How do I enable Live View on the EOS 450D please?

To enable live view, you need to go to Menu -> Second Setup Icon (the yellow ones) -> Live View Settings -> Enable.
Once enabled, you can use it by pressing the set button when the camera is turned on. The set button is the one in the middle of the up/down left/right buttons.

I just purchased this camera. It is my first SLR, I have been using Canon point and shoots for a few years now so some of the features and menus are familiar to me but the world of lenses has left me with a lot of questions. Will the kit lens that comes with the camera be enough for a trip to Hawaii or do I need to invest in some other lenses? If so what would you recommend for a beginner?

Hello Maureen,
Congratulations on your purchase. You made an excellent decision. You are guaranteed to have a lot of fun with your new camera.
I bought this Sigma 18-200mm lens for Dani. Its performing very well for a lens with such a tremendous zoom range (11x). On top of that I would also get a 72mm circular polarizing filter. Trust me, you will thank me after you did compare some pictures with polarizer and without it. I probably wouldn't spend too much money on it. Although the quality can vary, I don't think it is justified to pay hundreds for a filter. Here is a cheap one:
Digital Concepts 72mm filter
To answer your question: I believe that the Kit Lens is enough for a beginning Photographer. It is a lot of fun to play with and at the wide end 18mm is quite sufficient. There will always be cases when you wish you could zoom in closer (craters of Haleakala or dancers at a Luau), so there is no question that the Sigma Lens can be very useful to you, but I am going to state here that 70%-80% of your shots will probably be in the 18-55mm range anyways.
If you want to come back with extraordinary photographs, go for the Sigma. You can isolate your subjects better.
Personally I am using 5-6 Zoom Lenses, none of which have this kind of zoom range and one prime lens, but most people do not like to change lenses. Dirt gets into your sensor system and even though the XSi has a self cleaning mechanism, you cannot expect too much of it. On my 20D I used to clean my sensor every couple of months (basically forfeiting my warranty). So the Sigma is a sensible choice for its range.
If you decide to go with the Kit Lens alone, get a circular polarizer for that one:
58mm quality polarizer

hi! i saw your galleries and loved your pictures. I am an absolute newbiein phototaking and would like to know how to maximise my 450D. I unfotunately have only started reading up on RGB and ISO but I am still pretty lost on other technicalities. I hope you can help. Thanks :)

Hello Nur,
start by practicing as much as you can. You will become more familiar with your camera and over time your pictures will improve too. A good starting point to better photographs is my article on photography mistakes (I am composing this on my phone. I will ad links later). The manual and leaflet that came with your camera is a good resource too, esp. with respect to learning about your camera. Finally check my tutorial on exposure for a better understanding in the involved tradeoffs between parameters. Don't hesitate to post more questions and remember to practice a lot.
Don't get caught up with technical stuff. Set your camera to full auto and focus on the composition. Most of the time, the camera will do a good job. A lot of people focus all their attention on the technical stuff recording poorly composed pictures that are technically perfect but poorly composed.

Hi,
I am looking at purchasing the canon rebel xsi. I am wondering what kind of telephoto lens to purchase. Is it a good idea to get one with the image stabilization or not?? I am going from a Minolta 35 mm and also use a sigma 100-200mm lens. Is it safe to assume that the sigma lens will not fit the canon? (it is an auto focus lens.)

Now thats what I call perfect timing. Your question came in the midst of me writing an extensive lens buying tutorial. Today I was working on the part about image stabilization.
Your Sigma lens will not work, since it does not have a Canon mount.
I do not know how much money you spent on the lens and if it is compatible with the later versions of the Minolta DSLR. If it is, you could stick with the Sony / Minolta Systems. Sony has leapfrogged in recent years and has introduced some nice camera systems. A quick google search came up with this website: Sony, Minolta Lens Database.
If that is the only lens and if it did not cost too much, you could still become a Canon shooter (like myself). In that case, the tips I gave Mark may work for you too.
I plan to upload the next piece (Image Stabilization) during the weekend or early next week.

I accidentally deleted the last comment when I was clearing the pipe if spam. I belief it was a question about the 450d and a Sigma lens. Could you please repost it?

