My brand new 5D Mark III - what am I doing wrong, please help!

[plam_1980]

Hey everyone, I need some help about settings of my new 5D Mark III

I received it 3 days ago and the very next day I went to a basketball game of a friend of mine to test it. I am coming from 550D which I know is much less complicated to set up but still the results from my new camera were discouraging. I also got "Canon 5D Mark III Experience" by Doug Klostermann, it seems amazing but in 1 day I had the time only to skim through the most important parts from it.

My lens is 135 f2 L and every shot with it and my 550D was very crisp and bright and sharp.
On the 5D Mark III I tried everything I could but the results were dim and dark

I was shooting on Manual, @ f2, 1/320 to 1/500 sec, Auto ISO. The ISO indicator was changing from 200 to 800 I think. The results were all dark like that... I tried with fixed ISO 1000. Then at the one end of the court the pictures were bright enough but at close they were still dark (and I don't think I can change ISO every time the attack changes the sides, at least I never had to do it with my 550D).
The lighting in the hall was not very strong but it was far from what is portrayed in these photos. I tried different settings of WB and found out Auto was the best. I also tried different metering - it did not improve anything. Also is it normal that the image gets so dark in the corners???

I know it's me, but what am I doing wrong, please help!

P.S. I am not shooting in RAW, at least not when I am shooting just for pleasure, but these JPEGs should be much better, no?

 

[RLPhoto]

The 135L vignettes at F/2 on FF. On your 550D, It doesn't see this because of the crop sensor and the 5D will show this. I believe it just the learning curve of getting used to the MK3, and how the Camera "behaves". You might have to expose more to right or stop down to remove the vignette.

 

[Drizzt321]

The 135L vignettes at F/2 on FF. On your 550D, It doesn't see this because of the crop sensor and the 5D will show this. I believe it just the learning curve of getting used to the MK3, and how the Camera "behaves". You might have to expose more to right or stop down to remove the vignette.

Have you tried turning on peripheral illumination correction? Or added the 135L profile to the camera (Looks like it's not). On your JPGs this can help reduce the vignetting, although it's (more or less) just boosting the edges exposure before storing it as a JPG.

With the overall dimmer images, what settings would you normally have shot on your 550D? Those should still be valid, but you are able to go up to a much higher ISO and still get pretty clean shots. You can also change around the metering modes which would affect the Auto-ISO on M which it performs. If I recall, there's some (artificial) limitations that Canon has done with Auto-ISO on M mode. With the Metering, most of the time (depends on mode) it'll take what's in the center of the image and weight that a bit more towards the determining the correct exposure. Personally, I'd go with something like 1/500, f/2-f/4, ISO 3200. That'll give you pretty good shutter speed, and if you can managed to stop down a bit to f/4 it'll give you a bit more DoF which will be useful in getting more of your subject(s) in focus. Using this calculator, at f/2 and 20 feet, your DoF is .79 feet. Pretty shallow. If you go to f/4 you get 1.57 feet which gives you a lot more leeway.

Final words of advice, experiment! The 5d3 is a vastly different beast than your 550D, and congratulations on getting it. I know going from my 5d2 to 5d3 was a pretty large change with the somewhat different ergonomics and the vastly more complex AF system. It'll take you at least a few weeks of constant shooting in a variety of situations before you'll start getting comfortable with the AF system. Don't be afraid to experiment with the different modes and settings, it's a fantastic system and you'll get it!

 

[RS2021]

Vignetting is somewhat expected and easily corrected... I would suggest set ISO manually and work out the rest to stop action. Vignetting aside, I am not wowed by the focus in some shots given what is expected from 135L. Based on a recent experience with a friend who had less than stellar pics with his brand new 5d3 and 70-300L which had to do with his AF setting ...he had chosen "spot" ( very tiny area selected meant to shoot through obstuctions for example a small bird through foliage in the foreground). Once set to "single point" or "expanded" it was crisp....

I realize this is anecdotal and may not apply in your case, but something to think about as the instruction manual is dismal with details about the differences in AF for both 1DX and 5d3. Good luck.

 

[K-amps]

I think the issue is either incorrect exposure settings or metering mode.

Vignetting will not this much low exposure.

What is your metering set at? Do you have it set to spot metering?

Did you AE lock the exposure?

You might also want to check your exposure compensation it is set to the left? (EC)

Try Av mode @f2 and Auto ISO and evaluative metering... do you have the same issue?

 

[TrumpetPower!]

