EOS M50 Pics Are Too Dark

[Far-Out-Dude]

First off let me say I am not a noob at this, I understand the settings and I have read the manual. It is also doing this with all lenses and the camera was just repair by Canon not long ago and has not been used much as I had foot surgery in Sept. foot got infected and I almost lost the foot so I have not been out photographing much.

Now for some reasons lately in Manual mode my pictures are turned out very dark unless I go all the way down to 4" which is much to slow for what I am trying to shoot and it is of course causing a blurred effect. I would normally take this picture at 1200 FPS when not on a tripod but when I try to do that the picture is jet black. Settings for this are as follows.  Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens 400mm f5.6 1/200 ISO 100 No flash. I had lighting set for an overcast day. I am hoping it is just something I am forgetting because I have not been shooting much and not a problem with the lens.

Oh I put it in Aperture mode and the pictures are bright enough but it is setting ISO to 6400 every time. I have tried to reset the camera but it does not seem to be resetting as BBF is still on after I have reset the camera. I had lens brace against window of truck though not entirely steady as I could not reach the pool noodle I normally put on window and only had it on the light camera skin. Thank you for any help given.

One thing I realized I forgot to mention when I was laying in bed is if I push the shutter button halfway down everything will get brighter for just a second and then look dark again in the screen and the viewfinder.

[ebiggs1]

" I understand the settings and I have read the manual. "

First there are two places to reset the camera. I suspect you are missing the second place which clear all custom settings. I would encourage you to do that right now, first. Second, you sample is simply underexposed. Here's what we do to test whether the camera is faulty or you have set it incorrectly. Do both resets, clear all settings and then do clear all custom settings. Now set P mode. Fix ISO 200. One Shor AF and just the center focus point. Daylight WB. Large jpeg file.

Mount a fairly normal FL lens, not the 100-400mm, and set the AF/MF switch to AF. Do these instructions step by step to not miss one. Now on a nice sunny day go outside and take a few dozen shots of random subjects. A park, trees, buildings, people, whatever. If the photos come out normal there is nothing wrong with your gear. 

[Far-Out-Dude]

I know both spots you speak of, they are actually in the same spot one over the other and I tried both but I thank you for letting me know that. If I am missing another please feel free to tell me where please. I went back and double checked the manual before I replied and it showed only those two spots.

I am not quite sure I know what you mean by this line "Mount a fairly normal FL lens" My 100-400 is my only L series lens at this time. My other lenses are as follows. Canon EF-M 15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM,  Canon EF-S 18 55 macro 0.25m 0.8ft, Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens, I may be trading the 70-300 towards another lens soon. No sunny days this week but Wednesday is partly cloudy and the best day of the week as far as light goes, I will try then. I have reset everything by the way.

[ebiggs1]

" I have always been taught that when handheld or on not the best stabilizing platform to use three times the millimeter in speed to overcome handshake."

The generally accepted rule of thumb is the reciprocal of the FL as a standard starting SS. This says, for your 100-400mm zoom, if you are at 100mm then the reciprocal is 1/100 and the SS should be 1/100. And consequentially if the lens is at 400mm the reciprocal is 1/400 or 1/400 SS. Now of course with practice some folks can go well below these suggested settings and some will perhaps need to double them. I, myself, have shot my heavy Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens at well below the suggested SS and had good results. Of course OS or IS helps!

Four times FL is not a rule I have ever heard of so I have no idea where that came from.

[Far-Out-Dude]

I am pretty sure you mean Focal Length for FS but I am not sure on SS? Would you please be kind enough to let me know? Thank you. I have to go lay down for another hour before I have to go, I only got one hours rest. I will try to post results from the cell if I can, if not I will when I get home and resize them. Thanks again.

[ebiggs1]

SS = shutter speed

[kvbarkley]

Well, it is a crop factor camera, so this is one of the times that the crop factor comes into play. 2X the actual focal length would not be too far out of the ball park.

[ebiggs1]

For sure and always remember these are guidelines or starting numbers. Some of us have very different abilities and can exceed or not at these guidelines.

[Waddizzle]

“ … I am not a noob at this, I understand the settings and I have read the manual. “

We should never think we are too experienced to learn.  Your under exposure issues should easy to correct.  Shooting in low light conditions can be difficult under poor conditions.  Sometimes the shot just simply cannot be captured in the way we ant, if at all.

[Far-Out-Dude]

Oh I am far from thinking that, especially with anything that entails numbers, I have had problems with numbers my entire life. As I said though it is a very resent thing. I will try now that I have reset everything, though not having BBF is going to drive me nuts, I can't stand the old way, much to slow when shooting wildlife and so on for me with my messed up hands. lol

[Far-Out-Dude]

By the way, now that I have reset everything do I have to reload bios and all? Thanks.