@TightGit wrote:Good afternoon.
I've just bought a Canon 1300D (I believe also known as Rebel T6) and, being a complete novice at photography, I'm using it in Auto Mode.
I'm finding that the flash pops up and fires, even in bright sunlight.
This seems all wrong to me but, as I said, I'm not an expert.
Is this correct, please, or have I got a faulty camera?
Many thanks for any advice.
Peter.
Judging from what you have said, I don't think there is anything wrong with your camera. If you are using Full Auto shooting mode, which is the Green [A] setting on the mode dial on top of the camera, then camera can behave as you describe under the right circumstances.
I love to shoot outdoors, mainly because I love the outdoors. Depending upon the location, many outdoor shots may contain large dark areas within the visible frame in the viewfinder. The camera has different shooting modes, focus modes, and metering modes. So, the camera will behave differently when you change settings, even in fully automatic Green [A] mode.
In Full Auto, the camera will use all available AF, auto focus points, which are the little squares in the viewfinder, to find something to focus on. It will usually choose what winds up being the nearest thing to the camera. Frequently, the closest thing to the camera when you're shooting outdoors may be darker than the background. This is called "backlit" scenes.
The above shot is an example of what I am talking about.
If I were using a camera like yours, the camera may have focused on the steps, instead of the gazebo near the center of the frame. It may have also tried to raise a built-in flash in a vain attempt to illuminate the steps with "fill flash". I say vain attempt, because your onboard flash has a very short reach, less than 10 feet.
As it turns out, I did not have a built-in flash, and the above shot is the result. I used another technique to "light up" the stairs known as HDR photography. But, that's a story for another day.
Again, there is nothing wrong with your camera. It has different shooting modes, which you change with the dial on the top of the camera. It has different light metering modes, which I very rarely change from the default "evaluative metering" setting. It has different AF, auto focus, modes, too. All of those settings are set automatically for you in Green [A] shooting mode.
If in doubt about anything, ask lots of questions. There are folks around here who would be glad to answer anything you might want to know..
