images show up fine on camera lcd but on computer they are dark?

mtbehm

I just got a canon rebel xti and am trying to get into photography. I took a few pics and they looked good on my lcd screen but when i put them on my computer they are much darker than they appeared? Anyone know why it does this? Thanks Matt

photokandy

Congrats on your XTi. I have both an XSi and T1i and they are fantastic "little" cameras.

On to the answer -- filled with lots of questions:

1) Are you shooting RAW or JPG?
2) What program are you using to view your images on your computer?
3) Have you calibrated your computer's monitor?
4) Are you shooting in the AdobeRGB colorspace (vs. sRGB)?

Truth is, the LCD on the back of your camera is not very useful for determining anything more than composition. The colors are not at all accurate, and if you are shooting RAW, what you see on the LCD is the JPG preview (and not what the RAW file looks like). The same goes for checking focus -- your LCD will lie quite often regarding sharpness and focus.

If you haven't calibrated your monitor, then that's something you must do. Otherwise you'll have no idea if your monitor is displaying anything near the right colors.

If you are shooting in a colorspace other than sRGB and using a program that doesn't understand that colorspace, that will also shift your colors a bit. (Not much, but enough to be noticed).

Ultimately, however, do not trust the LCD on the back of your camera. It is there as an aid only to determine composition. Determine your exposure with the histogram, and as far as colors... well -- wait until you get back to your calibrated monitor to make any choices there. (And if possible, shoot RAW. True, more work after taking the picture, but you aren't stuck with what the camera baked in to the JPG.)

Hopefully some of that helps?

Ed_Hanratty

Agree with everything said above. A lot could have to do with your image editing program + your camera's default settings. This happens with any brand. Some camera features that help the processing of the image in camera may not be recognized by some programs other than the camera maker's program. Example: The image you said looks dark may look fine if you use Canon's software, but will look dark in Lightroom.

BenA2

mtbehm wrote:

I just got a canon rebel xti and am trying to get into photography. I took a few pics and they looked good on my lcd screen but when i put them on my computer they are much darker than they appeared? Anyone know why it does this? Thanks Matt

I also have an XTi and experience exactly the same issue. I work with a calibrated monitor, so I can say, conclusively, that what appears on the LCD is a brighter representation of the image than you'll actually get on a properly calibrated monitor or, more importantly, in a print.

You simply can't trust the XTi's LCD display (you should never really trust any camera's display, but the XTi may be worse than others, I don't know). Instead, you need to learn to use the histogram to judge the exposure. When I correctly expose an image (based on the in-camera histogram and from the results as viewed on a calibrated monitor) that image in camera will look too bright/overexposed in the XTi LCD. In my experience, that's something you're just going to have to learn to work with.

Qarik

could you simply turn down the brigtness on the LCD?

Scott_Quier

mtbehm wrote:

I just got a canon rebel xti and am trying to get into photography. I took a few pics and they looked good on my lcd screen but when i put them on my computer they are much darker than they appeared? Anyone know why it does this? Thanks Matt

Welcome to DGrin Nice to see you here!

One has to be careful about what they read and believe on the internet and on the back LCD of a camera. If one is not careful, one can easily be let astray.

The brightness of the LCD on the camera back is user adjustable. Turn it up and your darkest, most under-exposed shots will look just fine. By the same token, turn down the brightness and the opposite will hold.

One should only use the image on the camera back LCD for judging composition. In all other respects, it will lie to you every time (though I do know one photographer who successfully judges exposure using the LCD image - go figure). A better tool to use to evaluate exposure is the histogram.

While the histogram displayed on the camera back is relating information as it is stored in the JPG embedded in the RAW file, it (and the blinkies on the camera back images) are the best tools we have for judging the exposure.

angevin1

Scott_Quier wrote:

Welcome to DGrin Nice to see you here!


While the histogram displayed on the camera back is relating information as it is stored in the JPG embedded in the RAW file, it (and the blinkies on the camera back images) are the best tools we have for judging the exposure.

It's taken me two good years to learn to trust, look and believe that Histogram...and use it in good faith. It works~

BenA2

Qarik wrote:

could you simply turn down the brigtness on the LCD?

Personally, I find the brightness level increments on the XTi too coarse. Mine is set at -1, which I guess I would say is "too high." Even in low-light conditions, the next step lower (-2) is really way too low. Plus there's something I can't quite explain about the way brightness changes the LCD display. It doesn't appear to be a direct corollary to exposure. It also seems to have unpleasant impacts on contrast and color.

All the more reason to use the histogram as the primary means of judging exposure. Some new, helpful info on that was just added at the Luminous Lanscape, here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/right-hista.shtml

ziggy53

I do recommend using the camera histogram, as well as the highlight "blinkies", to gauge exposure. More importantly, use a software histogram to understand the camera histogram. Once you understand how the camera histogram displays its information, it will become a more valuable tool for you.

ziggy53

Ed_Hanratty wrote:

Agree with everything said above. A lot could have to do with your image editing program + your camera's default settings. This happens with any brand. Some camera features that help the processing of the image in camera may not be recognized by some programs other than the camera maker's program. Example: The image you said looks dark may look fine if you use Canon's software, but will look dark in Lightroom.

Ed_Hanratty, welcome to the Digital Grin.

What you said is especially true shooting RAW images. The manufacturer software will almost always produce a starting image that looks closer to the in-camera JPG images. The third-party RAW processors rarely understand any in-camera offsets so they generally start from neutral settings.