My darn camera...or me??

Did you have your dial on P? The flash won't come up on full-auto.

SuzyView

I see lol, one of them lazy lay back days. Austrailian hmmm.. AC/DC Fan? j/k

If you want to shoot in full auto and have the flash pop up automatically if needed, use the "green square" setting. If you want full auto except you don't want the flash to pop up because you want to use ambient light, use "P".

Other than that, as I think you already do most of time, I highly recommend not using the settings represented by an icon. I find M, Av, Tv and P are adequate for pretty much anything and I know what they are going to do and I'm controlling the critical part of the settings that I need to use.

Regards,
Jeff

Ahhhhhhhh!!! OK i think the penny just dropped, thought i knew my camera well..OBVIOUSLY i didn't haha!

ACDC - HECK YES i love AccaDacca! What Aussie doesn't? LOL! Just bought a 106cm plasma screen, chucked on Family Jewels the DVD which was awesome with surround sound. Then my hubby found this button that you can change tempo with...so Bon Scott was singing in chipmunk mode and devil mode HAAAAAAAAHHAH it was sooo funny (Small things huh? LOL)

Okies...thanks again everyone...ill go back and read my manual for the 4th time in the last 5 months lol (Im forgetful and need constant reminding DOH!)

Del

Hi Del,it's allways great to hear from other aussies (especially such cute ones )

Anyway onto what you needed help with -
As you've found,there are certain situations where cameras get all tangled up and need some guidance.They give us these handy auto modes but it's not particularly clear what they do so often they only make things worse.
For the indoor situation -as others have allready said- the secret is to maximise the ISO and aperture.Do it manually if you have to,then add the flash to make sure.
Hopefully you get the flash working properly! It's no fun finding you might be up for a big repair bill.
......one thing to check- try manual mode and see if the flash will come up.I think there are some modes where the flash is stopped from working (? not sure but it's worth a try)

The other issue you may have problems with is getting clear shots of your dogs when they are fooling around.If they are in bright sunlight then there should be no exposure problems but the autofocus will likely have fits trying to follow them.There is little you can do when this happens.You can try manual focus but in any case you've got to be prepared to take lots of shots and toss the out of focus ones...

Play FLING THING..If you notice Angus dosen't have it chord in it guitar. I know it's a wireless, but......Fling thing and Riff Raff were the best songs on CD1

Pixi - I put my 20d in action mode and the flash won't come up either - camera must disable it - I guess there is no point in taking rapid fire pics b/c you will always be limited by the time it takes your flash to get ready to take the next pic

I just tried "action" mode on my 300D. I figure flash is disabled is because in action mode, the camera is set into "continous shooting". The flash would not be able to cycle that fast.

I got a question here: How do you choose Tv mode and open your f/ at the same time?

MALI

Use a "slower" shutter speed. As long as it's in the 1/30-1/250 range, it'll still probably be safe. But if you really want that kind of control, you might as well put the camera on M.

I think what i had was a complete photographer frustration mode. and with my short temper the only good thing i could have done at this point and time was to put down the camera and WALK AWAY! Then get advice haha!
Usually when i get so frustrated with my short temper, the thing that caused me to be frustrated usually get's thrown...which is why a lot of the hoses i use to wash cars on my casual off the side job are broken! LOL
So i had to put the camera down, i really didn't wnt to throw it, the tripod got a bit of a kick though hahaha...

OK im not THAT bad...

I get it now, and i put my camera on P mode just then (I needed a whole day to get over it lol) and clicked the flash button....oh my goodness it worked! haha

As for the rest....i guess im not allowed to be a lazy candid photographer anymore i only do it every so often as it's so convenient especially when kids and dogs are involved in those funny moments! But maybe i have learnt my lesson....ill still use action outside though coz i love that continuous shooting!!!

Thanks again everyone...

DEL

PS: You won't think im so cute when im in those short tempered modes hehe my hubby usually just laughs at me

Any pics of you in the carwash ?

Read the manual several times and try things as you are reading about them--may be boring, but it works. And of course use most of the other advice you get on this great forum--but reading and completely understanding the manual will cure a lot of issues.

I'd put your camera in the green square mode for times when you are in a point-and-shoot mood. That way all you have to do is look through the viewfinder and press the shutter to grab ya pic.

When in a more creative mood, and want to set your ISO, decide about using flash and so on, try setting it to P mode. Look through the viewfinder and half press the shutter to see what readings you are getting for a given situation. If for example, you want a faster or slower shutter, spin the little wheel near the shutter to make the changes.

After reading the manual a few more times maybe try AV, TV or Manual if you need these to get a particular shot - but you can do most things in P mode.

Take care