I some how screwed up my camera. I was messing with the exposure compensation one night well i was out at a car racing event and i though that it said something about shutter speed on that button but once i started to take pictures after i've messed with it all pictures were coming up either completely black or dark as ever. How can i get all these settings for this back to normal? and then can you tell me how to change the shutter speed so that i can take some pictures at an event that is fast paced like a car race.

You may have the exposure compensation settings overexposing you images. Since it compensates without affecting the image prior to shooting, you won't see it until after the image is taken. Check that and the flash exposure compensation too.

Your exposure compensation might not be set correctly. Just behind and to the right of the on/off switch you will see a small button with a "+/-" symbol. That is the exposure compensation switch. When you press it, you will see a number displayed on the LCD. If the number is positive, that is your problem. Positive numbers increase exposure and negative numbers decrease exposure. Set the compensation to 0.0 by turning the rear thumbwheel while depressing the exposure compensation button.

That depends on what you're taking a picture of. Normally, you'd want it on zero.

Use it if the exposure meter produces an exposure too light or too dark for the subject. The camera's meter is designed to render all scenes as a medium gray. If you take a picture of a white dog playing in the snow, the camera will try to render the scene as a medium gray. In this situation you want to use positive exposure compensation to render the scene brighter.

Conversely, if take a picture of a black cat sunning itself on a black car, the camera will again try to render the scene as a medium gray. In this case you want negative exposure compensation to darken the scene.

That's odd that the pictures would be coming out under exposed unless the previous owner has gone into the camera functions and switched the ISO from auto to manual. Another reason is that the exposure compensation has been activated and set for - exposure

Under "normal" use the camera will read the DX code on the film canisters and adjust the ISO automatically. However the previous owner may have shut this off in preference to setting the ISO manually. Even though you have ISO 400 in the camera the ISO on in the camera setting may be ISO 1600.

Checking for the Auto ISO and exposure compensation is fairly easy as you can see the film canister through the film window or you know you have loaded 400 speed film. on the LCD panel at the back of the camera is an ISO icon and exposure compensation.

Make sure the ISO for the camera is the same as what you have loaded and if the exposure compensation is to the right of 0 then the resulting picture will be dark. Move this back to the Zero.

I wasn't able to find an exact manual (if you don't have one) for your camera but have found a camera with similar. Here is a ling for that manual.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_eos_rebel_ti/canon_eos_rebel_ti.htm

Hope this was a help

Is your exposure compensation setting too high?

try to set the itty ***** red dot to 0 again make sure the collar goes down its the compensation mode once its down try turning the speed dial again i haven't had a film camera for about 8yrs i had a nikon 6060 which is almost like a fg . hope this helps

Check your exposure compensation. It really sounds like someone set the camera to underexpose. This may be solved by removing the batteries for a few minutes. Other solutions are hitting the reset which will cancel all and return it to factory settings OR navigate to the exposure compensation settings and reset it there. If none of these solutions work, then the camera's internal program is messed up and its internal computer needs replaced.

a) Place the camera on a tripod (or a steady surface - e.g. a chair)
b) Select P mode
c) Focus and take the shot.

Most probably, with the above settings, the camera will select a longer exposure without flash, lighting the scene properly (i.e. making it appear as night, as it should be). However, know that this will also create motion blur of moving subjects (the kids, in this case). If you want to avoid this, you must use flash in slow sync mode. Press repeatedly the flash button, until you see the "slow" indication on the screen (where the flash info appears, down left). Again, the camera should be on a steady surface.

If your pictures are again too bright, it means that the Exposure compensation is for some reason set to +. Use the appropriate button (check the manual if you don't remember which one it is) to fix it

The exposure compensation stays where you leave it unless you do a full reset or a custom reset, and except when you're using scene modes. But you don't need to do a reset to cancel out an exposure compensation -- simply use the exposure compensation button to adjust the compensation back to 0.0EV.

Yes, you can compensate for exposure in the range of +/- 5EV by selecting 1EV, 1/2EV or 1/3EV steps.