Canon rebel t4i pictures are way over exposed through veiwfinder always but great through live view

[Dizzymisslizzie]

My canon rebel t4i consistently has bright over exposed pictures through the viewfinder but on same settings are great through live view mode. I've tried many settings and resetting to factory settings. Everything I can think of... Not sure if it's my sensor or maybe my lens ( I only have the one it came with) any help at all would be appreciated I just can't figure it out... I can use the exposure compensation which helps a bit... It also doesn't seem to do it when taking flash photos a lot of the time... Help?!!!!

[TCampbell]

What mode are you using?  (e.g. full auto, Tv, Av, M, or a scene-based mode?)

The exposure is the exposure... whether you used liveview vs. the viewfinder doesn't matter.  

If you are using the rear LCD to judge the exposure, that's going to provide an unreliable representation of the image.  The histogram is a much better eway to detect over-exposure.

Exposure compensation only works in Tv, Av, and P modes.  

Metering mode CAN  have an impact.  Check to see if the camera is using the default "evaluative" mode.  You may have switched it to "center weighted" or "spot" mode.  Use spot mode when you want the exposure based on a very specific element in the image and want the camera to ignore other areas.  I use this for concerts so that the camera will ignore the darkness around the stage and set exposure based only on the exposure for the performer's face.

You can use "center weighted" to get the camera to bias the exposure so that it is "mostly" set based on what seems to be correct for the central area of the image.

Evaluative meters the entire image, but then compares the metering pattern to a database in an effort to auto-detect what sort of image you might be taking (e.g. is this a portrait... a landscape... etc.) and then biases the exposure based on that.

Also... post an example image (or two)  if you like, but make sure the sample image still has it's EXIF data intact (this is the exposure and other data that the camera adds to the file... not visible in the image but many photo editing programs can read it.)  This will allow us to see what settings you were using.

[Dizzymisslizzie]

It happens in every setting which makes no sense to me. I have it on the evaluative metering but have messed around with it in spot ect to see if that would help. In the modes available I use the exposure compensation which seems to help. I know exposure is exposure but this seems to be a malfunction possibly? In the live view screen mode it never happens almost as if it is able to sense the scene and lighting better. I will literally take the same photo in the exact spot on the exact settings and the one with screen view is great and the one where I looked through the viewfinder is overexposed. I will post picture examples when I'm at my computer.

[bradalbright]

I'm having the same problem with my T4i.  The exact same shot comes out different depending which view mode you're in when shooting.  In RAW mode, the downloaded files are safe, yet on the camera screen it still previews images shot with the viewfinder as overexposed.

Updating the firmware didn't help the issue.

It's not a terrible inconvenience to have to shoot in RAW, or in JPEG mode using the live-view screen only.  But it's frustrating not knowing what the issue is, and would be nice to use the camera to it's full functionality.  Definitely seems like a malfunction.  Here's a quick example where the settings and lighting are exactly the same, just switching the view mode before snapping.  These were in Sports mode, using the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens, iso 6400.

[TCampbell]

Hi bradalbright,

Can you post actual images straight from the camera?  

Don't process them, label them, merge them, etc. and most importantly, don't strip out the EXIF data.  This will allow us to look at the EXIF data associated with the two images to see if they are actually the same.

The camera embeds extra data into the image that we can look at as long as you don't alter it.

[bradalbright]

Thanks very much Tim, no problem.  Here's a new pair using the same settings. (This links to the files, in case there's an issue with the embeded shots below... Dropbox - Canon Examples )

[TCampbell]

Looking at the image EXIF data I do notice a few things... the settings are not actually identical save for the viewfinder vs. liveview mode.

Here's the viewfinder shot data:

File Name	IMG_9070.JPG
Camera Model	Canon EOS REBEL T4i
Firmware	Firmware Version 1.0.4
Shooting Date/Time	03/31/14 07:45:44
Owner's Name	
Shooting Mode	Sports
Lighting or Scene	Default setting
Ambience	Standard setting
Tv(Shutter Speed)	1/100
Av(Aperture Value)	2.8
Metering Mode	Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation	0
ISO Speed	6400
Auto ISO Speed	ON
Lens	EF40mm f/2.8 STM
Focal Length	40.0mm
Image Size	2592x1728
Aspect ratio	3:2
Image Quality	Fine
Flash	Off
FE lock	OFF
White Balance Mode	Auto
AF Mode	AI Servo AF
AF area select mode	Automatic selection
Picture Style	Auto
Sharpness	3
Contrast	0
Saturation	0
Color tone	0
Color Space	sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction	Disable
High ISO speed noise reduction	Standard
Highlight tone priority	0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer	Standard
Peripheral illumination correction	Disable
Chromatic aberration correction	Disable
Dust Delete Data	No
File Size	2247KB
Drive Mode	Continuous shooting
Live View Shooting	OFF
Satellite signal status	 
Date/Time(UTC)	
Latitude	 
Longitude	 
Altitude	 
Geographic coordinate system	 
Camera Body No.	032011000333
Comment	

 And here's the liveview shot data:

