Need help with basic settings for 60D

[omar]

I've been testing my 60D on manual mode
I don't seem to be able to get a good picture
The picture is always dark - I'm just testing from my bedroom - I'm using the standard 18 - 55mm lens

I've tried increasing the ISO to max (even though I read somewhere that you should go beyond 1600 - is that correct?). I've increased and decreased the aperture to both ends of the spectrum. I've changed the shutter speed from 1/50 to as fast as it will go. I've tried changing the AWB to be auto and also tungsten light

I've also tried to change the exposure setting. When I turn the wheel, I get 2 vertical lines both going in opposite directions

I've tried in Av mode just to test. Same again

The thing is, I also have a Canon 1100D. When I took pics with that, they came out fine. The light of the picture was spot on. BUT... the lens I used was a 50mm F1.8 - where I made the aperture 1.8 or 2.0

If I use auto, the flash pops up and takes a pic - but the colour just isn't right

Where am I going wrong??

Thanks in advance


Omar

 

[Don Haines]

Reset the 60D to factory settings.

Take a shot with the 1100D, then set the 60D to the same ISO, aperture, and shutter speed as the 1100D and see what happens....

 

[jdramirez]

you don't have enough light in your bedroom. get a tripod, set it to av and iso 100. provided you exposure is set in the middle, the resulting imagel you how long the shutter time should be.

keep in mind that at f1.8, tit are getting for to fives times as much light going through to the sensor.

then change the iso to Max 6400, and auto iso and again with aperture priority. shoot and what it will do is use 6400 and the same aperture and your shuttrrspeed will be vastly different.

understand the light and you will understand photography.

 

[jdramirez]

set the camera on a desk or a dresser if you don't have a tripod.

also with awb, leave it alone for now. the camera will do a better job of setting white balance for now than you will. eventually setting wb will be easy but start at the first step.

 

[omar]

guys, thanks for the replies (i didn't know that i got replies to my question)

i put my 50mm F1.8 lens on
same problem
i tried taking pics outside in sunlight
really dark pics - the exposure stays to the left - doesn't matter what other settings are

Av - fine, no problems. i can take really nice pics that are very close to true colour from what i can see

factory reset - yes... i can do
but surely there must only be a finite amount of settings requiring changing?

 

[martinmm]

You're having problems with exposure compensation. The two bars moving in opposite directions is exposure bracketing. There should be another control for exposure compensation. Also, you may want to turn off bracketing for the time being by merging the two bars back together.

 

[jdramirez]

Yeah, I agree, reset to factory setting and take a picture. It should come out normal. Maybe you flipped something that is affecting it.

 

[ishdakuteb]

You're having problems with exposure compensation. The two bars moving in opposite directions is exposure bracketing. There should be another control for exposure compensation. Also, you may want to turn off bracketing for the time being by merging the two bars back together.

+1... sound like this is the problem if op was using av mode or tv mode but this is not the case. he was using manual mode.

try this with manual mode if op still want to use that mode... careless about violating shutter as blurry image since this is just a test. point entire frame to a blank white piece of paper (white piece of paper must be full expose to light, not under op's table or bed LOL), change the meter until +2. exposure is now set. op can now try to take an image anywhere in his room as long as it has kinda same lighting condition (not under the table or, under a bed, or even at a light). try to take a test image and let us know what happen.

note: do not move frame out of white piece of paper during the time of changing the meter, yet op's shadow should not be included in the white piece of paper.