20d question

[JohnMF]

i bought a 20d about a month ago, prior to that i owned a pentax SLR, it was very basic compared to the 20d as you would imagine and must be over 20 years old. So there are a lot of features on the new one that im still trying to get to grips with, one of which being the flash.

In low light when Im using the flash, if i press the shutter button half way down to focus, the flash will start flickering on and off rapidly and will not take the picture, sometimes i get the "busy" message. When i put the camera into full auto mode this doesnt happen and it works fine.

Am i doing something wrong here? or is the camera faulty? Does anyone else have this problem with the 20d?

Any advice would be appreciated

thnks

 

[DocFrankenstein]

That's the AF assist light. Are you using the external flash or the built in?

Busy message mean the flash is charging.

In low light...

 

[Unimaxium]

The flashing is just a focusing mechanism. It happens on my Canon ELAN 7N, too. All it is doing is just flickering the flash to illuminate the scene a little in order to help it autofocus.

I'm not sure about the "busy" message, though. Maybe this has something to do with it being unable to find something to focus on (like a blank wall, or a cloudless sky, etc.)

 

[Unimaxium]

Looks like frankenstein beat me to the submit button!

 

[Alk-3]

Your not doing anything wrong. in low light conditions the camera will flicker like that in order for the auto focus to be able to see what it needs to focus on. if its problematic use manual focus and zoom in when you're focusing to make it crisper, then zoom out and take the shot. I dont recall if you have the option to deactivate that feature in the camera software but it might be worth browsing through the manual to check. good luck, once you use the camera you'll start to understand and anticipate the functionality of it, and these little quirks (which exist in all modern camera's) will become usefull.
as far as getting the error message, i dont know exactly what you mean, explain what the camera does and i might be able to help a bit more.

 

[Alk-3]

wow, you guys are quick typers, for a minute i thought i would be the first to reply. haha.

 

[JohnMF]

WOW!!, fastest response ive ever had to a thread. I wasnt going to bother checking back til tomorrow

To answer the question, yes its the built in flash.

Thanks for all your help folks.
things have moved on a bit since my last camera! Looks like ive got some catching up to do