Hi Andre. We're actually contemplating buying our first DSLR and are at crossroads. Would appreciate if you could share your views on the following :

1) Pairing the CAnon 450D with a Sigma lens (18-200mm)(Optical Stabilisation).. However, we also read from some forums that some Sigma lenses caused some error messages when paired with their Canon 450Ds. Not sure if you've encountered such problems?

2) Pairing the Canon 450D with a Canon EF-S 18-200mm IS lens (instead of buying the kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm IS) as well as the EF-S 55 -250mm IS lens).

Question = which of the above would be a better option? Although we would mostly be photographing our kids, landscape, family occasions, there would be times when we anticipate using the telephoto lens, e.g. nature outings.

To add to our confusion, we also read some pretty good previews/reviews of the Nikon D90 which has apparently improved tremedously from the Nikon D80 and comes with a F3.5 - 5.6, 18 - 105 mm DX Nikkor VR AF-S lens .. So we're wondering which to get..Wonder if you've managed to try it out?

Regards
May

Hello May,

thank you for your patience.

I had accidentally removed your question when I was hurrying through my menus. There is a first time for everything, but I am glad that you are so patient with me.

Congratulations on making your decision to buy a SLR camera. All the choices you outlined here are excellent choices. You could go either way and be perfectly happy.

1) I have not put this lens on my camera, but I can try it out and post the results here. I bought this lens for Dani and she is using it on her 20D without any issues.

2) This is probably a two-part question.
A) EF-S 18-200 IS vs. Sigma 18-200 OS
I think this Canon lens is new. You can never go wrong with a Canon Lens on a Canon Camera, but you can save money with a Third Party Lens on a Canon Camera (Sigma, Tokina, Tamron). I wrote a lot about this in my Lens Buying Guide, but basically it comes down to finding a store with an excellent return policy (B&H, Adorama, Amazon) and testing the lens. (Make sure to check out the lens articles.)
B) EF-S 18-55 + EF-S 55-200 vs. EF-S18-200
I would suggest the 18-200 over a two-lens system for first time buyers. This way you can focus on your picture taking instead of having to worry about switching lenses.
C) Although not part of your question, the new Tamron 18-270mm also got decent reviews and has the largest range of all lenses I have seen so far.

My personal opinion: Give the all in one solution a shot :-) The Sigma performs excellent on the 20D. I will try it on the 450D. Test your lens when you get it (here is a short section on lens testing) and send it back if you do not like it. The Canon lens should not show any problems, but it costs a little more.

The Nikon D90 is also an excellent camera. I am not sure if the Canon 450D should be considered the contender or rather the Canon 50D. I really cannot comment much on Nikon cameras, except that they are also excellent. I prefer not to comment on Nikon vs. Canon. Both make excellent products. Since most of my investment is in Lenses, I will probably stick with Canon for a long time.

All these cameras can take excellent pictures. You could go to a store and play around with the cameras. Find out which ones feel better and which ones you like better. Try to buy the camera there though, they offer a great service.

Also check out this article on gear.

Dear Andre,

Thanks for the quick and informative reply. We have already tested these cameras and are now considering with your advice in mind.

Best regards,

May

Hello May, I tested the Sigma lens on my Rebel 450D and everything worked fine. I took a couple of test shots and everything looks good. The Lens is relatively large but the Camera does not feel awkward with it.

I think you could give the setup a shot ;-)

My pictures are coming out seemingly over-exposed. They lack sharpness in color as well as detail. I've seen photos showing what this camera is capable of and can only assume that it's the photographer and not the camera in this instance.

I've been using the Rebel now for a couple of weeks, prior to that was using a Canon PowerShot SD400. I could take pictures at any time of the day with the PowerShot and got incredible results in my photos.

Using the Rebel, I try to be careful not to take pictures between the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and typically have been keeping it set on auto.

Any ideas as to what I can to do achieve the sharp colors and crisp details in my photos?

Thank you in advance for you help .

Hello Cheryl,

can you send me an email through my contact form. I will reply back and you can then email the picture to me.
Please set your camera to P not the green rectangle and record a RAW image AND a JPG image. Email both to me and let me check it out.
Make sure your exposure compensation is set to 0 and make sure the scene does not have too much dynamic range in it (bright sky and dark foreground).

