MY CAMERA (CANON 1000D) TAKES BEAUTIFUL DAYTIME PHOTO'S BUT CAN'T SEEM TO FOCUS ON A SUBJECT IN LOW LIGHT & AS A RESULT WONT TAKE THE SHOT. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO TAKE LOW LIGHT / NIGHT TIME SHOTS ? THANKS IN ADVANCE, LLOYD.

Switch the lens to "M" and focus manually, then take the photo.

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Those quick fast flashes usually mean the camera is trying to find contrast to take the photo but it can't. The scene might be to dark and the camera can not set it's focus and there for cannot take a picture. Move the camera slightly from left to right on the subject and see if it can manage to set focus. It's normal for the camera to give out these quick flashes as it is trying to find some sort of contrast in the subject, turning on a room light might help this?

Now when you manually focus, then the camera does not have to use it's built in auto focus sensor and will let you take a photo when you manually focus on the subject.

All auto focus cameras use contrast to focus so if you are attempting to focus on glass, chrome, blank sky, large body of water, painted wall, mirror, or any other low contrast subject the auto focus will fail. Another place auto focus will fail is when you are to close to your subject you my not be physically to close but have used the zoom to give a closer shot.

A couple of possible reasons:
You are trying to take the shot with the lens too close to the subject. If you attempt to take a shot with AF on while too close then the camera won't take the photo. Try backing up from the subject a bit.
Which camera mode are you in? If you are using the green box (automatic) mode then in very low-light settings the camera may refuse to take the photo.
The AF on your lens might be broken. Try using a different lens (if you have one available). Do other lenses have the same problem?

This is because your camera can't focus in dark. Your flash is triggering, trying to light up the subject, for the camera to be able to focus. If you focus manually the camera will be able to take a picture with out problems.

You could also light up the place you want to focus with a flash light or something, which will make the camera able to focus.

The 400D uses flash assisted focusing. In low light conditions the auto focus cannot get a focus lock so it pops the flash a few times so the lens has a chance to focus. You will notice this will go away when in the manual focus mode (the switch on the side of the lens).

The only way around this problem (as people in a photo think the photo has already been taken and looks away when the camera actually takes the picture) is to use a hotshoe mounted TTL Canon Speedlight (430ex or 580ex) which use an infra-red focussing beam.

This is your first SLR?

The normal procedure is to press the button halfway to get the focus. This is indicated by one or more red LEDs lighting in the viewfinder and a confirmation beep. Once you have this, you press the button fully to take the shot.

As the camera will not take a photo when not in focus, then pressing the button once and letting go will focus it, and pressing it again will take the shot.

Get used to pressing it halfway before taking your shots and it will soon become second nature to you.

It can be the cold or wet. try to keep it in dry place and change the battery.

TZ stands for Travel Zoom, which is code for Outside View shots. The TZ is supper in good light, not so much in lower light.

In side shots need to be with 8 feet of subject so the flash can reach. Use ISO and IS mode 2 settings, especially IS(Image Stabilization) on zoomed shots where ANY camera movement becomes amplified by the ZOOM.

Lastly, camera movement and/or subject movement will add blur to a shot. Squeeze off shot, don't push it off. Try to brace your camera against another object when possible, or hold you elbows against your sides when you can't. Treat taking a pic shot like you were taking a rifle shot. Stabilize yourself when possible and gradually squeeze off the shot when possible.

When low light cannot be avoided, try the night shot setting, which will keep the shutter open longer to gather more light, but will be much more venerable to camea movement at the same time.

* Get AF off the shutter release and onto the * button using the custom function. * Use the center focus point only. Force yourself to pick what you want in focus, AF, then recompose and shoot, a habit far more effective than computer driven multiple AF points for just about everything. * AF performance degrades in low light no matter what camera you own. This is life. At least if you control the when/where of AF, you can try and choose high contrast points in the scene to focus on, points that will help mitigate the low light. * Not sure if this applies to you, but it does apply to many a pixel peeper...if something prints sharp at 8x10 or 11x14 then AF has succeeded even if it's a little off at 100% in Photoshop. AF is not perfect and the tolerances are not necessarily up to producing 40" enlargements, which is what 100% in Photoshop is. Having said that, in good lighting with good target contrast the AF on your 20D often will nail focus so perfectly that it will hold up even at 40".