Not a digital question but still Canon related...

[stevescivic]

sorry this isn't a digital cam question.

I have an elan 7e and I was wondering how the AF assist works without using a dedicated speedlite.

Is the only means for my camera to focus in low light possible with the built in flash? It would seem that my camera in creative mode won't focus very well in low light unless the flash does the flash burst.

My cousin has an elan 7 but his camera (when the flash isn't up) will light up the little white light that normally blinks when the self timer is activated. Although the light is tiny it does help with focusing and isn't as annoying as the flash burst that my elan 7E has to do.

Is there something wrong with my camera with respect to the little white light not coming on when the flash is down? My cousin's camera will light up and mine won't. Both our camera's however, do flash the flash when its popped up.

I'm trying to figure out why our cameras despite being the same don't behave exactly the same. The custom function as far as I'm aware is set the same too.

Suggestions?

Thanks


I know my little light isn't burned out b/c in self timer mode it lights up.

[Jesper]

Yes, unfortunately, the Elan 7E uses the built-in flash as the focus assist light. It rapidly blinks the flash, which is very annoying and disturbing to your subject (at least, if the subject is alive... :) )

The small white light is not a focus assist light, it's the anti red eyes light. When you have the red eye reduction function switched off, it will not light up. This light doesn't help the camera focus.

There's a custom function you can set so that when you use an external EX flash, it will only use the red AF assist beam of the flash and not fire the flash - look it up in the manual of your Elan 7E.

I haven't used my EOS 30 (= non-US version of the Elan 7E) much since I have a 10D, so I hope I remembered it right...