Where to get SH camera checked out?

squareballoon

I just bought a second hand canon 5D. It was described 'mint condition'. It looks fine but I'd just like to get it checked out to make sure it's all perfect before I decide to keep it. First off is there any way of telling how many pictures it has taken from the camera itself?

This morning I've been taking shots with my 400D and the 5D to compare and the 5d shots are coming out much brighter/overexposed with the same settings and lens.

Is there somewhere in Dublin (pref. south) that I can get it looked at prefessionally to make sure it's all in perfect working.

Stephen

If you look at the exif information from any photo taken with the camera, it should have the total shutter actuation count embedded in it.

mathias

This morning I've been taking shots with my 400D and the 5D to compare and the 5d shots are coming out much brighter/overexposed with the same settings and lens.

What exactly do you mean here ?

You cannot just set the two cameras to the same settings and expect the same results , the 5D has a much larger sensor and bigger light gathering capabilities than a 400D.

Given the same conditions , metering with both cameras is going to result in different settings. The 5D will overexpose with the same manual settings for a given shot than a 400D.

DaireQuinlan

mathias wrote: »

Given the same conditions , metering with both cameras is going to result in different settings. The 5D will overexpose with the same manual settings for a given shot than a 400D.

Thats completely not the case. Given the same iso, exposure time, and F-Stop, pointing at the same scene, both cameras ought to result in a similarly exposed picture.

OP, I'd check see if there's some way of defaulting your camera to its factory settings. There could be some exposure compensation set on it or something.

leohoju

Stephen wrote: »

If you look at the exif information from any photo taken with the camera, it should have the total shutter actuation count embedded in it.

Not possible with a 5D. It would appear that to get the shutter actuations a trip to your local Canon service centre is needed. Full thread on that here.

squareballoon

Thanks, I've restored the settings now and it seems to be a little better but I'm also having a problem with sharpness. I rented a 5D a few weeks ago and it was much sharper than my 400D but this camera seems softer.

I wish I'd bought new.

mathias

Thats completely not the case.

Oh yes it is , Im 100% positive about it , I have both a 40D and a 5D , given a correct centred exposure meter , you cannot have the same aperature or shutter speed for a given ISO on both cameras , its not possible.

DaireQuinlan

mathias wrote: »

Oh yes it is , Im 100% positive about it , I have both a 40D and a 5D , given a correct centred exposure meter , you cannot have the same aperature or shutter speed for a given ISO on both cameras , its not possible.

Well then either your 5D or your 40D isn't working correctly. There'll always be some small variations from camera to camera, but if they're more than 1/2 a stop or so then something is wrong, or your metering technique is all over the shop.

mathias

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/692046

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/full-frame-sensor-vs-crop-sensor-which-is-right-for-you/

In general, full frame sensors have better image quality across the board, but they really shine when it comes to high ISO performance.

Take a look at the Nikon D300 and it’s full frame sibling the D700. The D300 is widely considered to be pretty good in low light, but the D700 is much better. In the real world, my D700 gives me 2 full stops of useable ISO over the D300; I can shoot at ISO6400 on the D700 where I wouldn’t shoot above ISO1600 on the D300. This has a lot to do with the size of the sensor. Both cameras have 12 megapixels, but the individual imaging sites on the D700 are farther apart, giving you a cleaner image.

And so on and so on ..... there is no way an APS-C size sensor can have the same performance across the board than a full frame sensor , therefore there is no way they can have the same camera settings per exposure for a given ISO ..... its not physically possible.

Theres one example from fredmiranda above , there are literally hundreds of examples if you care to search ....

DaireQuinlan

mathias wrote: »

And so on and so on ..... there is no way an APS-C size sensor can have the same performance across the board than a full frame sensor , therefore there is no way they can have the same camera settings per exposure for a given ISO ..... its not physically possible..

Ok, for a start 'performance' (by which I presume you mean high-iso performance with regard to noise and so on) has nothing to do with what we're discussing here, so you're obviously confused a little about this in the first place.

But onto the exposure issue. This is really photography 101. For a given scene there's a particular EV value. How on earth would external meters work otherwise ? If I meter a scene with my external sekonic at (say) iso100 and f/2.8 and get 1/250th of a second, then (presuming I actually metered correctly) I can transfer that to any camera you care to mention, a 35mm film camera with 100 speed film, a medium format camera, a 8x10 inch plate film camera from the 1920's, a full frame or crop sensor or P&S digital, and it will result in a correctly exposed picture. Now, there will be slight variations of course, the shutters might be marginally faster or slower on one of the cameras etc etc, but ideally speaking it will result in the same image.

preilly79

mathias wrote: »

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/692046

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/full-frame-sensor-vs-crop-sensor-which-is-right-for-you/



And so on and so on ..... there is no way an APS-C size sensor can have the same performance across the board than a full frame sensor , therefore there is no way they can have the same camera settings per exposure for a given ISO ..... its not physically possible.

Theres one example from fredmiranda above , there are literally hundreds of examples if you care to search ....

what you quote above has to do with image quality, and not exposure as is being discussed.

the other poster is correct. If you have two cameras, with the same lens, same ISO, same shutter speed and same aperture then in theory the images should be almost identical in exposure.

stcstc

one thing that might be confusing a little here

if the poster is using matrix metering on the camera, the two cameras will have slightly different matrix metering and may result in different exposures

DaireQuinlan

stcstc wrote: »

if the poster is using matrix metering on the camera, the two cameras will have slightly different matrix metering and may result in different exposures

That's true to an extent, different matrix metering algorithms and weightings might result in slightly different meterings depending on the scene. It would certainly not be due to the 5D having ...

a much larger sensor and bigger light gathering capabilities than a 400D

To suggest that is to demonstrate a pretty fundamental lack of understanding of the basics of metering and exposure.

CabanSail

stcstc wrote: »

one thing that might be confusing a little here

if the poster is using matrix metering on the camera, the two cameras will have slightly different matrix metering and may result in different exposures

I think that is closer to the truth.

To really test it you should Spot Meter onto a Grey Card & compare those images.

stcstc

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

That's true to an extent, different matrix metering algorithms and weightings might result in slightly different meterings depending on the scene. It would certainly not be due to the 5D having ...
To suggest that is to demonstrate a pretty fundamental lack of understanding of the basics of metering and exposure.

I agree

I would suggest taking a picture on both cameras in manual mode, using spot metering. and meter the same object under the same light, ie if your outdoors the light will change so be careful else you wont be comparing like with like

squareballoon

Well, after I reset it to factory settings the exposure is much more similar to the 400D. It doesn't explain the lack of sharpness though. I took it to the Digital Store in Dundrum. They told me it was probably faaaar older than specified and basically knackered to try and get my money back.

I will try taking the same shot with a friends 5D and then with this one and see the difference. It's a pain that I can't tell how many shots it's taken as it would strenghten my case for getting my money back. :mad:


thanks for all the replies everyone.

punchdrunk

contact image supply systems in town
,they're a canon pro service centre

http://www.imagesupplysystems.ie/

they should be able to inspect it for you

also are you using the 18-55 kit lense form a 400D on the 5D or something else?

i imagine this lense is very soft around the edges on a full frame camera,which wouldn't be seen on a 400D,how's the centre of the shot?

squareballoon

I've used both the 50mm 1.4 lens and a 70-200 2.8 L on it and nothing was completely sharp.

I've seen MUCH better results from another 5D with these lens so I know it wasn't just my settings that were the problem. Anyway, I've written to the seller asking for a refund so we shall see....