It's very likely that the lights in the arena are flickering and that you'll need a slower shutter speed to catch the whole cycle of flickering. Such is the case with a lot of indoor stadium lighting.

If you want to do it right, you'll need to install radio-triggered flashes in the overhead rafters. Assuming that's not an option, just use a lower shutter.

There's also no need for autoexposure indoors like this. The light isn't changing. If you can get there early enough to get a gray card meter reading and white balance from the court itself, lock in both manually. If not, spend the first few minutes fiddling with the exposure and manual white balance until the histogram (if shooting raw) or back-of-camera preview (if shooting JPEG) looks good. Be sure to shoot some bursts and compare shot-to-shot exposure and color...if there're visible changes, it's because the lighting sucks, and your only option is to keep slowing down the shutter.

And, yes...if you let the shutter get too slow, you'll get objectionable motion blur. That's why the proper answer is high-powered flashes. (And you can actually see such flashes regularly going off on TV broadcasts.)

Cheers,

b&

 

[phixional ninja]

You say that your ISO was going between 200 and 800, is it possible that the auto ISO maximum was set to 800, and that just wasn't enough? (You said even manually setting ISO to 1000 was only bright enough at one end of the court...)

 

[awinphoto]

vinetting is going to be a problem wide open on a full frame... lens profiles help, but to an extent... You are shooting on auto ISO and manual settings... This is where a lot of people are bitching about AUTO ISO and lack of exposure compensation... It could be that the rebel was over exposing, but keep in mind, with auto settings, it is trying to make your shot 18% gray, middle tone gray. So for the most part, that's what it's doing... making it somewhat muddy, consistently. What I would do since you cannot exposure correct on the fly in manual with auto iso, and you have a shutter requirement, shoot in shutter priority... this will open up exposure compensation with auto ISO, it will allow you to set it at +1 or whatever tickles your fancy, and set your shutter speed and away you go... Also if you learn your exposure really good, since your indoors and light will be consistant... play around with what the appropriate ISO is. Once you got that nailed, you really don't need to change your settings, ever, unless you find something off. As long as the lighting doesn't change, your settings dont need to change... So pregame, find your exposure and away you go. Hope this helps.

 

[distant.star]

I think the issue is either incorrect exposure settings or metering mode.

Vignetting will not this much low exposure.

What is your metering set at? Do you have it set to spot metering?

Did you AE lock the exposure?

You might also want to check your exposure compensation it is set to the left? (EC)

Try Av mode @f2 and Auto ISO and evaluative metering... do you have the same issue?

These are the things than come to mind for me. First thing I'd do is AV mode, auto ISO and eval meter to see what ISO and shutter speed the camera is picking.

Aside from this issue, it's good to see a lot of posts from new 5D3 owners -- obviously lots of folks are getting them now. Mine comes next week, and I'm not looking forward to the whole setup and learning experience.

 

[Cptn Rigo]

It's very likely that the lights in the arena are flickering and that you'll need a slower shutter speed to catch the whole cycle of flickering. Such is the case with a lot of indoor stadium lighting.

+1 for the stadium light

I have the same results taking photos of a baseball pee wee league game in the night with stadium illumination.

When I saw the pics I almost crap my pants, in bursts the same frame changes from purple to green to dark, I fixed lowering my shutter speed.

Its funny, I was using exactly the same combo 135L + mkIII

cheers

 

[Deva]

My own MkIII was under-exposing by about 2/3rds of a stop "out of the box", which I quickly noticed on its first major trip to Naples. Taking pictures of evenly illuminated gravel (under cloud), clearly showed the under-exposure. I contacted Canon, and sent it in to be looked at - within a week it was back, with the under-exposure corrected, albeit with about 6,000 exposures added to the count!

My advice, based on this experience, would therefore be to shoot under a variety of conditions to see if it's a systematic problem, or just related to the artificial lighting.

 

[Standard]

I wouldn't worry about vignetting. It doesn't look like that's a concern.

