Need help on Nikon D50.?

Question

Hi, I just recently bought a Nikon D50. I'm getting used to it but there are some things that I still don't understand.
Sometimes, usually in M mode...I'll try to take a picture, and it'll take the picture, but the shutter will stay closed for like 10 seconds. And then the picture would come out all white and very bad. What does this mean? Do I need to change some settings on my camera? Anyone willing to help me?

Answer 1

You are grossly overexposing your pictures. Go to page 45 and 46 in the D50 manual and read about "M" exposure. You have to learn how to read the meter properly. I do not mean to sound insulting, but this is the most likely cause. If you have chosen your shutter speed by the seat of your pants, you may have meant to use 1/10th of a second and inadvertently set it for 10 seconds. Another thing that occurs to me is that you have set the shutter correctly using the meter properly, but you may have somehow set the EV incorrectly. It should usually be set to "0" but if it is set to a plus value, you will get an overexposure. The meter reading will appear correct, but because the exposure compensation has been adjusted, the exposure will be incorrect. The D50 lets you set EV values from +5.0 to -5.0, more than all of the competitors, and this would really through things off. For instance, if the proper exposure would be 1/15 of a second, the shutter would stay open for about 4 seconds if the EV was set to +5.0. 1/8 of a second would result in an actual exposure of 8 seconds.

Answer 2

Allan M is completely correct, but I'll just add a little more.

1) In Manual mode everything is totally up to you. 1/8th of a second appears at the bottom of the viewfinder as 8. 8 seconds appears as 8". Subtle difference but completely different photo.

2) Look through your viewfinder in manual mode. On the center at the bottom is a light meter. Turn your command dial (One your right thumb is near) until the little arrow disappears in the middle. This is correct exposure.

Alan M has gone to a lot of trouble to research his answer to you, even going to the trouble of obtaining the D50 manual! It's great to see people like that here on Answers!

Answer 3

It sounds like you have your shutter speed set really slow. M mode is manual mode, which means you have to set both the aperture and shutter speed--the camera won't do it automatically. The camera is set for a slow shutter speed, which means it is keeping the shutter open for a long time and letting in too much light, resulting in an overexposed (white) picture.

Try switching to one of the automatic modes.

Answer 4

haha! Yea, i have that same problem. It means that there isn't enoungh light. This is happening when you have the flash off, right?

I don't know how to use the camera properly and I am one of those people who like to play rather than read up on it. We did buy a book. There are several different options on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_i_0/104-1590134-5531158?ie=UTF8&keywords=d50&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ad50%2Ci%3Astripbooks&page=1

Good luck.

Answer 5

go into menu and find reset
try that