topic Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 05:23:11 GMT

Hello Canon Community!

I'm having some trouble with my DSLRs.

I've noticed BOTH my Canon SL3 and T5 are both overexposing images when shooting from the viewfinder vs. the Live View, when shooting in auto modes.

The issue stems from shutter speeds; in AUTO, Program AE, and in Apeture Priority AE, the cameras will always choose a faster shutter speed when using the Live View than when using the viewfinder.

For example, in Program AE mode, when viewing in through the viewfinder, the Camera will choose a 1/6th shutter speed. The exposure meter shows dead center. When immediately switching to Live View, the Camera will choose a 1/10th shutter speed. The exposure meter shows dead center.

No other exposure settings are changed, and the resulting images are often significant different, with the viewfinder images almost being unusable due to overexposure.

This issue does not persist in full Manual, or in Shutter Priority mode. When using Shutter Priority, the camera chooses to use the same ISO and Apeture in both shooting methods, and the exposure meter reads dead center in either mode...

I know the cameras use separate metering techniques depending on if you're in Live View or not, but if one of those sensors is off, wouldn't the exposure meter values be off in the Manual or Shutter Priority modes...?

Really confused as to what I'm missing. I know I should be shooting full manual anyways, but it's frustrating when I want to shoot auto to be limited to using the Live View only...

Thanks for any help!

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 05:26:20 GMT

I also think it'd worth stressing this is an identical issue across two separate cameras. If it's a malfunction in the metering, it's very odd to me that two completely unrelated cameras should malfunction in an identical way. I am using separate lenses on each camera as well.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

deebatman316 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 12:23:59 GMT

Are you using a Canon lens or a 3rd Party lens. Stick to a Canon lens and see what happens.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 14:28:07 GMT

I'm using the basic kit lense that came with each camera:(

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

deebatman316 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 18:43:42 GMT

What happens if you switch the lenses between cameras. Is every shot overexposed. Where are you taking shots at. It could be rapid flickering of lights. LED and incandescent bulbs flicker faster than we can see. This is noticeable under artificial lighting.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:11:41 GMT

Switching lenses has no effect unfortunately. And yes, every shot, sometimes only by a little, sometimes a lot. I've noticed it outside and inside, but I really noticed it a lot last night inside while trying take some photos of my aquaria, all the fish were completely blown out when shooting through the viewfinder but fine in Live Liew. That was under artifical aquarium lights.

In my testing to nail down the issue, I'm able to take a photo through the viewfinder, immediately hit the Live view button, and capture another photo within half a second. Each time both cameras choose a much faster (and appropriate) shutter speed with live view.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

deebatman316 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:16:00 GMT

Are you using an external flash between both cameras. Your lens may not always be stopping down. Use Av Mode and set the Aperture to something small like F/11 or F/16. Then press the depth of field preview button. The viewfinder Should significantly darken. Also please post some pictures in the forum too. So other forum users can better assist you.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:27:27 GMT

No external flash. I will test with AV mode, and report back, but it will be later today.

As far as photos, all I really have is the attached, very poor, photos. I just wanted to see how much the settings were changing in Auto in one mode to the next, so I took some photos of my controller in my lap, in my darkened living room.

The photo on the left is from Live View. You can see that the camera chose a 1/40 shutter speed. This image looks *exactly* like the dimly lit controller did in real life. The left photo was taken immediately after, using the viewfinder. The camera selected 1/25 shutter speed, which made the controller look significantly brighter than in real life.

Obviously these are extremely poor photos, and I can take some better ones later if it would help. But I noticed this issue late at night and started fumbling around with it long after the sun had set!

Thanks for your help so far:)

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

ebiggs1 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:53:35 GMT

Whenever something like this happens the best next step is to reset the camera(s) back to Canon default settings.

Menus>Tools>Clear all settings and also Clear all custom settings. This puts you back to square one a basic start up. Now try and see if it still happens. Next a brand new SD card forma a top manufacturer. Make sure the batteries are fully charged.

It is unlikely that two cameras would exhibit a problem that is identical so user error is a high probability. Do the reset and see what happens. In case it doesn't help you may need Canon to service the camera(s). 1 (800) 652-2666

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Jaxsonp10 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:59:48 GMT

Yeah I definitely feel like I'm missing a setting, or something? But as far as I can tell there is extremely limited settings the user can change when shooting in Full Auto? I'll do a factory reset of the camera and report back for sure. I have been using brand new SD cards from SanDisk.

I got the SL3 second hand, so I figured maybe the previous owner had simply broken something, or set something incorrectly. When I tested my T5 to compare (which I've had since new) and saw the same issue, I was very confused!

Thanks for the reply

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

ebiggs1 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 16:03:27 GMT

Yes do the reset but it may be a fault with the camera. Quite possibly it is. You have to make sure you are dealing with basic settings first.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

BurnUnit — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 18:04:29 GMT

@deebatman316 wrote:
. . . It could be rapid flickering of lights. LED and incandescent bulbs flicker faster than we can see. This is noticable under artificial lighting.

Did you mean "fluorescent" instead of incandescent?

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

BurnUnit — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 18:07:07 GMT

Newer aquarium lamps do tend to be LED lights which exhibits the rapid flickering as mentioned above. LED lamps do mess with exposure and can cause odd color shifts. But I wouldn't expect the errors you're seeing to be so consistent. Some cameras have an "anti-flicker" menu setting to deal with the issue but I'm not sure the T5 or SL3 offer this feature. You might have to do some research in the user manuals to know for sure.

When your problem arises are you hand-holding the camera or is it mounted on a tripod? Does the same problem occur when shooting outdoors in good daylight?

