My photos seem dark even using the internal flash.

[carlosoc]

Hello friends,

I wonder why the photos of my T4i seem dark even using the built in flash? Where can I find some turorial of the built in flash?

Thanks

[Skirball]

The built in flash is only so strong, and can only illuminate close(ish) subjects.  There are far too many variables to guess at what the problem is.  It'd help a lot if you could post a photo and tell us what settings you used (or just make sure the exif data is intact).

[carlosoc]

Both images were taken at the TV mode, 1/25 and 3.5.  They were taken after 3 seconds and goes good and the other bad. Why??

[TCampbell]

A flash needs time to recycle and this will depend on how much of it's power was required to fire. The built-in pop-up flash is not particularly powerful (usually good for about 10' but the actual distance depends on the lens aperture used at the time) so it's easy fully deplete the capacitors to the point that it needs a longer time to recycle.

[Skirball]

Was there a shot fired before the dark shot?  I noticed that that came before the bright one.

I also noticed that you changed your metering mode inbetween shots.  When trouble shooting I'd recommend keeping everything the same.  I'd leave it in partial until you understand and want to use spot metering.

For this experiment I'd also turn the flash to always on, instead of compulsory.  The camera should always fire in this situation given how dark it is, but still, when trouble shooting it's best to turn everything you can over to manual so that the camera isn't choosing things and changing its mind.

Lastly, when you know you're in dim situations I would recommend bumping up the ISO.  At least to 400, though 800 should be ok on your camera.   I'm not sure how well the auto-ISO works on your camera, I never used it on my Rebel.  The higher ISO will allow use of more ambient light, and require less of your flash - draining less of your battery and reducing recycle times.

[ebiggs1]

Flash didn't fire on the upper photo.

[hsbn]

There is limit to the flash (built in or not), if the subject is far away the flash may not be strong enough to illuminate it like Skirball said.