moreton 0 #1 May 18, 2007 Hello I have a Rebel XT with the standard 18-55 lens which i use for mainly photographing tandems. I set the camera on speed priority: TV 400 and generally I get good photos (see attachments). However, several times I have had the camera freeze up resulting in the aperture blocking at 3.5 and hence the photos are completely washed out. Sometime the only way to unblock the camera is to remove the battery. I would like to know whether anybody else has had similar problem? I don't usually keep the tongue switch pressed down, so I'm not really sure why the aperture remains on 3.5. The aperture is generally larger (3.5) when I'm taking photos at the door. Thanks Ben Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unutsch 0 #2 May 18, 2007 ehm... i am no photography expert, but, i can's see what's wrong with your pictures... they look OK to me... Check out the site of the Fallen Angels FreeflY Organisation: http://www.padliangeli.org Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moreton 0 #3 May 18, 2007 The photos i posted are when the camera works ok. I've attached one when the apature jams on 3.5. I was just wondering whether it has anything to do with the settings I am using, or maybe a tongue switch. The focus is set to manual. Ben Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #4 May 18, 2007 Is it a 3.5 lens you're using? Check to see if you have "exposure lock" on. I used exposure lock on the ground when I got my D80, the first day of jumping it drove me nuts trying to figure out why the lens got stuck on 2.8 for entire jumps. The remote acts as a half-shutter press, so it locked the exposure after I took a pic inside the plane. Whoops ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PharmerPhil 0 #5 May 18, 2007 Here is a theory. One of the custom functions (04 on my 20D, it could be the same on your camera) determines what happens when you press your shutter down half-way. It can be set so that the focus and/or exposure are set. If your mouth switch is wired such that the focus wire is always connected and the switch just closes the shutter contact (i.e. similar to a half-way pushed shutter button; many people wire them this way), your exposure will be set when you turn on the camera. If you do this in a dark plane, it will set and hold an open aperture until the camera is turned off or the wire is dissconnected. It is just a theory (and the problem with it I see is that your good photos do look correctly exposed). But it is a simple check (and fix) if this is the problem. Or it just could be broken. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moreton 0 #6 May 18, 2007 I think I may know what the problem is, but as I'm not jumping for a month (holidays) I won't be able to fully check this until then. The neoprene camera cover I'm using (Waycool, Australia) is very tight on the camera, especially with the tongue switch connector plugged in. As a result it maybe possible that if the AE lock (exposure lock - located just below the on-off switch), which is positioned where all the velco flaps are, gets pressed accidentially the aperture will remain fixed. I did a quick test on the ground this morning and even when I took the picture and removed pressure from the tongue switch, the time was not enough between photos to reset the aperture. Given the aperture while taking photos into the plane is bag, it would explain why the photos are over-exposed in freefall. I'll have to test this theory when I get back to jumping, but thanks to the advice here hopefully the problem will be resolved. Thanks Ben Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snafuhere 0 #7 May 18, 2007 from my older post about rebel XT: I have experimented with differents settings and here are the results (350D with 18-55 kit lens and tounge switch): 1. I do not use sports mode AF was no good, backfocusing on exits etc. due to the AF/AE lock overexposure on exit was tipical ISO 400 not the best quality 2. I use S priority (at 500) with CF4 set to 3 on the ground or in the plane I point at something located at the distance of 5-6 ft and set the focus there once the focus is set it remains set for the whole session CF4 set to 3 means that the shutter release does not activate focus and it does not lock exposure every shot has it's own metering I use ISO 200 (400 when it's realy cloudy) wb set to sun/clouds metering mode set to center weighter avg AF mode one shot (efectively I use manual-locked focus at 5-6 ft) drive mode - continous image quality L (jpg) https://www.facebook.com/1skydive/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
