Indoor pictures intermittently dark

[annhackler]

I have a T6i that is just over a year old.  I shoot inside in normal room light often, using the auto setting.  Recently the shots are intermittently dark and the level of darkness varies.  Sometimes you can barely tell there is any image, other times you can make it out.   When it starts happening, there will be maybe three dark shots in a row then all of a sudden a perfectly lit shot.

[Waddizzle]

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@annhackler wrote:

I just wanted to report that enabling the" anti-flicker" feature helped only for a short time.  I am back this summer with the same problem.  I think I'll just give in and get an external flash.  Will report back if that fully solves the issue.  Thanks to all for trying to help. 

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The built in flash has very limited power output.  It has an effective range of 10 feet, or less.  Beyond 10 feet, the drop-off in light intensity from the flash is pretty dramatic.

What lens are you using?  The EF-S 18-55mm camera kit lenses are relatively small and compact.  Upgrading from your kit lens will invariably mean your new lens will be larger.  It could be large enough to cast a shadow of the light from the flash.  If this were the case, the lower half of the image would be cast in the shadow, while the upper portion would not.

If you are still having issues, then I suggest that you post a sample image of the problem, and do not forget to include the photo’s exposure settings.

[ebiggs1]

"I am back this summer with the same problem."

I did not see your thread soon enough or I would have told you it was not light flicker.  I would think you have a setting wrong in the T6i and perhaps a reset might help. If that doesn't help, a few examples would certainly help us.

You may be asking too much of the built-in flash and nothing is wrong. Samples please.

Let me ask, does the T6i work as it should outside on a nice day?  If it does, it is not the camera and something else is the problem.

[Waddizzle]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"I am back this summer with the same problem."

I did not see your thread soon enough or I would have told you it was not light flicker.  I would think you have a setting wrong in the T6i and perhaps a reset might help. If that doesn't help, a few examples would certainly help us.

You may be asking too much of the built-in flash and nothing is wrong. Samples please.

Let me ask, does the T6i work as it should outside on a nice day?  If it does, it is not the camera and something else is the problem.

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You’re correct.  There are too many unknowns, and we need to see an example image, with EXF data.  But, I think you may be jumping the gun by so quickly ruling out anti-flicker.

So let me share some more “unknowns” with you.  There are two “Flicker” settings.  One setting [only] enables the “Flicker” display in the viewfinder.  The second setting [is what actually] enables the actual “anti-flicker” shooting.  Finally, the anti-flicker feature only works when shooting through the viewfinder, and is disabled when using Live View.

There is another possibility besides flicker, accidentally locking exposure, AEL or FEL,prior to taking a shot.  However, if this were the case, then you should get photo s that are a mix of under and over exposures, not just in one direction, [always] over exposed.

[Waddizzle]

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@annhackler wrote:

I just wanted to report that enabling the" anti-flicker" feature helped only for a short time.  I am back this summer with the same problem.  I think I'll just give in and get an external flash.  Will report back if that fully solves the issue.  Thanks to all for trying to help. 

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The anti-flicker mode works with Canon flashes.  I do not know if it would work with 3rd party strobes.

[annhackler]

Thanks so much, will be checking this out tonight. We did just replace all our bulbs this year with LEDs, though it is happening in the house as well where we did not do that. (I am shooting in a barn) I'll let you know what I find out later. Thanks again.

[Waddizzle]

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@annhackler wrote:
Thanks so much, will be checking this out tonight. We did just replace all our bulbs this year with LEDs, though it is happening in the house as well where we did not do that. (I am shooting in a barn) I'll let you know what I find out later. Thanks again.

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Solid state lighting, like LEDs, flickers too fast for the eye to see, but the speed of a camera shutter can.  Some of the high end Canon cameras have smarts built into them to detect flickering light sources and time the shutter being released for an exposure at the highest light output.

[annhackler]

Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly. I'll be checking this out tonight!

[annhackler]

I did have a fixed setting in the P setting, so I switched that.  But normally I am shooting in Scene Intelligent Auto.  It's almost as if the flash is firing late sometimes.