topic Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:40:11 GMT

I just recently purchased a Canon M50 Mark II and could really use some tips. I love photography, and wanted to purchase a camera to take photos of my babies, rather than just use my iPhone. I am a beginner though, so I am having difficult with focusing. It seems the photos never look crisp, especially when taken indoors. I’m experimenting with settings, rather than using the auto mode

Also, it seems that everyone’s eyes always look black. Half my family has blue eyes, and they always look black. Do you know what I could be doing wrong?

I really appreciate all of the advice you can provide! Thank you so much!

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

ebiggs1 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:08:48 GMT

My first guess with no further info is your shots are underexposed. Probably because you shoot indoors under low light levels with a slow lens. The standard kit lens the M50 ships with is the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM. it would be considered a slow lens for indoor shooting.

An example and/or exactly how you are using the M50 Mk II would be of great help.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 18:11:52 GMT

Thank you so much for your thoughts. Do you have a suggestion of a different lens to purchase? I am currently only using the lens that came with the camera. I used these settings as a guide, and here a pics I took. Thank you again!

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

stevet1 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:55:27 GMT

jlc517.

A couple of suggestions: These are just my ideas.

1) If your subject is stationary, put your camera in Av, or aperture priority mode. You select your aperture, and your camera will select the shutter speed. You can experiment with taking the same picture with different apertures and see which you like best. It's said that most lenses work best when using apertures between f/5.6 and f/8.

f/4 ha a pretty small depth of field.

2) Use single point AF instead of Zone AF. With Zone AF, your camera will focus on things within that Zone, but has a tendency to focus on what's closest to the camera within that Zone.

3) Cloudy white balance will emphasize the greens and reds. Daylight White Balance emphasizes the blues and whites or yellows.

On cloudy days, the light is flat and cool. The cloudy white balance will help bring out the greens and reds and help to bring out warmer skin tones. On bright, sunshiny days, the color temperature is warm, so the the Daylight white balance will help bring out the cooler blue skies and white, puffy clouds.

3) For indoor shots, you're going to have to add a lot of light if you want to bring out the blue in peoples' eyes, or put your subjects in bright sunny rooms.

4) Get closer and concentrate n what's really important to you in your shot. Everything else is a distraction.

Steve Thomas

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

ebiggs1 — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:42:52 GMT

First off Kido on shots like this which are basically snapshots let them be snapshots. Don't try and over think the camera. The preferred mode for this is P mode. M mode should only be used when other modes won't or can't get the shot.

Second you really need to get DPP4 from Canon. It is their photo editor and it is free for you to d/l. I would advise you to use Raw file format and not jpg but even jpg will work with DPP4 just not as well. Your EOS M50 Mark II is not an iphone; it is far and away better if you use all its ability and that can not be done without a post editor. You can do as easy to as difficult editing with DPP4 as you want. Simple WB adjustment is a click. Think, you will never have to worry about what WB to use again as you can change it to your liking using DPP4. Plus exposure adjustment can be up to 4 stops in certain cases.

I can not tell if the eyes are blue or not in your examples (to small) but even that is something that can be adjusted with a good post editor. Not as easy of an edit but possible.

Next time out for a photo session select P mode and shoot away. Always try to keep ISO as low as possible. ISO 800 is probably higher then needed for that shot.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

ebiggs1 — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:49:48 GMT

"Do you have a suggestion of a different lens to purchase?"

Did we confirm the EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM. is the lens you own? Unfortunately Canon has decided to discontinue the M series of cameras and lenses so the inventory may be somewhat limited. You need a lens with a fast constant aperture for low light indoor shots The EF-M 22mm f/2 STM or the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM are fast constant aperture lenses as an example. But always keep in mind that adding light is a better way to go.

The Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens is a beautiful lens if you decide to go off brand.

You will need to keep ISO pretty high around 1600 for instance. And again Raw and DPP4 will be a huge help.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

shadowsports — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 16:36:50 GMT

Greetings,

I don't want to be the party pooper, but is anyone going to mention that the M series has been discontinued and that she might want to consider returning the camera and buying an R series that isn't a dead end? Buying more lenses for this camera is also not a wise investment. This should be considered before investing more time or money into this platform.

I might consider looking at the R50 or R8. At least with these there is a better path forward.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

krahe — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:24:11 GMT

A close-up shot should reveal eye color if you have enough light. As for focus, make sure you have Touch & Drag enabled. That lets you touch the screen to indicate what you want to focus on. The M50 will also take cues from that point to adjust exposure. This even works when you're taking a shot using the viewfinder, which is my normal mode for most shots (i.e. looking through the viewfinder, touching the screen to indicate the focus point).

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

rs-eos — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:37:39 GMT

Regarding images with eye (iris) color. The following conditions will lead to not seeing much or any iris color:

Eyes are too small within the overall frame.
Eyes are within shadow (e.g. strong light source directly above; aka racoon eyes)
Subjects are squinting. Try to re-position them so that the sun is now to their backs.
You're in a dimly lit area (pupils will dilate more and you'll have less "iris real-estate"). While it may seem that flash/strobes could help, since they are only on for a brief moment, the change to the eyes will last long enough. Using a continuous light source is better in this situation if maximizing iris real-estate is desired.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 14:57:15 GMT

Thank you SO much for the helpful tips! I will save these and try them out!

