Your Questions About Canon Rebel Xsi Manual

rob answers:

Time stamp was a feature of 35 mm cameras.

Now ALL your image files have the time and date in the EXIF data on each file … That and much, much more.

Why would you want to put that on a perfectly fine image?

rob answers:

Shooting in manual is the best, but each time the settings is going to be different. There isn’t a master setting that allows you to take great pictures all the time. In manual, you set the parameters such as aperture, shutter speed, and iso. These 3 settings can vary a lot taking pictures of different things in the same room.

You need to have the shutter speed fast. Fast enough that it stops motion. What you are getting is motion blur, caused by either your hand moving while you take the picture or your subject moving.

You can either raise up your ISO allowing you to shoot faster. Or buy a new lens like perhaps the 50mm f1.8. The bigger the aperture the more light you can let in. That allows you to shoot with a faster shutter speed.

Perhaps you should buy a introduction to photography book.

rob answers:

I have always left the battery in my camera, and in the XSI I have noticed no battery drain from leaving the battery in the camera for extended periods (up to a month)
As opposed to previous Canon SLR’s (EOS Rebel) where battery drain was noticable within a few days…
Since there is no significant drain on the battery, I don’t see any advantage to removing it for short term storage.
If I were storing for more than a month or two, I would probably remove the battery…

rob answers:

I dont know what this could be as i dont have a rebel but from what I understand is that the rebel does not have a motor in it, but the lenses do, for it to be autofocus. This might mean that something wrong with the autofocus in the lens is broken. If you dropped it this could have happened. Do you have another lens to try on it. Maybe take the lens off and then put it back on. In some cameras there is also a switch to turn AF and MF on and off, try that if it has it and good luck

rob answers:

No camera can focus in complete darkness. The AF sensor needs enough light to provide some contrast on the subject, just as you need to see enough contrast to focus manually. I often shoot documentary photos after building fires for arson and insurance investigations. Burned out buildings are often pitch black other than light coming in through open door/windows or holes cut into the roof by firefighters.

One trick a crime scene photographer taught me was simply to keep a small flashlight handy. Put the camera in one-shot AF or manual focus. Shine the light on the point at which you want to focus. Use the AF or manual focus to get everything nice and sharp, then shoot. Works every time and works especially well in buildings where there smoke, soot and other particulates in the air make it hard to photograph a scene because your AF can’t see through the junk in the air to provide accurate focus.