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Underexposed pictures on my new Rebel XTi

9

91TTZ

Lifer
I got a Rebel Xti for Christmas and I've only been taking pictures from around the house. At first I thought it looked a bit dark, but I figured that was just because I was inside the house using a flash. I still thought it was off, since my Canon A80 never had that problem.

Today was a beautiful 70 degree day with lots of sun. I went to the park and took some pictures, and was really disappointed with the result. All of the pictures are well underexposed. Even brightly lit objects look like they're in the shade. Looking at the pictures, it would appear that it's an overcast day, except it's sunny out.

Also, the pictures don't look sharp. They've got that "muddy" look that a lot of underexposed shots have. I took the pictures on a few different modes- auto, portrait, and landscape. Looking through the shots I took, they're consistently underexposed.


I've heard that a few people have had a problem like this with this camera. Is it defective? It's not user error since I've tried it on different modes including full auto, and it can't get the exposure right on that.

This person is standing in the sun.

The sun is to my back, this tree should be bright

This is a sun-lit path.


Update: I took both of my cameras out for a shoot today so I can show you the problem:

Shot of the hill with my XTi
Shot of the hill with my A80

Shot of the sky with my XTi
Shot of the sky with my A80

Shot of the field with my XTi
Shot of the field with my A80

Shot of the lake with my XTi
Shot of the lake with my A80

Shot of the car in the parking lot with my XTi
Shot of my car in the parking lot with my A80.

Shot of people playing soccer with my XTi
Shot of people playing soccer with my A80.


Keep in mind that this is on Auto mode. The camera is choosing the settings- there's nothing for me to change.

Update: After messing around with that camera for a while and getting poor pictures, I took it back and got another XTi. That one had a bad LCD with a dead pixel, and on top of that, it was underexposing also. So I took that one back.

I picked up my third XTi, and took some shots with it. It, too, took bad pictures. This is three in a row. I thought that maybe the camera was designed to behave this way, but some people on photography forums posted their pictures that were taken in auto mode, and their pictures looked fine. Others, however, said that they had problems with their and needed to take theirs in to be serviced.

Finally I called Canon and they told me to take it in. They said that all they can do is take measurements on the camera and ensure that it's performing to factory specs. After a week I get a call back and they let me know that it was out of spec on the exposure circuit, and they made adjustments to fix it. I got home and took some test pictures, and the camera behaves fine now. My pictures are now well exposed, the camera exposes dramatically differently than how it did before, and how the two before it did.

The fact that I got three bad cameras in a row leads me to believe that it wasn't just a rare case of a bad camera, there is a bad batch of them. If you look on photography forums you'll see that I am not alone, and many people have had to send theirs in to Canon to return it to factory specs.


Cliffs: Camera was out of spec, Canon fixed it.
 
The simple answer is.. do you have your auto exposure set to about 2/3 of a stop underexposure. Also make sure where you are metering from. Do you have it set to center-weighted, matrix or spot metering? For general photography, matrix would be best. It's possible that you are metering the sky and getting readings that are too bright and the camera is compensating by underexposing. Otherwise, I would set my camera to overexpose everything about 2/3 of a stop and shoot that way. After that I would be thinking about a firmware upgrade or defective sensor.
-Brett
 
the first looks about 1/2 a step under exposed. i'm going with EV 14 rather than 15, cuz from the shadow length you've got some weak sun. the gravel is probably properly exposed.
second one is properly exposed
third one is properly exposed

one thing to remember with canon is that the camera is about 25% MORE sensitive than the indicated ISO. so, 100 is actually 125, 200 is actually 250, and 400 is actually 500.


edit: where are you located?
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
the first looks about 1/2 a step under exposed. i'm going with EV 14 rather than 15, cuz from the shadow length you've got some weak sun.
second one is properly exposed
third one is properly exposed
Click to expand...

They are most definitely not properly exposed. The sun was not weak, it was late in the day but it was bright and sunny.