I will check it out for you and let you know.

Thank you for your response, Andre.

I sent an email. =)

Cheryl

Hi,

I just purchased a Canon XSi. My former camera was a Panasonic Lumix. It was SLR like, but not a true SLR. This will be my first SLR. I was torn between the Nikon D80 and the Canon. I chose the Canon mainly because of the live view finder. I want to start taking professional looking photographs of my children. I love the look of the "blurred" background in portraits, and also the look of the soft focus that some photographers use for the entire photograph when the child is looking down, etc. Do I achieve the first look with a lens and the second look with a filter? Will the standard 18-55 mm lens work for this? I am a stay at home mom on a budget, so I want a good lens for these types of portraits that won't break the bank. :) What do you recommend?

Thanks!
Laura

Hello Laura,

the standard lens will work just fine as long as you are not a sports or wildlife photographer.
In order to get the "out of focus" effect on the background, you should set your camera to aperture priority (Av), select a focus point that is right on your subject (preferably the feature closest to the camera like the nose) and dial in a wide aperture (small number on Av like 3.5). Then the background should be out of focus. Experiment as much as you can.
Here is some more information regarding Depth of Field.
The soft focus effect can be achieved in post processing. You want the hair to be sharp but the facial features more soft. This kind of selection is easier with software, but you can also do this with filters i presume.
A really good affordable software for photographers is Adobe Photoshop Elements .

Thank you for your tips! Photoshop Elements is on my Christmas List! :)

Hi Andre, any update on this? I'm also a new 450d user and also encountered the same problem, I think. Getting washed out skies rather than thebright blue color.

Actually yes. We had a good conversation and I think we solved it. Thanks for the follow up, since I wanted to make a post about it.

I have this camera i love it but i cant change any settings like the brightness it says to hold down the AV+/- button then move the dial to the left or right to change the settings but i get nothing also what is the best way to clean the lenses and how do i get auto focus to work it never works i always haft to put it on manual focus and not by chose like the camera wont shoot at all when on auto focus please help...

Hello Blake,

The Exposure compensation only works in the creative zone modes (P, Tv, Av and A-DEP), it does not work in the fully automatic mode (square green rectangle), manual mode (M) or any of the other fully automatic modes (portrait, macro, sports ...). Those modes are completely automated. They are for worry free shooting, but they also limit your options. These modes don't exist on pro cameras for a reason, but they are good if you are starting out.
I used to clean my lenses with a special lens cleaning kit I bought on ebay, but recently I found that the same cloth I use for my driving glasses works best. You can get it at any optics store like Lenscrafters.
The focus point selection works only in the creative modes too. Sometimes it helps to select a focus point. You can also change the focus mode of your camera to spot focus, point the lens exactly to what you want in focus and half press your shutter, then compose the shot and take it. Use a focus point in the vicinity of your main subject instead of the center focus point, since recomposing the picture will slightly change your focus distance (if that is too ambiguous please let me know, I am always looking for ideas for tutorials).
The focus needs a contrast edge. If you try to focus on a white wall, you will have problems. Try to align an edge with one of your focus points.
If everything fails, you can always focus on another object at the same distance, switch your lens to manual focus and recompose.
Please let me know if you have more questions. I realize that my answers are sometimes too technical.
If I forgot something and you have tips, please post them too.

Hi Andre,

I have recently purchased the Rebel Xsi. I just wonder how can you shoot perfect night portraits (e.g. at a fashion show or at a club). Is it a must to use a tripod? I'm a newbie with these DSLR cameras and I truly need some help! Thanks!!

Hello Ricky, keep in mind, I am not a portrait photographer. The only people shots I take are candid street photography shots.

The 450D has a night portrait scene mode. As I explained in my previous answer, I don't like the scene modes, since they tend to restrict our creative abilities in so many ways. I always shoot RAW (not possible in the scene modes) since the RAW files allow me to extract more dynamic range in post processing. I also like to select the focus points in some tough cases (in your case it should be on the face of the person).

The Night Portrait mode just pairs a long exposure and fires the flash (either at the beginning or the end of the exposure). This way your subject will be perfectly lit by the flash and the city lights will be visible due to the long exposure.

