settingfs for canon xti

[beagleluvr 0]

i have my camera set on tv mode with sunny day mode and use manual focus.i have been getting some dark pics mixed with good ones.i was then told to use auto focus and on the sports mode.what mode is the best?

[velocityphoto 0]

What lens are you using?

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[billvon 2,400]

>what mode is the best?

That's like asking "what car is the best?"

The XTi with the 10-22 lens does well with autofocus on, but the lens is stopped down enough in sunlight that even an approximate manual focus works well. Sports mode works OK. Tv between 1/500 and 1/1000 works well too on sunny days. Check your ISO setting (200 is reasonable.) You can go higher if you are having exposure problems but there's no way that you should need that in daylight.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

i have my camera set on tv mode with sunny day mode and use manual focus.i have been getting some dark pics mixed with good ones.i was then told to use auto focus and on the sports mode.what mode is the best?

Do you have the view finder covered? If you don't, this is exactly what will happen ... when the camera is oriented so that the sun shines into the viewfinder, the camera will stop down the aperture too far and the image will be too dark. You can test this easily on the ground on a sunny day.

[PhreeZone 15]

Sun in the view finder has nothing to do with the metering setting that is selected for any given photo.

You need to understand that cameras with the Auto settings try to get the photos to meter to a given shade of Grey. If you shoot a photo of snow the entire seen will appear a bit dark since the camera judges the light coming in off the pure white and figures it needs to limit the amount of light being exposed on to the sensor/film. If you shoot a photo with a black surface its the opposite, the camera thinks that it needs to extend/open the exposure up more to get more light onto the object to make it closer to that shade of gray. You can do things like over/under stopping photos to assist with this if you know exactly what you are shooting but in situations where the object shifts a lot in exposure from one shot to the next you are not able to use this to assist.

The situation is that if you put the sun in the middle of the photo the camera sees it as a really bright light and in order to get that intense white light to be more on the darker/gray side it will either shoot really fast (1000 or higher) or close the aperture way down (f22) and the net result is the photo is really dark every where. Same thing happens if you shoot a cloud that is back lit and is really bright. The camera steps everything down to get the white in the cloud to be as close to its neutral gray as it can and that results in everything else being darker as well.

To confuse things even more you have to tell the camera where in the scene you want it to meter off of. You can have it meter off a small area, the entire scene or just off the center portion. Each of these have strengths and weaknesses so it pays to read the manual and to shoot lots of test shots on the ground to see the differences.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[ChangoLanzao 0]

I understand how camera work. I'm talking about the sunlight entering the viewfinder from behind. When the sun is behind the camera and your eye is not covering the viewfinder, light enters while the camera is metering and the camera will stop down in Tv mode ... the picture will be too dark. Try it on the floor ;-)

Quote

Sun in the view finder has nothing to do with the metering setting that is selected for any given photo.

You need to understand that cameras with the Auto settings try to get the photos to meter to a given shade of Grey. If you shoot a photo of snow the entire seen will appear a bit dark since the camera judges the light coming in off the pure white and figures it needs to limit the amount of light being exposed on to the sensor/film. If you shoot a photo with a black surface its the opposite, the camera thinks that it needs to extend/open the exposure up more to get more light onto the object to make it closer to that shade of gray. You can do things like over/under stopping photos to assist with this if you know exactly what you are shooting but in situations where the object shifts a lot in exposure from one shot to the next you are not able to use this to assist.

The situation is that if you put the sun in the middle of the photo the camera sees it as a really bright light and in order to get that intense white light to be more on the darker/gray side it will either shoot really fast (1000 or higher) or close the aperture way down (f22) and the net result is the photo is really dark every where. Same thing happens if you shoot a cloud that is back lit and is really bright. The camera steps everything down to get the white in the cloud to be as close to its neutral gray as it can and that results in everything else being darker as well.

To confuse things even more you have to tell the camera where in the scene you want it to meter off of. You can have it meter off a small area, the entire scene or just off the center portion. Each of these have strengths and weaknesses so it pays to read the manual and to shoot lots of test shots on the ground to see the differences.

[PhreeZone 15]

You are talking about light leaking around the edges of the shutter and adjusting the metering that way. I've never had it happen on shutter lengths that I've used jumping. For bulb length exposures? Yes.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[BMFin 0]

Quote

You are talking about light leaking around the edges of the shutter and adjusting the metering that way. I've never had it happen on shutter lengths that I've used jumping. For bulb length exposures? Yes.

No, he is talking about light entering the exposure metering sensor through the viewfinder and causing "wrong" exposure metering. It has nothing to do with "edges of the shutter" or anything like that.

Canon offers a viewfinder cover to solve this problem when shooting from a tripod for example and not covering the viewfinder by eye.

However, I think this is only one of the reasons for "wrong" exposures. Like mentioned there are other things also, like exposure metering modes.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

You are talking about light leaking around the edges of the shutter and adjusting the metering that way. I've never had it happen on shutter lengths that I've used jumping. For bulb length exposures? Yes.

Yes ... certainly, when you are using a tripod and long exposure times the effect is readily reproduced on every shot.

However, with the camera set to manual focus, Tv of 250, evaluative metering, and ISO 200, if you take a series of shots in continuous mode while moving the camera around so that it occassionaly catches direct sunlight into the eyepiece from behind, the metering will be way off on some of the images. Most of the shots will be properly exposed, but a small percentage of the shots will come out clearly underexposed.

[docjohn 0]

I use the xti with the TV mode, shutter speed 400, 100 ASA, autofocus. Works well in bright sunshine. I also get the occassional dark frame. I'll try the viewfinder cover.

Interesting I found out that using a mouthswitch causes the camera to lock up (have to take out the battery to get it working again). But if I use my external handswitch, no problem. I've never figured out why.

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[billvon 2,400]

>Interesting I found out that using a mouthswitch causes the camera to lock up
>(have to take out the battery to get it working again). But if I use my external
>handswitch, no problem. I've never figured out why.

There are two contacts in the switch - focus and shutter. AFAIK you really want to close both to take a picture, but some blow/bite switches close only one. That may be the difference.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

>Interesting I found out that using a mouthswitch causes the camera to lock up
>(have to take out the battery to get it working again). But if I use my external
>handswitch, no problem. I've never figured out why.

There are two contacts in the switch - focus and shutter. AFAIK you really want to close both to take a picture, but some blow/bite switches close only one. That may be the difference.

I make my own and wire it only for the shutter, leaving the focus connection open. Works fine. There must be something else wrong with docjohn's switch.

[surt 0]

WOW

I nearly always have like 1 to 4 dark photos on every jump, I had lots of different theories for that, so tried plenty of different things, but never solved it... I expect you are right! On next jump I'll try it, so easy to solve if it is only that!

thanks!!

[surt 0]

already tried it! doing the same photo again and again, and when I put a light pointing the visor... dark photo!!

THANKS!!!! from now on I'll use a little gaffers tape to cover it

THANKS A LOT!

[BMFin 0]

No need to use gaffers tape unless you want to..

Like I said canon offers a viewfinder cover that comes with the camera. (normally it is included in the carry on strap)

[pilotdave 0]

You have to remove the rubber eye piece to put the cover on. And the cover is on the strap... which is probably at home, all rolled up the way it came in the box. Gaffers tape seems easier to me.
Dave