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Waaaay overexposed photos in low light - is it just me (or my M8)


AlbertoDeRoma

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I try to use manual exposure when I can, and I am getting pretty good at getting it in the ballpark when I am shooting outdoors. Indoors, however, I've relied on 'A' mode with my other Leicas (D2 and DL4) and the camera usually gets it right.

 

With the M8, however, I am blowing it (pun intended) big time. In aperture priority mode, my M8 overexposes by 2 or 3 stops. I never use auto ISO. Am I doing something wrong?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated because the M8 is losing its first-draft pick status if there's any indoor or night-time photography involved. The D2 has rarely failed me.

 

Alberto

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Simple answer is that you should not use A. Set your shutter speed to the lowest it can be and then expose from there by adjusting the ISO or aperture. You can also choose to underexpose or over expose in the EV settings.

 

Shooting indoors without a flash is very difficult even if you have a fast lens. Sometimes it is better to use flash but then adjust the output to suit which aperture you want to use.

 

When shooting in low-light without flash I try to shoot to preserve highlights. When shooting with flash I usually shoot at f8 and use hi flash output.

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Inside daytime or nighttime? I have reverted to 0 EV on auto and lock exposure on the highlight & reframe. There is no room at the top & plenty at the bottom (as predicted by Feynman;)). Shots with lamps, candles a.o. light emitting obstacles are tough as they tend to get blown to h**l, so nighttime is manual exposure time in most cases.

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Hi There,

 

First time poster here. I also have noticed blown out images in A mode on my M8 when shooting indoors. Because of this I now always shoot in manual mode and pretty much stick to what I would set on my M3 and I get good results. I'm still figuring out this digital M things so thanks for posting this question!

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Hi There,

 

First time poster here. I also have noticed blown out images in A mode on my M8 when shooting indoors. Because of this I now always shoot in manual mode and pretty much stick to what I would set on my M3 and I get good results. I'm still figuring out this digital M things so thanks for posting this question!

 

Let me be the first to welcome you Pachuco!

 

Alberto

 

PS Great portfolio!

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With the M8, however, I am blowing it (pun intended) big time. In aperture priority mode, my M8 overexposes by 2 or 3 stops. I never use auto ISO. Am I doing something wrong? Alberto

 

Interesting problem--overexposure generally isn't the issue. It's underexposure. Don't think you're doing anything wrong. Sounds like metering woes. :)

 

In my experience, the M8's heavily center-weighted metering can be tricky to use--even if you know exactly what it's supposed to be doing and why.

 

I use an incident light meter when I'm shooting indoors at night--I'll walk around, sample a bit, and then settle on a good EV average, dial the settings into the top of the M8, and just shoot.

 

General tips:

 

* Set your ISO to as low as you can. Remember, the higher you set the ISO, the more precise your exposure needs to be--and when you miss exposure at a high ISO with dark scenes, you're in for double trouble in post-production to fix it. For indoors at night, I usually set to 320. Sometimes (rarely) 640.

 

* I usually shoot at f/2, and adjust speed accordingly. In dim lighting, this is 1/15th or 1/30th of a sec. In brighter lighting I can pull 1/125th. (In which case I might bump to f/2.8 and dial down to 1/60th.)

 

* Expect spot-sources of light to blow out, but your subject to be reasonably OK (depending on lighting).

 

Thanks--and good luck.

Will

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Interesting problem--overexposure generally isn't the issue. It's underexposure. Don't think you're doing anything wrong. Sounds like metering woes. :)

 

In my experience, the M8's heavily center-weighted metering can be tricky to use--even if you know exactly what it's supposed to be doing and why.

 

I use an incident light meter when I'm shooting indoors at night--I'll walk around, sample a bit, and then settle on a good EV average, dial the settings into the top of the M8, and just shoot.

 

General tips:

 

* Set your ISO to as low as you can. Remember, the higher you set the ISO, the more precise your exposure needs to be--and when you miss exposure at a high ISO with dark scenes, you're in for double trouble in post-production to fix it. For indoors at night, I usually set to 320. Sometimes (rarely) 640.

 

* I usually shoot at f/2, and adjust speed accordingly. In dim lighting, this is 1/15th or 1/30th of a sec. In brighter lighting I can pull 1/125th. (In which case I might bump to f/2.8 and dial down to 1/60th.)

