your photos somewhat amusing. In fact it is exposing exactly as you have set it to expose.

But, yes, constant lighting = M. You don't want the exposure changing depending on how much light is reflected off your subjects. Of course if you actually do what it to change exposure depending on the color of the jersey the player is wearing, you have a chose of exposure modes and exposure compensation. The camera will consistently follow what you tell it to do (it has no 'decision making process').

SkipD wrote in post #17328893
My opinion is that Auto ISO is fine but only if it were used with its own position on the wheel (additional to Av and Tv). Manual should be manual only in my book.

That is of course completely irrelevant. It's just a question about how you go about to set it up to behave this way. Has nothing at all to do with how the camera performs.

ejenner wrote in post #17329209
Not to be an ass (but I probably am anyway), but I find the statement that it is the 'camera' that is overexposing your photos somewhat amusing. In fact it is exposing exactly as you have set it to expose.

I can admit that my first thought was the same.

I agree, you should use a hand held meter in such lighting. I use a Sekonic 358 in most of my shots, and a X-rite Color Checker Passport will help with your cameras color. Don't forget to shoot a gray card in the available light in the gym, and get a custom white balance. Install the ISO you want to use into the hand held meter, set the camera and the shutter speed in the meter to 1000/sec, (stop all movement) let the meter calculate the aperture.

Or do the same thing using a gray card and the meter built into the camera. There is no need for an ambient meter if you dont already own one.