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:01:27 GMT

Thank you so much for the advice! I am looking forward to trying your tips out. I will try to edit using the DPP4. Is this the same as Canon DPP Express?

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:04:46 GMT

Yes, that is the lens that I am currently using. I will see if I can find one of your suggested lenses. That is sad news they have discontinued the camera. 😞 Thank you for your help!

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:07:08 GMT

Thank you for your advice, and letting me know. Ugh...that is frustrating news, since I bought the camera earlier this year, and can't return it. 😞 I always seem to pick the items that get discontinued.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:07:40 GMT

Great tip! Thank you so much!

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

jlc517 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:08:28 GMT

Thank you! From all of the replies, it seems that more light will definitely be helpful.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

ebiggs1 — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:38:21 GMT

"... it seems that more light will definitely be helpful."

See you are learning already. At this point advising you to return the gear isn't helpful. You need to learn how to use and use the gear you have. It is always better to use what you have opposed to what you wish you had. The M50 Mk II is a capable camera, not one I would have chosen perhaps, but it is what you have. Remember basically any camera is just a storage device. It is the lens and the editor that you use that makes or breaks a great photo.

Do get DPP4 first off and explore its abilities there are tutorials all over the place. You can do as easy as you want or drive in as deeply as you want. You already u/l to a computer, DPP4 will do that and automatically convert the Raw images to viewable photos. Because the second most important part is to use Raw format and not jpeg. A faster constant aperture lens would be nice especially if you do a lot of indoor low light photos. Best to shoot in good light though as nothing replaces good lighting.

Think about this, all the great photos that you see and admire in print or media or video go through post editing. In addition Raw is the full total ability of the camera to capture an image. When you use jpeg the camera decides what you want and deletes the rest to never be used or recovered. In DPP4 you decide by looking at the image what you want the image to be.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

shadowsports — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 17:39:16 GMT

Greetings,

Sorry for being the bearer of not-so-great news. I wasn't aware of your timeline. The M series was a nice line. Practical and capable. Its just limited now due to its discontinuation and lens availability. There are only 6-7 lenses for it available. I think there was a total of 9 at one point. Unfortunately, EF-M lenses cannot be adapted to other mirrorless bodies so they will only work with the M and if you upgrade your body which we all do, its lenses will not be unusable.

Something to think about in the long run. Your lenses are the real investment in photography. Body's will come and go. If done with forethought, the lenses you can buy today might move a head with you as you upgrade. It might be 2 yrs from now or even 4. However, not with the EF-M platform. I felt this was worth mentioning for the longer term.

As far as getting better shots, you've already received a bunch of really great advice. These gentlemen are seasoned pros with a huge amount of experience under their belts. There is really nothing I can add that hasn't been mentioned or that you won't figure out the more time you spend using your camera.

The 15-45mm kit lens included with the M50 mkII is a nice all purpose lens. Does ok for wider angle and casual daytime photography. There just isn't one lens that does everything, and as you spend more time taking pictures, you'll come to appreciate what different lenses can do for you.

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

krahe — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:39:11 GMT

Actually, there is no adapter that lets you use RF lenses on an M body/EF-M mount, nor could there be, because the portion of an RF/RF-S lens that extends inside the flange (to hold the lens in place) would collide with the M body. So the only lenses that you can get for an M50 that are portable to other mounts are EF and EF-S lenses. I have a couple of those myself, though not for that reason - I just like the lenses. I don't have any reservations about investing in EF-M lenses, though. In fact, I've been trying to obtain the ones I didn't have initially that I think I might want before they become hard to get. (I only expect to upgrade my camera body perhaps once every 10-15 years, so having lenses that aren't portable to a future body I may obtain isn't that much of a concern.)

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

shadowsports — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 17:44:33 GMT

Kevin,

You are right. I mis-spoke. Let me correct that. This was all in line with why I suggested going in another direction. Then I learned her purchase timeline would make that impossible.

Your 10-15 yr upgrade plan doesn't work for me. The amount of changes that occur in as little as 5 yrs is typically huge. I don't need to have the latest greatest, but could not wait that long between upgrades. Computer, camera, mobile device, etc. 😄

Thank you for correcting me. 👍

Re: EOS M50 Mark II Focus Help & Dark Eyes

ebiggs1 — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 16:00:44 GMT

I have lenses I got around year 2000 that upon occasion I still or can use. Look it all depends on how you were raised and the time slot you live in. At one time cameras did nothing more than click when you pressed the button. Cars did little more than move if you didn't do your part and even computers did nothing unless you manually input code lines.

Again, although not my first choice, the M50 Mk II can be viable for many years to come and it will still provide the same quality images that it does today. Same is true of the M lenses. The M series was simply a stop gap rush to market and never was expected to be long term, IMHO. Now with the success of the R series there is no good reason to continue the M line up.