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How to disable the blinky on a 70D

Ned
Apprentice
I just bought the 70D and i have a problem that whenever i took a picture somewhere bright, i saw the blinky stuff on the playback. Its really annoyed me!
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

The blinkies serve to alert you that those areas of your image are over-exposed.  It *might* mean that you should reduce the exposure (but not necessarily).   This is because it also blinks blue to indicate areas that are under-exposed.

 

If your image requires quite a bit of "dynamic range" (a scene which contains both very dark shadows and very bright highlights in the same image -- and this can happen) then you can see both "white" blinkies and "blue" blinkies in the same image.  

 

If you only see white blnkies (no blue) then reduce your exposure.  If you only see blue (no white) then increase your exposure.  If you see BOTH white and blue in the same image, then you can get around the issue by using HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.  HDR shoots a series of images (typically at least 3) and the camera or computer software merges them.  Each image has a different exposure (usually by shutter time).  It uses the "underexposed" image to grab the highlights (because the highlights will not be blown in an underexposed image so you'll still get detail).  It uses the "overexposed" image to grab the shadow detail (because in the over-exposed image the shadows will not be clipped).  And it uses the middle exposure (assuming a series of 3) to grab the bulk of the information (about the parts which were neither underexposed nor overexposed.)  These are then merged to create an image which has everything exposed nicely (nothing blown or clipped).  

 

Due to the nature of the way HDR works, you should use a tripod (some merging programs can "register" the images so they all align even if you didn't use a tripod ... but it'll have to crop the edges to clean up the mis-alignment) and also it helps if your subject is stationary or you can get "ghosting" (an object which is in different places in each image -- or simply missing from some of the other images) but again... some merging software can deal with the "ghosting" problem too.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

jrhoffman75
Legend
Legend
You can turn off Highlight Alert in one of the red menu tabs.
John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

The blinkies serve to alert you that those areas of your image are over-exposed.  It *might* mean that you should reduce the exposure (but not necessarily).   This is because it also blinks blue to indicate areas that are under-exposed.

 

If your image requires quite a bit of "dynamic range" (a scene which contains both very dark shadows and very bright highlights in the same image -- and this can happen) then you can see both "white" blinkies and "blue" blinkies in the same image.  

 

If you only see white blnkies (no blue) then reduce your exposure.  If you only see blue (no white) then increase your exposure.  If you see BOTH white and blue in the same image, then you can get around the issue by using HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography.  HDR shoots a series of images (typically at least 3) and the camera or computer software merges them.  Each image has a different exposure (usually by shutter time).  It uses the "underexposed" image to grab the highlights (because the highlights will not be blown in an underexposed image so you'll still get detail).  It uses the "overexposed" image to grab the shadow detail (because in the over-exposed image the shadows will not be clipped).  And it uses the middle exposure (assuming a series of 3) to grab the bulk of the information (about the parts which were neither underexposed nor overexposed.)  These are then merged to create an image which has everything exposed nicely (nothing blown or clipped).  

 

Due to the nature of the way HDR works, you should use a tripod (some merging programs can "register" the images so they all align even if you didn't use a tripod ... but it'll have to crop the edges to clean up the mis-alignment) and also it helps if your subject is stationary or you can get "ghosting" (an object which is in different places in each image -- or simply missing from some of the other images) but again... some merging software can deal with the "ghosting" problem too.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da
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