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flash too bright with digital cameras?



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 24th 06, 08:07 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
louise
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Posts: 111
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting
indoors, both cameras invariably shoot too bright - the
flash is too much for the setting.

The Sony has a setting for lowering the flash but even with
that set, many indoor photos are overexposed he because of
the flash. And this is often true for the Canon as well.

Is there a trick? A way around this? Is there another
setting one could use to compensate somehow?

I have a Nikon film camera with a built in flash and it
never creates this problem. And yet, I've seen several
digitals do so.

Help?

TIA

Louise
  #2  
Old December 24th 06, 09:03 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Malcolm Stewart
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Posts: 50
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.
The Sony has a setting for lowering the flash but even with that set, many
indoor photos are overexposed he because of the flash. And this is often
true for the Canon as well.

Is there a trick? A way around this? Is there another setting one could
use to compensate somehow?

Help?
Louise


Could the flash control be separate and lower down the menu? It is with my
Coolpix 4500 - almost the last item to get to, but effective when changed.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK



--
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  #3  
Old December 24th 06, 01:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Steph
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Posts: 1
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

I frequently have to reduce the exposure setting by 1 or 1.5 stops,
especially with close-ups. The other alternative is to put a piece of thin
white fabric over the flash to soften and diffuse it?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.



  #4  
Old December 25th 06, 07:31 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Chuck
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Posts: 33
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

A thought-- With my C8080, and an FL 36, it's obvious that the exposure
metering mode has a great deal to do with the success of flash exposure.
Do you know what metering mode is used? (such as spot or average)

"Steph" wrote in message
...
I frequently have to reduce the exposure setting by 1 or 1.5 stops,
especially with close-ups. The other alternative is to put a piece of

thin
white fabric over the flash to soften and diffuse it?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both

cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.





  #5  
Old December 25th 06, 07:49 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Alan Browne
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Posts: 12,640
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

louise wrote:
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both
cameras invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the
setting.

The Sony has a setting for lowering the flash but even with that set,
many indoor photos are overexposed he because of the flash. And this is
often true for the Canon as well.

Is there a trick? A way around this? Is there another setting one
could use to compensate somehow?


If the subject is darker than the exposure systems reference point
(somewhere around 12 - 18% grey), then the system will tend to flash
longer to get a 12 - 18 % grey exposure.

When shooting dark subjects set the flash (or exposure comp) to a -ve
value (-1 to -1.5 or even -2). (Assumes the camera has exp.
compensation ... many do).

When shooting very light subjects do the opposite.

Cheers,
Alan

--
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  #6  
Old December 27th 06, 06:38 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
louise
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 111
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

Chuck wrote:
A thought-- With my C8080, and an FL 36, it's obvious that the exposure
metering mode has a great deal to do with the success of flash exposure.
Do you know what metering mode is used? (such as spot or average)

"Steph" wrote in message
...
I frequently have to reduce the exposure setting by 1 or 1.5 stops,
especially with close-ups. The other alternative is to put a piece of

thin
white fabric over the flash to soften and diffuse it?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both

cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.




usually it's average - would you suggest trying spot?

Louise
  #7  
Old December 27th 06, 07:01 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
a630 user
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Posts: 1
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

I got a Canon A-630 this week, and seem to have the same problem.

Any pictures taken "close up in Auto mode" look overly bright. In fact,
people in those pictures look like those models in wax museums


louise wrote:
Chuck wrote:
A thought-- With my C8080, and an FL 36, it's obvious that the exposure
metering mode has a great deal to do with the success of flash exposure.
Do you know what metering mode is used? (such as spot or average)

"Steph" wrote in message
...
I frequently have to reduce the exposure setting by 1 or 1.5 stops,
especially with close-ups. The other alternative is to put a piece of

thin
white fabric over the flash to soften and diffuse it?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both

cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.



usually it's average - would you suggest trying spot?

Louise


  #8  
Old December 27th 06, 08:08 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
SteveB
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Posts: 41
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

"a630 user" wrote in message
oups.com...
I got a Canon A-630 this week, and seem to have the same problem.

