Canon Rebel T3i <TV> question

Nealan · Jan 3, 2013

How come when ever I use the <tv> setting on the camera to take a shot of something fast motion it comes out extremely dark. In the light or not. I'm new to the camera and I'm in the learning process of photography.

jaomul · Jan 3, 2013

Depending on your lens a selected tv value will select an appropriate av value for the lens. If you select a fast tv speed the lens may need a value of say f2but your lens may only be able to go down to f4. You will see the values flash in your viewfinder to tell you that the exposure is unable to be properly done by your camera due lens limits. Try to increase your ISO if this is the case

j-digg · Jan 3, 2013

^ Yep.

This is why you'll hear lenses with a large maximum aperture referred to as "fast" lenses, because low f/ numbers will give you a faster shutter speed.

If you look in your viewfinder it will notify you that you have selected a shutter speed that is too fast for your lenses maximum aperture by the blinking aperture number to the left of your exposure meter, so as jaomul said you will have to increase your ISO to compensate.

Nealan · Jan 3, 2013

So your saying just try and lower the f value? I usually use 1/2000 or 1/4000 for catching say a water droplet.

How would I increase my ISO?

j-digg · Jan 3, 2013

Nealan said:
So your saying just try and lower the f value? I usually use 1/2000 or 1/4000 for catching say a water droplet.

If you're photos are coming out underexposed ( in Tv ) than that means your aperture is already as large as it can go. To get shutter speeds like that you will probably need to introduce more light to get a proper exposure. If it's water drop photos you would want to look into speedlites to help you out, but I feel that you should probably get a bit better handle of exposure in general

Google up the exposure triangle and have a 3 page single spaced essay on my desk by tomorrow morning :lmao: JK.

Counter edit: You'll have to read your manual or play around to figure that out, that's a pretty basic function

Nealan · Jan 3, 2013

j-digg said:
If you're photos are coming out underexposed ( in Tv ) than that means your aperture is already as large as it can go. To get shutter speeds like that you will probably need to introduce more light to get a proper exposure. If it's water drop photos you would want to look into speedlites to help you out, but I feel that you should probably get a bit better handle of exposure in general Google up the exposure triangle and have a 3 page single spaced essay on my desk by tomorrow morning :lmao: JK.

Counter edit: You'll have to read your manual or play around to figure that out, that's a pretty basic function

How would I go about doing that? I hit the flash button before I take the picture an they come about fine but flash shouldn't be used in tv

o hey tyler · Jan 3, 2013

Nealan said:
How would I go about doing that? I hit the flash button before I take the picture an they come about fine but flash shouldn't be used in tv

The flash on your camera can't sync at more than 1/200s. So you can't use your flash at the shutter speed you want to.

Also, why shouldn't flash be used in Tv?

Nealan · Jan 3, 2013

o hey tyler said:
The flash on your camera can't sync at more than 1/200s. So you can't use your flash at the shutter speed you want to.

Also, why shouldn't flash be used in Tv?

Sorry i ment it should be but yeah doesn't work with my speed

Kent Frost · Jan 3, 2013

Simple fix: Add light.

Your camera is trying as hard as it can with the lens you've got on it. 1/4000th of a second is barely any time for your sensor to soak in enough light for proper exposure without more light, such as sunlight.

Overread · Jan 3, 2013

First I would strongly suggest watching this tutorial a few times:

That will give you a very good introduction to flash and exposure as well as give you an insight into why you can only shoot at around 1/200sec with flash on your camera.

For the kind of photo you are trying to take, in this case water drops, I'd strongly suggest googling "waterdrop photography" because its a topic well covered in many online tutorials. As a very basic overview this area of high speed photography is often done with the flash light dominating the scene rather than natural light. This works well for certain kinds of action photography where you can put out enough light from flash to dominate the scene (that is if the flash were not used you would get a black photo because of insufficient natural light).
Because light from the flash comes out in such a fast pulse this allows it to freeze high speed action instantly.

Kent Frost · Jan 3, 2013

Overread said:
That will give you a very good introduction to flash and exposure as well as give you an insight into why you can only shoot at around 1/200sec with flash on your camera.

Yep, and don't let that shutter speed scare you. Even though the exposure is 1/200th of a second, the pop of flash itself is faster than that and will freeze your subject. So long as you don't have strong enough ambient light to be picked up by the camera's sensor, the flash should be all you need to freeze this particular subject.