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I'm new here and am having what feels like a crisis with my Canon 7d mark ii camera. I've had this camera for about 4 years, so I feel as though I know it relatively well. The past few weeks I've noticed that my photos are suddenly appearing super dark. I don't think I have bumped something on my settings or changed one of my settings without realizing it. My camera never had a hard time handling animal photography in broad daylight and now it can't even properly capture a tree on a sunny day. I had to crank my iso up to 2500 and set shutter speed to 1/20 just to photograph my dog laying in the grass. Normally, my iso might be 250 and maybe 1/500 depending on what I'm doing. I don't think it's an issue with my lenses since the couple I tried seem to have no effect on the discouragingly dark pictures.

It just doesn't seem right that my photos are turning out so dark when it has not been like this before. Could it be something with my aperture or there's something wrong with the programming inside my camera? I feel clueless. This past week, my camera went in for a cleaning, but it was acting weird beforehand so I don't think it's anything the camera cleaning guy did.

Has this happened to anyone before or does anyone have any helpful insight? Thank you in advance!

Below are pictures I took in attempt to figure what the problem is. It was a bright, sunny day, so my settings would normally be around iso 250 and 1/500 (I hope that is not majorly wrong). Both pictures were taken with settings around there and are not normally that dark. I believe I normally shoot in evaluative metering, I do not think I accidentally changed that. I do not think I bumped something with my exposure, either. I honestly do not change much on my camera because I figured out where I like to manually shoot and fear changing something.

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sa1533
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    Can you edit your post to share info about which metering mode you are using (evaluative metering, center-weighted metering, spot metering, etc.)? I'm wondering if you changed the metering mode. Also, a sample of image might be helpful. Have you possibly dialed in some exposure compensation without realizing it? – Tim Campbell Aug 08 '20 at 23:18
  • I use evaluative metering and I do not think I changed my exposure compensation. I'm not really a professional and I fear changing my settings once I figured out what works, so I would like to think I did not alter anything without realizing. I added a couple images that turned out really dark. Thank you for your response! – sa1533 Aug 09 '20 at 13:18
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    In your photo editor, can you open these images and confirm the ISO, f-stop (Av) and shutter speed used? Do you have any filters on your camera lens? – Tim Campbell Aug 09 '20 at 16:11
  • I apologize for that! I did not have my camera or computer right in front of me and had an emergency at work. I just got back and was going to provide the necessary information. Again, I apologize for inconveniencing everyone. – sa1533 Aug 09 '20 at 22:00
  • I may have found my problem. My f/stop was apparently F25, which is way off considering none of my photos I took before I had this issue were at that. I am sure everyone is correct in that I accidentally changed my settings. I am hoping to figure out what exactly I did so I can prevent this from happening again. Definitely a needed learning experience. – sa1533 Aug 09 '20 at 22:05
  • Your cleaning technician probably set it to f/25 because it's easier to see dust spots in images taken with a high aperture value. He was looking to see if there was any dust remaining after he cleaned the sensor. – Michael C Aug 09 '20 at 22:55
  • That makes a lot of sense as to what happened. Thank you so much for the suggestion! – sa1533 Aug 10 '20 at 00:43
  • The moral of the story here is: You should be aware of what your f-stop is set to before you take the picture. Make sure it is set to the proper setting as indicated by your light meter reading. – Alaska Man Aug 12 '20 at 15:43

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Based on your report that the camera had recently been returned to you after a clean and check along with your discovery that the aperture was set to f/25, here's what most likely happened:

Your cleaning technician probably manually set the aperture to f/25 when checking for dust spots on your camera's sensor. It's easier to see the effect of dust in front of the sensor when narrow apertures (high f-numbers) are used.

This would also assume that the camera was placed into manual exposure mode so that aperture (Av), exposure time (Tv), and ISO could be set manually by the technician. If you normally shoot using a different exposure mode, you need to set the mode dial back to where you normally use it and check again that all three exposure variables are where you want them based on the metering mode you want to use.

Michael C
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  • That makes a lot of sense. I will definitely remember that for next time. Thank you so much! I appreciate the helpful insight! – sa1533 Aug 10 '20 at 12:28
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This is not a difinitive answer to your question but may be a starting point for investigation. I copied your images to my computer and easily adjusted them to look more correctly exposed so the correct data should be already there. (My apologies if this seems a bit obvious or if you have already tried it but your description gives the impression that you are not really sure what settings you have used for those pictures.) May I suggest you take a picture with your manual settings and then take the same shot with the camera set to an auto mode that locks in the same ISO setting. Compare the two shots by comparing the aperture and shutter speed settings chosen by the camera with those chosen by you. If the images are both under exposed but have very different settings it may be time to seek help from a Canon service agent. Here is your dog after I adjusted his exposure Let us know what you discover.

John Sumner
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  • Thank you so much for the insight! My settings for that picture were at 250 and 1/320 in manual. I actually tried taking a photo in auto and then copying the settings. In auto, the picture was bright and detailed, but when I took it in manual, I got the image above. Is it still an issue I'm not realizing that I'm suddenly causing or something wrong with the camera? – sa1533 Aug 09 '20 at 14:12
  • This is sounding more and more like an exposure compensation issue. Double check that. – Philip Kendall Aug 09 '20 at 14:17
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    250 is ISO ? 1/320 is shutter speed. What was the Fstop? – Alaska Man Aug 09 '20 at 16:03
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    My f/stop was apparently F25, which is way off considering none of my photos I took before I had this issue were at that. I am sure everyone is correct in that I accidentally changed my settings. That must have been my problem. I am hoping to figure out what exactly I did so I can prevent this from happening again. Definitely a needed learning experience for me! – sa1533 Aug 09 '20 at 22:06
  • @sa1533 F/25 is WAY too high. You shouldn't ever use more than f/16 really, otherwise you get abberation. – marcellothearcane Aug 10 '20 at 12:36
  • I completely understand that now. I would never choose to shoot with that, so when my pictures weren't turning out right, it took me awhile to figure out that my f/stop was way off. Thank you for the help!! – sa1533 Aug 10 '20 at 13:56