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Canon 20D Severe Issues

Perhaps I'm being rather fussy, as I use AV anyway, -1 stop. I notice that DJ says that the 1DS is able to compensate in the'novice' modes. I think it is not possible in the lesser cameras. I'm quite a strict disciplinarian where I teach, but I still can't force boys to resist turning to 'Sports' mode, or whatever. It seems so easy, but it is incredible - on loading the pictures onto the computer it is immediately possible to tell which ones were 'novice' and which were AV. The novice colours are washed out, and sometimes unrecoverable.

I believe that Canon have set the exposure algorithm to 'negative' rather than 'slide'. It is often advised that slides should be underexposed a little', and i would have thought that a direct positive, such as digital, would be 'slide'. Sorry - I do think that this is a valid criticism, and wouldn't mind some support from others who have noticed the same thing!
 
>I have had a Canon 20D for a few months now and have found that as soon as there is a hint of sun I have to compensate by 1/2 stop minus exposure- I am invariably in the AV exp., Mode and allways set to evaluative metering-since making these settings I find that 95% of my exposures are correct giving me a superb range of tones in my prints_ No sun and I put compencation back to normal. For the odd few shots it may need perhaps 1/3 less in sun -But I allways shoot in Raw mode and find that It can be more than compencated for in the Raw conversion software (I use Rawshooter by Pixmantec) an excellent piece of software and so easy to use-At present you can download for Free! don`t be misled by this I have used Capture 1 -CS raw-and canons own software but In my opinion they are not as good as Rawshooter. I use the same lenses that i have for my Canon EOS 3 Film camera 20mm 2.8 canon--28mm 2.8 canon--50mm.1.8 canon-100mm 2.canon. Which gives me on 20D- A 32mm--45mm--80mm--160mm---I very rarely use the 100mm now and find that for my work I use the 28mm most followed by the 20mm then 50mm.

Regards Gordon--Uk.
 
If as Andrew says you can't use exposure compensation in the programmed modes, then that's a pity, they should change that as it really makes no sense. That has nothing to do with being fussy. But maybe this is how Canon marketing helps differentiate their bodies and the targeted demographics. Who can understand those people?
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Novice Modes on the 20D are just that ... Novice Modes. The presumption is that it's a person without a clue how a camera works. In fact RAW is not even available in these modes on the 20D. The Green box setting and all the Icon settings are just glorified P&S settings found on many no brainer consumer cameras. They are preset for average scenes for their respective applications ... like favoring shutter speed and continuous focus
for sports, and aperture for close-ups, etc. as soon as you wander outside that average application you get exposure errors and stuff like that.

However, P (programed; fully automatic) does shoot in RAW and offers the same compensation abilities found on the aperture and shutter speed priority selections.

IMO, any student using the No Brainer settings will remain a photographic illiterate... because compensation is a must ... especially with the shorter EV range of digital sensors.
 
It is interesting to find that there are so many folks out there who are having different "problems" with the 20D. I started using digital about three years ago after about 50+ years of using film, and I feel the 20D is superb. I have used everything from a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye (my first camera) to Leica, Contax, Hasselblad and Nikon. The 20D and Canon 9900 printer are producing prints that are superior to those made by "conventional" means.

I think some of the "faults" folks are finding with the 20D and digital in general can be addressed by focusing on an aspects of digital that we had limited control over with film - WHITE BALANCE!

Film gave us limited control over white balance. We had daylight color balance and incandescent color balance. There was a lot of lattitude in using print film as the printing process could correct for color balance problems. Slides of course were not as forgiving. The pros would buy a large batch of one emulsion number and run color balance and exposure tests to get the film zeroed in to their equipment.

With digital, we can adjust WHITE BALANCE in the camera. The 20D has a wide range and can be biased to the users likings. To get great results with digital, you must learn to use the white balance features of the camera. A grey card is the easiest, but there are other tools available. Check out the Expodisk at http://www.expodisk.com or the WHIBAL tools at http://www.whibal.com

Some of the situations described in the posts this week are problems that can't always be corrected.

1. Skin tones. Some people have pigments in their skin that reflect more red light especially in artifical lighting conditions.

2. Incandescent lights vary in color temperature. Photographic flood l&s are held to closer tolerances than regular lightbulbs.

3. There are mixes of artifical lighting that are impossible to correct.

4. Sodium vapor lighting always produces an orange cast that cannot be corrected. Mercury vapor is always heavy in blue.

5. And, ULTRAVIOLET is the bigest problem. Wedding photographers used to have fits because the bride's gowns always had a blue cast. The strobes were heavy inb UV and the phosphors in the white fabrics reflected the UV as visible blue - white walls did the same.

Read the articles in the digital magazines - WHITE BALANCE is one of the most critical parts of digital photography.

Jim
 
> I don't know how to star a new topic so I'll try it here -sorry for any inconviences!! Just wish to know if anyone is scratching their heads re: the new batter/portrait grip that Canon has designed for the EOS 20D. Compared to the grip for the 10D isis very plasticy and looks like a COMPLETE afterthought-the 10D's grip was beautifully integrated to the body-the 20D's looks the complete opposite-is it just me? Also there's athis issue with the grip losing it's connectivity due to 'flexing' issues. I think Canon could have made the grip's aesthetics a little more pleasing and not a cheap piece of plastic that was designed 2 minutes before the release of the camera. Just my thoughts... Thanks for your time people
 
>After careful consideration and a few months of use, I've found that >carrying an extra battery is easy and preferable to adding the grip. I have >the extra grip on my 10D and the only value it offered was the vertical >release. I learned to shoot long ago so using the regular release in a >vertical hold is automatic for me.
 
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