Rebel XT using only 1 or 2 AF points?

[poopingfish]

Well, just got the camera. I LOVE IT like nothing else. Awesome pictures and TONS of options.
The story goes that everything was working fine, until just oddly I dont ever see it using the middle of side AF points anymore! It selectively uses the very middle bottom point..It does not matter which metering mode Im in nor AF mode.
I stood up a chapstick thing on my table, and pointing the middle af button at it it will not see anything and focus. Yet if i move the camera up slightly and use that bottom mid point the point turns red and beeps to be in focus.
This bottom point is the only point I ever see turn red as to be focusing, I cant figure it out.
This is <1 week old so everything is clean, I wiped off the lens [front&back] with an LCD monitor cleaning cloth I had (very soft and fine) so there is no dust or anything on the lens that may be affecting the auto focus.

Sorry for the oblong paragraph, but any ideas as to what may be happening?

 

[Big Mike]

You can set the camera to use all of the points...or any one specific point. It sounds like you inadvertently set it to use only the bottom point. Check your manual to see how to change that.

Personally, I only use the centre point on my camera.

 

[DSLR noob]

press the button to the right of the "*" button that looks kind of like [+] on the upper right corner of the back of the camera then, looking in the viewfinder, or on the Rear status LCD display, use the control dial atop the camera to move the AF point around or until all of them are selected.

 

[poopingfish]

Ahh, ive always wondered what that was!
Thankyou! Wish this forum had a +REP system!

 

[Garbz]

What lens you using too? When using the camera in idiotbox mode where it picks it's own focus box, and if using a lens with horrid corner sharpness like the 50mm f/1.8 (hey it's cheap for a reason) then you end up with a strong bias to the centre focus points.