Very Delayed Shots Even on All Auto

[thisiswater]

I am in a low light setting with my T5 on auto and a standard 18-55mm lens.

When I focus on my subect, regardless of distance, the lens becomes very active struggling to focus and the flash *finally* pops up and takes the picture.

I tried disabling the flash as I've seen great effects in low light no flash with this model. The lens still struggled focus/unfocus over and over again.

This is a new camera for me and I want it to work! What am I doing wrong. 

[jrhoffman75]

Sounds like light level is too low. You can enable flash assist to help focusing. 

[thisiswater]

I saw a demo of this camera shooting a face illuminated only by candleight while set on auto. Is that not possible? 

Since I'm just beginning I want to shoot on auto-everything until I get a feel for the camera.

Also, how do I go to menu and "make sure all settings are default?" as the manual instructs for beginning use? I don't know what the default settings are ...

I hope this makes sense!

Many thanks!

[jrhoffman75]

http://www.forums.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS-Rebel/Resetting-my-EOS-Rebel-T5/td-p/129099

[thisiswater]

Thanks for this John:

To reset your camera to the defaults:

Press MENU.
Select the [Tools #3] tab.
Select [Clear Settings].
Select [Clear All Camera Settings].
Select [Ok] to confirm.

However, MY camera (T5) does not have a "Clear Settings" option under any tab. Sigh.

[jrhoffman75]

Switch into Program "P" mode.

[jrhoffman75]

Does your camera work OK outside?

If you are using a kit zoom it's not going to have great low light performance.

You can get a 50mm STM lens for about $150 and it will be a great low light portrait lens.

[thisiswater]

Yes, camera is great outdoors. I just realized that mine has a low-light setting. I'll be trying that later this afternoon. My clear setttings are not as described above, but I figured it out and have reset all to auto in case I had tripped something earlier that was causing the problem. This is a brand new camera for me and my first DSLR so there's a learning curve even though my deep suspicion is that the Rebels are really point and shoots designed to look "professional!" 🙂

Thanks for the help and support!

[jrhoffman75]

In A+ mode the camera is point and shoot, but as you get experience and shift to the creative modes you will find that the camera is very capable.

You won't see them on the sidelines at Super Bowl, but kids sports and travel they are great.

The biggest step up would be better lenses.