I would do this:

• Turn off your Lens Image Stabilization and put your camera on a Tripod (the IS sometimes messes things up on tripods)
• Meter off the background to get some idea about your exposure (read those numbers the camera gives you).
• Manually set the camera to the exact same numbers
• Turn down the flash exposure compensation (try -1 stop but keep adjusting it based on how close your subject is and how much light your person appears). It requires some experimentation to find the correct exposure
• Use a shutter release cable and mirror lockup. Those cables area reasonably cheap and worth it. Mirror lockup will make sure that the camera has enough time to stabilize after the mirror flips up. (The mirror covers the sensor while you see through the viewfinder, it causes vibrations when it flips and thus some blur in long exposures).
• Tell you subjects to stand perfectly still untill you tell them to move. Most peole move after the flash fired.
• Try to have the people in the scene until the shot is complete and then tell them to get out of the picture as soon as the flas fired (movement won't be visible, but the city will shine through the person, I have no clue how that looks since I never tried it myself). What I am getting at: It takes a lot of experimentation to get the best shot, but it will be tons of fun.

Some more advanced tips:

• Later on you may want to get a remote triggered (by the camera) flash on a second tripod. If the flash comes from somewhere else (not directly head on) it usually looks better (no red eye, shadows ..)
• Make a poor mans flash diffuser by holding a sheet of thin white paper in front of the flash and cranking the flash output up a bit more. The lines will look softer.
• Load the photo into photoshop, make a new layer, blur it a bit, make a layer mask and paint over the face to make it a bit blurry (soft focus effect).
• Use a strong lamp and try to take the photo without flash

There are so many things you can try. The only limitaton you will experience is the patience of your model. Even family members have their limits. I am sure you will find the limits of your models :-)

Hi Andre,

I am a newbie for SLR and am thinking to buy one as xmas is around the corner. Right now on BH there is this Rebel XS special deal:

EOS Rebel XS (a.k.a. 1000D) SLR Digital Camera Kit (Silver) with 18-55mm IS Lens & 75-300mm III Lens for about $540.0

ps: Rebel XSi body :$536.95

What's the difference between the two other than 10Meg and 12 Meg resolution? Is there a big improvement from XS to XSi?

Thanks in advance!

One of the main selling points for me to buy the XSi was the 14-bit sensor. I have written a bit more about the benefits on my RAW HDR page.

From what I can gather online, the XS has the same 12-bit 10.1MP sensor the XTi had. Whether this is an issue for you or not depends on your intended usage.

Although the XS has a 10.1 MP sensor and the XSi has 12.2 I wouldn't give too much about the raw pixel count. I have been able to create amazingly large prints from my 20D which is 8 MP.

It depends a lot how clean the picture is (noise free) how large you can scale it up and quite frankly I find the XSi is noisier than my 20D was, so I am not sure if I could actually get larger prints from it. I assume that is the case, but in real life you should wonder how large you really want to print. Stop worrying about resolution. Worry about picking the right lenses instead.

A good lens on a 6 Megapixel camera is preferable to a crappy lens on a 12 Megapixel camera.

For the remainder of my answer, I am just going to comment on the comparison matrix found at dpreview since I am not intimately familiar with the XS:

-higher resolution is not so important

-7 point AF is fine as long as the focus points are just as accurate. F5.6 sounds to me like the focus in low light may be not so good (you won't get focus advantage from a really good lens that has a large aperture) -> I already find that the XSi focuses less accurate than my 20D did.

-Spot metering: I use it rarely but it helps in cases where the subject is not too close and you have trouble with auto focus or you want to focus on a very specific area in your picture, the XSi has it the XS not

-1.5fps in RAW mode is really slow. Forget action shots. You need to use JPG and even then the 3fps is not that great. To be honest the XSi is not a speed wonder either but still better. The frame buffer is even smaller than that of the XTi (cost down).

