# Feeling a bit overwhelmed



## Joel1 (Aug 8, 2012)

I finally broke down and bought a half decent camera yesterday. It's a Canon t4i that came with 18-55 and  55-250 lens and a 400 page manual (all in english)... I think I did a very good job getting it out of the box...but when I tried to take a photo inside my house with the cam set to auto it wouldn't let me turn on the flash and the photo came out too dark... What am I doing wrong?  This is a complicated camera for me but starting out on auto at least allows me to play with the thing until I get to read up a bit...

thanks in advance,

Jo-Ellen (everyone calls me joel)

p.s. I did get the video to work and the quality seems very nice, but the lens movement is LOUD


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 8, 2012)

to shoot a video, you need to use manual focus.  Turn off the auto focus switch on the lens and do manual focus.

As far as how to use your camera.... just keep reading the manual, play with the camera, practice.

To understand camera basic:

Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community


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## Joel1 (Aug 8, 2012)

Maybe I'm missing something but I couldn't get the camera to flash in the auto mode...


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## macpro88 (Aug 8, 2012)

Joel1 said:


> Maybe I'm missing something but I couldn't get the camera to flash in the auto mode...



There should be a button on the front left side of the camera that raises the flash.


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## MTVision (Aug 8, 2012)

macpro88 said:
			
		

> There should be a button on the front left side of the camera that raises the flash.



Yeah but shouldn't the flash raise and fire automatically in auto - especially if it's dark.


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## tirediron (Aug 8, 2012)

I don't speak Canon with any degree of fluency, but my guess is that there may have been a bright area in the scene which was bright enough to fool the flash sensor.  Cameras, especially in 'Auto' are stupid beasts, and very easy to fool.  Read and re-read the manual, especially the sections on 'Auto' mode, and 'Flash'.


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## TCampbell (Aug 8, 2012)

In full "auto" mode (the mode dial is set to the green box) the camera will decide when to use the flash.  It electronically pops up the flash.  If you're in a dark room but you point it at a window then it'll meter the window -- which wont appear to need flash. 

If you want to manually control when the flash fires then you need to take it out of full auto mode.  "Program" mode (the "P" on the mode dial) is very similar to full auto in that the camera will mostly make all the decisions by default, except you're allowed to override them.  In Program mode you can force the flash to fire or not fire.  The button on the front of the camera (left side of the lens) has a lightning bolt... that releases the catch that pops up the flash.  If you pop-up the flash in "program" mode then it will use it (well... there's also a menu function which can manually enable or disable it but the default is to enable it when the flash is up.)  To turn the flash off... just push it down (it's spring-loaded).  

You will notice that if you go back to auto mode and press that same lightning bolt that it will ignore you... it wont pop up.  In auto mode the camera makes pretty much ALL the decisions (it'll let you decide to use the self-timer... that's it.)  

Pick up a copy of the Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure" - great book for beginners with a camera like yours.  David Busch has a series of books for most popular DSLR camera models that explains how to use that specific model camera.  Checking Amazon I see they list the book for the T4i except it's a pre-order.  The book doesn't release until Oct 2.  The title is "David Busch's Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D Guide to Digital SLR Photography".  I've seen his books for other model cameras and they tend to do a much better job explaining how to use things than the owners manual.

Let's test your flash and make sure it works (since this is a new camera there's always the possibility that there's a defect.  Although that'd be incredibly rare and the camera is probably fine, we may as well test it while you have time to exchange it.)

Power up the camera.  Change the mode dial to the "P".  Press the lightning bolt button on the FRONT of the camera (left side of the lens).  The flash SHOULD pop up (it wont fire... it'll just release the electronic catch that lets the flash spring up.)  If it doesn't pop up, that's a problem.  Assuming it did pop up, the flash should fire when you take a shot regardless of the lighting conditions -- including in broad daylight (as long as you didn't go into the menu system and tell it to set the built-in flash to "disable" it will fire - and the factory default is "enable".)  Take a shot and make sure it fired.  All this needs to be done in the "P" (Program) mode.

Now switch it back to full Auto mode (the green box on the mode dial).  Push the flash back down to close it.  Take the camera to a dark room.  Make sure you are not pointing it near a window, lamp, or anything else that would fool it into thinking it has enough light.  The room needn't be black... but if you point the camera at a window in a dark room it's going to expose for the light OUTSIDE that window (where it'll realize it doesn't need a flash because it's daytime.)  

Press the shutter button HALF WAY while looking through the viewfinder.  The camera may make some noise.  You *might* see the word "busy" in the left corner of the viewfinder.  Ultimately you should hear the flash pop up, you should hear a single beep (meaning it's locked the exposure settings) and you should see a lightning bolt icon in the lower left corner of the viewfinder (meaning that the camera intends to use the flash.)  