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

deebatman316 — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 18:43:01 GMT

@BurnUnit Yes I meant to say fluorescent lighting not incandescent I mixed up the two of them.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

ashtheartist — Mon, 06 May 2024 16:37:47 GMT

Hello, I Have absolutely the same issue with my Canon SL3
I did a factory reset twice and tried with two different original Canon lenses but it was still the same
have you found any solutions?

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

deebatman316 — Mon, 06 May 2024 16:39:50 GMT

Please start a new thread so we can better assist you. To prevent confusion between the OP and other forum members.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

j-indigo — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 18:39:18 GMT

Hello, i just picked up a SL3 refurb direct from canon and am experiencing exactly the same problem — at least a stop over exposed, and this is true in daylight (so not led/fluorescent flicker) and with only canon lenses (several lenders including the kit lens and the 50/1.8). I tried a full reset to factory default and it didn’t not help. Did you find any fix for this?

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

j-indigo — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 18:40:03 GMT

Having the same problem here, did you get any resolution from canon?

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

Tronhard — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 20:26:22 GMT

Hi and welcome to the forum, Jaxson.

For the benefit of others who may not realize the difference between shooting with the VF vs. LCD, I will provide info on this.

To me one significant thing is the difference is apparent when you are looking through the viewfinder vs via the LCD at the back of the camera. It is because when you look through the viewfinder the image is metered with a separate set of metering nodes because the mirror blocks the path to the sensor. When you take the shot, the mirror flips up and the image is taken, based on those settings. BTW, when you look through the viewfinder, even if you are using a relatively narrow aperture, what you see will be with the fully-open aperture to assist you with focusing and composition. So the aperture is closed as part of the image-recording process

In Live View mode - i.e. when using the LCD, the sensor is doing the reading, and so what you see and what the camera meters on is what will actually be recorded, including the exposure. You can demonstrate these traits by pointing the camera at a subject, looking through the viewfinder and changing the EV compensation levels. The viewfinder will show no difference, but the numbers will change, while the view from the LCD will change as you look and change the EV compensation.

While it may seem logical to stick to shooting with the LCD, that is problematic because as the weight and focal lengths of the cameras increase they will amplify any camera movement, and holding a camera like a cell phone is not a stable platform.

No!
Instead it is much better to hold the camera tight to the eye, using the Optical Viewfinder:

This is also compounded with how the default metering works.

Metering has several different options, of which the default is Evaluative, which considers the majority of the Field of View and finds a compromise value of prioritization. To get this under control, one may have to move about the focus point, which takes time and is imprecise.

While this works for many scenes, it is not good where there is a lot of contrast and the subject is in bright light, as in the following image. In evaluative metering the system would have considered the dominant black area, thus blowing out the actual subject.
EOS 5DsR, EF100-400II@321mm, f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO-400 Fuji X-T4, Tamron 18-300@93mm, f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO-400 Red Panda RX10, 500mm, f/4, 1/30sec, ISO-250
60D, 55-250@105mm, f/7.1, 1/1000sec, ISO-200 Canon EOS R6, RF 24-240 240mm, f/8, 1/100sec, ISO-200

Other examples would be where the subject itself is either very dark (e.g. a black bear) or almost white (white bear). In those cases, the metering system will over-expose and underexpose the subjects respectively.

One solution to both issues it to be very precise with what is metered. To do so, one must understand that a camera's dynamic range (the capacity to include white to black and all shades in between) is much less than ours. So what we see (mediated by a lot of brain activity) will be much better than what the camera can capture.

What the sensor tries to do is configure the exposure settings for a reflectance level of mid-grey (aka 18% grey) - because colour is irrelevant in reflectance. So, the more precisely one can specify the correct level of reflectance, the more correct that exposure will be achieved and this is done by being more specific in what is metered - which is where we come to the metering modes.

I personally prefer to shoot in single point, centred metering, and lock with the * button on the back of the camera. I combine that with Back Button Focus, (assigned to the AF-ON button) which allows me to define exactly what point in the photo is the focal point. This is critical for photographing people or animals, where the eye is the critical. element.

Setting this up: you need to be in M, Av, or Tv modes to see all menu options.

Setting up Centre Point or Spot Metering: In either camera, via the menu, one can set the centre point metering as per the following from the SL3 manual:

So How does this all work:

It is better to shoot in one of the modes like Av, Tv or M, rather than the more automated modes as you have more control over the image - the more automated the mode, the less choice the operator has - the more the camera is controlling you.

1. Locate the point of mid-reflectance and lock it in with the * button
2. Locate the point of focus (e.g. an eye) and lock that by tapping the AF-ON button. (Focus should be set to Servo, so that a tap will lock focus on a stationary object, while holding the AF-ON will follow the subject)
3. Recompose and shoot.

It may seem complicated, but once you get some practise in you will do so in about a second and will have total control over both focus and exposure. BTW, You don't have to shoot in M mode - there is a fallacy that this is THE mode to work in. I, and many of my colleagues shoot in Av mode predominantly, rarely in Tv or M - but that depends somewhat on the genre.

Re: Canon SL3 and T5 - Overexposing When Shooting From Viewfinder In Auto Modes

j-indigo — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 20:12:56 GMT

Hi,

not sure who Jason is? But if that was all for me… i have been shooting with canon dSLR cameras for 15 years. I have extensive experience and very rarely use the LCD for composition.
I don’t have the ability to share images right now but i have been shooting side by side with the same settings and same lenses between the 70d and the SL3 and the latter is consistently over exposing images.