is there a reason why canon's automatic metering sucks so bad?

[quazimoto]

First off I almost always shoot in Manual mode and I've never had issues doing so, always works great. I use a light meter to get everything just right. Now this past week I did some photos for some clients and it got dark way faster than we were wanting. So the question.........

I metered the scene both using a light meter and in P mode on the camera. It comes back say 1/40th @ F4.5. All sounds great. I take a test shot and see this nicely lit up scene all it's missing is a little fill flash on the couple.

When I turn my pocketwizard on the exposure turns to 1/200th @ F6.0 or something around there. I take another shot and it looks like absolute crap.

I'm just curious if this is normal. I mean if I did shoot it in manual mode at 1/40th @ F4.5 with flash and it looks absolutely perfect. I just don't get how canon can release a $8,000+ camera and it meters a scene this bad. The shot with the flash on was not even a good representation of what the scene looked like.

This all happened simple because I forgot my light meter at home otherwise I would have never noticed this. But now that I've noticed it, it's really beginning to bug me.

[AccentAE86]

All metering sucks. I don't find my Nikon or Canon bodies are particularly excellent. You have to constantly compensate. But you failed when you set it to P mode and didn't use EC. Sounds like your subject was infront of a brighter background.

Your camera is guessing what you are doing, and that's the problem. 1/40 F/4.5 with no flash might look fine for your portrait. But when you turn on flash the algorithms change; it's probably trying to set you up for motion freezing. Which is why you have EC.

What would a guy running around following his 2 year old kid say if he turned on his flash and it stayed at 1/40 F/4.5? He would complain while you would praise the camera's auto exposure setting.

So really, you're complaining about nothing. You want the camera to be psychic.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by quazimoto
I just don't get how canon can release a $8,000+ camera and it meters a scene this bad.

I just don't get how you can buy an $8,000 camera and not know how the flash settings work. P+flash has the camera set to near max sync as a compromise, Canon or Nikon.


Also,

Originally posted by quazimoto

I metered the scene both using a light meter and in P mode on the camera.
*snip*

This all happened simple because I forgot my light meter at home otherwise I would have never noticed this.


wut?

[quazimoto]

Because I seriously never had a real need to use the P setting. You'd also think a person following a moving subject would know better than to shoot at 1/40. It was during the twilight hours when this all happened. I'm still confused as to why it changes the exposure so much. I would also assume that most people that would be buying a $8,000+ camera would realize that Manual mode is their best friend.

[C4S]

U can use the multi exposure on 1D series ... it should help ..

Still, exposure on digital .. cannot compare to Film ... :dunno:

(But you can PP to hlep .. )

:)

Anyway, no worry Quzimoto, .. even Nikon .. Sony .. Olympus etc .. their metering system is NOT better then the Canon 1 series. ;)



May be time for you to get the S2? ;)