Thinking of selling my 300D and going for a Nikon..

Could be broken I guess. There may be a problem with the metering system. My D100 consistently under-exposes, but tbh it doesn't bother me that much at the mo. I do have the option to load some custom curves, so I could try that, and I'd suggest the OP tries some before binning the 300D quite yet ;)
 
A lot of good advice on this thread - Id have to agree and suggest you play around with settings.

Indoors, my pictures occasionally comes out darker than usual, but thats easily fixed with a combination of upping the ISO and some exposure compensation (im a P shooter most of the time and may not always be using fast lenses :p ).

Using external flash, I tend to dial in maybe 2/3 or 1 when bouncing anyway. Most of this is just based on past trial and error results using this camera and knowing what the speed of the lens allows me to get away with.

I thinks its just a case of knowing what tweaks you need to do with your combination of lenses and under what conditions.
 
I like the low light colours on my canon over the nikon work I've seen done at the same venue on the same night
nothing wrong with nikons, but surely it's just all settings and balance
if you think the metering ability is poor on a canon, which can be hit and miss on my 350D but is normally okay, then fair enough
but there are settings to change that of course
 
Alright then! I suppose it was a bit rash to just decide to throw money at the problem! :)

I wrote my original post after spending a whole day working with a professional equestrian photographer who only shoots Nikon - and who had taken (and sold) hundreds of shots during the day without any adjustment whatsoever except cropping!

So.. would someone please point me in the direction of these 'custom curves' danza suggested loading?
 
As requested...

1. My image, shot in Shutter Priority (Tv) mode:

richg85-mine.jpg


Shutter Speed: 1/3s
Lens Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Time: 1/2s
No Flash

2. Full Auto:

richg85-auto.jpg


Shutter Speed: 1/60s
Lens Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Time: 1/60s
Flash Fired
 
rich_g85 said:
I wrote my original post after spending a whole day working with a professional equestrian photographer who only shoots Nikon - and who had taken (and sold) hundreds of shots during the day without any adjustment whatsoever except cropping!
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Probably because he got the settings right in the camera first. I spent 3 days with people who used Nikon cameras, D2x's, and on the first day they said it under-exposes.
 
Okay well I cant understand why you are using Tv mode. Your exposure is completely wrong

Compare to your exif details from the auto shot


even though the semi manual one is totally wrong and shaky. Both pictures are exposed enough to be classed as properly exposed. If both of these looks bad on your monitor then It sounds to me that your computer is set to display too dark.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Typo ?

And what am i looking for here?
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Not a typo - save a copy of the image and check for yourself...

Fstop11 - I have run through the Adobe Gamma wizard which seems to have made a small difference. My monitor's colour temperature is 9300K - is that OK?
 
Fstop11 said:
Okay well I cant understand why you are using Tv mode. Your exposure is completely wrong

Compare to your exif details from the auto shot


even though the semi manual one is totally wrong and shaky. Both pictures are exposed enough to be classed as properly exposed. If both of these looks bad on your monitor then It sounds to me that your computer is set to display too dark.
Click to expand...

Hang on a minute, is it possible to compare those two shots? The Tv one is natural light and the auto one is with flash - surely to verify if the metering is correct in both modes the two shots need to be in the same conditions, natural light being preferable.
 
rpstewart said:
Hang on a minute, is it possible to compare those two shots? The Tv one is natural light and the auto one is with flash - surely to verify if the metering is correct in both modes the two shots need to be in the same conditions, natural light being preferable.
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Yes your totally right. I completely missed that factor. I was in a rush with my reply.

To the thread starter:
You really need to go outdoors and take some photos so the flash isnt required.
 
Both photos looked bright enough on my computer monitor.

I think that the best way to test this is to use good ol' Sunny 16.

Put your camera into Manual mode

Set your aperture to be 16.

Set your ISO to be 100

Set your shutter speed to be 125

Take a photo



Click here for more info about Sunny 16.
 
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gotta say I'd learn more about your camera first mate

you've used iso 100 indoors with little lighting and iso400 with the flash (on auto)

my betting also is that it's the kit lens you're using at 55mm f5.6
indoors, iso400 to 800 is better on the 300D I'd bet

outdoors, horseriding stuff, then you can always go auto or Aperture mode, then hold the AV button, and use the roller, it'll change the balance and over or undercompensate
also your metering, try the different metering options, so that the subject isn't too dark when the sky is light in the background, maybe spot metering

also I bet those nikon type people weren't using the kit lens worth about 50-100 notes

1/3s exposure for anything another than this completely static object isn't great, and you can see the camera shake blur on the photo too
have to say the full auto mode has really handled the colours and the exposure very well
 
Right then, have just come back from taking a few (100+) shots of the mrs and her horses and I have to say that for the time being I am sticking to my 300D :)

I was using the 70-300mm lens and from what I've seen so far- the results from that kick the arse off the 18-55mm kit lens (which I was using in the pictures earlier).

I'll post up some examples once I've got them all off the camera.
 
rich_g85 said:
Right then, have just come back from taking a few (100+) shots of the mrs and her horses and I have to say that for the time being I am sticking to my 300D :)

I was using the 70-300mm lens and from what I've seen so far- the results from that kick the arse off the 18-55mm kit lens (which I was using in the pictures earlier).

I'll post up some examples once I've got them all off the camera.
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good news
sounds like you're using the right sort of lens now too
the 70-300 is a decent enough starter zoom lens
stick to about 270mm or something max though as it gets a bit soft at the extremes, as all budget zooms do
 
rich_g85 said:
Right then, have just come back from taking a few (100+) shots of the mrs and her horses and I have to say that for the time being I am sticking to my 300D :)

I was using the 70-300mm lens and from what I've seen so far- the results from that kick the arse off the 18-55mm kit lens (which I was using in the pictures earlier).

I'll post up some examples once I've got them all off the camera.
Click to expand...

umm they aren't even the same focal lengths let alone quality ratings. Your testing isn't very scientific is it
 
One piece of advice stay clear of canon's cheap kit lenses. They are not very sharp, never give consistant results and are slow.

No camera would make them look good tbh

Look on Flikr or PBase and check out some of the results that can be had from the 300/350's some are stunning. For an entry level camera superb reasults can be had from it.

I've been mostly using a D80 the last few days, 1000's of shots taken and i do like it but i still think that it's no better at exposing an image correctly than any other Nikon or Canon.

Exposure is half the operator half the camera if you have it on the wrong settings it will come back with poor shots! Just experiment with all the settings pop off 50 different shots on each setting and see which you like best. Get the hang of the camera you have at the mo and do not confuse the issue by buying another.

I'd save your budget for decent Canon/Sigma lens or even a Canon L lens.. maybe an external flash?
 
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