Manual Setting Olympus E510

nieschu · May 24, 2008

This is probably the most stupid question you have ever heard. But I just tried out the manual function for the first time, after doing some shoots in A, P and S and when I have the camera set on M everything is black. If I try to shoot a picture it is also black. Now, this is my first DSL and maybe thats how it supposed to look like, but I am just very confused. Can someone please help me out? Sorry again for the stupid question.

*Mike* · May 24, 2008

When you're taking those shots in Manual, what settings are you using? Is the camera meter telling you that you've got a good exposure? It could be as simple as a dramatically underexposed image...

lockwood81 · May 24, 2008

I shoot an Olympus e-510 and haven't run across that problem, as long as you look at the meter on the back when setting up your shot it should be fine...I agree with *Mike*, maybe it is underexposed (very underexposed)

I just tried it and to get that kind of underexposure I had to shoot at 1,600 shutter speed with f/22 (or leave my lens cap on)

nieschu · May 24, 2008

lockwood81 said:
I shoot an Olympus e-510 and haven't run across that problem, as long as you look at the meter on the back when setting up your shot it should be fine...I agree with *Mike*, maybe it is underexposed (very underexposed)

I just tried it and to get that kind of underexposure I had to shoot at 1,600 shutter speed with f/22 (or leave my lens cap on)

I honestly have no idea.

It says in yellow 1/4000 than F22 and something is blinking with -5.0 I tried to change the 1/4000 around and the F22 but it does not change anything on the black image. what else do i have to change? Thank you guys!

bahandi · May 25, 2008

if you are able to... first set the mode to P... see what the camera says the 'best' settings would be for the situation. go back to manual and adjust accordingly.

1/4000 is a relatively fast shutter speed and f22 is a very small aperture opening. In other words, very little light will hit the 'film' with those settings

lockwood81 · May 25, 2008

nieschu said:
I honestly have no idea. It says in yellow 1/4000 than F22 and something is blinking with -5.0 I tried to change the 1/4000 around and the F22 but it does not change anything on the black image. what else do i have to change? Thank you guys!

1/4000 is as fast as your shutter will go. Since it is yellow that means it can be changed, turn the wheel (the one with no writing on it) clockwise and you will see the number drop.

F/22 is as closed as your aperture will go. Press and hold down the exposure button, it is just behind the shutter button, this should turn the aperture yellow and can be changed with the same wheel, turning it clockwise.

PM me anytime with any questions you might have.

Have fun shooting.

nieschu · May 26, 2008

lockwood81 said:
1/4000 is as fast as your shutter will go. Since it is yellow that means it can be changed, turn the wheel (the one with no writing on it) clockwise and you will see the number drop.

F/22 is as closed as your aperture will go. Press and hold down the exposure button, it is just behind the shutter button, this should turn the aperture yellow and can be changed with the same wheel, turning it clockwise.

PM me anytime with any questions you might have.

Have fun shooting.

thank you so much for your kind reply! I actually figured it out just before I read your answer. So thank you very much. I realy need to learn more about all that stuff to understand what it means. Thank you so much agian for taking the time to reply!

Actually I have one more question. I was shooting an event yesterday and two times my camera just froze. It didnt do anything anymore, I tried to shut it off and then back on, then it recovered but it took quite a while and I lost some nice picture opportunities. Then a little later I had to switch the memory card and the camera was fine until a little while later when it suddenly said it cant recognize the memory card. Then it went away and after an hour it came back on, ruining the "cutting of the cake" moment. I just recently purchased that camera so I am a little upset, did that ever happen to someone?

elemental · May 26, 2008

nieschu said:
thank you so much for your kind reply! I actually figured it out just before I read your answer. So thank you very much. I realy need to learn more about all that stuff to understand what it means. Thank you so much agian for taking the time to reply!

Actually I have one more question. I was shooting an event yesterday and two times my camera just froze. It didnt do anything anymore, I tried to shut it off and then back on, then it recovered but it took quite a while and I lost some nice picture opportunities. Then a little later I had to switch the memory card and the camera was fine until a little while later when it suddenly said it cant recognize the memory card. Then it went away and after an hour it came back on, ruining the "cutting of the cake" moment. I just recently purchased that camera so I am a little upset, did that ever happen to someone?

This has never happened to me, but if it were to on a brand new camera I would be on my way back to the store. That should not happen on a just-recently-purchased camera, and you shouldn't put up with it.

djrichie28 · May 26, 2008

The "-5" is your meter telling you that the exposure settings are gonna give you an underexposed image. (Black picture) Sounds like your meter works great.

I used to shoot with an E-500 and I am guessing that they are going to be somewhat similar as far as controls go. In manual mode, the wheel on the top near the back is going to adjust the shutter, and if you hold the button that shows +/- on it while rotating the wheel, it should adjust the aperture. That is of course if it operates similar to the E-500.

You want that yellow -5 to get to 0. -5 means under exposed, so you need to expose your sensor more, by lengthening your shutter time and/or opening the aperture.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck

lockwood81 · May 26, 2008

nieschu said:
thank you so much for your kind reply! I actually figured it out just before I read your answer. So thank you very much. I realy need to learn more about all that stuff to understand what it means. Thank you so much agian for taking the time to reply!

Actually I have one more question. I was shooting an event yesterday and two times my camera just froze. It didnt do anything anymore, I tried to shut it off and then back on, then it recovered but it took quite a while and I lost some nice picture opportunities. Then a little later I had to switch the memory card and the camera was fine until a little while later when it suddenly said it cant recognize the memory card. Then it went away and after an hour it came back on, ruining the "cutting of the cake" moment. I just recently purchased that camera so I am a little upset, did that ever happen to someone?

I've never had the happen or heard of it happening and it shouldn't happen.

Atreus · May 26, 2008

lens cap is off right?

glad you got it worked out.

djrichie28 · May 26, 2008

Have you formatted the card using the camera?

ksm · May 27, 2008

I have a E-510 also.

When you say it "froze", how long? Was there a red light blinking towards the upper right on the backand did it happen right after you took a photo? That light (which sometimes your thumb ends up being right over it depending on how you hold the camera) shows that the photo is being written to the card. There are a couple of ways where the camera takes a few seconds to write on the card.

a) you have a very slow card (what kind of card are you using?)
b) you shot in burst mode + RAW and the buffer memory got full
c) the worse lag you: shot in burst mode + RAW + a slow card. This last scenario can wreak havoc. The buffer memory fills up and the slow card takes a while to get written on. If you take a look that red light should blink fast onall three occasions until the card is done writing. The camera will prevent you from taking more photos. Make sureif it happens again that you look for that light.

If you are shooting with an xd card check to see which kind you are using (brand and designation) There are three types. Regular (which I doubt you are using because I think they only go upto 512MB, type H and type M with type H being the fastest. You will get some lag on the type M especially in above scenarios.

Same goes with Compact Flash and microdrive. Check to see the type of those cards that you have also.

Hope this helps and that this is your situationsince it is fixable rather than a mechanical failure.

nieschu · May 27, 2008

djrichie28 said:
Have you formatted the card using the camera?

No not that I know of, how do you do that?

nieschu · May 27, 2008

elemental said:
This has never happened to me, but if it were to on a brand new camera I would be on my way back to the store. That should not happen on a just-recently-purchased camera, and you shouldn't put up with it.

I got it on Amazon, I will see if it came with a warranty I know I didnt buy the additional one...