I simply think instead of setting the camera on M (manual) you should set it to either Av (Aperture Value) or Tv (Time Value) then set your ISO accordingly. Inside a stadium, regardless of how bright it may look, the camera can't be as sensitive as your eyes if you don't have the settings right. As you're using the 135L and shooting a basketball game indoors, make sure the shutter speed is high enough for the camera to focus correctly as well as to compensate for handholding shakes, ie. I would make sure shutter speed is higher than 1/200, and even higher than 1/400 sec. The Mark III should have no issues focusing in lowlight at all but if you have the settings wrong, then it wouldn't matter what camera you have. Change your ISO accordingly until you get the shutter speed you need. Also, how are you holding the camera and lens? For focal length higher than 85mm, I have one hand (my left) supporting the underside of the lens while the other (my right) holding the camera with fingers in their respective spots, ie. shutter button, AF point selection button, multi-controller, etc. Personally, I always hold the camera this way even with my 24L II. Unless I am doing street photography and don't want people to know I am taking shots, I use various other "street" methods. I know you may already know this but I am often surprised to see people shooting incorrectly and wonder why their camera takes bad captures.

Other things to check are the exposure compensation setting to see if you'd inadvertently set it off as well as explore the different AF area selection modes to give you the best results.

Hope this helps.

 

[Axilrod]

It's possible you accidentally dialed down the exposure compensation a couple stops, it shouldn't look like it does.

 

[awinphoto]

It's possible you accidentally dialed down the exposure compensation a couple stops, it shouldn't look like it does.

He was shooting in manual... there is no exposure comp... so the meter is doing what it think is right... 18% gray

 

[awinphoto]

It's possible you accidentally dialed down the exposure compensation a couple stops, it shouldn't look like it does.

and to take it one step further... depending on the metering mode, it may be more easily fooled. For instance, green grass, according to the most meters, is 18% gray... yellow hardboard wood with a gloss finish is probably more of a light gray (in terms of tonality)... so the camera, if it's reading lots of floor, and will underexpose to get it down to 18% gray... it almost makes perfect sense... AV may be dicey depending on the min shutter speed set and high ISO set... TV would be more predictable when shutter speed is needed... then you can set exposure comp... There may be voltage fluxuations as some mentioned with the lights... TV would compensate for that I would think... But it's worth a try.

 

[smitty541]

He was shooting in manual... there is no exposure comp... so the meter is doing what it think is right... 18% gray

So, does the mkIII have a real working AUTO ISO in manual now because if you set the mkII to auto ISO in manual you get ISO 400 and it won't change...

If the mkIII does have real AUTO ISO then exposure compensation would have to apply and I would guess that it's set underexposed...

 

[Eli]

200-800 ISO with those settings in an indoor stadium seem a bit low? Especially since you've stated when you use 1000 ISO some parts of the court were properly exposed. Set your max autoISO higher, don't be afraid to go up to 6400 on your 5d mkiii, you'd be amazed how well it handles noise compared to your 550d.
And I think out of the box max AutoISO is set to 800.

 

[te4o]

I received it 3 days ago and the very next day I went to a basketball game of a friend of mine to test it. I am coming from 550D which I know is much less complicated to set up but still the results from my new camera were discouraging.

Hey, Пламене,
Congratulations on the 5D3! Great jump! It is a matter of 1-2000 shots at least to get parts of the camera under control, like AF, buttons and customizations. After a while you realize that the camera is generally underexposing. Mine does that too. I stopped caring. I switched on Highlight Alert blinkies, look at the histogram and try to go AS FAR AS POSSIBLE to the right without clipping my Point of interest. ISO, shutter speed, aperture, whatever it takes for your subject. Pictures look like grossly overexposed on your LCD, you don't like them at all seen there. Software has improved so much that you can control highlights perfectly in post processing. The massive ETTR makes the difference to your 550: the FF goes clean even at ISO 10.000 after adequate noise reduction!!! Some of the shots have bright background around the centre (light reflection from the floor, white advertising boards etc): metering is thrown off by that.

Зала Универсиада не се е променила много. Играех там баскетбол като ученик/студент преди да емигрирам. Тъмно място.
Успех!

 

[swampler]

Turn off auto ISO and shoot full manual. With constant lighting like that of a basketball court doesn't need auto anything to shoot with best results.

 

[rj79in]

All I can say is shoot, shoot, shoot and in time you will find the solution. It is unlikely to be a camera problem but understanding the way the 5D3 functions as compared to the current stock of APS-Cs is in itself a challenge.

I also had a similar problems when I was initially comparing my shots with the 5D3 vis-a-vis the 7D in uneven lighting and found my shots with the 5D3 to be completely crap - same issue dim and dark. It was not until some considerable time that I realised (rather stupidly :-[) that the FOV of the FF was way larger than the crop as a result of which the uneven lighting was resulting in a less than preferable results with evaluative metering. The camera was functioning perfectly in the sense that it was averaging the scene correctly but of course it was not exactly what I wanted.