# To 5D Mark III Users; does it tend to underexpose?



## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

Last weekend I got my 5D3 and have been learning all about the new features and trying to get everything dialed in. One thing I noticed is that it seems like the camera has a tendency to underexpose photos. Do other users find this to be the case as well? It certainly doesn't do it all the time but it has a "tendency." Yesterday I was shooting outside while it was overcast and I was having a hard time with things that had darker colors being underexposed. The camera is on RAW and Evaluative metering mode. I just wanted to check if this was normal, and also I am talking abot 1/3-2/3 underexposed. Nothing crazy. Any no, mine is not one effected by the light leak.


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

You have to meter properly. If you are shooting outside where there is loads of bright sky, the bright sky tells the meter that it's bright out. Of course it would underexpose the subject. In which case you'd need to either spot meter or perhaps center weighted average. It's going to be a much better metering than your 50D is.


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## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> You have to meter properly. If you are shooting outside where there is loads of bright sky, the bright sky tells the meter that it's bright out. Of course it would underexpose the subject. In which case you'd need to either spot meter or perhaps center weighted average. It's going to be a much better metering than your 50D is.



I certainly need to practice with the different metering modes and I don't expect to just have it on evaluative and it be perfect but I am just trying to see if this is a tendency of this camera or if mine specifically has an issue. It also does it indoors as well but more often outside.


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

If  you feel it may be a problem, switch to spot metering, print off a gray card and fill the frame with the gray card. See where exposure falls then


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

If you can't print off a gray card, take a shot that is filled with grass. Grass is generally a good middle gray and when exposed for 0 should be SLIGHTLY darker than what you see. Heavy on the slight. Grass is what I meter for every football game, portrait, etc that is outdoors. I set my camera to expose grass at about 0 or 1/3 stop under.


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## Overread (Oct 24, 2012)

Most DSLR meters will have a slight bias which can vary a little in different lighting situations. If there is any bias that you can detect best thing is to use exposure compensation or just adjust the exposure yourself (if in full manual) to compensate.


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## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> If  you feel it may be a problem, switch to spot metering, print off a gray card and fill the frame with the gray card. See where exposure falls then



I should be able to do this. Is the idea of this test that the grey card be exposed perfectly? I did a quick search but couldn't really find how to evaluate the test results...


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

Yes, the gray card should be right around perfect exposure. Same with the grass.

Also-make sure you haven't accidentally dialed in any positive or negative exposure compensation by accident


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## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> Yes, the gray card should be right around perfect exposure. Same with the grass.
> 
> Also-make sure you haven't accidentally dialed in any positive or negative exposure compensation by accident



I printed off a card and snapped a pic. It is hard to tell if it is properly exposed from the view finder but according to the histogram it looks like it is pretty much spot-on. Does the histogram confirm that it is functioning properly?


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## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

This is also interesting I realized I shot the last sample in evaluative mode so I did it again with spot metering and it looks like it is slightly underexposed... I tired it again with evaluative and the graph went back to the middle.


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

Looks like it's perfect to me. Evaluative will take into consideration more of the light coming into all of the lens, so if it's darker at the edges or lighter (depending on if you are in a dark area or maybe outside...) it will have an effect on your exposure.


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## dorian7 (Oct 24, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> Looks like it's perfect to me. Evaluative will take into consideration more of the light coming into all of the lens, so if it's darker at the edges or lighter (depending on if you are in a dark area or maybe outside...) it will have an effect on your exposure.



Thanks for all the help MLeeK!

I guess I just need to get used to how the meeting on the 5d3 responds to different scenarios since I am used to the 50D.


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## MLeeK (Oct 24, 2012)

It's going to have a much better dynamic range and more spot on exposure than your 50D. You'll shoot something at one set of settings on the 50D and you'll need to tweak that a little in the 5d3 because you can capture so much more range and color.


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## gsgary (Oct 24, 2012)

It is the photographer that under or over exposes


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