canon eos 350d problem

Recently I purchased a Canon eos 350d with the kit lens efs 18-55mm

When using the camera indoors with the build in flash or external
flash 420 ex, I'm having the following problems:

In full auto and on P the shutterspeed is always set on 1/60
Is this normal?

Tv:
When setting the shutter speed shorter then 1''3 the aperture (3.5) is
flashing indicating that a longer shutter speed must be set.

Av:
Shortest shutter speed possible is 1'' with aperture 3.5

M:
Shortest shutter speed possible is 1'' with aperture 3.5

Camera firmware is 1.03

Are these problems related to the kit lens and should I buy a better
lens, or is the camera broken?

John

 

Short answer: your equipment is working properly.

Long answer: you need to learn how the EOS flash system works.
Unfortunately, Canon has a long history of not putting a great deal of
information on this in their manuals, so it isn't really your fault.

http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/ is where you want to
go. It answers these questions, and a gazillion others, about
how the EOS flash system works.[/QUOTE]

 

Your camera appears to be fine. Use manual mode, and set whatever
shutter speed and aperture you want. The flash will automatically
adjust for proper exposure (within its limits).

 

Thanks Måns, and thanks Stephen for the link.

John

 

Hi John,

Just to give you a quick overview ...

In auto or "P" modes the camera will assume that the flash is the primary
source of light - in Tv, Av, or M modes it will assume that you'll take care
of exposing the backgroud correctly, and the flash will fill out and expose
the foreground correctly.

So in summary, your 350D is working correctly. Having said that, experts
tell us that a quality lens is far more important than a quality camera. In
your case you've got a very capable camera with (how do I put this nicely?)
"a lens with tremendous potential for improvement"

If you can afford it, I'd suggest kicking the kit lens into orbit, and
investing in something like a 24-70 F2.8L USM lens - you'll never look back.

Cheers,

 

Thanks,

Such a great camera needs a good lens, you're quite right.

John

 

Your camera appears to be fine. Use manual mode, and set whatever

On the XT (350D), he can also change one of the custom functions to force
the sync-speed in Av mode to 1/200th.

steve

 

When you think about it, people get much better results using a good lens on
a bad camera, than the other way around - and yet often people have good
cameras with poor lenses. I guess the 'good news' is that the kit lens is
practically worthless - so it hasn't added much to the cost of what is a
good camera.

I still think it comes as a bit of a shock to many though, that having
bought something like the 350D, they learn that they need to spend about the
same again to get an L series lens that'll do it justice. On the other hand,
once you've got the lens then you'll be able to use it on any Canon SLR
cameras you upgrade to in the future.

That's how it worked for me anyway!

Cheers,

CC