-DR extension modes: I don't use them since I only shoot raw but I guess they are kind of cool to have

-Remote release: So far I only used a cable release. I have no need for the wireless ones, you may

-Viewfinder: The XSi has a larger one which is important for framing your shot. Coverage is the same (100% means what you see is exactly what is in your picture, 95% means the camera will record a little bit more outside the edges)

-Smaller Monitor: Who cares. Its sufficient

Hope this helps. I recommend not to worry too much about technical things and focus more on the pleasure of taking great pictures. I recommend my series on becoming great photographers to get started.

Both cameras will be excellent choices, the XS seems to be a cost down version. If resolution is your only concern, the XS will do just fine.

I have written a short tutorial regarding some of the problems you guys have:
why your pictures sometimes look dull

Thanks for your quick reply. Your analysis is very helpful for me!

Hello.
I'm using the XSI for several months now with the 18-55 IS kit.
I've notice that the AF is most of the times less accurate than the live view contrast AF used with the zoom option. How come?
Also, I achieve sharper focus in manual focus using de zoom assistant than with the AF via viewfinder.
Thanks!!!

Hello Mauro,

I am not certain what the cause is, since I rarely use live view or any of the assistants. I have noticed that the XSi isn't as accurate focusing as my 20D was, but I have always attributed this to the cost reduction for these entry level DSLR. I will investigate this some more. Maybe someone else will post the answer, if not I will see if I can find something out.

Thanks Andre! I've also notice that if you focus on an object, then press again de shutter half way, the camera re focus slightly different. So I can take 2 or even 3 pictures with different focuses, this is so not like my previous 20D and 400D.
Still, I find the camera to be great for an entry level.

I have tried the focus in live view, but I find it rather awkward. I usually use live view with wideangle lenses only and then I often focus manually.

But I will keep investigating and try it out with a medium zoom soon.

I noticed a similar re-focusing you did. I assume you didn't move or recompose?

I only noticed it with my wideangle lens (Tokina 12-24mm) and I have always attributed it to the extremely large depth of field of such lenses, which probably leads to a very shallow maximum in the focus sharpness curve, making it harder for the camera to achieve focus, especially when it is evaluating several focal points.

This picture is how I envisioned this is happening. Lets say the lens is on point A. To get to the point of optimum focus, it will try one step towards B. On the wide lens, the change in sharpness (due to the wide dof) is so small, that the camera may not be able to notice it. Therefore it may have a harder time to find a shallow maximum. Thats always the case in optmization processes, but it also means that the lens has a very wide range of acceptable sharpness and you pictures should turn out fine. I often just set the lens to 2m and the camera to f/9 (the diffraction limit for this camera) and everything will be sharp (for this lens !!).

I may be wrong. I have to investigate this theory and try the lens on different cameras.

Are you using a wideangle lens when you see this phenomenon?

 

I think you nailed it. The problem appears with both my Canons 18-55 and 18-200. Above 55mm focus is rather sharp and I don't see the re-focusing problem, but going down 55 starts showing the problem.
It may be difficult to accept, but I'm starting to see where those extra dollars are in my 20D... Not to mention ISO noise.

Hi Andre,
I am a newcomer in the world of photography..
I just saw some pictures on the net where the photographer has taken excellent photographs with multiple exposure.
Could you tell me how do I do it with my new Rebel XSI? Is it possible with this camera? Iam still struggling with the manuals but still not able to figure out how to do it.
Thanks
Hiron

Hello Hiron,

The process you are refering to is called Exposure Bracketing. This picture was done in that fashion (with the Rebel XSi):

Picture of Horseshoe Bend

It consists of 3 exposures stacked together for a larger dynamic range. I have written a tutorial about HDR images that explains the process of stacking. The only difference is that you can get better result with Exposure Bracketing than from a single image.

For best results you should set your camera on a tripod, since you will take three separate pictures that must overlap perfectly to combine them.

On the XSi, simply press the menu button and select the second menu entry (second red camera icon). The first menu entry is a scale labeled AEB (automatic exposure bracketing). You can set it up to record three images with a maximum of +/- 2EV. Now you need to record a series of three imags. The first will be exposed normally, the second will be exposed darker (up to two stops shorter) and the third will be exposed brighter (up to two stops more).

