My new Canon Rebel EOS XT will not work with my external flash. WHY??

Okay there is a fix for this but it requires slightly removing the hot shoe. The camera thinks there is an accessory in the hot shoe therefor will not pop up. The fix for a qualified repair person is simple and it's fairly inexpensive however, that said if you don't know what you are doing then you could burn out the flash circuitry. Yes an external flash will work and give you much better performance then the internal flash, when getting a flash make sure it's an EX type to properly sync with the new TTL and I-TTL flash.

Frustrating I am sure. I had the same problem on my first XTi. I cannot remember what the settings were, but I think I was set for portrait and had flash set as the white balance default source. Therefore the camera always popped up the flash assuming that I wanted or needed fill flash.

Change you white balance to sun/shade/tungston etc as is appropriate, choose a faster ISO speed in lower light levels and try using the P or Tv mode and use a shutter speed that generates a middle range aperature for your particular lens.

1. The viewfinder's diopter is probably out of focus (doesn't affect Auto Focus of photos). There's a dial and a +/- symbol next to the viewfinder. Turn the dial till you can see clearly through it. Alternative reason: The glass in the viewfinder is dirty/foggy. Use camera cleaning solution (a drop) on a cotton bud to clean it.

2. Malfunction needs Canon Service Centre to take a look at.

CF probably relates to the Compact Flash memory card. It may be time for a new one. They're very inexpensive and a replacement would be the first step to discovering the problem.

If you use the lens in wide and the f lash is not wide as same (if the lens is 18 wide and the f lash is 28 wide ) you will not get good photo so if use 18 mm wide lens then use 18 mm wide f lash and ( i have told about external flash )

Joe, this happened to me, just tonight... I got a new CF card and stuck it in, turned it on and one CF card flash. Completely dead from there. I found one of the CF card pins bent over, shorted out the socket and blew the mainboard fuse. I took the camera apart, found the fuse (labelled K) about under the set button area) I bridged the fuse with a bit of solder, straightened out the pin in the socket, put it all back together and it's working fine. The fuse is under the right side shield cover, it's labelled with a letter K. There is another fuse on the power inlet board (below the shutter button) and it's labelled 'P'...

Check the pins in the card slot that non are bent. Other than that it means a return to Canon.

Is it in manual or auto modes (camera)Try resetting the camera back to factory defaults as a first step.

maybe check the shutter speed setting.

In the communications option of the camera Menu, there are two options to choose from. Try changing the options. one of them works with Canon software to download images.