Pictures Very Dark

[scusick]

Hello

I am a father who takes pictures of his 4 kids, I am no where near a professional.

That said, I have always used the Auto setting on the camera.  Up to 2 weeks ago, this worked perfectly fine.  In the last 2 weeks every other picture is very dark.  The ones that are not dark, are perfect.  So weird.  So dark i can not even use.  However I am 100% sure the flash is going off.

I am curious if one of my kids maybe touched a setting?

Any Ideas?

Thanks

Steve

[Danny]

Hi, Steve!

So that the Community can help you better, we will need to know exactly which Canon camera model you're using. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, our US-based technical support team is standing by, ready to help 24/7 via Email at http://bit.ly/EmailCanon or by phone at 1-800-OK-CANON (1-800-652-2666) weekdays between 8 AM and midnight ET (5 AM to 9 PM PT) and Saturdays from 10 AM to 8 PM ET (7 AM to 5 PM PT).

Thanks and have a great day!

[scusick]

EOS Rebel T3i

The only real details are every other picture is dark.  I am using the auto setting A+.  I see the flash working.

Thanks in advance for your support

Steve

[ebiggs1]

"I am curious if one of my kids maybe touched a setting?

Any Ideas?"  Yes of course!

Reset the camera.  In the Menu clear all settings.  But I suspect the flash is not going off on all your shots.  If the room is dark enough it takes some time for it to recharge.  If you shoot rather quickly, the flash may not have had time enough to charge.

Sometimes using the Green Square you can confuse it, if it saw a brigth light in the room and assummed it was all that way.

Examples would be nice if you could u/l a couple (good and bad) with exif intatct.  

[scusick]

I cant find the reset setting in the Menu if you can assist please.

I can 100% see the flash go.  maybe it igoes, but not working?

and this worked perfectly for months, and all of a sudden it changed.

Another interesting thing I just noticed.  The good ones are like 7 and 8 MB.  The bad ones are only 3-4 MB.  Could that be a hint as to the problem?

Let me know if these attachment helps.  

Thanks in advance

Steve

[TCampbell]

It is difficult to be specific without inspecting the images, but your comment that "every other photo" is dark makes me wonder if you haven't enabled an exposure "bracketing" feature.  

Bracketing is something we did in film days (take the exposure you think correct, but also take the same image exposing a stop higher and a stop lower).  It's also done with digital cameras today as these can be used for form HDR images (HDR = High Dynamic Range).  Usually three shots are taken but on some cameras allow for more than 3.

The thing is... using full auto mode (A+) usually restricts many advanced features of the camera (to avoid this situation... the notion that some setting might have been accidentally changed and the user does not know how to change it back... using A+ mode typically locks out those settings and just does a simple straight shot.)

It would be helpful to see an example of the images ... but with all of the exposure information.  When you upload an image to the Canon community forums, the exposure information (normally embedded within the image) is stripped away.  Some external photo gallery sites leave the information in the image (Flickr strips it from the image, but saves it seperately so that it can still be viewed.)  This would help us understand what your camera was really doing and we might be able to identify why some of the images are underexposed.

[ebiggs1]

Steve,

Please, "Examples would be nice if you could u/l a couple (good and bad) with exif intatct."  

Your camera may just have a "Clear All Settings" selection.  And a "Clear All Personal Settings" selection.  Both, or either, will be in the Tools tab.

[scusick]

Can you see them here?

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0OJT7Y2myrQfk9FNkdQNktzaEVQN3lzY3NucURTWXhmNDhEdGxtckVGR2Nn...

The different size makes me think that has something to do with it.

[ebiggs1]

Yes I can see them but the exif has been stripped like Tim Campbell indicated it could be.  Without it it really isn't anything but a few guesses.

Can you u/l directly yo this forum?  Do you have a post editor on your computer?  It may have come free with the camera.

[scusick]

How about i just list the info, maybe that will work.  

I can not thank you all enough for all this help!

BAD:

Camera:	Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Lens:	Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Shot at 28 mm (shot wide open)
Exposure:	Auto exposure, Program AE, 1/64 sec, f/4, ISO 400
Flash:	On, Fired
Focus:	AI Focus AF, with a depth of field of from 1.82 m to 1.13 m. AF Area Mode: Auto
Date:	July 28, 2015   8:01:37AM (timezone not specified) (2 hours, 15 minutes, 22 seconds ago, assuming image timezone of US Pacific)
File:	5,184 × 3,456 JPEG (17.9 megapixels)    3,809,645 bytes (3.6 megabytes)
Color Encoding:	WARNING: Color space tagged as sRGB, without an embedded color profile. Windows and Mac browsers and apps treat the colors randomly.

Good

Camera:	Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Lens:	Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Shot at 28 mm (shot wide open)
Exposure:	Auto exposure, Program AE, 1/64 sec, f/4, ISO 400
Flash:	On, Fired
Focus:	AI Focus AF, with a depth of field of from 1.82 m to 1.13 m. AF Area Mode: Auto
Date:	July 28, 2015   8:01:36AM (timezone not specified) (2 hours, 16 minutes, 59 seconds ago, assuming image timezone of US Pacific)
File:	5,184 × 3,456 JPEG (17.9 megapixels)    7,560,691 bytes (7.2 megabytes)
Color Encoding:	WARNING: Color space tagged as sRGB, without an embedded color profile. Windows and Mac browsers and apps treat the colors randomly.