90d too dark in HDR

[Jlames]

I’m really having issues with the 90d In-camera HDR. My subject is an interior room in afternoon light with large windows for natural light. Using a manual lens, I’m setting up for AV assuming if I set the ISO to 100 and the f-stop to 8, I’ll only need to be concerned with shutter speed. Using spot metering, I note that the dark is coming in at 0”8 and the bright is at 1/5, I’ve set up for both 3 and 5-shots at +-2ev and the resulting hdr image in both shots come out well-exposed for the highlights but too dark in the remaining areas. Am I doing something wrong or is the hdr function known for this?

Sent from my iPad

[Jlames]

Ok thank you

[Jlames]

Yes it did. I probably just don't understand the whole thing.

[jrhoffman75]

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@Jlames wrote:

I’m really having issues with the 90d In-camera HDR. My subject is an interior room in afternoon light with large windows for natural light. Using a manual lens, I’m setting up for AV assuming if I set the ISO to 100 and the f-stop to 8, I’ll only need to be concerned with shutter speed. Using spot metering, I note that the dark is coming in at 0”8 and the bright is at 1/5, I’ve set up for both 3 and 5-shots at +-2ev and the resulting hdr image in both shots come out well-exposed for the highlights but too dark in the remaining areas. Am I doing something wrong or is the hdr function known for this?

Sent from my iPad

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Try this approach.

1. set your camera to M mode using the aperture and ISO you want.

2. spot meter off the brightest region you care about; note shutter speed for correct exposure.

3. do the same for the darkest region you care about.

4. select an initial shutter speed about midway between the two.

5. set your AEB bracketing and number so tthat the bracket range exceeds the two shutter speeds you recorded.

Combine the images in your editing software.

[Jlames]

Thank you, John. I'll try that tomorrow before I take it in to have it checked. Fortunately I've got a camera store here in LA (I know; brick & mortar) that is used to checking 90Ds as they've gotten a lot of complaints and yes; I've dealt with the old guy for years and he's honest.

[Waddizzle]

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@Jlames wrote:

Thank you, John. I'll try that tomorrow before I take it in to have it checked. Fortunately I've got a camera store here in LA (I know; brick & mortar) that is used to checking 90Ds as they've gotten a lot of complaints and yes; I've dealt with the old guy for years and he's honest.

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In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with your camera.  Your problem is simple to fix   Stop use Spot Metering for HDR, and use Evaluative Metering..

Stop for a moment and consider how Spot Metering works, and why people use it.  Spot Metering takes a measurement on a very small area of the entire scene, and IGNORES everything else in the scene.  You have said that the area where you are metering is coming properly, which is too be expected. 

Your complaint is that the rest of the scene is not coming out properly.  You are complaining about the parts of the scene that Spot Metering completely ignores when it takes a measurement.  The fix is to allow the camera to measure the entire scene, instead of just one small bit of it.

If you switch to Evaluative Metering, the camera will evaluate the entire scene within the angle of view.

[Jlames]

Ok, that makes sense but please understand; I'm really a newbie at this but not an idiot. I'm trying to understand how things work and following the "YouTube experts", I'm doing exactly what they say. Spot-metering came from https://youtu.be/Mp6jvdGwC8A but the question I'm still having an issue with is, if I set the aperture and the iso at fixed numbers and the only variable for the camera to calculate, how does it know where to start if I don't tell it what the "ideal", ambient shutter speed should be? And please, bear with me while I try and work through this. I appreciate your patience but, as I said, I'm well-educated biut that's sometimes a barrier. Knowing the answer has never mattered because if I can't understand how the answer got to be the answer, I'm still stuck. 

[Waddizzle]

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@Jlames wrote:

Ok, that makes sense but please understand; I'm really a newbie at this but not an idiot. I'm trying to understand how things work and following the "YouTube experts", I'm doing exactly what they say. Spot-metering came from https://youtu.be/Mp6jvdGwC8A

but the question I'm still having an issue with is, if I set the aperture and the iso at fixed numbers and the only variable for the camera to calculate, how does it know where to start if I don't tell it what the "ideal", ambient shutter speed should be? And please, bear with me while I try and work through this. I appreciate your patience but, as I said, I'm well-educated biut that's sometimes a barrier. Knowing the answer has never mattered because if I can't understand how the answer got to be the answer, I'm still stuck. 

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The full User Manual is a better way to spend your time than YouTube.  YouTube is a great resource, but many of the channels are produced by people who do not fully understand the gear or the material.  Some channels are better than others.  Just keep in mind the best resource available to your is the full User Manual, which can be downloaded for free from Canon Support.

The User Manual shows you how much of each scene is measured in each Metering Mode.

How does it know where to start?  The camera's metering system figures it out.  The camera meters the scene according to the metering mode you have selected.  It uses the measurement to come up with a shutter speed for a standard 0 Ev exposure.

Notice Item #31 in the below screenshot of the Optical Viewfinder display..

The is the Exposure Value, Ev scale.  It displays a value between -3 Ev to 3 Ev, with the center being a normal exposure.  This meter is telling you how much under or over exposed you are.

When you use HDR mode, you should see little tick marks on the scale that show you the exposures that will be captured.

[Jlames]

We4ll, that might be the problem. As you can see, I'm imn HRD and no tick marks

[jrhoffman75]

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@Jlames wrote:

We4ll, that might be the problem. As you can see, I'm imn HRD and no tick marks

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For cameras without the HDR built-in feature the tick marks are necessary to show the photographer what the settings are. In yoiur case you arer directkly setting a +/- EV so the camera may not be showing the tick marks.

[Jlames]

Well, then I'm back to square-one as they say, whomebver "they" are! Let me take a pic and post. It's a typical So Cal sunny day here so the resulting HDR shot should be "great". Back in a minute.