I felt just like you do when I got my 20D in May 2005. I thought it would take me a year to learn how to use it. I started with the kit lens and P mode. In no time I was shooting aperture priority AV, and when the 4th of July came, that did it, I had to try some fireworks. I read and read what people had posted on another forum, can't mention that here, and did my homework before I got there. And I had some duds, but some keepers, too.

It's by far the best to go full manual. It takes some experimentation. If you want twinkle lights, set the aperture to f8 to f14 and adjust the shutter speed accordingly.

I usually start with 2 seconds. Usually in most situations 4 seconds to 1 second and sometimes 1/2 sec if really bright, so experiment in that range. And, of course, a tripod. A remote release helps with camera shake. You can get a cheap knockoff on ebay that works well. I haven't tried mirror lockup yet, but that helps with camera shake, too. I look at the lcd and try to tell if it is going to be a good one, but that is hard at night and the lcd is so small.

Does the XT have a histogram feature? That helps but usually night photos bunch to the left so it won't be much help at night except to tell you you when you are totally out of the ballpark.

The best thing to do is just set your camera on a tripod and practice, practice, practice on something that doesn't matter. It is not as hard as it sounds. Look at the exif after you have downloaded your photos (you should have gotten some software with your camera, DPP that came with mine or I downloaded it from Canon, can't remember, works well) and decide which ones turned out best and note the aperture and shutter speed.

If you don't have a tripod, you can improvise with a bag of beans on something stable and use the timer feature, but it's best in the long run to get a good tripod.

Focus can sometimes be an issue, so you may have to switch to manual focus, too, but this class of Canon cameras does a good job with focus in low light. On the 4th photos, I took a test shot in auto focus before it got too dark, it looked good, then switched the button on the lens to manual focus for the rest, but sometimes it will drift off if you point your camera somewhere else.

Set your white balance to AWB. I do use custom white balance in the daytime, but haven't tried it at night yet. They say you can take a purposely blurry photo and set your custom white balance to that. I shoot exclusively in RAW now (was sure afraid to break that barrier), but it gives you so many more options, like setting your white balance after the photo has been taken, adjusting the exposure, brightness, etc., then converting to jpg.

You have made a big jump. I would not use the icon modes or auto mode ever. The only icon mode I use is the sports one maybe in a pinch go to P if I don't have time to think. Sports mode works very well for moving subjects, wouldn't use it at night.

It is going to take some investment in time and energy, but it will pay off in the end if you are serious about getting good photos and don't give up.

This one I took when some little kid supposedly saw the Virgin Mary, I went over to see the crowds and reactions. I had the 50mm 1.8 on my 20D. Full manual mode, f10, 4 seconds, exposure bias 0, ISO 800 (don't know why I had it set so high, 400 should be fine), evaluative (pattern) metering (looks like a human eye icon on my cam), auto white balance.

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"The Digital Rebel XT's 12 exposure modes are easily selected by a turn of the top-mounted Mode dial. These exposure modes cover virtually all the shooting conditions you'll ever encounter and are: Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, Flash Off, Program AE, Shutter speed-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Manual and Auto Depth-of-Field AE. The camera's ISO sensitivty range is 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600, Canon raised the Auto ISO setting to include ISO 400 in order to help improve image quality, reduce camera shake and brighten the scene behind the subject when taking a flash photo."

Got this from Steve's Digicams at:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/rebelxt.html

Good Luck

Kt

In the creative and P modes you have to pop the flash yourself so don't worry about turning it off. You can't control it in the icon modes (I don't think). You might be able to turn it off in custom functions. C Fn. I just looked at mine and in Custom function 7, 0 fires the flash, 1 causes it not to fire. I don't know if that overrides everything or not, I keep mine set at 0. It should work that way on the XT.

In manual mode (M), the big dial controls the aperture and the little dial controls the shutter speed, should be the same on the XT. Read your manual.

I got the 580EX flash, a good investment, put a homemade diffuser on it, bounce off ceiling if it isn't too high, no more worries about red eye, reduces harsh shadows, and shoot all my indoor shots full manual now, too, ONLY WHEN I use the flash.

The low noise at high ISO lets me get great indoor shots in natural light with no flash. ISO 1600 and 3200 will give you some noise, 800 and lower are great. I just love my 20D. You will grow to love your XT when you get more accustomed to the features, and you don't have to learn them all at once.

aliska - that is stunning.

Give this a shot Steph. Bill C
http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

I've worked hard in almost 4 years of shooting with a digital cam. Ever since I was a kid, I've had a camera but was clueless about the settings. Just focussed (if there was one), pressed the button and hoped for the best.

Everything I have learned, I have learned on the web about camera settings and techniques. People have been wonderful to help me when I have been discouraged or stuck. Sometimes I didn't understand what they were talking about, but after a bit, it came to me.

Then I had to learn graphics programs. That was a trip. I learned all that on the web, too, with tutorials and people helping me. Now I have Photoshop CS2 which I thought was the most user unfriendly program I had ever installed (Photoshop 6). But I struggled, and when I switched to CS2, I am making progress on that front as well. I love it now, could not get along without it.

Incidentally, there is a special running to November of this year, I believe, that if you got a copy of Elements with your camera purchase, you can upgrade to Photoshop CS2 for $299. Otherwise it is $650. I waited so long because the full price is a lot of money. If anybody reads this and wants to know how, I got mine on the Adobe website, but had to call their 800# to get a copy for my granddaughter. I used Elements that came with my 20D and bought a Wacom tablet and that had an offer with it as well. That's how I got two. So we each have a legal copy which we can upgrade.

I still have so much to learn.

Canon

Bill C

Canon

Bill C