Canon 20D with the -2 flashing

how do I adjust the lighting when my viewfinder has the -2 flashing? What is the best way to adjust it.
Low light is the issue I am assuming.
With out flash is there a great way to adjust it.

That's a pretty vague question. What mode are you shooting in?

I am assuming you are talking about exposure compensation. Which allows you to pretty much lighten or darken a photograph.

You could have Exposure Compensation or Flash Exposure Compensation set. Read your owner's manual for how to set each, to clear the -2 setting

Get faster lenses. 2.8 or faster.

Sorry for being vague. It is in manuel. I usually have it set at ISO of 1600 1/200 f 2.8 50mm Here is a picture with these settings.

If I raise my f-stop higher than f8 is that a start. When I lower the ISo it gets so much darker and grainier. So where would be a good place to start.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Cindy,
I checked out the link to your webpage. I don't mean any offense by this... but it would seem to me if that you took the pictures on the your website, then you would already have the knowledge to achieve a properly exposed picture indoors, under available light.

...Using ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, as variables, you should be able to get a decent picture. The image you posted looked to be somewhat lit room, ...as opposed to night club photography. Since it grainy, turn down your ISO. When you do that, you will then have to slow down your shutter speed. 1/60 should be do-able with a 50mm. ..then adjust your aperture accordingly.

Cinbika wrote in post #4130736
If I raise my f-stop higher than f8 is that a start.

You need to lower the f ratio to allow more light: f/4 will let in more light than f/16.

Cinbika wrote in post #4130736
Sorry for being vague. It is in manuel. I usually have it set at ISO of 1600 1/200 f 2.8 50mm Here is a picture with these settings.

In Manual mode ('M') -2 indicates UNDERexposure. You have to use a larger f/stop (smaller number) or a slower shutter speed (smaller number) in order to get the indicator into the Center of the scale -- unless you are using flash under ETTL control, in which case you ignore the scale entirely and let the flash provide the proper exposure for the f/stop chosen.

at f/2.8 you can lower your iso to around 400 (to start with) and also lower your shutter speed to around 1/125 or so and you shoot get rid of some of that grain but keep a shutter speed fast enough for a sharp photograph. Just start experimenting.

I would try shooting Av mode, at f/2.8, lower the iso to 400 then 200, meter your subject and see what the camera thinks is a suitable shutter speed if it's too slow move your iso back up.

The main purpose of an f/2.8 lens is to avoid having to shoot at iso 1600

I shot the pictures on my site in the "P" mode. and I am constantly told that I should learn how to shoot in manuel so I am trying to learn how to do that.

jfretless wrote in post #4130830
Cindy,
I checked out the link to your webpage. I don't mean any offense by this... but it would seem to me if that you took the pictures on the your website, then you would already have the knowledge to achieve a properly exposed picture indoors, under available light.

...Using ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, as variables, you should be able to get a decent picture. The image you posted looked to be somewhat lit room, ...as opposed to night club photography. Since it grainy, turn down your ISO. When you do that, you will then have to slow down your shutter speed. 1/60 should be do-able with a 50mm. ..then adjust your aperture accordingly.

Cinbika wrote in post #4133187
I shot the pictures on my site in the "P" mode. and I am constantly told that I should learn how to shoot in manuel so I am trying to learn how to do that.

You've got the right idea, just start with a lower iso & slower shutter.

Cinbika, I will reiterate what I said in message 8...-2 indicates underexposure if shooting only with ambient light with the current camera combination of ISO, f/stop, and shutter speed. You fix that by increasing sensor sensivity (ISO), or by increase the amount of light striking the sensor (longer time shutter is open, or larger lens opening to permit more light to pass thru the lens)

Some replies have commented about the ISO being too high in your example, at ISO 1600. That is a SUBJECTIVE judgement, reflecting the noise (pseudo graininess) of the example photo, but has nothing to do with -2 flashing in this case...if anything, going to lower ISO exaccerbates the underexposure problem and causes the -2 flashing to continue, not abate! There is nothing inherently wrong with image noise; it merely reflects the attitudes of those who have grown up knowing only digital or only knowing ISO400 film in the past 15 years (pretty grain free stuff...but you should see ISO400 color film from 25 years ago!)

Another comment was about using an aperture larger than f/8...while changing to f/4 would fix the flashing -2, your example photo was 1600 1/200 f 2.8 50mm, which is already close to wide open for your lens!

Ryan's messages are close. Use of lower ISO helps clean up image noise, use of slower shutter speed would get rid of the -2 (since the aperture is already pretty wide open, that is ruled out).