Canon Shutter speed dilemma?

Question

I just bought a new camera and in the daylight im fine. In low light esp with movement, its a disaster. However tonight im in a very well lit room, one i just took pics in yest., and im having problems. When i put my cam in Shutter speed mode to play around iwth movement, it keeps me at 1/4 or the apeture number starts blinking. And on that setting movement is blurred. When i raise the speed, the pic turns out too dark. When i raise the apeture I hve a long shutter delay. I put it on 1600 and it allows the sht speed to be 1/30. When i go in apeture mode which is where i usually stay, it will let me do 1/30 with 4.0 ap before the speed starts blinking. When i raise the ap theres alot of movement. If i use flash in shut speed mode it will let me raise it to 1/50 before it starts blinking my apeture. I dont understand. Whats going on. Why do i have such limited numbers in a very well lit room or not be able to stop movement. Hope i wrote everything correct so u can understand the problem.

Well im not really having camera shake problems. The pic is clear, just the part that is moving is not. For example the ceiling fan. It just won't let me adjust the numbers properly. And the room is very bright.

Answer 1

As someone mentioned, a room does appear much brighter to the human eye then it does to your camera.

That being said, it sounds like something is wrong with what your experiencing. I question the fact that you can only get 1/50 when using a flash, that does NOT sound right - something is wrong.

I think you need to get this camera checked out.

There is either something wrong with the camera, or you have some setting way off. Try resetting the camera to it's factory defaults first. You should find instructions in your manual that tell you how to do this. Then take some test shots and see if that doesn't fix the problem.

Second - download the latest firmware for your camera. It's not uncommon for firmware to have a bug, and a new version will fix it. Again refer to your manual for the how-to for this. You basically go to the Canon website, look for the latest firmware for your camera, and compare it to the version in your camera. It's not unusual that a Brand New camera does NOT have the latest firmware.

If this is a dSLR, it could also be your lens. Are you using a very slow lens? The longer the focal length and the slower the lens, the less light gets into the camera, thus you will have slower shutter speeds. This is especially true if you are using a tele-converter (not recommended for inside use - generally speaking). You don't have any filters on the camera - do you?

Sometimes Non-Canon lenses can cause problems as well, especially if it's a budget lens. While they will basically work, none are truly 100% compatible, you will often find some quirk.

These are the things that come to mind to check.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

A room that appears well-lit to the human eye/brain doesn't look the same to your camera. The brain compensates for the light, as does the eye. Correct exposure depends on the interaction of light, ISO,f-stop and shutter speed. In low light you need a large f-stop (f1.4, f1.7, f2) and a high ISO (1600, 3200) to have a shutter speed fast enough to overcome camera shake. To use a slow shutter speed like 1/30 sec. you need a tripod.

Answer 3

To shoot in very low light, you'll need a lens with a larger aperture. Larger apertures (smaller number) let in more light which lets you use a faster shutter speed. However, these lenses are more expensive.

Using a tripod will eliminate blur due to camera shake.

Answer 4

Your camera has a range of shutter speeds and a range of apertures it can use. When it's too dark, it warns you by blinking either the shutter speed or aperture indicator.

- Try using a higher ISO.

- Avoid zooming, so the camera can use the widest possible aperture, probably f2.8 on your digicam.