Sx50 Focus and Exp bracketing not working: I bought a refurb sx50 for 179. only had it about a week. I also have an sl1 but it may end up a dust collector. Anyway I can't get the...

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

I bought a refurb sx50 for 179. only had it about a week.
I also have an sl1 but it may end up a dust collector.

Anyway I can't get the Bracketing to work.
Focus bracketing and exposure bracketing.

read and reread the manual and it seems fairly simple but I may be missing something.

Anyone have any ideas ?

I did google it by the way, not much help
manual mode, p mode, manual focus etc still nada

twowindsbear

try ALL the automatic modes
generally, exposure bracket does not work in manual & at least 1 or 2 auto modes. keep trying

focus bracketing? never heard of that

good luck

twowindsbear

Dupe post removed

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

sorry I posted this but maybe it'll help someone else figured it out a couple of minutes later. I had a plastic cover on the hot shoe when I took that off everything works fine. I have no idea what that had to do with it but now it works. thanks for the quick replies though I did try everything.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

twowindsbear wrote:

try ALL the automatic modes
generally, exposure bracket does not work in manual & at least 1 or 2 auto modes. keep trying

focus bracketing? never heard of that

good luck

Yes, it has focus bracketing and it does work. If you want to do focus stacking, it gives you several images to work with. Or if you want to improve your chances of nailing the focus on at least one shot.

I would need to get out the camera to describe how it works since I don't have the steps committed to memory.

Michael Hartley Loc: Deer Capital of Georgia

What is 'focus bracketing'?

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Michael Hartley wrote:

What is 'focus bracketing'?

The camera takes 3 shots. The one in the middle is supposedly perfect focus. And then one focused a little closer and one a little farther away. You get to pick how far apart the focus points are going to be.

twowindsbear

Doowopa wrote:

sorry I posted this but maybe it'll help someone else figured it out a couple of minutes later. I had a plastic cover on the hot shoe when I took that off everything works fine. I have no idea what that had to do with it but now it works. thanks for the quick replies though I did try everything.

Let me get this right.

Auto exposure bracketing and auto focus bracketing did not work.

You discovered a cover on your hot shoe. Then, when you removed the cover, the auto bracketing worked? And that was the ONLY change you made to the camera?

Have read your posts correctly?

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

Yep
I had a cover from my Olympus E20.
I figured it wouldn't hurt to use it.
I should have known because the flash wouldn't work with it on.

I don't know what it does to cause the problem because it's made of plastic.

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

twowindsbear wrote:

Let me get this right.

Auto exposure bracketing and auto focus bracketing did not work.

You discovered a cover on your hot shoe. Then, when you removed the cover, the auto bracketing worked? And that was the ONLY change you made to the camera?

Have read your posts correctly?

Sorry I didn't give a complete answer.
Yes I didn't change settings.
I had tried over and over following the brief instructions and it just wouldn't work.
I looked at the cover and thought I wonder could that be causing the problem, removed it and bingo bracketing worked fine.

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

I think I figured it out.
there is a little Nub under the cover it must push down one of the connectors on the hot shoe telling the camera that the flash is installed.
Maybe also turning off the on camera flash
The manual says flash has to be disabled for bracketing to work.

Ctrclckws

That same little cover will prevent the on camera flash firing.

Michael Hartley Loc: Deer Capital of Georgia

JimH123 wrote:

The camera takes 3 shots. The one in the middle is supposedly perfect focus. And then one focused a little closer and one a little farther away. You get to pick how far apart the focus points are going to be.

Thanks JimH. Went and found that in my little miniature manual. Sure hope I never have to do that quickly.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Yup, I had the same issue when I first bought my sx50. I figured the hot shoe should have a cover. Silly me. Didn't even consider the possibility of a switch. Anyway, all' swell that ends well. Good lesson in design functionality. :-)

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

Doowopa wrote:

Yep
I had a cover from my Olympus E20.
I figured it wouldn't hurt to use it.
I should have known because the flash wouldn't work with it on.

I don't know what it does to cause the problem because it's made of plastic.

The HotShoe has some spring clips inside, and they help the camera know when a flash is installed. If the cover is too thick where it slides into the fitting it will compress the spring and make the camera think a flash is installed and therefore will NOT allow the built-in flash to work, and will not let the Bracketing work because it figures the flash cannot recycle fast enough for the bracketing timing to work correctly.

I had the issue also when first using non-Canon hotshoe covers until I noticed that some of the covers actually have the edges shaved down a little bit except for a very small spot at the back and if they are pushed on too far or made so that they can be put on backwards they make it think an actual flash is installed.