evall95 From Australia, joined Aug 2011, 290 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 4 months 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 2806 times:
Hi, it is the middle of summer here in Australia so it is very hot and the sun is very bright even in late afternoon. I have been getting many rejections for over sharpened because of the brightness so I was just wondering what the best settings are for shooting in bright light. thanks
dlowwa From Canada, joined Apr 2005, 7245 posts, RR: 32 Reply 1, posted (1 year 4 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2794 times:
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Hmmm..In your past thirty rejections, I see only two for oversharpened. I don't think that would qualify as 'many'; regardless, the brightness of the sun has little to do with an image being oversharpened. In fact, a poorly (over) exposed image is more likely to look soft than too sharp. If your images are coming out overexposed, simply stop down the aperture, or increase the shutter speed; the latter is what most people would do.
trvyyz From Canada, joined Oct 2004, 1311 posts, RR: 11 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2791 times:
If images are too bright assuming you are using either "A" or "S/Tv" mode, decrease the exposure compensation by a 3rd or 2. Also, shoot raw you will be able to recover more in PP if it is over exposed upto a stop. Increasing the shutter or F number will work for M mode not for the others since your meter is telling the camera to overexpose. Also changing the metering mode could help.
gunship01 From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 28 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 4 months 23 hours ago) and read 2709 times:
I've come to find, bright sunlit days will require 1/1600th on a Lufthansa bird and 1/1250 on American Airlines. I let the 100-400MM zoom go full open at F5.6. Seems to work ok.
jaktrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4735 posts, RR: 8 Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 22 hours ago) and read 2697 times:
Too fast a shutter can actually have negative effects on an image. Shooting a regular airliner at 1/1600th sounds a little overboard to me. Still, if f/5.6 gives you the DOF you require that's fine.
Exposure is the only real concern with bright light, while aperture, shutter, ISO, sharpness, etc. have nothing whatsoever to do with it. To a degree contrast is important too. try using stop compensation as suggested, or play around with the contrast.
NPeterman From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 140 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 4 months 21 hours ago) and read 2689 times:
Quoting gunship01 (Reply 3): I let the 100-400MM zoom go full open at F5.6. Seems to work ok.
Your 100-400 will let you get away with shooting at F5.6!? Lucky man you are. Mine lives between 6.3 and 9 to be sharp.
Back on topic, I definitely second the above mentioned idea of playing around with your metering mode. Obviously your metering and shooting modes may need to change depending on your subject's livery (Spot metering + American Airlines can lead to SCARY results ). At the end of the day, trial and error are king. Oftentimes, Manual will also give you better results if you are getting a good feel for the location, subjects, etc.
vikkyvik From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 8220 posts, RR: 28 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 20 hours ago) and read 2679 times:
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Quoting jaktrax (Reply 4): Too fast a shutter can actually have negative effects on an image.
Interesting - what sort of effects?
Quoting jaktrax (Reply 4):
Exposure is the only real concern with bright light, while aperture, shutter, ISO, sharpness, etc. have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
For clarification's sake, what exactly do you mean? It sounds counter-intuitive - meaning, of course aperture, shutter, and ISO affect your exposure, but I'm not sure that's what you're saying.
"Two and a Half Men" was filmed in front of a live ostrich.
NPeterman From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 140 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 20 hours ago) and read 2670 times:
Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 6): Interesting - what sort of effects?
While I obviously can't read jaktrax's mind, I have actually noticed that photos I have taken with copiously higher shutter speeds, like 1/1600 -1/3200 will actually seem to be softer than photos taken at more reasonable shutter speeds, like say 1/800. I've also noticed some really strange distortions (really can't seem to find a better word than that) in image appearance- things take on this somewhat flat, almost texture-less character.
Silver1SWA From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 4538 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (1 year 4 months 17 hours ago) and read 2639 times:
Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 6): Interesting - what sort of effects?
I'm interested in hearing Karl's explanation. I have often wondered about this. Back when I got my 100-400, I struggled to figure the darn thing out. While I think I have a softer copy, I found that there was a huge learning curve to maximize my results. One of those things I learned through trials was not to use an overly fast shutter speed. I thought at 400mm all I would have to do is go higher on the ISO and get shutter speeds as fast as possible. But I noticed there was such thing as too fast. I scratched my head as shots at 1/1250th and above would cause some weird effects from time to time. Not only would images look softer, but they had the appearance of bad camera shake. Either I've had something wrong with my equipment or there is some truth to Karl's claim. All I know is I'm better off staying in the 1/400 - 1/800 range.
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
ketko2 From Slovakia, joined Sep 2006, 103 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (1 year 3 months 4 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 2533 times:
I think the camera shake/softness at higher speeds might be due to the mirror shaking right after shutter release. While at 1/400 etc. it becomes negligable, at 1/1600 it might be visible since the camera only has very short time to capture the scene and during that time its shaking. I think in some cases that problem can be eliminated by mirror lock-up, but obviously thats not the case with aviation where the scene is changing constantly.
lrv890 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 2 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (1 year 3 months 3 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 2387 times:
Hi when on the odd occassision in the UK the sun does come out and it is too bright I use a polarising filter to reducing the light by 2 stops
This may help
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From Australia, joined Aug 2011, 290 posts, 
From Canada, joined Apr 2005, 7245 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 28 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4735 posts, 
Your 100-400 will let you get away with shooting at F5.6!? Lucky man you are. Mine lives between 6.3 and 9 to be sharp. 
). At the end of the day, trial and error are king. Oftentimes, Manual will also give you better results if you are getting a good feel for the location, subjects, etc.
From Slovakia, joined Sep 2006, 103 posts, 
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