I can't get my 5D mark iii to operate at night with available light

SOURCE: exposure problem

If you set your meter based on the white (or substantially white) wall, as per the attachment, I would expect the image to be underexposed.

SOURCE: Canon xt

First of all, shooting sports in manual is about the most difficult thing you could ever choose to do. I use the Av (Aperture Priority) and let the camera set the shutter speed. Just set your aperture wide open and fire away. That way, you're not constantly fighting with settings missing great shots. Also, in manual, BULB is simply one of the settings and can't be turned off. It can only be 'not selected'.

Best of luck!

SOURCE: shutter speed won't go above 200

I have two possible solutions:

First, are you shooting with the flash up or an external flash connected to it? If so, the camera likely needs to synchronize at 1/200 or slower otherwise it won't be able to take a full photo. As a safety feature to prevent that, many new cameras just restrict the ability to pick a faster shutter speed.

Second, if its not related to the flash, it might be related to the mode you are using. Turn the camera off the automatic modes and put it on an all manual setting. Change the ISO to 400 or so, got outside and aim up at the day's sky, put it on manual mode and then adjust the shutter speed. Open up the aperture on your lens all the way (turn it to the smallest number). Now adjust the shutter speeds. It should be able to go past 200 now.

SOURCE: Err 01 during slow shutter speed shooting

I having a similar problem and send back to the Canon service centre for repair. Subsequently, it was confirmed that the aperture diaphragm is faulty and need to be replaced.

SOURCE: I mounted the Canon 580EX II to my Canon 5D Mark

Yes. If you were able to set a faster shutter speed, then you would not expose the entire frame and would have the shadow of either the first or second shutter curtain (or both) partially masking the frame.

At higher speeds, the shutter is never fully exposed: before the first shutter curtain has finished travelling across the frame, the second one has stated it's journey. All SLR's have this issue and on some older models you could only use a maximum 1/60th of a second.

In practice though, in dark conditions the "slow" shutter speed does not affect exposure as the true exposure will be determined by how much light the flash puts out, and it puts this light out in as little as 50 microseconds (50 millionths of a second) for a modern electronic flash bulb.

Faster shutter speeds can be used successfully, but only with flashes which operate in high speed mode. What they do is to make the flash burst seem longer by rapidly firing the flash bulb many times. This trick can ensure that there is sufficient light to expose the frame at the highest shutter speeds. Shutters which operate at, say, 1/4000 may seem fast, but compared to the speed at which a single electronic flash burst operates, it's an eternity.