Canon EOS500D - flash help please

[New to photography]

Hi there, I go to photography class and last night we did 'fill in flash' the benefits of using it, etc. Now I admit I'm very thick with the camera but I can't for the life of me figure out how to actually use it - please don't tell me to read the manual I've tried and I don't understand it! From my own playing about with the camera - I think I have established that it won't let me use flash on any of the pre-set modes, eg, portrait, sports etc. Which leaves the other options M, P, etc - but how do I get it to work in these modes? I tried pressing the little flash button on the left of camera and the flash bit on top pops up but it doesn't flash when I take a picture.....................:c onfused:

[Doug Pardee]

In the Basic Zone modes, Portrait and Night Portrait use fill flash.

In the Creative Zone modes (the ones marked with letters), if you pop up the built-in flash, it should fire. If not, check your flash settings. See pages 139-140 of the T1i/500D manual. You may have "Flash firing" set to "Disable".

In the Creative Zone, to get fill flash in low light, use Av mode. To get fill flash in daylight, use P mode.

There is much, much more to this, but that's a simple jump-start for you. You can learn more from this posting on the Digital Rebel FAQ.

[drr0b]

Hmmm, is it simply a case of not seeing the flash as you take the picture, or is the photo actually dark?

I got my 500d in January, and was initially puzzled why I couldn't see the flash. It's all because of the way the camera is built. There is a mirror in front of the sensor that reflects light up to the eyepiece; when the photo is taken, the mirror gets out of the way; hence we can't see through the eyepiece when taking the photo, and can't see the flash.

If it's really not firing, you can press the MENU button, go to the first red menu, and select "Flash Control" at the bottom. The first item in the flash control menu is "Flash firing: Enable or Disable". Set it to Enable to use the flash

Hope this helps