What am I doing wrong in low light???

J

jrod81

Veteran
Hey guys,
So I am just shooting stuff around the house (cats, christmas stuff, etc) and everything is so dark in the LCD. I have the ISO at 3200 and even 6400 and still so dark? White Balance is on Auto... any other suggestions... this can't be right since I've heard such great things about low light.
thanks
jared
 
1. What lens are you using.

2. What is the brightness setting for the LCD

3. Have you taken a look at the footage on your computer, if so how does it look, if not you should.

4. What shutter speed are you at, this will make a HUGE difference in terms of overall exposure.

By answering these questions we should be able to figure out your problem
 
yeah, we'd need to know your aperture and shutter speed settings. if you're using an f/4 lens that could explain it, or you might be shooting at a high shutter speed (it should be around 1/50).
 
okay okay... let me see what i can answer and i will need some help on some:
1. crappy stock lens that came with it: 28mm-135mm
2. where is the brightness setting... menu?
3. the footage on my computer is somewhat better but very orange and still fairly dark
4. tell me how to find/adjust shutter speed
 
Well, are you zoomed all the way in? If so, you're hitting 5.6f at 3200 or 6400 ISO...that's just asking for trouble. Are your lights all off?

The shutter speed by default I believe is the top wheel, by the LCD (I THINK...at least on mine) and it should be set at 50 if shooting at 24fps.

Kegan
 
well I didn't want to give off the impression that an f/3.5 or 4 was crappy, that seems like a good lens. it's just that I was assuming it was pretty dark in your house since it's late and dark on your lcd. the shutter is either one of the jog wheels on top- either back by the lcd or towards the front up top I forget. one of them is the aperture and one's the shutter, just make sure both are at about where you want them.

oh yeah, if your footage is orange you might want to check your white balance too, but it might just be that way cause it's dark.
 
i did check white balance and went thru all the options and just put it back to auto bc everything was too dark...
it is morning now and with the sun it is all good... i will try it again this evening
 
Yeah, sounds like the issue is that either the shutter was too high or you running too high an F-stop. But keep in mind that with the Kit lens that comes with the 7D, it can only open up to 3.5 when you are wide with it.
 
I'm pretty sure it's just the lens. I was having the same problem when I first got the camera and was upset because I got it specifically for how it handled low light. I figured it was just because of the lens being 3.5 - 5.6 so I bought a 50mm 1.8 and while a little bit brighter, it was still pretty dark. Then I got an adapter for my Nikon 50mm 1.4 and it's great under low light.
 
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