Canon S5 IS

Hi all.
I just bought the above camera. Its great little unit but I have one problem. When I'm at home in the room and taking a photos all come up great. However when I aim at window (daylight) the camera shades it. I mean the view becomes darker and photo is darker too. It doesnt happen with artificial an light. How do I stop the camera from doing it.

Also do I neec a filter on the camera (ie Polarizer or UV) and which one will be a good choice.

czaja74 wrote in post #5763579
Hi all.
I just bought the above camera. Its great little unit but I have one problem. When I'm at home in the room and taking a photos all come up great. However when I aim at window (daylight) the camera shades it. I mean the view becomes darker and photo is darker too. It doesnt happen with artificial an light. How do I stop the camera from doing it.

Also do I neec a filter on the camera (ie Polarizer or UV) and which one will be a good choice.

Is the camera in Auto Mode? IF so the camera will always shoot a higher ISO in bright light.

Try using P Mode to start off with and set it to ISO 100 OR 200. And go from there, see if it helps.

I have the same camera.

you need to start exploring how to use the manual controls. all cameras on auto mode have trouble reading light/exposure in certain situations, changing the controls (or how you position yourself in relation to what you're shooting) helps.

hmmm ... welcome to the forums czaja74.

What's happening is the camera is trying to expose correctly for the bright light coming into the window - making it an average. Our eyes do this very quickly and very accurately. Because it's doing this, all the details in the room will be a lot darker.

If you filled the frame with a person in front of a brightly lit window, the person may come out correct, but the background (out the window) would be almost pure white with very little detail.

Learn how the metering works on your camera and use that to your advantage, no matter what mode you're in. When you get comfortable with a mode then you can start switching to other modes.

Cheers.

What's happening is that the light meter tries to average the bright window and the dark room. It's not using a higher ISO in bright light; it'll use a lower one then. But it ses all that light from the window and sets a faster shutter speed, smaller aprture, and/or lower ISO to get that better exposed. That leaves insufficient exposure for the dark room.

You'll need to either selectively meter the room and let the window blow out or use scrims or sheer curtains to cut the window light. You can meter the room with spot metering and shoot in one of the auto modes, meter the window and use Exposure Compensation (+1 or 2) in auto, or take a meter reading and shoot Manual. But just aiming at the window area without adjusting anything won't help.

This is a situation where a filter won't help. It'd cut the light uniformly over the bright and dark areas.

bluenoser23 wrote in post #5767412

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That's just plain wrong.

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What does this have to do with anything the OP asked??

Time to

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To the OP: Jon's post is spot on in terms of the dynamics of your situation. It's a very tough one to deal with and in the end you'll just have to pick which compromise you want to live with (blown out window, darker room, etc, etc.)

Just for kicks, if your subject is directly in front of the window, you can get a really nice looking silhouette by metering off the window which will turn the person black (i.e. dramaticaly underexpose the person)

This is not a very good picture by any means but it's just a quick and dirty illustration:

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Good luck.

Yeah that photo..I can't made out of the boy in the photo is actually cute or not.

nice choice of camera. ive used it before and it was great for what i needed!

bluenoser23 wrote in post #5772439

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D'uh...you're not supposed to make out anything in terms of the detailed features...just outlines, shapes, contours...you know...a SILHOUETTE!!! (yet another topic you aren't familiar with but feel to comment on)

You certainly chose a very appropriate username for this forum.

PS. Here is the subject of the silhouette shot above...my son:

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May I ask....Where are the other half of his eyebrows are....? Looks like half of them are missing???

SimpleGirl2008 wrote in post #5774738
May I ask....Where are the other half of his eyebrows are....? Looks like half of them are missing???

Do you have kids?--and if you do--would you appreciate a comment such as that? If your trying to say it's washed out--then say it---don't make like the subject is disfigured--that is just plain hateful--besides that if was for example purposes only-not for C & C. Some of us are trying to learn here...this really isn't the place for highschool antics.....if I were bluenoser and that precious face belonged to me!? .....hmmmmm......

SimpleGirl2008 wrote in post #5774738
May I ask....Where are the other half of his eyebrows are....? Looks like half of them are missing???

JoesMom wrote in post #5779730
=Joe'sMom;5779730]Do you have kids?--and if you do--would you appreciate a comment such as that? If your trying to say it's washed out--then say it---don't make like the subject is disfigured--that is just plain hateful--besides that if was for example purposes only-not for C & C. Some of us are trying to learn here...this really isn't the place for highschool antics.....if I were bluenoser and that precious face belonged to me!? .....hmmmmm......

SimpleGirl2008 wrote in post #5774738
I wasn't. I thought the eyebrows looked washed out, i brought my laptop screen up to my face and that how it looked to me.

Hi Beth.

She doesn't get it and never will (her 2nd response above - which she's since erased - indicates that once again). She doesn't have the slightest clue how her previous post could be construed by 99.99% of the world as offensive. At least when I'm being a jerk...I know I'm being a jerk.

She asked someone in the S5 forum if they had a *mixed* baby! HERE Now SimpleGirl (who is Tigger on the S5 forum) will say that no offense was taken by the gracious OP in that thread however she doesn't understand that's not the point. Rude is rude. (imagine asking someone if their baby is mixed!! Holy crap what a dolt)

No, she doesn't have kids and she's just a young girl who thinks she knows *something* about life and photography but in reality she's as thick as they come.

PS. If I wasn't absolutely positive that my son is super cute and charming , then I might have taken offense to *her* comment...but considering the source....

I had a similar kind of problem and this tutorial helped me a lot in fixing the problem:
http://www.trustedrevi​ews.com …rial-Exposure-Metering/p1

Though my camera does not allow manual control over aperture and shutter speed, i was still able to take good shots of someone standing in front of a brightly lit window by using spot metering.

Hope this helps..........

tharunraj wrote in post #5779912
I had a similar kind of problem and this tutorial helped me a lot in fixing the problem:
http://www.trustedrevi​ews.com …rial-Exposure-Metering/p1

Though my camera does not allow manual control over aperture and shutter speed, i was still able to take good shots of someone standing in front of a brightly lit window by using spot metering.

Hope this helps..........

Hello. This is a pretty good tutorial...nice link.

Jon's informative post (reproduced below) essentially summarizes the gist of the tutorial and what can be done and expected in such difficult circumstances.

Jon wrote in post #5766127
What's happening is that the light meter tries to average the bright window and the dark room. It's not using a higher ISO in bright light; it'll use a lower one then. But it ses all that light from the window and sets a faster shutter speed, smaller aprture, and/or lower ISO to get that better exposed. That leaves insufficient exposure for the dark room.

You'll need to either selectively meter the room and let the window blow out or use scrims or sheer curtains to cut the window light. You can meter the room with spot metering and shoot in one of the auto modes, meter the window and use Exposure Compensation (+1 or 2) in auto, or take a meter reading and shoot Manual. But just aiming at the window area without adjusting anything won't help.

This is a situation where a filter won't help. It'd cut the light uniformly over the bright and dark areas.

czaja74 wrote in post #5763579
Hi all.
I just bought the above camera. Its great little unit but I have one problem. When I'm at home in the room and taking a photos all come up great. However when I aim at window (daylight) the camera shades it. I mean the view becomes darker and photo is darker too. It doesnt happen with artificial an light. How do I stop the camera from doing it.

Also do I neec a filter on the camera (ie Polarizer or UV) and which one will be a good choice.

UV are cheaper vs Polarized. (if you weren't aware)


Also, keep a lookout with your S5. Lately a lot of people have had troubles with the LCD screen acting a bit screwy.