Some pro tips:

• Set your camera to aperture priority (Av) and your lens to manual after you focused on your scene. This will make sure, that the same pixels have the exact same sharpness (same focus point and same depth of field) and will generally give you better results.
• You can still under- or overexpose (using the exposure compensation). So if you dial in 1 stop underexposure and use Automatic Exposure Bracketing you will get -3,-1,1 instead of -2,0,2. The total range is limited, but I find it more than sufficient.

This camera (450D) does not have a function for making multiple exposures.
To create images that look like they were created from multiple exposures, edit your images using commerical software.

Hi Andre,

Just want to thank you for all the effort you've put into this site to help amateur photographers like myself.

I first found your web site when looking for an image of Machu Picchu. Your 222 mega pixel image was amazing, it just blew me away with the resolution. As I looked around the rest of your site I found lots of great tutorials and info.

I've been using Canon digital pocket cameras for years and been happy with the results. Even doing panoramics on my PowerShot SD630 when traveling in Europe.
I've wanted to move up to a Canon digital SLR for some time.

I bought the Rebel XSi last October after reading your review. The kit price for the XSi with the 18-55 IS lens was too good to resist. I have not had any regrets, the image quality is so much better, even using the camera in full auto. I've been reading your lens buying guide, thanks for explaining crop factor, and looking at low cost telephotos. I will probably settle on the Canon EFs 55-250 with IS, I don't mind changing lenses, it makes me look like I know what I'm doing.

Again, thanks for all your effort
Shep

Hello Sotan, the post just above yours describes how to take multiple exposures (exposure bracketing). Is this not what you were looking for?

Hello Shep, thank you for the positive feedback. This is exactly why I put this information up here. Please don't hesitate to post any questions you may have. I will try my best to find an answer.

Hi, I tried setting the aperture on the AV seting to a small number like 3.5 but the camera is not allowing me to set it below 5.0. I do have it on AV. What other settings do I need to change in order for it to allow me to get a lower aperture setting? I too bought the XSI recently so that I could take photos of my grandchildren and the blurred background shot is one of the top priorities for me as well as the multiple shot function. Thanks.

Hello Kathleen,

the limitation comes from your lens. You need a "faster" lens, which usually costs a bit more. You can read all about Aperture in my Lens Aperture Tutorial.

Scroll half way down the page to the heading: "How do you read maximum lens aperture" to find out how to determine the maximum aperture of your lens.

If you want a cheap but excellent and fast lens, read this:

Lens Recommendations

Scroll down to the heading: "Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II – The plastic fantastic"

It's a 50mm prime lens that will behave like a 80mm on the Rebel XSi (it has a 1.6x crop factor). Simply set your Kit lens to about 50mm focal length and look through the viewfinder to find out what field of view this lens will give you (how far it's zoomed in).

I know thats a lot of information to digest and may be a bit technical, so don't hesitate to ask if something is unclear.

The easiest answer is: "Invest in the plastic fantastic to get an amazing portrait lens for an umbelievable price".

Hello Andre,

I have been trying to find out the best lens for portraits. The lens that u mentioned above(50mm f/1.8) seems to be pretty right for the purpose. I just wanted to know what difference it makes with 50mm f/1.4 lens. Is the difference of .4 so noticeable which justifies the latter's high price?

My budget is under 100$, however, if you could tell me how better the latter is then I could wait a little longer and save some money for it.

Hiron

Hello, Andre-

I've had my Rebel Xsi since Christmas time, and just recently I noticed that when I'm taking pictures in any mode, the flash isn't coming on. Even in A/F, the exposure time is lengthened (in the evening time) to compensate for the lack of flash. The flash is just not working in any situation. Pushing the flash button in the manual settings doesn't work. Do you have any idea what might be going on? Thanks very much one way or the other-I've learned a lot from reading all of your posts.

Sherry

Hiron: The 1.4 is probably worth it's money, but the 1.8 gives you the best bang for your buck. As with everything in life just figure out how much is good enough. I can vouch for the excellent pictures the 1.8 takes.
Sherry: The flash on my 20D was stuck once. I think it became unstuck at some point. Make sure you are in either of the manual modes (P, Tv, Av, M, A-Dep) and try to open the flash manually. If it won't open, call Canon, get a support number and send it in. It's a painless process, I did it twice. If your camera is less than 1 year old, they won't charge you.

