5d Mark IV Metering / over exposure with same settings and lighting

[sdkstudio]

I'm shooting product and taking several shots with same settings with the following: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Setting f32 / 1.6 ISO 100 without making any changes or any adjustments to lighting or settings, every 3rd or 4th shot i get an overexposed image. below is 2 examples that i just shot for this post

[sdkstudio]

Thanks for the comments. I'll test with some incandescent lighting since it's continuos.

[kvbarkley]

It could be this - see TCampbells answer, here:

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/EOS-5D-MARK-IV-Metering-Issue/m-p/224811

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

"I'll test with some incandescent lighting since it's continuos."

You can try that but it will not help. Your problem is not light flicker.  You have a correct exposure and then you have an over exposure, by several stops.  If light flicker is happening the light flickers off, not brighter.  Which is what you would need to get an over exposure. A two second SS will see the same amount of flickers anyway! 

Since you are shooting at f32, I will bet the lens is not closing all the way down to f32 on the over exposure. This could be due to a faulty lens and is almost the only way your problem can happen.

[sdkstudio]

Thank you ALL for all the input.

"ebiggs1", you are correct, it must be the lens. i tested same senario with my 50 mm and didnt have any issues even when shooting 36 continuous shots. So THANKS again

[TCampbell]

Many types of lighting (including LED lighting) pump out just one true luminosity ... but they do blink (flirker) rapidly.  This includes florescent lights, LED lights, and many others.  This is usually not noticeable to people ... but the metering system can detect it.  

AC power cycles 60 times per second.  So it's possible with a fast-ish exposure to have the camera take the shot at dim point that the eye doesn't notice.  If you burst several frames in a row, you get some bright, some dim, many people think the camera is broken ... but it really did capture what was happen at that moment (nothing wrong with camera).

"Flicker Compensation" is meant to detect the cycle rhythm and have the camera take the shot at the moment the lights are bright so that you don't get under-exposed frames.

LED lights also flicker ... most diodes only put out one true brightness and the perception of dimming an LED comes from changing the frequency of how fast it blinks ... the light "seems" dimmer to us.

Dimmable LEDs are generally blinking fairly fast ... and according to the EXIF data, these are both 2 second exposures.

On the other hand... It shows you used "Manual" exposure.  

When you use "manual" exposure... the camera and metering system does not control the exposure.  You control the exposure.   If you set ISO 100, f/32, and a 2 second expsorure time... then you GET ISO 100, f/32, and a 2 second exposure time.  The metering system will offer "advice" ... but it's up to you to set the exposure.  

The EXIF data I see in both shots is Manual exposure mode, ISO 100,  f/32, and 2 seconds.

Were you using a polarizer and you did you rotate it between shots?

Are you sharing all of the equipment involved in the shoot?

Reflectors?

Flags?

Gels?

Filters?

etc.?

Adjustment to these sorts of things can make a big difference in the result.

Based on the EXIF data... there's no issue with the camera metering system because the metering system didn't control the exposure.  It *must* be something else.  

[TurtleDownUnder]

I've been having the same issue but outdoors (no chance of flicker). Two shots, same background, subject matter, composition, settings . . . everything seemingly the same and one looks okay, another completely over exposed and blown out. New Canon 5D mark IV and really upsetting

[ebiggs1]

"New Canon 5D mark IV and really upsetting"

What lens?  Make sure it is working correctly. 

[Waddizzle]

---

@TurtleDownUnder wrote:
I've been having the same issue but outdoors (no chance of flicker). Two shots, same background, subject matter, composition, settings . . . everything seemingly the same and one looks okay, another completely over exposed and blown out. New Canon 5D mark IV and really upsetting

---

With 2 second exposures, I do not think it could be flicker.  

But, i would not completely rule it out, either.  Unlike analog light sources that merely dim during their “OFF” portion of their flickering, a digital, solid state light source will go completely dark.  The human eye just cannot see it go dark.  If you fire the shutter at the moment when the solid state light source is dark, then you may wind up with an over exposure.

It is very easy to eliminate this as a source of the trouble by simply enabling “Light Flicker Compensation”, and see if the problem just simply goes away.  If it does not, then you know the problem is not flicker.  If you are shooting with artificial lighting, then it is probably a best practice to enable LFC, anyway.

[wq9nsc]

With more sophisticated LED arrays, the anti-flicker setting in the camera won't have any effect.  It is set up to operate at an exact multiple of either of the commonly used 50 or 60 hz line frequencies (line frequency depends upon country/region) and if the flicker rate isn't an exact and recurring multiple of that then the camera anti-flicker algorithm cannot work. 

Historically common light sources (florescent strips, high intensity discharge mercury or sodium stadium lights, etc.) will flicker in sync with the applied line frequency.  However some LED arrays, in particular those that can operate from an internal or external battery pack or those using a more advanced array, have a driver that is not tied in sync to these commonly used line frequencies so the camera won't detect and correct for the problem.  Canon adds this line frequency restriction as a footnote in the manual (at least for the 1DX family).

Rodger

[sm60]

I am having the same problem , I have tried pulling the battery out hoping to reset the camera but it doesn’t help. Mine seems to clear up after the camera has been turned off for five minutes or so but it is very frustrating. Have you figured anything out?