OT Anybody got underexposed digital photos?

[Peter]

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005, Walter Dnes wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 20, 2005 at 06:35:28PM -0400, Stewart C. Russell wrote
>> Walter Dnes wrote:
>>>  Or even more of a nightmare, digital photos where one section is
>>> properly exposed, and the rest is underexposed?
>>
>> Are you sure it's not just a metering problem? Or that you may need
>> to learn the joys of exposure lock? I often shoot with ultra-wide
>> lenses (HFOV > 100 degrees), and those'll learn ya to meter correctly
>> right quick.
>
>  Some stuff that I didn't mention, but should've...
>
>  1) The camera does have various auto modes.  But in really low-light
> situations, even with the aperture cranked wide open, it still wants
> 1/8th second or longer exposure times.  That doesn't produce good
> pictures with a handheld camera, and I can't lug around a tripod all the
> time.

Imho, obtain an extensible monopod. You can carry it in your pocket. Get 
the kind with a ball joint on top. Then you can rest it against a wall 
f.ex., and not necessarily the floor. It is not snake oil but it will 
help.

Most un-composed 'instant' photography shot without preparation comes 
out best when shot with small aperture relatively cheap cameras which do 
not try to slow down exposure too much (they can't), and do not try to 
open the lens too much (what lens?), plus they do not have gain circuits 
for the ccd. This results in a slightly underexposed picture with almost 
no noise and almost always sharp focus (on account of the depth of field 
of the small aperture lens). Such a picture can often be recovered 
electronically without too much magic (within reason).

Duplicating such performance with a digital SLR capable of f/1.8 and 
less and 1 minute exposures requires a crack button handler imho. If you 
can bracket both shutter and aperture at the same time then that would 
be your best chance for such occasions imho.

Peter
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