File Name	IMG_9071.JPG
Camera Model	Canon EOS REBEL T4i
Firmware	Firmware Version 1.0.4
Shooting Date/Time	03/31/14 07:45:51
Owner's Name	
Shooting Mode	Sports
Lighting or Scene	Default setting
Ambience	Standard setting
Tv(Shutter Speed)	1/320
Av(Aperture Value)	2.8
Metering Mode	Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation	0
ISO Speed	6400
Auto ISO Speed	ON
Lens	EF40mm f/2.8 STM
Focal Length	40.0mm
Image Size	2592x1728
Aspect ratio	3:2
Image Quality	Fine
Flash	Off
FE lock	OFF
White Balance Mode	Auto
AF Mode	One-Shot AF
AF area select mode	FlexiZone - Multi
Picture Style	Auto
Sharpness	3
Contrast	0
Saturation	0
Color tone	0
Color Space	sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction	Disable
High ISO speed noise reduction	Standard
Highlight tone priority	0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer	Standard
Peripheral illumination correction	Disable
Chromatic aberration correction	Disable
Dust Delete Data	No
File Size	2495KB
Drive Mode	Continuous shooting
Live View Shooting	ON
Satellite signal status	 
Date/Time(UTC)	
Latitude	 
Longitude	 
Altitude	 
Geographic coordinate system	 
Camera Body No.	032011000333
Comment	

First, I do see that both shots used "Evaluative" metering.  I had suspected one mode might be using a different metering option than the other, but that does not seem to be the case here.  They should have come up with the same exposure so long as lighting conditions weren't actually changing between shots.  But note that the metering system in viewfinder mode vs. the metering system in liveview mode aren't technically the same.  In viewfinder mode the reflex mirror is down the shuter is closed and the mirror bounces light into the mtering system.  In liveview mode the reflex mirror is up so light can't get bounced into those same sensors and instead the camera has to use the image sensor to meter.

I am surprised they would meter differently and perhaps this is an indication that something isn't working as intended. 

The reason one shot looks darker than the other is because they did not actually use the same exposure.  The viewfinder shot was taken at 1/100th sec.  The liveview shot was taken at 1/320th.

A few other things I should probably mention.

I see that you were using "Sports" mode even though your subject isn't action.  I'm not sure if you realized that you did this.  For ideal results, don't use "sports" mode unless you're actually taking sports or action photography shots.  

Also notice the difference in the AF modes between shots.  The liveview shot used "One Shot" mode.   When "One Shot" mode is active the camera uses FOCUS priority... meaning it wont take the shot unless it can confirm focus.  In the other shot it used "AI Servo" mode.   When "AI Servo" mode is active the camera uses RELEASE priority.  This means the camera WILL take the shot WHEN you fully press the shutter release and I can't emphasize that enough.... it will do so EVEN IF the camera wasn't finished focusing.  Notice the focus is soft on that first shot?  The camera hadn't actually finished focusing and when I view the AF points in that first shot, none of them are bolded... the camera never finished locking focus.  

If you use Canon's "Digitial Photo Professional" (this software came with your camera) you can right-click on an image and click the "Info" option on the pop-up window.  This will open a window that shows all the settings used when the shot was taken.  You can also right-click and press the "AF Point" option which will throw an overlay on your images showing you which focus points were used.  You'll see them all but the software will either color or bold the AF points it used.  The only "catch" with this is that in "One Shot" mode it's possible to half-press the shutter to get the camera to lock focus on some element of your subject, then re-compose (without letting go of the shutter button) before fully pressing the shutter release.  If you do that the camera will show you which point it used... but of course you would have moved that point to a different area before taking the shot.  This can be confusing when you look at the shot later and wonder why the focus point it picked isn't actually focused (it was focused... before the shot was recomposed.)

I'm not sure of all the optimizations the camera is going to try in "sports" mode because it's mostly an automatic mode.  You might try to meter in both viewfinder vs. liveview in manual mode (or Program or Tv, or Av mode) and see if it behaves the same way.

[bradalbright]

Hi Tim, thank you very much for the thorough analysis.  I do appreciate your time here! 

You're correct that shooting in Manual modes eliminates the issue.  That said, it seems that all of the auto modes have the same problem of metering differently with the viewfinder, not just Sports mode, which I understand isn't really the ideal setting for my examples.  Still, the problem is consistent through portrait, landscape, close-up, etc. 

This more or less kills my ability to shoot in auto mode with the viewfinder unless I shoot in Raw.  That's not the worst problem to have, admittedly, but if something is wrong I would like to take steps to fix it one way or another.

Can you make any suggestions? Thanks again Tim!

-Brad

[ebiggs1]

You need to reset the camera to factory defaults.  Remove the battery.  Remove the lens.  Remove the SD card.  Leave it for some time (30 minutes).  Replace.

Change the mode selection dial on the top of the Canon T2i to "P" or one of the creative modes.

Turn on the T2i.

Press the "MENU" button located in the top, left-hand corner on the back of your T2i.

Use the dial on the front of your camera to browse to the 3rd settings sub-menu, which is the 3rd icon from the right at the top of your view screen.

The icon is notated by a wrench with three dots.

Scroll down to the "Clear settings" selection by using the cross arrow buttons.

After selecting "Clear settings," you will be presented with three options. You can  "Clear all camera settings", "Clear all Custom Functions," or "Cancel."

Select "Clear all camera settings" and restore your default settings by pressing the "Set" button.

Confirm that you want to clear all settings by selecting the "OK" button on the next window.

Repeat for the "Clear all Custom Functions" 

Press the "MENU" button to close the settings window.

Now try shooting your T2i again.

[Dizzymisslizzie]

I have the problem in manual modes as well as the auto... Am going to try resetting it to factory settings.