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.

[deebatman316]

Are you sure that the aperture blades aren't jammed in your lens or sticking. I once had a lens that the aperture would stay at F/16 even after the picture was taken. Normally the lens is wide open until the picture is taken. I would also check Exposure Compensation. Are you sure it isn't dialed in or Auto ISO isn't set to a limited range in the camera menu if Auto ISO is set. When you say 1200 fps do you mean a shutter speed of 1/1200th.

[Far-Out-Dude]

I have had the problem with more than one lens, I am sure the problem is with me now. Yes 1/1200 I am messing up everything tonight,  sorry about that. No, not on auto ISO I try to run as close to 100 as possible. Only time auto mode is on when in silent mode.

[Waddizzle]

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@Far-Out-Dude wrote:

Program AE as I was asked above. So not I have to figure out what to use for shooting game, I have always set to 1200FPS but for some reason lately that is so dark unless I turn the ISO up so high the picture is ruined by static, I never had that problem before which is why I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong all of a sudden. Now here comes my number problems so please forgive me, it order to get a brighter shot I have to turn it down to either 4 or 4" (Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens) but then it is much to slow for shooting wildlife, even my friends kid was blurry the other day, (18-55mm Lens) I do not know what I am doing wrong all of a sudden when I was having no issues before. I know my injuries and everything going on with my GF have kept me from shooting but I can't believe I am messing up that badly because of ring rust.

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Try switching the camera into fully automatic mode.  Use the Green[A+] setting on the top dial.  This setting should take all of your exposure settings off the table.  It should be a good test of the camera’s  basic functionality.

If you have any filters on your lens, then please remove it for this test.  You need to learn how to understand exposure settings and its nomenclature. I am still getting the impression that you are flying blind. 

The Exposure Trainagle - Adorama TV 

The first time I watched a video on this topic I wound up rewatching it at least once a week for the next month.

[Far-Out-Dude]

Bud I have been shooting manual for over 2 years now, normally I do not have problems, it is a recent thing. I do as I said have some problems not because I have not read about the exposure triangle but because I have problems with numbers and have all my life, I simply can't keep them straight, I have messed up my finances on more than one occasion because of my problem with numbers. I can read or watch videos a million times, it is retaining it that is the problem. I know it is something I am doing wrong, I just can't figure out why all of a sudden. I will watch the video though since you were kind enough to post it.

[Far-Out-Dude]

Sorry if that came off wrong, was not meant to seem hostile but I can see how it could have been taken that way now that I am rereading it.

[Waddizzle]

No offense taken. 

Have you recently changed some camera setting?  I have found shooting in M mode to be an easy way to capture action photos. I can control ShutterSpeed and aperture Value. It reminds me of using film. 

Capturing photos this way with a digital camera.  It is like changing out the film without wasting the remaining shots on a roll of film, and then putting the half used roll back into the camera.  

[Far-Out-Dude]

Going to, I recently got in a old Kodak retina C try to help me with paying better attention to my settings. I just got some film in for it and I'm looking forward to practicing with it to help teach me. It had to be me the more I am looking at it.

[ebiggs1]

"It had to be me the more I am looking at it."

I agree so now you can fix it. If, like you say, you have problems with numbers, P mode is your friend. And fully 80% of all shots are P mode anyway.

[Far-Out-Dude]

Does not work well with my wildlife shots though, most of the presets don't, they tend to add a lot of noise, that is one of the reasons I started to shoot manual, silent mode had so much noise it was disgusting.

[ebiggs1]

Noise if caused by high ISO. It is not a product of P mode. If you set your ISO at a reasonably tolerable number there will not be any appreciable noise. If you are using a setting like Auto ISO and you have not set an upper limit, that can lead to noise. Most of the time a camera does exactly what you tell it to.