Under similar conditions, my A80 takes pictures that looks like it's sunny outside. These are very dull. It's extremely noticeable.

This is looking up into a nice blue sky. It's still underexposed.
The sun is to my back, the grass ont he field is dark and muddied looking.
This is my car's headlight. It's still underexposed.

Maybe if you just see 1 pic or so, you might think that the particular picture just didn't come out right. But as soon as I uploaded these pictures to my computer, I was shocked at how dark all of them are on average. Not a single picture looks like it was taken on a nice sunny day. By looking at those pictures, it would appear that I was taking them as the sun was setting, but outside it was nice and sunny.

By comparison, my A80 is just a point and shoot and should take in less light, yet its pictures are well exposed under similar conditions. I still have it, I will take some side-by-side pictures tomorrow.

Edit: I'm in New Jersey
 
Could you post some pictures as they came out of the camera. Unfortunately, resizing the photos in Imageready destroys the EXIF data which we need to look into the problem (Unfortunately EXIF is a braindead format, which is essentially impossible to preserve if the image has been edited in anyway).
 
Originally posted by: Mark R
Could you post some pictures as they came out of the camera. Unfortunately, resizing the photos in Imageready destroys the EXIF data which we need to look into the problem (Unfortunately EXIF is a braindead format, which is essentially impossible to preserve if the image has been edited in anyway).
Click to expand...

The exif data is on the pictures I just posted. Imageready does not strip the data. Save the pictures to your desktop and take a look- it's there.
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: Mark R
Could you post some pictures as they came out of the camera. Unfortunately, resizing the photos in Imageready destroys the EXIF data which we need to look into the problem (Unfortunately EXIF is a braindead format, which is essentially impossible to preserve if the image has been edited in anyway).
Click to expand...

The exif data is on the pictures I just posted. Imageready does not strip the data. Save the pictures to your desktop and take a look- it's there.
Click to expand...

Some of it is there. All the canon specific data, camera settings, etc. is all stripped.

Compare what I get from an 'off camera' image, compared to your image:
img128126034105680000.jpg
 
This has been a problem with the XTi. Certain units underexpose, others don't.

Either learn to correct it or exchange the camera...
 
Originally posted by: Mark R
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: Mark R
Could you post some pictures as they came out of the camera. Unfortunately, resizing the photos in Imageready destroys the EXIF data which we need to look into the problem (Unfortunately EXIF is a braindead format, which is essentially impossible to preserve if the image has been edited in anyway).
Click to expand...

The exif data is on the pictures I just posted. Imageready does not strip the data. Save the pictures to your desktop and take a look- it's there.
Click to expand...

Some of it is there. All the canon specific data, camera settings, etc. is all stripped.
Click to expand...

I just downloaded the pictures I posted and took a look at the data. It is there.

Edit: Just to be sure, I downloaded the first picture I posted. I placed it on my desktop. I looked at its exif data and this is what I see: pic

Edit2: Ahh, I see that you're using a program that displays more than what IE displays. I'll post a full size version as soon as I clear out some space for it online.
 
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
This has been a problem with the XTi. Certain units underexpose, others don't.

Either learn to correct it or exchange the camera...
Click to expand...


The more I read up on the problem, the more I learn just how widespread it is. Even people who owned 350D's are having the problem with their new 400D.
 
As a retouching artist, I'm always of the opinion that you should slightly underexpose, especially while shooting RAW, so you can have some room to play with it. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Mark R, here is a full size image straight from the camera:

Text
Click to expand...

Yeah, those pics ain't right.
Click to expand...

Indeed, there's definitley something wrong with them. They're all underexposed by about 2/3 stop.

However, there's nothing revealing in the EXIF. Image processing settings are all OK (only thing that isn't default is Sharpening - which is High - but that won't cause the appearance of underexposure). Certainly contrast processing is normal, and there's no exposure compensation, and colorspace is teh normal sRGB colorspace.

