Highlight Clipping

[Boutte]

i recently bought a Canon T1i. It's agreat camera bu tI notice I get a lot of clipping on the high end. So far i only have the kit lens (18-55) that came with the camera and I also shoot a lot in harsh sunlight. I know that's not optimal but there's only so much you can control.

I know I can can compensate by adjusting the setting but is there something else I can do? Will a better lens help. It seems that the exposure is never right till I correct it. It would be nice to able to trust my in-camera meter.

[carregwen]

i recently bought a Canon T1i. It's agreat camera bu tI notice I get a lot of clipping on the high end. So far i only have the kit lens (18-55) that came with the camera and I also shoot a lot in harsh sunlight. I know that's not optimal but there's only so much you can control.

I know I can can compensate by adjusting the setting but is there something else I can do? Will a better lens help. It seems that the exposure is never right till I correct it. It would be nice to able to trust my in-camera meter.

Could you post a typical shot that represents the problems you are experiencing, together with the EXIF data (ISO, shutter speed etc)?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Boutte,

It would also help to know what metering mode you have set too; Matrix?, Centre weighted or Spot, etc.

Have you double checked there is no Exposure Compensation accidentally dialled in?

We may be able to tell a fair amount of this information if the picture you post has the full EXIF data intact.

One last question: are you shooting jpg?

Cheers,

[Boutte]

This is fairly typical of what I'm talking about. Thanks for taking the time'

[Boutte]

Hi Boutte,

It would also help to know what metering mode you have set too; Matrix?, Centre weighted or Spot, etc.

Have you double checked there is no Exposure Compensation accidentally dialled in?

We may be able to tell a fair amount of this information if the picture you post has the full EXIF data intact.

One last question: are you shooting jpg?

Cheers,

I go back and forth. Depending on how much memory I have left. The pic above was shot in RAW.

[Boutte]

Here's another

[Dave Humphries]

I'm not that familiar with Canon EXIF, perhaps Colin might spot something here:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?b=3&refer...2FIMG_2849.jpg

This is for the first picture!

Looks to me like you were Spot metering on AE Auto.
I think this will make whatever the spot falls on 18% grey - i.e. a mid-tone, which will over expose other stuff if you point the spot at something which should be quite dark in the picture.

Regards,

[Dave Humphries]

Second picture is Evaluative metering, but the picture content is mostly even tones but with small areas of white, which will over expose without a little exposure compenstaion applied.

[Colin Southern]

I'm not that familiar with Canon EXIF, perhaps Colin might spot something here:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?b=3&refer...2FIMG_2849.jpg

I'm on page 17 now Dave - should be finished it by the end of next week!

Looks to me like you were Spot metering on AE Auto.

Normally I'd expect the auto modes to use evaluative metering.

EXIF looked OK to me, but to me, the image almost looks like the camera is struggling with the dynamic range of the scene - and that just doesn't add up. I noticed that you shot the image RAW, and I'm just wondering if it's been damaged somehow during processing.

Any chance you can send me the RAW file so that I can take a closer look at it? (Easiest way is to pop along to www.sendthisfile.com - create a free account - upload the file to your own eMail address - and then copy/paste the link they send you to me in a PM (Private Message).

[carregwen]

EXIF looks OK to me too. Unless there is a fault with the camera (as it's new) I would say it has had something done to it in processing (DPP in the EXIF). We need to see the original RAW as Colin suggested.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Boutte,

What are you using to convert RAW to jpg?
Certainly using ACR, with a shot like this I would push the slider called Recovery up to maximum and that would make it look a lot better I suspect. If DPP doesn't have one of those sliders, is there an Exposure slider you could pull down?

To expand a little on what I wrote when I should have been in bed and I wasn't thinking clearly.

Looks to me like you were Spot metering on AE Auto.
I think this will make whatever the spot falls on 18% grey - i.e. a mid-tone, which will over expose other stuff if you point the spot at something which should be quite dark in the picture.

Dead centre of frame are some fairly shadowy/unlit (i.e. should be dark) areas of tree trunk, so if these got spot metered and exposed "correctly", I am not surprised the sunlight through the leaves and on the ground is way over.

For what it's worth I still regularly produce badly exposed shots myself because I am not thinking hard enough about these things at the time of shooting.
(How do you think I know about those ACR sliders )

Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

I'm also curious as to why the camera chose 1/64th (1/60th) (normally the lower limit in auto mode used to minimise camera shake) - on a "sunny 16" day I would have expected something in the region of 1/640th - sowe're looking at around 2 1/2 stops over-exposed (which looks about right).

[Colin Southern]

Here's another

The exif data suggests that this one is exposed correctly according to the sunny 16 rule (or there about) - plus, it doesn't look blown to me (the exposure looks OK). Thought of the moment ...

... if this is looking over-exposed to you, then possibly (probably) we're looking at a monitor calibration / profiling issue.