Canon D20 and lighting inconsistencies

[Linda G]

Hey gang, you all know I don't have Canon anymore but I have a customer who does. She's struggling with the D20 and lighting with both studio and the speedlight that's dedicated (not sure which one, think it's in the 400 range)

She'll take images without changing anything and the exposures fluctuate tremendously.

Also, she frames carefully yet when the image is processed, it's cropped it in from one side. ALWAYS the same side, whether shooting vertical or horizontal. Is this typical of this camera or does she need to send it back?

Anyone have advice?

[Theo2005]

Hey gang, you all know I don't have Canon anymore but I have a customer who does. She's struggling with the D20 and lighting with both studio and the speedlight that's dedicated (not sure which one, think it's in the 400 range)

She'll take images without changing anything and the exposures fluctuate tremendously.

Also, she frames carefully yet when the image is processed, it's cropped it in from one side. ALWAYS the same side, whether shooting vertical or horizontal. Is this typical of this camera or does she need to send it back?

Anyone have advice?

I don't have a 20D either but esp that cropping thing is far from normal. No camera does that AFAIK. I think her camera is faulty.

Theo

[killians913]

Linda,

Question 1: Does this frame cropping issue only occur when she uses the shoe mounted flash?

Question 2: What camera setting does she use, i.e., P, Av, Tv, M, etc?

Question 3: What ISO speed is she using and what is her focus point?

Lockett

[Linda G]

Ooh, good questions. She's going to be a new member so she can read and respond soon!


Theo, I advised the same, thankfully the camera's still under warranty so we'll see.

She's to the point of going Nikon because of the bad taste of the Canon but is ready to get a digital backup camera....what to do? what to do?

[Tom V]

Welcome to the Forums Incsham!

If the frame is always "cropped" (dark?) along one edge, the only reason I can think that causes that is too fast a shutter speed, or too slow a flash. If the camera sync speed is 1/125 of a second, but the camera is set to 1/250 of a second, you can bet the shutter is going to be partially closed when the flash fires. There is almost no way for a shoe-mount flash to be too slow.

Wildly innaccurate exposures with flash can be caused by a faulty TTL metering system (such as the Fuji S2 and nearly any TTL flash), or by foreign material in the mirror box (where the flash metering sensors are), or because of inadequate flash recharge (shooting before the flash has recharged). Another possibility is by shooting with a Linear Polarizer lens filter, which fools almost all modern in-camera meters.

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