topic Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Help!! EOS 5D Mark IV manual mode not working, black screen

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:21:01 GMT

Hi! I need help. No matter what I do for manual mode on my mark iv 5D it won’t work at all. Please help me. I’m trying to capture more movement with a higher shutter speed to catch toddlers running, flinging snow or glitter, tball etc. any time I use manual, no matter what, my photo is black. Why? Here’s for reference of what I took a picture of, my settings, & what it turned out like on my camera. It literally looks like my screen is off. But if I switch to auto it takes it perfectly. But you can’t have high shutter speed on auto.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

deebatman316 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 01:39:58 GMT

Your aperture and shutter speed are NOT correct causing underexposed pictures. Why 1/8000th sec & F/11? F/11 is a dark aperture for indoor shooting. Then 1/8000th sec is too fast of a shutter speed for indoor shooting.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

stevet1 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 02:46:14 GMT

Shamaegan,

Demetrius is right. Your settings are virtually opposite of where you want to be and will result in black pictures, and/or a black screen.

Try this. Put your camera in TV, or shutter priority mode. Pick a shutter speed from 1/400 to 1/800, or so and Auto ISO.

The camera will choose an aperture for you. I doubt it will be f/11.

Steve Thomas

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

kvbarkley — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 02:47:21 GMT

Use the tv mode and 1/500 second. That will stop action and still get a good exposure.

to expose correctly in manual, you have to use the meter in the viewfinder.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 02:57:39 GMT

I’ve tried lower it. It won’t let me? And I’m not sure why? Let me try to post a video.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 02:59:45 GMT

even when I lower it to as low as it will go it won’t change the photo.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

deebatman316 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:06:35 GMT

You have your shutter speed restricted by high and low limits. You can go into the camera menu and disable this. It’s located in the Custom Function menu. In fact you can reset custom functions back to factory default. Without restoring the whole camera to factory default. Canon provides free online manuals for all of their cameras on their website.

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:04:22 GMT

Not the case unfortunately. Here’s the video. It’s the same idk why

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:05:21 GMT

Same problem as manual

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:11:32 GMT

I actually reset the entire camera to factory because I couldn’t get it to work. So I’ll try to find more info on this since the factory reset didn’t work in my favor

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

kvbarkley — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:18:59 GMT

You don't want to reset the general camera settings, but the custom function:

Re: Help!! EOS 5D Mark IV manual mode not working, black screen

March411 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:30:07 GMT

Shamaega, welcome to the community.

You've received some excellent feedback from our members regarding the reason your images are black. I used the 5D Mk IV for many years and with some education and practice I can guarantee you it will produce beautiful images. The settings used in manual caused the images to be dark.

First I would suggest downloading and reviewing the manual, click the link below for the downloadable PDF for the 5D Mk IV.

https://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/0/0300024970/09/eos5d-mk4-im10-en.pdf

This is a link to the 5D Mk IV guide: https://www.eos-magazine.com/ebook-previews/Beginners-guide-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-IV-preview.pdf

I would suggest reviewing page 7. This will explain how to place the camera into auto-mode. Take some pictures in this mode and then review the same information on you LCD for the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture the camera used to capture the image. This will give you a starting point in the learning process. Additionally I would use this same process in different environments, outdoors, early mornings and evening and different indoor environments. Doing this will allow you how to differentiate how to set up the camera when shooting manual.

This video is a bit long but I believe it will really assist you in perfecting how you use your camera.

THIS IMAGE CAME OFF MY 5D Mk IV on an overcast day. I shot in manual, these were the settings: f6.3 @ 1/1000sec - ISO 1000

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

stevet1 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:22:35 GMT

Shamaegan,

Is your camera always choosing f/11, no matter what you do or what kind of environment you are shooting in?

Steve Thomas

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:22:31 GMT

Thank you very much! And yes ! I’m grateful for their feedback!

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

deebatman316 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:25:52 GMT

A regular factory reset doesn’t work for Custom Functions. Those must be cleared from the Custom Functions menu. Check page 481 of the manual to reset the camera’s Custom Functions. This will bring everything back to default EXCEPT CF 3. Is this camera new to you by any chance? EOS 5D Mark IV Manual

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

Shamaegan — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 04:00:01 GMT

Yes in manual and TV. I will try outside tomorrow and see if it helps!

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

stevet1 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 06:34:55 GMT

Shamaegan,

Based on your picture, 1/500 and f/11 is still going to give you a dark picture indoors. I don't think even an ISO of 3200 is going to help.

I'm just not sure why the camera chose f/11 for the aperture. Maybe it's got something to with the AI Focus setting. That's a kind of hybrid focus setting.

I'd try One Shot or AI Servo myself. See if it makes any difference.

Steve Thomas

Re: Help!! Cannon mark iv 5D manual mode

deebatman316 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:58:23 GMT

The OP was using ISO 32,000 not ISO 3,200. And yes the camera can go even higher all the way up to ISO 102,400.