Canon M50 long exposure

My 70d is "in the shop" and I must use my M50 for a long exposure event. I can't find a tutorial on how to set the camera up for this. Has anyone done this?

Exposure in photography is all about controlling the amount of light that hits the film or sensor plane. So in this respect, long exposure is not really any different with digital than it is with film, except with digital you don't have to deal with a problem that crops up with film: reciprocity failure. Which means you don't have to deal with this fudge factor in your exposure calculations.

 

I have a couple of old Gossen Luna Pro handheld meters -- not the real old ones that take the obsolete mercury battery, but the later ones that take the 9v battery. Mine are the SBC and F models. One of the cool things about these Gossens is their low light sensitivity, which means you can actually meter scenes with very little natural light. These days, the SBC and F, once fairly expensive meters, can be picked up in clean used condition for very reasonable sums. There are probably other meters that were contemporary to these meters -- or perhaps later ones? -- that are just as good and may not cost any more. Like the Sekonic or Minolta meters. At any rate, I'm thinking that, if you're gonna be doing a fair amount of low light photography, where the light level is too dim for your camera to meter, then you might want to give one of these handhelds a try.

 

Also, I'm thinking you might just want to set the camera to Aperture-priority auto and let it rip. Some cameras have the ability to evaluate the amount of light that hits the film or sensor plane and once the correct amount has hit, the shutter closes. I have no idea if the M50 will do this, but you might just give it a try and see what happens.

 

Let us know how things work out for you.

What is the longest shutter speed you can set in manual mode?

It looks like 30 seconds is it -- but it does have a "B" setting. If set to Aperture Priority AE, the shutter speeds may be longer.

Not sure what you mean. If you put it on A, add a dark ND filter and stop down you will get a long exposure automatically, or do you mean some kind of time lapse photo?

I confess I hadn't realised the camera had 'B', and now I want to try it out. The only problem I can see with 'B' is the need to hold down the button. A 'T' setting would be better (so you press once to start exposing, and again to stop); the vibrations at the start and end would probably be insignificant relative to the long still period between. I suppose there's a remote release available; you can certainly control the camera from a PC via wifi; and I expect from your phone with Bluetooth (but not from mine!)

My 70d is "in the shop" and I must use my M50 for a long exposure event. I can't find a tutorial on how to set the camera up for this. Has anyone done this?

 

I use the B - 'bulb mode' which lets you select the exposure for the older Canon M5 mirrorless

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Edited August 4, 2019 by brett_w.

I confess I hadn't realised the camera had 'B', and now I want to try it out. The only problem I can see with 'B' is the need to hold down the button. A 'T' setting would be better (so you press once to start exposing, and again to stop); the vibrations at the start and end would probably be insignificant relative to the long still period between. I suppose there's a remote release available; you can certainly control the camera from a PC via wifi; and I expect from your phone with Bluetooth (but not from mine!)

 

Yes, I'm sure Canon makes an accessory release for the M50 (and others). It will be either an electronic release that plugs into the camera or one that uses wireless connectivity to communicate. There will be situations when neither a computer nor a phone will be as convenient.

Yes, I'm sure Canon makes an accessory release for the M50 (and others). It will be either an electronic release that plugs into the camera or one that uses wireless connectivity to communicate. There will be situations when neither a computer nor a phone will be as convenient.

 

bulb mode is in the camera, like all the Canon EOS cameras

 

google "bulb mode canon M50"

bulb mode is in the camera, like all the Canon EOS cameras

Yes, but Bulb mode isn't T (time exposure) mode and entails tediously holding the shutter button down for the length of the exposure.

 

I think what Dustin and mwmcbroom were saying was: There are remotes available that turn the B setting into a T setting. I had one for my 5D, and holding the remote button down for more than 2 seconds enabled 'T' mode, whereby the remote would activate the camera's shutter until the release (on the remote) was pressed for a second time.

 

There are simple cabled remotes with a locking switch on the release button too.

 

Pretty sure you can get such remotes for almost any camera model. And very cheaply.

I went and bought a BR-E1 remote release for my M50. It is easy to set up. You go into the Setup menu on the camera and choose Wireless Settings, then Bluetooth, and set the Bluetooth function to Remote (it will be at Disable by default, I think; mine was). Then (next option down) select Pairing, and the camera screen says 'Start Pairing on the Remote'. You press the Tele and Wide zooming buttons on the Remote together, and hold them for a couple of seconds. The camera screen will then say 'Paired with A1B2X4Y5' or some such.

Now you need to exit that menu, and go to the shooting settings. Set the Drive mode to Self-timer/Remote, and exit the menu. The Remote should now work as the release.

If you set the camera to Manual, and the shutter speed to 'B' (takes a moment to scroll all the way down past 30 seconds), the Remote button actually works as 'T', not 'B'. That's reasonable: 'T' is what you need, since you can set times up to 30 seconds timed by the camera.

 

Note that to use those Tele and Wide zooming buttons for zooming, you have to get a power-zoom accessory (because zooming is a manual ring on the lens). I haven't even checked if that accessory exists for the M50.

OK , yes I use one of those $3 ebay remotes (with the camera in B mode)

 

Untitled by c w, on Flickr