EOS R10: Pictures coming out dark

[Avinash1]

I think a pressed the wrong button in error and now when I try taking a picture everything looks darker. When I click on the button to take the picture, the object that I'm looking at gets brighter momentarily and then it goes back darker. It only gets brighter when my finger presses down on the button to take the picture. The picture itself is darker than it should be. The camera was working just fine before and now this. I'm not sure what I pressed wrong or how to undo it. 

[Avinash1]

The needle was at 0

[deebatman316 · Accepted solution]

Program (P) Mode sets the exposure AUTOMATICALLY. Manual (M) Mode you must set the ISO, Aperture & Shutter speed MANUALLY. This is why your pictures are coming out dark. The settings aren't correct for the ambient lighting you're in. Your "Fully Lit" room is more than likely dark especially if you're inside. Take the setting that you have in Program (P) Mode. Then you use those exact same settings in Manual (M) Mode. The picture should be correctly exposed. Underexposed means the picture is too dark. Overexposed means the pictures is too bright. What lens are you currently using? Please provide the FULL NAME of the lens in question. Below are example pictures of where you find the complete names of pictures.

Here is a picture of an example picture of a lens. This may NOT be your exact lens. So please provide the full name of yours.

[Avinash1]

I did what you said, I changed the shutter speed to 1/15 and it worked on M. I'm using a RF-18-45MM F4.5-6.3 IS STM now. But earlier when I was outside I was using the RF/800mm STM(N). It was working well with the M all the time and then I don't know what I did and when I looked through the lens everything lookde dark and then the pictures looked dark. How did changing the shutter speed to 1/15 cause the M to work? 

[deebatman316]

In Manual Mode you must adjust your settings based on the light meter. When you changed the shutter speed from 1/640th of a sec to 1/15th of a sec. You allowed the camera more time to expose the image sensor to more light. 1/15th of sec is a longer shutter speed than 1/640th of a sec that's why the picture was exposed correctly. For instance photographers can adjust the shutter speed to show or not to show movement. For instance a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a sec will freeze a waterfall. But at 1/8th of a sec the waterfall will look smooth and silky. Depending on the ambient lighting levels the shutter speed required will be different. The darker it is the longer the speed is needed for a correct exposure. The brighter it is the shorter the speed is needed for a correct exposure. If you want to use M (Manual) Mode I highly recommend watching a video on the exposure triangle. So you can learn how to properly expose pictures. Now Aperture is how big or small the opening (or iris) of the lens is open. A wide open Aperture such as F/1.8 has lots of bokeh (background blur). A small Aperture of F/22 won't have bokeh (background blur) everything in the picture will be in focus. ISO is the camera's light sensitivity. Outdoors on a bright day you would use ISO 100 which produces very clean images. In dim lightning ISO 6400 would be used to account for the lower light level. Note the higher the ISO level the higher the noise or grain in the picture. If you adjust one setting one of the other settings will have to be adjusted to compensate for it.

EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM @155mm, Av: 22, Tv: 1/125th, ISO: 10,000Gear: EOS 40D, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM Settings: Tv 1/1000th sec, AV F/1.8, ISO 100

[stevet1]

Avinash1,

You wrote, "How did changing the shutter speed to 1/15 cause the M to work?"

It's not that changing your shutter speed to 1/15th made it work, it's just a matter of using the Eexposure triangle. As the shutter speed goes up, or goes faster, the aperture has to go down, or get wider to let in more light. In an earlier post, you said that you had used a shutter speed of 1/640 of a second with an aperturre of f/11.

f/11 is a pretty small hole for light to get in, so you have to compensate for that by slowing down your shutter speed to allow that small available light to be exposed for a longer period of time. It's a balancing act.

If you are shooting indoors, there's not a lot of light available for the camera to work with, and 1/640th's of a second happens in the blink of an eye. That's not a lot of time for the camera to gather the light it needs, and your pictures wind up dark.

If you are trying to isolate a subject like a person, or an object, might I suggest that you first drop your aperture to f5.6 (or lower if your lens allows), then adjust your shutter speed until your meter rests on zero. For lower light situations, put your ISO on Auto. You will probably find that the camera chooses an ISO of 3200, or in your case, 6400.

If you find that your shutter has dropped slower than 1/30th or 1/60th, you might consider using a tripod to avoid camera shake and a blurry picture.

[Avinash1]

What could have caused the pictures to get dark off of a sudden when I was using the camera? It was working fine on M and then I suddenly had the problem? I usually use the 800mm lens to photograph birds, the birds sometimes are still, move quickly or fly away. Which mode is best for taking pictures of them?  I usually used 1/640, an ISO of about 1600 and I didn't really interfere with the aperture. I don't know if the aperture was changing automatically. So leave the mode of P for taking pictures of moving birds? 

[deebatman316]

The RF 800mm F/11 IS STM lens has a small aperture and requires a longer shutter speeds or higher ISO to correctly expose the pictures. This lens is unique in the fact that the lens has a fixed F/11 aperture and cannot be changed. Typically lenses don't have a fixed aperture and can be adjusted. Your other lens is what's called a variable aperture lens F/4.5-6.3 is not a constant aperture such as F/4. Meaning the more you zoom in the less light enters the camera requiring a higher shutter speed. A constant aperture of F/4 means that throughout the entire focal range F/4 will always be wide open. In Manual (M) mode the camera doesn't control Aperture, ISO or Shutter Speed you do. The camera will control ISO if it is set to Auto ISO. For your initial question on why your pictures were coming out dark. Your exposure settings were incorrect causing an underexposure. You must adjust your settings based on the lighting that you have when the camera is set to M (Manual) Mode. If the camera is set to Av (Aperture Priority) or Tv (Shutter Priority) modes. These modes are called Semi Automatic modes. The reason they're called this is because you select an aperture or shutter speed. Then the camera sets the opposite of which mode you're in. IE in Av (Aperture Priority) you set the Aperture and then the camera sets the shutter speed. In Tv (Shutter Priority) you set the shutter speed then the camera sets the Aperture. In these modes you can manually set ISO or the camera can set it if set to Auto ISO. P (Program) Mode unlocks many settings not available in Full Auto Mode. In P (Program) Mode only the exposure is automatic. The ISO can be set by you or set to Auto ISO. Usually for birds Tv (Shutter Priority) mode is used for BIF (Birds In Flight). For the most part you won't need to shoot in M (Manual) Mode unless you need to set specific settings. For my type of work. I have to maintain a specific amount of depth of field so I use Av (Aperture Priority) Mode. I still recommend that you learn your camera's controls and also learn the exposure triangle. I don't recommend beginners start out with M (Manual) Mode if you're just starting out.