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Why Is The Flash Overexposing My Pics?


ruthless
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I'm so angry :): We've a dog staying with us at the moment and he's playing really well with Chopper. I wanted to take pics of them wrestling in the bedroom but there wasn't much light so I put it on auto. The flash was going and totally overexposing the shots. The same in portrait mode. I cleared all the camera settings and it's still happening. Any idea why?

It's a Canon 30D.

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Take it off Auto, that is why the flash is going off. Open the blinds to let natural light in, that will help and/or up the ISO. Do you have a fast lens you can use? I can use my 50mm 1.8 indoors without flash no probs and without having the ISO too high.

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Not having a DSLR ..all Ican think of is that BEFORE you press the shutter button..check what the settings are.

What speed?

What aperture?

If you up the speed and close down the aperture, that will help...as the camera won't be absorbing as much light.

On Auto...the camera is probably setting itself for a long exposure/slow shutter speed, and a bigger aperture opening, to make full use of the available light. THEN the flash happens...and bingo TOO much light :(

PRACTICE first... take a pic or two in the room, using the conditions... have a look...THEN take one of the dogs :rofl:

Also.. take a few photos...does your camera have a "bracketing" option?

That is a good thing..the camera takes (usually) 3 pics, with slightly different exposures :rofl: One usually works!!

Sorry If I am totally off the mark..I am non-technical, and work by trial and error :) Lots of pics at varying exposures....

Edited by persephone
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Hmm..having a nother look at the pic... the colour etc in the background looks not too bad... which suggests to me ,either youare too close with the flash..or you need to stop so much light getting in.

Read your post about camera being stuffed...try some experiments first!!

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There is actually a flash exposure metre on the camera... you may have accidentally hit it and boosted the flash exposure by accident.

look at the top of your camera, there are four buttons just above the screen; one looks like a light bulb, the next says AF.WB, the next is DRIVE-ISO and the one on the end after that is the flash exposure control.

Hit that last button and set your flash exposure into the centre (my guess is that it might be up around the +2 mark at the moment.)

Try this :laugh:

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If only it was that easy :thumbsup: I cleared all the settings and it was still overexposing. It's only about 18 months old :D:

I dropped it into the camera repair place today and it's rightly f***ed. It's going to take 3+ weeks to fix.

I'm supposed to start a photography course on Sat.

Sucks to be me :laugh:

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What is that course? If it's one run by the community college, it's all theory for the first day. Just take your camera's manual with you.

Did you clear all settings like I asked you to that time you rang me? Remember that fixed the exposure compensation button you had up a few notches last time.

Did they actually say it was stuffed? Because when I took my 'locked up' camera to Canon last year, they told me I had mirror lock up engaged. :thumbsup: I felt like a dimwit.

Edited by Ripley
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No, it's at the Australian Centre for Photography. I called them and they said to just bring my old SLR. I begged to transfer onto a later run course and he said he'd try but if I don't hear back to just turn up with the old camera on Saturday. Actually, I was going to call you as you used it last ... is it good to go? Does it need any cleaning or servicing?!!

The first thing I tried with my 30D is clearing the settings like you showed me :laugh: On the Canon forum I got heaps of suggestions of things to try and everyone agreed that it needed to be repaired.

The guy at the repair place took a few pics to see what the problem was and said usually when it overexposes like that it's a lens problem, but not in my case. He spent a few minutes looking at it and said it was nothing obvious so I'd have to leave it there. Apparently they won't even be able to quote me for the repairs for a week and a half as they're that busy. Pooh.

I left and went to Paxtons and looked at a 5D :thumbsup: I got a really pushy salesman who almost convinced me to get it. I managed to walk away though. I can live without my camera for 3 weeks. I just hope it's fixable :D

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Damn, I've already left it with them. I rang Canon this morning and they gave me the number for this place. Canon is miles away from me [Wetherill Park] and since my camera is out of warranty I thought it wouldn't make a difference where I got it fixed as long as they were Canon specialists.

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Also, have no idea if this has been suggested yet or not...

