Manual focus points 40D

Using your fingernail, push in the lens contact pins in the bottom of the mirror box several times. Sometimes they get tarnished and make poor contact with the flexible circuit under them. Doing this scrapes off the tarnish.

Screws come loose from the bottom circuit board and short it out. It contains the flash circuit so a short can throw 300 plus volts into a 6 volt circuit, damaging components. The lens contacts flex attaches to this circuit board. This is a common problem.

Impact can cause flexible circuits to either come loose from their connectors or have one side pull out so some of the lands on the flex don't make contact. Did you drop the camera?

do you have its user manual??

Check your setting in "Custom Functions". Sounds like your "-" (or more specifically your "*" button) has had a feature enabled. I had my "*" button set for focusing - under Focus Settings in Customs Functions. If in doubt reset all Custom Functions to their default.

Maybe you could rephrase your question. It sounds like you're just saying the same thing..."center spot to be the AF focal point" and "continues to function in a auto SPOT mode"....that's the same thing!

Okay, since you're photographing subjects that aren't moving very quickly, start with the One-Shot AF. Use Manual AF point selection to choose the focus point yourself. If left to its own, the camera probably will focus on the nearset object.

The EOS 350D does not have a Live View function like the compact point and shoot cameras (Panasonic Lumix, Powershot, IXUS etc). You need to look through the viewfinder to compose your shot. The LCD only displays menu settings and images you have already captured (Play Button). Later models of EOS D-SLRs come with Live View but still doesn't have auto focus and you have to focus manually (eg EOS 450D, EOS 40D, etc)

I believe I have found my problem. I think my image stablizer on my lens is on the brink! I turn it off and got good pictures.

Check the operators manual - you need to 'activate' the aperture control.

I suppose you really can't do much when camera is set to Auto Focus? All you do is aim and shoot? Everything is set up for you. Not so sure about limitations on manual focus. Don't you have different setting when shooting indoors? Good luck.

Occasionally it is necessary to have the ability to manually focus a digital camera. A good example is shooting through the windows of a tour bus on a rainy day. The camera may choose to focus on the raindrops on the window rather than the actual subject. To enable the MANUAL FOCUS function hold down the OK/MENU button for a second or longer. In the lower left corner of the LCD screen you will see MF (MANUAL FOCUS) and AF (AUTOFOCUS) with AF highlighted in green. Use the left arrow key to select MF. You will now be able to use the up and down arrow keys to manually focus the camera. An added feature of the C-5500 is that when you are using the MANUAL FOCUS Mode you will see a magnified portion of the image in the center of the LCD screen. To get out of MANUAL FOCUS Mode, simply use the right arrow key to reset the camera to AF. Then press the OK/MENU button to return to the default functions.