Method for ascertaining the articulation angle of a combination consisting of a towing vehicle and a trailer attached using a drawbar by detecting the trailer drawbar using a digital rear-view camera with variable exposure times, wherein the method includes the steps of: a) recording a first colour image of the rearward environment of the towing vehicle, wherein the colour image is based on the HSV colour space, b) examining the hues H, saturations S and values V of adjacent surfaces of a region of the vehicle vicinity to be evaluated, c) determining the drawbar from the first colour image by means of an edge detection method for ascertaining the articulation angle if the hues H, saturations S and values of adjacent surfaces in the region to be evaluated are substantially identical, wherein substantially identical is defined by the respective hues H, saturations S andmaxi values V of adjacent surfaces differing at most by a first threshold in percentages, with the first threshold being 1%, d) recording a second image in the HSV colour space if the hues H and saturations S of adjacent surfaces in the region to be evaluated in the first colour image are substantially identical while the values V of the adjacent surface differ greatly, wherein differing greatly is defined by the values V of adjacent surfaces differing by more than a second threshold in percentages, wherein the exposure time of the second colour image is selected such that the values V of the adjacent surfaces within the region of the vehicle vicinity to be evaluated are substantially identical, with the second threshold being 10% or greater, e) determining the drawbar from the second colour image by means of an edge detection method for ascertaining the articulation angle. a) recording a first colour image of the rearward environment of the towing vehicle, wherein the colour image is based on the HSV colour space, b) examining the hues H, saturations S and values V of adjacent surfaces of a region of the vehicle vicinity to be evaluated, c) determining the drawbar from the first colour image by means of an edge detection method for ascertaining the articulation angle if the hues H, saturations S and values of adjacent surfaces in the region to be evaluated are substantially identical, wherein substantially identical is defined by the respective hues H, saturations S andmaxi values V of adjacent surfaces differing at most by a first threshold in percentages, with the first threshold being 1%, d) recording a second image in the HSV colour space if the hues H and saturations S of adjacent surfaces in the region to be evaluated in the first colour image are substantially identical while the values V of the adjacent surface differ greatly, wherein differing greatly is defined by the values V of adjacent surfaces differing by more than a second threshold in percentages, wherein the exposure time of the second colour image is selected such that the values V of the adjacent surfaces within the region of the vehicle vicinity to be evaluated are substantially identical, with the second threshold being 10% or greater, e) determining the drawbar from the second colour image by means of an edge detection method for ascertaining the articulation angle.