Originally posted by kcupp95
Was having a lot of exposure problems, but then was also shooting straight into the setting sun which I think was half the problem.
You cannot get a good exposure at sunset shooting straight into the sun. This is true whether your name is Bubba Jones or Ansell Adams. To get a good sunset exposure, set your camera on Av mode, point your camera away from the sun, and take a meter reading of the dusky blue sky (avoiding any clouds). If the resulting exposure is still a little too overexposed for your tastes, underexpose your metered exposure by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop.
Quote: Not entirely sure I want to have to adjust settings everytime I take a photo, my main reason for having a good camera is for travelling when I won't have all the time in the world.
There's no need to adjust your settings everytime you take a photo. Set your camera in Av mode and follow the "sunny f16" rule: On a nice sunny day set your aperture to f8. You should get a shutter speed of around 1/250. Unless your scene is overly bright or overly dark you should get a good exposure. If your scene is not overly bright or overly dark and your meter reads something other than 1/250 adjust the shutter speed to 1/250 using the front e-dial.
Assuming the camera isn't defective, it isn't the camera that takes good or bad photographs, it's the photographer. The light meter in your camera is a reflective light meter, and reflective light meters lie. (It's not their fault, they can't help it. Unlike incident light meters which measure the light falling on a subject, reflective light meters meter the light that is reflecting off the subject, and since not all subjects reflect light the same, reflective meters are easily fooled). You have to know when your camera's meter is lying to you, and adjust settings accordingly.
If you haven't done so already, I strongly suggest you get your hands on a copy of Bryan Peterson's book
Understanding Exposure and read it cover to cover at least twice.
This website will also help you out a lot:
Ultimate Exposure Computer