Is this an external flash or the on camera flash? If it is an external flash, you could also try getting a pencil eraser and cleaning the hotshoe. The same thing as what you are getting above has happened to me while shooting a wedding on the 10D and it turned out that a dirty hotshoe was the problem.

Other than that... what a pain! Hope you get it worked out soon.

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A 5D doesn't have those auto settings like portrait, sports though does it? I thought it ony has the prof setings like AV, SV, M?

If I were you, I'd stick with the 30D and spend your money on a better quality lens. The only reason I want to upgrade my 350D is because with an 'L' lens stuck to it (the 70-200mm I now have), it feels like the good quality lens is going to snap off as the 350D feels so light and plastic in comparison to this heavy lens.

I took my camera into Canon at Ryde and there was nothing wrong with it - I just had mirror lock up engaged. Can you ring them and get it back? Are you in the city this week - I can take a look at it to see if you have any settings where they shouldn't be. The flash exposure compensation that ashanali mentioned is in the second menu, one down on my Canon - your's will be easy to find too.

No, it's at the Australian Centre for Photography. I called them and they said to just bring my old SLR. I begged to transfer onto a later run course and he said he'd try but if I don't hear back to just turn up with the old camera on Saturday. Actually, I was going to call you as you used it last ... is it good to go? Does it need any cleaning or servicing?!!

I didn't take the cap off it but you might want to give it a clean as it's old. The settings on that are similar to your Canon 30D in that it has the same AV, SV, M modes and the usual auto modes. I couldn't find the exposure lock button but didn't have a manual to find out.

ETA: I HATE Paxtons. Went there to have a look at their wide angle lenses and got treated like the little woman. Overpriced to buggery too.

Edited by Ripley
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Also, have no idea if this has been suggested yet or not...

Is this an external flash or the on camera flash? If it is an external flash, you could also try getting a pencil eraser and cleaning the hotshoe. The same thing as what you are getting above has happened to me while shooting a wedding on the 10D and it turned out that a dirty hotshoe was the problem.

Other than that... what a pain! Hope you get it worked out soon.

It was the popup flash. Thanks though!

A 5D doesn't have those auto settings like portrait, sports though does it? I thought it ony has the prof setings like AV, SV, M?

If I were you, I'd stick with the 30D and spend your money on a better quality lens. The only reason I want to upgrade my 350D is because with an 'L' lens stuck to it (the 70-200mm I now have), it feels like the good quality lens is going to snap off as the 350D feels so light and plastic in comparison to this heavy lens.

I took my camera into Canon at Ryde and there was nothing wrong with it - I just had mirror lock up engaged. Can you ring them and get it back? Are you in the city this week - I can take a look at it to see if you have any settings where they shouldn't be. The flash exposure compensation that ashanali mentioned is in the second menu, one down on my Canon - your's will be easy to find too.

ETA: I HATE Paxtons. Went there to have a look at their wide angle lenses and got treated like the little woman. Overpriced to buggery too.

If my 30D is fixable I will stick with it. A better camera isn't what I need to make me better! You're right, the 5D doesn't have any of the auto settings.

I did look at the FEC and it was normal. Honestly, it's broken. I tried heaps of things. I've cleared all the settings, so there's definitely nothing where there shouldn't be. It works in manual modes with the flash. It's only broken in the auto modes. The flash was popping up yesterday in broad daylight. I'm going to leave it where it is. I'll report back when I get the quote!

I know what you mean about Paxtons. I just went in out of curiosity. I never had any intention of buying from there!

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I did look at the FEC and it was normal. Honestly, it's broken. I tried heaps of things. I've cleared all the settings, so there's definitely nothing where there shouldn't be. It works in manual modes with the flash. It's only broken in the auto modes.

That was exactly what my Canon was doing last year when I was screwing around with the settings and didn't know what/how they worked. I could use it on the manual mode, just not the auto modes. I thought it was a firmware problem but I had mirror lock up engaged - the guy at Canon, went away with it, came back 5 mins later and said, "Here's your camera" and all fixed.

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