Thanks very much for taking the time to answer my question, Andre! I'll call Canon, as I've tried to get the flash to work in the manual settings with no luck. It is good to know that it's not such a big deal to send it back if necessary. Thanks again for your help.

Sherry

I set the camera to M and the quality to the L symbol for RAW and Jpeg but I only appear to be creating a JPG FILE can you help please as I need to work in RAW rather than jpeg for astrophography
thanks Rod

Hello Rod,

setting the camera to L does not mean you are getting RAW. You need to select RAW+L or RAW. Just L does not automatically give you RAW.

I tried to download definite RAW only files from the camera but they downloaded as jpeg with no indication of RAW files in the folder? Any suggestions?

How do you download them? Are you using a simple card reader or do you connect the camera to your computer and let Windows handle the transfer? The files may be there, but you may not download them correctly.
Go to the first menu tab on your camera. Under Quality, does it say RAW or RAW+L? If it does, your camera records them.
Since you need special software to read RAW, you may just not display them correctly.
What Operating System are you using and what version? What image editing program?
Try this: Copy the ENTIRE content of your SD card to your computer. Download the Silkypix Developer Studio Software and try opening the RAW files with that software.
The file extension of the RAW files is .CR2

Thanks your advice has resulted in success.I have downloaded a plugin for photoshop which enables me to work with the NOW downloaded RAW images.
Thanks

Andre, thanks for your great site. did you ever get around to making a post about the over exposure problem with the canon 450d camera as ive had the same problem and its really getting me down!

I am not exactly sure what you mean, Joseph.
First you have to determine if your pictures are actually "overexposed" or just washed out.
I wrote an article about washed out pictures.
Did you mean that?
How do you determine if a picture is over-exposed. Did you look at the histogram?
Exposing pictures "to the right" is often wanted. If the dynamic range of a picture is limited, I often intentionally expose brighter. As long as nothing gets clipped (your camera will show the blinkies if it clipped, you have to turn this on), its better to slightly over-expose and do some curve adjusting in a photo editor.
I think the camera has some automatic settings to "recover shadows and highlights" but automatic settings are never as smart as a human with a computer. If you like I can look those up for you.

My camera won't download the pictures. It doesn't trigger the computer. I tried several USB cords and different computers, but it won't work. Any suggestions? I bought this only in September and it worked fine until last week. I love this camera....takes great pictures, but I can't download them.

Hello Debbie,

have you tried using a USB memory card reader (not the camera). Does it work?
You could try to uninstall the driver in windows and connect it again to see if it works after Windows re-installs them.
Franky, I think it is much more likely that something went wrong on the Windows/Computer side than the camera.
Do you have another computer you could try?

Would like to send you a picture of my experience so that you can kindly advise.
K.V.-B.

Please send me a message through my contact form or enter your email when you send a comment. This way I can email you.

What is the setting to be able to shoot night photos of either fireworks or lighting? I would like to do this with tha flash in the off setting. I have the rebel xsi.
Thanks for the great web site.

Hello Kurt,

I shot this photograph of Fireworks in Boise with the XSi:
Rebel XSi Fireworks Photograph
There are some compression artifacts, but overall the picture is flawless. I followed the steps I outlined in this tutorial:
How to photograph Fireworks
Basically much comes down to the choice of a good tripod
I wasn't quite as lucky with lightnings, maybe because they are not as easy to plan for. Here is a lightning strike taken with the Rebel XSi.
Shooting lightnings is very simple. Set your camera to expose the scene correctly, even without lightning (e.g. in that picture I believe it was either 20s or 30s). You can also use Bulb exposure (one more turn of the knob after 30s). During Bulb, you need to press the shutter as long as you want to expose your photograph.
Then aim the camera in the direction of the lightnings and start shooting. When the shutter is open, a lightning will register. It does not matter if you expose 10s or 10minutes, since the lightning itself only lasts very short. This will automatically become your lightning exposure time.
This also works well to capture multiple lightnings in one shot.
Use Mirror Lockup (Custom Functions) to ensure you eliminate camera shake when you shoot fireworks and keep shooting until the end. Sort the good from the bad later.