 

* Expect spot-sources of light to blow out, but your subject to be reasonably OK (depending on lighting).

 

Thanks--and good luck.

Will

 

Thanks for the advice. I usually go for f/2 as well - unless I want/need more DOF. The advice about keeping the ISO low to allow some flexibility in PP is very good. Most people (including me) automatically reach for higher ISO when indoor - I should be more careful.

 

I do miss bracketing ...

 

Thanks again for the thoughtful advice.

 

Alberto

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Thanks for the advice. I usually go for f/2 as well - unless I want/need more DOF. The advice about keeping the ISO low to allow some flexibility in PP is very good. Most people (including me) automatically reach for higher ISO when indoor - I should be more careful. I do miss bracketing ... Thanks again for the thoughtful advice. Alberto

 

Two more things? (You may already know these, and they're not your problem at the moment, but I thought I'd add them because you'll be into these next, potentially.)

 

Color

-------------

* Color temperature can be a problem in post. Depending on the type of artificial light you may not be able to recover the skin tones. This might be OK. But maybe not. Depends on your taste and style.

-- Indoor tungsten and fluorescent lighting can be adjusted. *Assuming* you have enough of it to illuminate skin tones. (E.g., well-lit with these sources should be OK. But, if lighting is less than ideal, plan on a B&W conversion.)

-- Orange "mercury" lighting (as in many outdoor parking lots) and christmas lighting (blue, red, & green, especially) = "clown makeup" skin tones. Simply unfixable in most cases. Just plan on doing a B&W conversion when you shoot it. OR keep the color (red, blue, orange, etc.)

 

 

When Dark, Shoot Twice

-------------

When shooting at 1/30th or below, shoot mostly everything twice and with controlled breathing--and let your subjects know they should stay very still. (If you have that luxury.) Frame, breathe, freeze!, snap. Frame, breathe, freeze!, snap. (As fast as you could read that.) This will give you options in post to choose the sharper of two shots. People blink, move slightly, etc. You increase your chances of getting a good shot.

 

 

Good luck, Alberto.

 

Let us know how it goes?

 

Thanks,

Will

 

P.S. Bonus: If you're willing to do a B&W monochrome conversion, you can easily bump two or three stops, boost brightness (giving you two more stops), and dial in an adjusted black point (in Aperture, for example) to get nicely illuminated images (without a lot of noise). I've pulled credible shots out of ISO 320, 1/15th sec, f/1.2, using this method. The example below was shot in conditions where it was on the edge of focusability--it was an EV of 2. It ain't tack sharp. But it has character and, frankly, I shouldn't have been able to shoot it at all. I did use TrueGrain to add grain (not noise) to it to get the final look I wanted. It never would have white-balanced, BTW.

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One more thing? You may already know this, and it's not your problem at the moment, but I thought I'd add it because you'll be into this next, potentially.

 

* Color temperature can be a problem in post. Depending on the type of artificial light you may not be able to recover the skin tones. This might be OK. But maybe not. Depends on your taste and style.

-- Indoor tungsten and fluorescent lighting can be adjusted. *Assuming* you have enough of it to illuminate skin tones. (E.g., well-lit with these sources should be OK. But, if lighting is less than ideal, plan on a B&W conversion.)

-- Orange "mercury" lighting (as in many outdoor parking lots) and christmas lighting (blue, red, & green, especially) = "clown makeup/skin" coloring. Just plan on doing a B&W conversion when you shoot it.

 

* I can say that you can easily bump two or three stops, boost brightness, and dial in an adjusted black point (in Aperture, for example) to get nicely illuminated images (without a lot of noise). BUT you have to be willing to convert to B&W.

 

Good luck, Alberto. Let us know how it goes?

 

Thanks,

Will

 

Thanks Will. Fortunately, I love B&W and it's my first choice in any case - especially since I often forget to adjust the WB on the M8 (yesterday I took 10+ shots before remembering that it was set for artificial light).

 

Alberto

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When indoors, or in low light situation, even in manual mode, does the in-camera meter work well? I had a similar problem before, turned out the camera's meter needed adjustment. Exposure in daylight and bright areas was spot on, but when no light source is in the frame (even if its pretty well lit), my camera overexposed badly.

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