400D w Kit Lens, Too Dark

[inkle]

Hi all,

just bought my first DSLR, a Canon 400D + 18-55mm kit lens.

the 400D is definitely a fantastic tool, but the problem is it's a bit dark when taking photo at semi-low light. like inside a house with windows open around 4pm, already the subject is too dark and i'm forced to use flash w ISO atleast 400 above.

is this bcoz of the kit lens or the camera itself? if it can help by lens, then i'm planning to get a 100mm Macro lens sooner.

Thanks,

inkle.

[Henrik Paul]

The maximum aperture isn't great on kit lenses. You might gain a stop or two by buying a faster lens, but a cheaper investment would be a tripod to allow longer shutter speeds. Or just use higher ISO values. There's no shame in using above ISO 400 - I tend to use ISO 3200 when shooting hand held indoors.

[Sheldon N]

See my other post regarding the 50mm f/1.8.

You will find that having a fast aperture lens opens up a whole new world of shooting for low light situations. Plus, you can do a lot of interesting things with shallow depth of field.

[BernardLanguillier]

the 400D is definitely a fantastic tool, but the problem is it's a bit dark when taking photo at semi-low light. like inside a house with windows open around 4pm, already the subject is too dark and i'm forced to use flash w ISO atleast 400 above.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94096\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi Inkle,

What is probably happening is that the light meter of the 400d is being fooled by the brighter windows, and ends up under-exposing the room.

To overcome this, you will either have to dial in a positive exposure compensation, or to use M mode.

2 problems are likely to occur if you do this:

1. You might end up having to use a combination of speed/apeture that result in blur (shake or lack of Depth of Field),
2. You will have a properlly exposure room, but blown windows.

Raising the ISO and using a flash is indeed a solution for these issues, using a tripod and overlaying several exposures is another option.

Above all, I would invest is a basic book on photography, this ain't the camera or the lens.

Cheers,
Bernard

[macgyver]

Ditto on the 50 1.8, cheap and fast and light and sharp.

[inkle]

thank you all for your tips, i've gone and compared my 400D with my fren's Nikon D50, and the lighting indoor is somewhat similar.

it's just that compare to when i was using Olympus C5050, this camera can handle low light situation better than my DSLR, which is very puzzling. i guess for DLSR, u must have a dedicated lens for each situation.

i've gone and ordered a EF 100mm Macro. hope this lens takes atleast sharper photo than the kit lens. any comment on this lens??

inkle.

[francois]

...i've gone and ordered a EF 100mm Macro. hope this lens takes atleast sharper photo than the kit lens. any comment on this lens??
....

Unless you get a very bad or defective copy, the EF 100 macro is an oustanding lens and won't disappoint you. You may want to look at other websites for reviews (ex: Fred Miranda   or   Photozone.de).

[Craig Arnold]

thank you all for your tips, i've gone and compared my 400D with my fren's Nikon D50, and the lighting indoor is somewhat similar.

it's just that compare to when i was using Olympus C5050, this camera can handle low light situation better than my DSLR, which is very puzzling. i guess for DLSR, u must have a dedicated lens for each situation.

i've gone and ordered a EF 100mm Macro. hope this lens takes atleast sharper photo than the kit lens. any comment on this lens??

inkle.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94932\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I'm afraid that you can fill your bag with L lenses and it's not going to teach you the basics.

YOU take the photograph; photography is a moderately complex craft and the more expensive the equipment you get the less it will do automatically for you. The manufacturers assume that you know what you are doing.

It is perfectly possible to get perfectly respectable results with the kit lens. If you can't do that at the moment then buying extra lenses will not solve your problem.

So I'm with Bernard on this one.

IMO you would be much better off assuming that the problem is that your skills are currently not up to the task and work at improving them. Take a course, read some books. Once you are getting decent results with the equipment you have now, then it will be time to think about upgrading.

[inkle]

I'm afraid that you can fill your bag with L lenses and it's not going to teach you the basics.

YOU take the photograph; photography is a moderately complex craft and the more expensive the equipment you get the less it will do automatically for you. The manufacturers assume that you know what you are doing.

It is perfectly possible to get perfectly respectable results with the kit lens. If you can't do that at the moment then buying extra lenses will not solve your problem.

So I'm with Bernard on this one.

IMO you would be much better off assuming that the problem is that your skills are currently not up to the task and work at improving them. Take a course, read some books. Once you are getting decent results with the equipment you have now, then it will be time to think about upgrading.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

you know, at the back of my mind, there's always that question that it is actually the guy holding the camera that is having a problem.

but have a look at the photo below, and notice the border/lines of the tiles are blurry.

[a href=\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/352792528_194bf3a54b_o.jpg]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/3527925...94bf3a54b_o.jpg[/url]

but the problem i'm having is that the current lens is taking rather soft photos, even in good lighting condition. i compared my photo taken with Canon 400D w Kit Lens to my frens' Panasonic Lumix, pointing at the same pbject. when we zoom in on the same spot of the photo, his photo is atleast 5x sharper than my photo detail. mine is blurry.

please explain y is this happening?? TQ.

inkle.

[Jonathan Wienke]

but the problem i'm having is that the current lens is taking rather soft photos, even in good lighting condition. i compared my photo taken with Canon 400D w Kit Lens to my frens' Panasonic Lumix, pointing at the same pbject. when we zoom in on the same spot of the photo, his photo is atleast 5x sharper than my photo detail. mine is blurry.

please explain y is this happening?? TQ.

Your friend's Lumix is applying more in-camera sharpening than your 400D. There's nothing wrong with your camera or lens; all digital images start out looking like that. Consumer-grade cameras automatically apply heavy sharpening to crispen the edges, but generally create halos and other objectionable artifacts while doing so. More pro-oriented cameras apply less sharpening; it's your responsibility to learn how to sharpen now. Search this site for anti-aliasing filter, sharpening, USM, and local contrast enhancement, and google "Focus Magic".

[inkle]

Your friend's Lumix is applying more in-camera sharpening than your 400D. There's nothing wrong with your camera or lens; all digital images start out looking like that. Consumer-grade cameras automatically apply heavy sharpening to crispen the edges, but generally create halos and other objectionable artifacts while doing so. More pro-oriented cameras apply less sharpening; it's your responsibility to learn how to sharpen now. Search this site for anti-aliasing filter, sharpening, USM, and local contrast enhancement, and google "Focus Magic".
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=96319\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

thanks for the pointers, i'll look into it, didnt know those camera apply heavy filter until now.

[mtselman]

thanks for the pointers, i'll look into it, didnt know those camera apply heavy filter until now.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=96337\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Jonathan is most likely correct. But just to be safe, try to test your camera focusing in a manual focus mode. (focus on something that is easy to focus on manually) and compare with autofocus. The resason I'm suggesting that is that the first 350D I bought had defective autofocus (it was just a little bit off, so you could not see it on LCD). I discovered that in the middle of a long trip and finished the trip in manual-focus mode. Luckily, the store exchanged my camera for a brand-new after I returned. (It was not the lens problem as the camera was wrong-focusing with all lenses).
  --Misha

[Jonathan Wienke]

(It was not the lens problem as the camera was wrong-focusing with all lenses).

If you look at the sample photo posted, there is no back- or front- focus, so you're sending the OP on a wild goose chase here. It's the sharpening.