Fully press the shutter button.  The camera will take the shot and the flash should fire.  (It is not possible to use the menu system to override the flash in full auto mode.  In other modes, yes.  Just not in full auto mode.)

Let us know if you were able to pop up the flash in "P" mode and if the flash fired.  If it doesn't, then either someone has gone into the menu system and disabled the flash (and if this is truly a brand new camera and nobody else has been using it that shouldn't be the case) or the flash is defective.

Assuming the flash worked, then let us know if it also works in full "auto" mode.

Part of the beauty of owning such a camera is NOT to use full auto mode anymore.  The point of the camera is that rather than having to accept the computer algorithms that go for relatively safe exposures that most cameras use, you can take control -- you decide when a flash is used, what exposure settings are used (often to great artistic results -- that you wouldn't get by leaving it on full auto mode), etc.


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## Forkie (Aug 8, 2012)

I'm not very familiar with Canons, but it's possible you have it set to Auto Without Flash.  Any indication of that on any of the displays or the dial?  You will see a little flash symbol (an arrow like a zigzag electricity bolt) in a circle crossed through with a diagonal line.


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## rokvi (Aug 8, 2012)

I have the T3i, which is similar to the OP's. The button to pop up the flash does not work on auto, and there is no way to manually turn the flash off in auto either. 

Both shots below where taken in auto:



#1 flash did not pop up and fire because it took an exposure reading on the window, rendering the rest of the room dark.
#2 I angled the camera to the right without the window in view, The flash popped up and fired.

I agree with what has been said above. Its a great camera that you can become really creative with. Take it out of auto, and practice with all the modes, read the manual and check out some ideas and techniques on youtube or books.

Now go and have fun!


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## daarksun (Aug 8, 2012)

Get over to YouTube.com.  They have excellent how to videos if you have trouble following the manual.  The videos were amazing for my 7D and the littel nuances of the camera.


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## macpro88 (Aug 9, 2012)

daarksun said:


> Get over to YouTube.com.  They have excellent how to videos if you have trouble following the manual.  The videos were amazing for my 7D and the littel nuances of the camera.




**Slight Derail**

-Never thought of that, I have a 7D I'm still learning to use, got a channel or set of videos you subscribed to?


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## 3Ddeath (Aug 9, 2012)

Auto flash is the most worthless auto feature in a camera, the sooner you drop it the better, the camera is doing you a favor by not working!

You should always have a good feeling on the lighting in any situation and if you want to choose a high ISO or a flash, the two will make photos that are so dam different that you don't want a computer choosing it for you.


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## 4meandthem (Aug 9, 2012)

I just bought the T4i recently and got a recall notice for the grips. Check your serial number and if the six digit is a 1 then you will need to send it back for re-gripping at some point. I talked with customer service and they said it only takes a week from the day you ship it.Canon pays all the shipping charges.I am going to use mine for a while longer before I decide to send it in.Here is a link on it.

Canon U.S.A. : Support & Drivers : Consumer & Home Office


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## 4meandthem (Aug 9, 2012)

Schwettylens said:


> to shoot a video, you need to use manual focus.  Turn off the auto focus switch on the lens and do manual focus.
> 
> As far as how to use your camera.... just keep reading the manual, play with the camera, practice.
> 
> ...



The T4i has constant auto focus and you touch which object on the touch screen that you want it to focus on.You can change people or things just by tapping on them.It works well for some things and not so well for others.


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## daarksun (Aug 16, 2012)

macpro88 said:


> daarksun said:
> 
> 
> > Get over to YouTube.com. They have excellent how to videos if you have trouble following the manual. The videos were amazing for my 7D and the littel nuances of the camera.
> ...





Here are some helpful videos I found that were kept in my favorites. 

7D Focus Squares Tutorial | 7D Training DVD Video - YouTube

Tutorial Series: How to tether your Camera to your PC and use as a webcam. - YouTube

Pinpointing focus with the Canon 7D - YouTube

High-Speed Photography Tutorial with Splashes and Flashes - YouTube

HDR Tutorial With Canon 7D and Photomatix Pro - How to Use Exposure Bracketing - YouTube

Canon EOS 7D - AF Custom Functions 6/16 - YouTube

Canon 7D HDR Custom Settings - YouTube

Canon 7D 1.2.5 Firmware Update Tutorial - YouTube


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## sovietdoc (Aug 16, 2012)

Why use flash? Built-in flashes ruin the shot.  Just lower aperture and up the ISO, oh and try to use as much surrounding light as possible.


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