topic Re: Exposure of birds in flight against sky in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Exposure On EOS R5 isn't right

luciano — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 12:37:25 GMT

Been taking some birds in flight shots with Canon R5. I’ve been using Fv mode and had some great shots, but when the bird is against the sky, the camera sometimes struggles to get exposure right.

Sometimes the shot appears over-exposed (as in Shoveler and Sand Martin attached) or under-exposed (as in Skylark and Meadow Pipit attached). Does anyone know of any settings that would get the exposure right, regardless of the background?

Re: Exposure of birds in flight against sky

Waddizzle — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 11:59:04 GMT

Welcome to the forum.

Your shooting mode is not as likely causing the exposure issues as it could be either your metering mode or choice of active AF points. The camera will try to do whatever you ask.

What metering mode are you using? Which AF points have been selected? Depending on your settings, metering and AF point selection can be joined at the hip.

Are you using any of the advanced tracking features such animal or eye AF? The response of these features is not instantaneous.

What lens are you using? Not all lenses are compatible with the advanced tracking AF system.

How far away are the subjects? How small are they in the field of view? The advanced tracking features do not work as well when subjects are too small, which means only a couple AF points “see” the subject.

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I’m not a fan of Fv mode. It can be a little to automated for my tastes. It is all too easy to not only change your exposure settings, but also your shooting mode. I find the risk of the latter event ocurring to be entirely unacceptable. If it works for you, then it works for you.

I’ve used M and Av modes on DSLRs for your many years with satisfactory results. Even though similar camera settings and results can be achieved using Fv mode, I see no reason to switch to it.

Re: Exposure of birds in flight against sky

Waddizzle — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 12:05:10 GMT

Oh, yeah. Have you reviewed where your locked AF points, if any, are located in each shot?

Re: Exposure On EOS R5 isn't right

luciano — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 06:25:51 GMT

Below is exif data if that helps. Lens is Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens.

Dimensions: 2148x2031
Device make: Canon
Device model: Canon EOS R5
Colour space: RGB
Colour profile: Display P3
Focal length: 500 mm
Alpha channel: No
Red-eye: No
Metering mode: Pattern
F number: f/8
Exposure program: 0
Exposure time: 1/2,000