Any pictures taken "close up in Auto mode" look overly bright. In fact,
people in those pictures look like those models in wax museums


louise wrote:
Chuck wrote:
A thought-- With my C8080, and an FL 36, it's obvious that the exposure
metering mode has a great deal to do with the success of flash
exposure.
Do you know what metering mode is used? (such as spot or average)

"Steph" wrote in message
...
I frequently have to reduce the exposure setting by 1 or 1.5 stops,
especially with close-ups. The other alternative is to put a piece of
thin
white fabric over the flash to soften and diffuse it?

"louise" wrote in message
...
I have a Canon A520 and a Sony DSC H1. When shooting indoors, both
cameras
invariably shoot too bright - the flash is too much for the setting.



usually it's average - would you suggest trying spot?

Louise



With a few digicams I've owned/used, the problem is not so much overexposure
more that the white balance is uncorrected for the blue/white flash light.
This totally washes out skin tones, giving the waxworks look. If it cannot
be corrected for with the camera's white balance options (some can, some
can't) then the only fix is to cover the flash with a compensating orange
transparent filter. If you get the filter colour right then this is a
really good fix. I've used a clear inkjet label with an orange colour
printed on it, with another clear label over it for protection. RGB values
of 255,228,189 worked very well on one camera I had but it will depend on
the printer/flash & camera combination as to what works in practice.


  #9  
Old December 27th 06, 08:34 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
ASAAR
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Posts: 6,057
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

On 26 Dec 2006 22:01:11 -0800, a630 user wrote:

I got a Canon A-630 this week, and seem to have the same problem.

Any pictures taken "close up in Auto mode" look overly bright. In fact,
people in those pictures look like those models in wax museums


As Chuck hinted - the metering mode may be responsible. Assuming
that the A630 is similar to the A620, in Auto mode, Evaluative
metering is used, which probably gives good results if the
subject(s) fill the frame. But if not, the background will also be
used to calculate exposure. Since it's farther away, the flash will
pump out more light, overexposing near objects. The solution is to
use something other than Auto Mode, such as P, Tv, Av or M, which
will allow you to select Center Weighted Average or Spot. I tried
shooting a small object centered in the frame and with Evaluative
metering the subject was grossly overexposed. Using CWA or Spot
metering allowed the subject to get a decent exposure, but the
background was naturally much more underexposed. That's to be
expected when a single flash is used in dim lighting conditions.

Whether it's desirable or not depends on the effect you're trying
to get, and adding additional flashes or other lights isn't the only
way to brighten the background. The A630 has a Night Scene mode
that uses the flash with a slower shutter speed to help brighten the
background. Unfortunately, the Night Scene mode forces the use of
Evaluative metering which can again overexpose close subjects, but
you can get the same effect using Tv or M mode to slow the shutter
speed if Night Scene mode doesn't produce the best exposure.

  #10  
Old December 27th 06, 02:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Jack Mac
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Posts: 51
Default flash too bright with digital cameras?

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 02:34:40 -0500, ASAAR wrote:

On 26 Dec 2006 22:01:11 -0800, a630 user wrote:

I got a Canon A-630 this week, and seem to have the same problem.

Any pictures taken "close up in Auto mode" look overly bright. In fact,
people in those pictures look like those models in wax museums


As Chuck hinted - the metering mode may be responsible. Assuming
that the A630 is similar to the A620, in Auto mode, Evaluative
metering is used, which probably gives good results if the
subject(s) fill the frame. But if not, the background will also be
used to calculate exposure. Since it's farther away, the flash will
pump out more light, overexposing near objects. The solution is to
use something other than Auto Mode, such as P, Tv, Av or M, which
will allow you to select Center Weighted Average or Spot. I tried
shooting a small object centered in the frame and with Evaluative
metering the subject was grossly overexposed. Using CWA or Spot
metering allowed the subject to get a decent exposure, but the
background was naturally much more underexposed. That's to be
expected when a single flash is used in dim lighting conditions.

Whether it's desirable or not depends on the effect you're trying
to get, and adding additional flashes or other lights isn't the only
way to brighten the background. The A630 has a Night Scene mode
that uses the flash with a slower shutter speed to help brighten the
background. Unfortunately, the Night Scene mode forces the use of
Evaluative metering which can again overexpose close subjects, but
you can get the same effect using Tv or M mode to slow the shutter
speed if Night Scene mode doesn't produce the best exposure.



'way back when I had an Olympus 2000 I had that problem and the
quick fix I used was a small piece of black electrical tape place over
half the flash window. It worked to my satisfaction.
Not hi-tech but it worked.
 




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