70D Multi Exposure question

Just recently got my 70D and trying out the Multi Exposure. I am shooting RAW and set my camera to AI Servo with high speed Continuous Shooting and from the Menu, enabled multi exposure and selected 3 exposures.

When I click the shutter button, I was expecting the multi exposure setting to quickly shoot 3 images and stop, but it was taking about 1 picture per second. Initially I thought this is because I had my inbuilt flash on. Then I closed the flash and still the same.

Can someone let me know if this is the expected behaviour or I am doing something wrong?

I didn't realize that the 70D had this capability, so did a quick search and came up with the section of the manual which discusses this. One thing it says is (referring to multiple exposure mode):

"During continuous shooting, the continuous shooting speed will decrease greatly."

Thanks groundloop. Never read the manual. Probably should do it now. Not sure what is the reason for this. If we do something like exposure bracketing, it will take three quick shots. Even with multiple exposure, it is doing the processing after taking all the three shots.

I would have thought that for multiple exposures, you would want single shot mode anyway. Isn't the whole purpose to shoot a background and then overlay something on top of it (essentially)? Maybe I'm thinking of something else and have my terminology wrong.

It sounds like the OP is talking about something like HDR bracketing which I thought was a totally different thing.

I haven't used multi exposure before. I was trying to take a picture of my son running where I can capture him in three different positions in the same picture... but I now understand that the purpose of multiexposure is not that.

Last night I have taken three shots under multiexposure on one shot at a time. In the final image, all three subjects appear translucent.

SAPSTAR wrote in post #17641314
... I was trying to take a picture of my son running where I can capture him in three different positions in the same picture....

Photoshop would be the way to go for that, you'll have infinitely more control of the final result.

You are mixing up a couple of different things. Mult-exposure is supposed to do three shots with three different exposures (exposure bracketing). This is to either select the one that is better, or to make an HDR picture.

Multiple shots (I am not sure what it is actually called, I do not have the camera with me) is done to shoot continually in order to have a sequence, e.g., when shooting a flying bird or a runner. It will be shooting constantly very rapidly until the buffer fills over, at which point the frequency will decrease drastically as the camera needs time to process the images.

For OP, the subject came out translucent probably because he was not standing still.


The 70D has an option to take multiple pictures and merge them together. This is the one Ive found that hugely decreases the shutter time. Wish it did not though.

Kinda like for shooting a bike rider jumping a ramp. The result is a single picture with the rider in multiple stages of the jump.

The HDR function of the 70D is very quick. It take multiple pictures and combines them.

Exposure bracketing works pretty fast too from what I remember. Especially if the camera is set so that it can take all necessary pictures continually.

Lbsimon wrote in post #17641672
You are mixing up a couple of different things. Mult-exposure is supposed to do three shots with three different exposures (exposure bracketing). This is to either select the one that is better, or to make an HDR picture.

You're also confused; what you describe is exposure bracketing.

Multi-exposure is a mode where the camera combines multiple images into a single result, similar to exposing a single frame of film multiple times. It basically adds one exposure to the next (like to putting the images into Photoshop as layers in an additive mode).

Quick google search for a basic description and some examples:
http://www.dummies.com …mode-with-a-canon-eo.html

If you want good results, it's much better to just take the photos in a normal mode and overlay them in Photoshop; gives you much more control over the final result.

SAPSTAR wrote in post #17641223
Never read the manual. Probably should do it now. Not sure what is the reason for this.

The 70D is a pretty complex camera and you should read the manual or get a good 3rd party book. If you don't look through the manual I think you will have a lot of frustration. A link you may find helpful is at http://web.canon.jp/im​aging/eos70dshootinggu​ide/

yellowt2 wrote in post #17641717
You're also confused; what you describe is exposure bracketing.

Multi-exposure is a mode where the camera combines multiple images into a single result, similar to exposing a single frame of film multiple times. It basically adds one exposure to the next (like to putting the images into Photoshop as layers in an additive mode).

Quick google search for a basic description and some examples:
http://www.dummies.com …mode-with-a-canon-eo.html

If you want good results, it's much better to just take the photos in a normal mode and overlay them in Photoshop; gives you much more control over the final result.

No, I am not confused, I just used the OP's terminology. I know what you are talking about.

No, you aren't. The OP used the terminology in the correct way. He was just surprised about the reduced frame rate, when combining multi exposure with continuous shooting.

And even if he had been wrong, there wouldn't be any reason for you to also use the wrong name for things.

Anyway, if you do want to do multi exposure in camera, then these digital cameras allow more alternatives for combining the images than film did.

Lbsimon wrote in post #17641995
No, I am not confused, I just used the OP's terminology. I know what you are talking about.

You're not using correct terminology (for the OP or anyone else). Exposure bracketing (AEB) is taking separate exposures continuously for things like HDR (and the camera automatically shifts exposure for one neutral, and then under and over-exposures). Canon's term in the manual is "multiple exposure" for taking several exposures (that stay neutrally exposed) and merging them in camera.

OP, you said you were surprised that your son was translucent in the processed photo: you shouldn't be. The camera is essentially applying a blend mode to each photo and then flattening it. In the settings, you can try out different blend modes to see if one is better for your situation. Photoshop gives you a lot more flexibility. Here's an article on Canon's multiple exposure settings:

multiple exposures

That people that are moving come out transluctent is easy to understand, once you realize that at each position, you expose 1/3 of a person and 2/3 of the background. To make such a trick work well, the background must be significantly darker than the moving subject.

Once that's the case, normal multiple exposure will look better. In the digital world, you can also set the camera to keep the brightest subject at each position of the frame, in which case it will work even better.

Hi Lbsimon, I have now read a little bit about multiple exposure and am now clear on how to use the feature. As I have never used it before, I was confused about how to use it.

Thanks everyone for all the clarification provided.