300D Rebel makes too dark pictures...

[Aratharu]

I've just been fiddling around with my CDR and the 17-40mm L lens I bought with it. I've been trying manual settings, the P, T, and A settings on the Creative Modes, and even in bright settings it seems I always end up with pictures that are too dark that require increasing the gamma correction. What am I doing wrong? Does the 300D tend to just take darker pictures than what's really there? How do I get around this? Will adjusting the WB baseline improve it? Thanks for any advice.

[Sean Dempsey]

I took hundreds of pictures with the Drebel and the 17-40 L lens, and never once came to the conclusion that the pictures were too dark.

Just using the settings might not give you accurate exposures. Have you tried using the exposure lock and making sure you're not exposing to the wrong sample of light? Also, have you adjusted the A/V settings to compensate for exposures? Also, what color parameter are you using?

Could you post some examples?

[noladave]

I shoot a lot of outdoor sports pictures (baseball usually), with a lot of sun. I find that if I use that automatic exposure, they do come out a little dark, but that's because of the bright sunlight and white, or near white, baseball uniforms.

To compensate, I usually shoot at +.7 a/v. That seems to do the trick.

[Aratharu]

Just using the settings might not give you accurate exposures.

I think this may be the problem. I thought though that using the Av, Tv or P settings should at least give reasonable pictures, and that I don't have to go Manual to get good pictures.

Have you tried using the exposure lock and making sure you're not exposing to the wrong sample of light?

I've tried this with varying success, I think it's the semi-automatic settings that aren't optimal.

Also, what color parameter are you using?

I've been using Parameter setting 1.

I'll try to become more familiar with manual settings and see what happens, might post some results.