5DmkII Underexposed

Ok folks help me out before I sale this camera. I have a 5DmkII and regardless of the situation it seems underexposed. I have been shooting for a long time and think I understand proper settings. I have read a lot of people saying it seems like this camera is underexposed for most situations. I love the video, I love the full frame but none of it make sense if a image is underexposed by almost 2 stops.

2 stops? what metering mode are you using? Are you just taking pictures of random crap in the house, or actual photos?

I notice that my 5D II, when pointed at my light switch, is usually under exposed, but then it exposes perfectly in normal situations using Evaluative metering. My light switch is all shiny whit and the wall is a light blue/green, so I think that's messing with my metering.

more details or a pic with EXIF would be helpful

snedigity wrote in post #11527564

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If this doesn't work the link is
http://www.flickr.com …/27365126@N07/5​300256852/

Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 270 dpi
Y-Resolution 270 dpi
Date and Time (Modified) 2010:12:28 15:09:35
Copyright SneddonPhoto​graphy
Exposure Program Program AE
Date and Time (Original) 2010:12:28 12:54:08.54+01:00
Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:12:28 12:54:08
Max Aperture Value 2.8
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Sub Sec Time Original 54
Sub Sec Time Digitized 54
Focal Plane X-Resolution 3849.211788​8965 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution 3908.141962​42171 dpi
Custom Rendered Normal
Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Scene Capture Type

With all the bright snow you are definitely going to have to add some EC... Looks like you shot it with 0 EC.

It's the snow. The camera meter sees all that white snow and tries to make it grey. You need to input a large amount of exposure compensation in the snow (or just shoot manual)

With my 5D I would shoot that way. Maybe just a learning curve but we will see. If not a 5DmkII will be for sale with less then 500 shots.

fishingjts wrote in post #11527636
With all the bright snow you are definitely going to have to add some EC... Looks like you shot it with 0 EC.

+1. This is a no-brainer. You've got to add at least +2/3 EC when you have a white scene.

^^ yep - around 1 - 2 stops for snow! If your shooting in raw and both shadows and highlights are not clipping then use photoshop to bump up the exposure..

Then why is it with the 5D this wouldnt have been a problem

snedigity wrote in post #11527746
Then why is it with the 5D this wouldnt have been a problem

Do you have any examples from the 5D with a scene almost completely dominated by snow like that? Or shots from the 5D2 that are not of snow fields?

My 5D and 1D4 would have done exactly the same thing that your 5D2 did.

This isn't a "problem." It's the way all meters work in digital cameras. They all try to make the scene gray since they can't know what they're really looking at. The sensor sees snow or the bride's white dress, says "that's gray" and meters for that. You need to understand that and compensate by raising the exposure a stop or so.

I suspect you had your 5D in spot meter mode and were metering on the people. In that setting the meter only evaluates a tiny spot in the scene. In the default evaluative metering mode, the camera looks at the whole scene and makes a decision.

-Charles

I was thinking my new 5D2 was underexposing a bit (1/3 to 2/3)... but haven't really done any comparisons... so did a quick, very unscientific test...

5D with 0 EC:

When I shoot snow with my 5D, it underexposes by at least a stop. Totally normal you're when shooting snow, this goes for any DSLR.

You say you have been shooting a long time and are knowledgeable about photography, but we really don't know what that means. You are using "Program AE" mode with your camera, which a lot of experienced shooters only very rarely use (it leaves too much up to chance that the camera will make good exposure decisions for you). Two ideas:

1. There is a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. Amazon.com has it. Get it. Read it several times. Learn it. Read it one more time. Seriously, I've been shooting for 30+ years, probably half of it professionally and have used dozens of different cameras of all types, and I learned more than a few useful new tricks from this book.

2. Get yourself a handheld incidence meter, learn to use it (dead simple with modern ones)... Set the camera to M, using the shutter speed and aperture the meter recommends.... Shoot away. No need to guess at and use Exposure Compensation. No wildly variable auto exposure results. In variable lighting situations you won't be able to use this meter, so you might want to refer back to the first suggestion.

I do tend to "Expose To The Right" with my Canon, except the 7D where I don't feel I need to do that at all. What this means is that when using any of the auto modes (Av, Tv, P), I set + 1/3 Exposure Compensation by default. This is just a small safety factor. I'd rather deal with a slightly over exposed RAW file, than one that is underexposed. There are good explanations of how and why to do this various places here and online. Here on POTN look for "HAMSTER". On www.luminous-lanscape.com look for "ETTR".

ETTR would not have saved the shot you posted. That's way more than 1/3 stop off. With snow you probably need a minimum of 1-1/3 stop + Exposure Compensation, if you are going to use any of the auto exposure modes on the camera.

It is possible your camera needs adjustment (although I wouldn't say so from the one example). Metering and exposure systems in today's cameras are pretty darned accurate and don't tend to lose accuracy quickly or easily. However, it is still possible for them to get out of adjustment. If you can borrow a known-good camera, shoot right alongside your 5DII a bit with it, using the same settings exactly, and see if the results are greatly different. If so, you might want to have Canon Service look at the camera.

Hang in there!

(Actually I should be telling you that the camera is junk and you should sell it to me cheap... I could use a second 5DII!)

I too would like to see examples from your 5D in this same situation where you say exposure compensation was not needed. Please post some comparison shots with exif data.

I have never owned a 5D, but with the other 7 Canon cameras I have owned I have ALWAYS had to adjust EC in snow shots.