400D Shutter Speed

Hi everyone,

just purchased an eos 400d and trying out the settings. I am using the Tv mode (Time value) and changed the shutter speed to 1/2000 iso 400 but my images come out black.

Any ideas as to why this is? All other modes work for just this one is giving me problems

TIA

Mikey

Don't you want to adjust light for the given EV by boosting up the ISO?

Sounds like some serious underexposure. Try using Av mode, open the aperture wide, and see what the camera sets the shutter speed at. You may need to increase your ISO or choose a more brightly lit subject.

Try using M mode. You may want to adjust the ISO and the Aperture. Also it depends what you're shooting at with 1/2000. If you're outside or indoors. It really depends. Try to lower that number a bit.

Tv means shutter priority, meaning you set the shutter and the camera attempts to adjust the aperture enough to properly expose the image.

Faster shutter speed makes pictures darker because the sensor is exposed to light for a shorter period of time. 1/2000 sec will capture 1/2 as much light as 1/1000 sec, 1/4 as much light as 1/500 sec, 1/8 as much light as 1/250 sec, etc. etc. If your image is too dark, One solution is to lower the shutter speed.

The aperture (f/2.8, f/3.5, f/11, etc.) adjusts the amount of light reaching the sensor during the shutter exposure period. The smaller the aperture, the higher the number. If your image is too dark, another solution is to open up the aperture (reduce the number).

ISO increases light sensitivity of the sensor, and the multiplication factor is equal to the numbers you see. If you use ISO100 as the base in percent (100%), ISO1600 is 1600% the sensitivity of ISO100. This is the third solution.

The fourth, last, and most important solution: If the lens cap is on, take it off.

If you are getting dark images in Tv, your shutter speed may be so high that your aperture is as wide as it can go and is still not able to gather light fast enough to accommodate the shutter speed. Alternately, your exposure compensation may be set at a very low point (in negative numbers), causing the aperture to be "satisfied" that it is allowing enough light in, and thus keeping it from opening any further to brighten up the exposure.

Simplest experiement:

Place the camera in Av mode and open up the lens as far as it will go (smallest number, probably f/4 to f/5.6). Point camera at a subject and read the shutter speed.

Now, if that speed was some lowish number (say 1/250) and you go to 1/2000 you will have asked the camera to take a shot three stops faster. The problem is, your lens is already wide open so there are not three more stops of light to be had.

My supposition is that in the original case your lens was wide open and you told the camera to underexpose a ton with that 1/2000 setting. Either that or you had the lens cap on.

When you half depress the shutter and look through the viewvinder, is one of the numbers flashing? If it is the aperture reading (which I suspect it is), this means the camera cannot get a correct exposure with the lens fully open - hence the picture will be dark and underexposed.

Get more light into whatever it is you are photographing, try using a flash, or increase the ISO setting to help compensate if it is the above.

racingsafetyman wrote in post #4201622
Get more light into whatever it is you are photographing, try using a flash, or increase the ISO setting to help compensate if it is the above.

Or reduce the shutter speed. (what are you taking that needs a shutter speed of 1/2000th)

As rsm says, it's a good bet the aperture setting will be flashing in the viewfinder as the lens just can't open up enough to correctly expose given the available light.

Lens cap is definately off. lol

I am just mucking about with the camera trying the settings to see what happens.

I can get the flash on at shutter speed of 1/200 but higher than that it does work. Could it be you need a lot of light for very high shutter speeds?

Thanks for all the help guys.

mikeyjm26 wrote in post #4202265
Lens cap is definately off. lol

I am just mucking about with the camera trying the settings to see what happens.

I can get the flash on at shutter speed of 1/200 but higher than that it does work. Could it be you need a lot of light for very high shutter speeds?

Thanks for all the help guys.

That means that the "synch speed" for your flash/camera combo is 1/200s, which you could consider as your hightest "normal", walk-around setting because it will freeze normal movement with a subject and the flash will operate at full power.

If you require a faster shutter speed, you need an external flash with a High-synch (FP) flash mode that you set -- read your flash documentation. Then, in either Tv or M you can change to a higher flash speed. Note that the flash's power/reach will be less, and the background will be darker, but for close, fast-moving subjects that's the approach you would take.

Hope this helps,

Tony

Might I suggest you read Understand Exposure, by Bryan Peterson? It's an excellent book, and will answer all your questions!