Help with Powershot S5 IS

[blaza1141]

so i'm trying to set the exposure time longer on my camera to photograph clouds moving or traffic moving, ect. however, when i make the shutter speed longer, the apature won't go to the right ?number? as in, the camera always says +2 and is way too bright. how do i get it right? (not sure if any of that made sense :p)

[dan_bgblue]

It sounds like you are shooting in one of the program modes. To do what you want, you will have to switch to manual and set the f-stop and iso yourself, along with the shutter speed. If you are not used to manual functions it will take some practice to get the settings you need to have a shot come out like you want it to.

[blaza1141]

i put it in manual mode and thats when it's too bright. TV or AV won't make the shutter speed long enough, but in manual mode no matter the shutter speed, if it's longer than like 1/200 or somthing, it's all white.

[Sarah in VA]

It sounds as if you've accidentally set your Exposure Compensation. When you're in TV, AV or even P mode, pressing upward on the Omni selector will let you set Exposure Compensation. You set it to + or = in 1/3 increments, from -2 to +2. When this is set, you will see this on the LCD or in the Viewfinder. Try this and see if it solves your "too white" problem.

[Jon]

What it's showing you is that your aperture needs to be changed to a smaller one as you increase the shutter time. If, for instance, you're at f/4 and 1/60 sec., but change the shutter speed to 1/15 sec., you need an aperture of f/11 to keep a correct exposure. If you don't change the aperture then, you'll see a white "+2". If you slow down the shutter speed to 1/8 (3 stops slower) and don't change the aperture (to f/16, which IIRC the S5 doesn't have) you'll see a red "+2" since you're more than 2 stops over.

I'm afraid that if you want daylight shots with shutter speeds slower than 1/60 at your slowest ISO speed you will need a neutral density filter of 4-6 stops.

[blaza1141]

okay thanks guys :) and btw, on this model the aperture won't go below f/2 i believe, and won't go above f/8. so i can't change it to f/11 or anything. but hopefully these ideas will work. thanks again :D