There are also no blown highlights, or even a single pixel that comes close to saturation.

Only thing I can come up with is that there is a problem with the camera's meter. I suppose it might be worth trying using +2/3 stop of exposure compensation to see if this can be worked around.

But regardless, the camera needs recalibrating/servicing.
 
Guys, this is a known problem with XTis.....I'm not sure that Canon has acknowledged this yet, but it is no secret that many units are underexposing for no reason. Either he needs to manually dial in exposure compensation or exchange the camera and hope he gets one that doesn't underexpose.
 
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Guys, this is a known problem with XTis.....I'm not sure that Canon has acknowledged this yet, but it is no secret that many units are underexposing for no reason. Either he needs to manually dial in exposure compensation or exchange the camera and hope he gets one that doesn't underexpose.
Click to expand...

Now, if I do change the setting to bring the exposure back up to a point that looks right, am I still going to have the same image quality?

What if the sensors themselves are less sensitive than they're supposed to be, and I have to bump up the exposure setting. I'm surely not going to be as well off as if the sensor was acting properly. Or maybe it's just something wrong with the software on the camera. Who knows.
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ


Now, if I do change the setting to bring the exposure back up to a point that looks right, am I still going to have the same image quality?
Click to expand...
it shouldn't affect image quality.
What if the sensors themselves are less sensitive than they're supposed to be, and I have to bump up the exposure setting. I'm surely not going to be as well off as if the sensor was acting properly. Or maybe it's just something wrong with the software on the camera. Who knows.
Click to expand...

it's not the sensor. the sensor is 25% MORE sensitive than what it's supposed to be. you can check that with manual settings. the problem is the exposure system.

nm, what time was it?

edit: somehow i don't believe that winter sun in jersey is all that bright. i guess my only comparison of sun that far north at that time of year is boston, which is, admittedly, even more dim. but, if you should be exposing at a tick under EV 15 (say, EV 14.67) then your images, which are just about EV 14, are 2/3 a step under exposed.

though that sky one has me confused. 1/125 and f/8 at iso 100 is EV 13. which is 2 steps OVER exposed. unless i'm just completely off when taking pictures of the sky.
 
Originally posted by: Mark R
But regardless, the camera needs recalibrating/servicing.
Click to expand...

Agreed! I have read about this issue a little bit and was pretty annoyed that Canon would release the camera with such an issue. I wonder if it's fixable through a firmware update? Either way, I would exchange the unit if possible.

I see you have shot one of the pictures in Portrait mode and another in Normal using pattern metering. What happens when you use evaluative? Could setting the exposure to +2/3 or +1 help as a temporary fix?

Best of luck,
~Travis
 
Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Originally posted by: Mark R
But regardless, the camera needs recalibrating/servicing.
Click to expand...

Agreed! I have read about this issue a little bit and was pretty annoyed that Canon would release the camera with such an issue. I wonder if it's fixable through a firmware update? Either way, I would exchange the unit if possible.

I see you have shot one of the pictures in Portrait mode and another in Normal using pattern metering. What happens when you use evaluative? Could setting the exposure to +2/3 or +1 help as a temporary fix?

Best of luck,
~Travis
Click to expand...


Do you have any links to these known problems on the XTi, I just ordered on....thanks
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix

edit: somehow i don't believe that winter sun in jersey is all that bright. i guess my only comparison of sun that far north at that time of year is boston, which is, admittedly, even more dim. but, if you should be exposing at a tick under EV 15 (say, EV 14.67) then your images, which are just about EV 14, are 2/3 a step under exposed.

though that sky one has me confused. 1/125 and f/8 at iso 100 is EV 13. which is 2 steps OVER exposed. unless i'm just completely off when taking pictures of the sky.
Click to expand...

The winter sun in NJ is about as bright as the sun anywhere else. It's just that it's out for less time.

Surely you're not suggesting that the winter sun somehow is too dim to make well exposed shots, because that would be absolutely ridiculous.

 
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