I'm such a dope.

[Mrtambourineman]

I've been worried that my camera sensor or processor was failing (I'm using an old Canon Rebel XT I bought used).  When I've shot in P or A all of the exposures were coming out very dark.  When I shot in M, things were much better.  I did some googling and thought that part of the issue was the metering system I was using so I switched back to Matrix meetering - which helped a bit.  Certainly made my manual shots better.  Still things were working.  Finally I figured out that what I was seeing in my viewfinder on A and P was that I'd somehow manually adjusted the exposure to two stops lower than what the meter was reading.  *head smack*  So I adjusted the +/- button so it was neutral, took some sample exposures and yup - everything was kosher.  So good news is I don't need to replace my body  .  Bad news....I don't need to upgrade my body.   

I guess I did this accidentally while trying to adjust my aperture when I thought I was shooting manual, but was actually shooting in P mode.  Another example of the dangers of a little bit of knowledge.  I totally screwed up the Thanksgiving shots because of this - fortunately Halloween was saved. 

[omega lambda]

I'm glad it wasn't your camera body, though. 

One of the things I love about my camera is that most changes takes two hands, so it is difficult to change things besides aperture and shutter speed without intentionally doing so.  BUT - when I'm shooting in manual, something I almost always manage to do without realizing it is change shutter speed.  I hate that I do that and I hate even more that I still don't know what I'm doing to change it.   

[Mrtambourineman]

I'm glad it wasn't your camera body, though. 

One of the things I love about my camera is that most changes takes two hands, so it is difficult to change things besides aperture and shutter speed without intentionally doing so.  BUT - when I'm shooting in manual, something I almost always manage to do without realizing it is change shutter speed.  I hate that I do that and I hate even more that I still don't know what I'm doing to change it.   

Yes, I'm glad its not the body too - although upgrading to a used 50D would have been    With my body the button that adjusts aperture in manual is also the +/- button for exposure in the pre-set modes.  One of things that really bugs me on my body is the lack of a dedicated good ergonomic aperture control for manual shooting.