What I see in the viewfinder is not what the actual photo looks like?

[whinny51092]

I was taking photos at a dog agility trial this past weekend. I have a Canon Rebel EOS SL1 and was using a Canon 100mm f/2 lens for the action shots. I changed out the lens at the end of the day for some award pictures and used my 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. The image through the viewfinder was nice and had good color. When I downloaded the photos at home, the action shots came out fine but the awards photos were very, very dark....to the point where you can hardly even tell there is a human and a dog in them. What I see in the viewfinder or on the LiveView display should be exactly what the photo is, correct?. Why did I see normal color through the viewfinder, yet the actual photos are extremely dark? I'm concerned this might be a problem that will occur again and I want to know what the cause was.

[RobertTheFat · Accepted solution]

The viewfinder will show you the brightest display it can, depending on the focal length you're using: f/2 on the 100mm prime, variably dimmer on the 18-55. The live view display will normally brighten the image as much as it sensibly can, but on most cameras there's an option to dim it down to something approaching what you'll actually see. (Perhaps that option was not turned on.) But in no case should you rely on your lying eyes, no matter what the camera tells you. The human eye has an enormous dynamic range and can correct for a vast range of lighting; the camera can't do nearly as well. You must rely on the camera's metering system, not on what it seems to show you, unless you really know what you're doing.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

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@kvbarkleywrote:

When that happened to me it was becaue I had accidentally set exposure compensation. (But on a T6S, not an SL2).

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... or exposure lock.  I do not think the SL-2 knows how to compensate for artificial lighting flicker, either.

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

F2.0 vs F5.6.  The former takes in 8x more light.  As mentioned your eyes are much much better in low light than the camera is.  No doubt it did look ok to your eye through the viewfinder but the camera’s dynamic range is frustratingly inferior to that of your eyes.  Look at the exposure meter and adjust ISO and shutter speed to deal with it. If you will be shooting indoor events consider getting a brighter general purpose lens likes 17-55 f/2.8 or etc.  You don’t want to be at super high ISO all the time, especially on a crop sensor camera. 

[kvbarkley · Accepted solution]

To see what went wrong look carefully at the EXIF data and compare the shots that are properly exposed with the ones that aren't.

You can post a set here if you want us to try and opine.

[RobertTheFat · Accepted solution]

The viewfinder will show you the brightest display it can, depending on the focal length you're using: f/2 on the 100mm prime, variably dimmer on the 18-55. The live view display will normally brighten the image as much as it sensibly can, but on most cameras there's an option to dim it down to something approaching what you'll actually see. (Perhaps that option was not turned on.) But in no case should you rely on your lying eyes, no matter what the camera tells you. The human eye has an enormous dynamic range and can correct for a vast range of lighting; the camera can't do nearly as well. You must rely on the camera's metering system, not on what it seems to show you, unless you really know what you're doing.

[kvbarkley]

When that happened to me it was becaue I had accidentally set exposure compensation. (But on a T6S, not an SL2).

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

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@kvbarkleywrote:

When that happened to me it was becaue I had accidentally set exposure compensation. (But on a T6S, not an SL2).

---

... or exposure lock.  I do not think the SL-2 knows how to compensate for artificial lighting flicker, either.

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

F2.0 vs F5.6.  The former takes in 8x more light.  As mentioned your eyes are much much better in low light than the camera is.  No doubt it did look ok to your eye through the viewfinder but the camera’s dynamic range is frustratingly inferior to that of your eyes.  Look at the exposure meter and adjust ISO and shutter speed to deal with it. If you will be shooting indoor events consider getting a brighter general purpose lens likes 17-55 f/2.8 or etc.  You don’t want to be at super high ISO all the time, especially on a crop sensor camera. 

[ebiggs1]

"I'm concerned this might be a problem that will occur again and I want to know what the cause was."

Reset you SL1. Under the Tools menu tab clear all settings.  You set somethign wrong.  Probably by acident.  This will correct that.

[kvbarkley · Accepted solution]

To see what went wrong look carefully at the EXIF data and compare the shots that are properly exposed with the ones that aren't.

You can post a set here if you want us to try and opine.

[diverhank · Accepted solution]

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@whinny51092wrote:

I was taking photos at a dog agility trial this past weekend. I have a Canon Rebel EOS SL1 and was using a Canon 100mm f/2 lens for the action shots. I changed out the lens at the end of the day for some award pictures and used my 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. The image through the viewfinder was nice and had good color. When I downloaded the photos at home, the action shots came out fine but the awards photos were very, very dark....to the point where you can hardly even tell there is a human and a dog in them. What I see in the viewfinder or on the LiveView display should be exactly what the photo is, correct?. Why did I see normal color through the viewfinder, yet the actual photos are extremely dark? I'm concerned this might be a problem that will occur again and I want to know what the cause was.

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I think you are making an assumption that is not correct.  What you see through the viewfinder is not what the sensor will see.  And that means is not what your picture will look like.  Just as Robert had said, the brightness you see is based on the brightest aperture the lens will give you.  The view on the Live View, however, is a different thing.  If you have Simulation Enabled (which I think is the default)...what you see there is what you should get on your picture, exposure-wise - but not from the viewfinder.