G6 - Safety Shift

I think I'm correct in assuming Safety Shift - On prevents me from choosing an aperture or shutter speed that would result in an unusable photo. If I am correct about that, why would I ever want to choose Safety Shift - Off?
Thanks,
Jim

It sounds like the safety shift is a sort of auto-mode for Av, T, and M modes, if that makes sense. You'd turn it off if you thought/knew you could get the image you wanted even though the metering indicated otherwise. For example, if you were planning to take two identical shots at different metering, and later merge the two to remove the blown highlights from one image, and the lost shadow detail from the other, you'd want to disable this, because you'd be intentionally overexposing one, and underexposing the other.

From the manual:
If the aperture value is shown in red on the LCD monitor or in the viewfinder, the image is underexposed (insufficient light) or overexposed (too much light). Adjust the shutter speed using the main dial until the aperture value display turns to white. If you set [Safety Shift] to [On] in the Rec. menu, the shutter speed will shift to the correct speed automatically (Safety Shift function).

Good info to know! Thanks!

I personally do not feel that a capable camera like the G6 needs such an option and the crowd buying that camera should not need it. If you want a point and shoot camera - there are many out there. The G-series offers almost total control over exposure - as this class of camera should.

I agree with something that I read on the internet a while back regarding camera manufacturers telling the pulic that proper exposure is WAY too difficult for the "lay" man to understand and that if you ever want pictures to turn out - you need auto modes and sports modes and night modes and everything on the dial on newer cameras offer. I disagree and think that people should buy a camera like the G6 because they have a deeper desire to learn about photography and they want to put some effort into learning proper exposure techniques.

There are MANY times I would want this saftey shift off - most of the time actually. What Canon deems an unuseable photo may be the exact effect that I am after. I refuse to let the camera tell me what I am looking for exposure-wise. I tell it what I want most of the time.

This is my first post - bear with me (Ive been lurking for a long time!)

I am talking Pro 1 here but I am sure the principle is the same. Tv and Av modes have a fixed relationship (which can be modified using compensation), when one goes up, the other goes down to compensate. If you want complete freedom - use manual.

What safety shift does is makes sure that when you set speed (or aperature) at one end of the scale, the camera cannot set a corresponding aperature (or speed) value which is off the scale. In my view, this is not taking away control, merely ensuring that when making quick grab shots, adjustments which will not work and probably were not intended, cannot be set. Otherwise you should be working in manual or using exposure compensation. However, the choice is always yours depending on how you shoot.

Hope this helps a little more.

soko

Well, the last 2 posts seem to have hit the nail on the head -- AND -- taken me beyond my limits in using this forum software. I want to quote from both of them.
My conclusion is that if I'm grabbing shots "on the run" or "as they're happening" and have enough time to go beyond AUTO, I might do well to use the safety shift. Given more control, I might choose Safety Shift - Off. As pointed out in an even earlier answer (now its 3 quotes), I will still see an indicator telling me I'm going beyond what Canon thinks is a good idea if I exceed their predetermined standards.
OK . . .
Thanks for your input.
Jim

That sounds like a good use for the mode--hadn't thought of that.

Bauerman, I agree with you to an extent, but I think the ability to turn this mode on or off is what the G-series is all about. When I first got my G2, I was pretty green, and I relied a lot on the camera's automatic metering. As I became more familiar and comfortable, I kept raising the auto-mode 'training wheels' a notch here and there. I bought The G2 for this exact reason--it could do P&S, but I could grow into the advanced functions as I learned more.
You're exactly right about the 'exposure is too hard' syndrome. The same marketers, in the bicycling world, will claim that most people don't know when to shift gears, and should buy their expensive automatic deraileur. Phooey on that! How are you ever going to learn then?

However, I also doubt I'd enable the safety-shift, since the display indicates when the exposure is bad, based on the internal metering. I'm not generally in those modes unless I have the time to tweak.

Also, JimSolt, I was having difficulty with the new format too--in your User CP, go to Edit Options, and set the second to last option to Standard Editor? Gives a lot more options for quoting, etc.

Sounds to me like the safety shift feature extends what is already a long list of user-friendly settings for amateurs and pros alike. If you don't need it, then don't use it....

Yeah - I wouldn't use it - for sure. Canon can have that setting back along with about half the other settings on my mode dial. Put the auto features on a camera marketed to an auto exposure consumer. I don't see why these things would be needed on the G6 - other than Canon knows there will be G6 users that will never move the dial to AV, TV or M.

Right. The Auto-mode is argueably the worst feature on the camera , but my guess is that 60-70% of the people that buy a G series camera need that mode to start out with until they learn to understand the effects of aperture and shutter speed... Don't forget that out of the thousands of G series cameras sold, only a small percentage of the buyers even end up on a forum like this to "learn". I think Canon has the marketing thing figured out pretty well, even though the advanced-skill users might not think so sometimes. Their goal is to sell as many of those buggers as possible, not just a few to an elite audience...

I first came across Safety Shift on my Canon T-90, which, at the time, was one of Canon's pro-level SLRs (1985 or so). I never took the camera off that when I was shooting Tv or (rarely) AV. It has the effect of keeping your preferred shutter/aperture setting whenever possible, while protecting you at the margins. This gives you the secondary benefit that even when you forget to reset aperture/shutter speed when you're finished a session, you've got some insurance when you grab the camera for that once-in-a-lifetime shot the next day (and you know the conditions will be as far as possible from what you'd last been working in!). My D60 doesn't have it, and I miss it. The 20D does, and I've enabled it for that. But speaking as one who came up through the ranks, including meterless SLRs, match-needle metering, shutter-priority, and finally to full auto-exposure and autofocus systems, and processing my own (color and B&W) film and prints, I don't see Safety Shift as catering to an "Auto Exposure" mentality. It's a safeguard for those of us who are trying to get that shot, not missing it by a few seconds and we appreciate it. I really think you'd be surprised at how many of your "elite audience" appreciate being able to choose automated features; and Canon is catering to this.

Jon,

You make some valid points - to each their own I guess is the lesson here.

S45_fornow... wrote:
Right. The Auto-mode is argueably the worst feature on the camera , but my guess is that 60-70% of the people that buy a G series camera need that mode to start out with until they learn to understand the effects of aperture and shutter speed... Don't forget that out of the thousands of G series cameras sold, only a small percentage of the buyers even end up on a forum like this to "learn". I think Canon has the marketing thing figured out pretty well, even though the advanced-skill users might not think so sometimes. Their goal is to sell as many of those buggers as possible, not just a few to an elite audience...

I hope nobody took my comment about the "elite audience" too seriously. I only worded it that way to illustrate the point that the G6 is marketed for all types of shooters, beginner and expert alike. I for one wouldn't qualify as an elite user anyway...

Have a Merry Christmas.