what am I doing wrong ?

[subhuman]

:mad2: I have recently been taking some pictures inside, lower light pics,
I have a Canon Rebel T2, so I put it on the AV setting, so that I can change the
aperture, but the camera will only let me open the aperture to about 4.0
its supposed to go to 2.1 or something like isnt it? there is very little light where
I am taking pics(inside of abandonded buildings , no electricity=no lights)
the pictures have come out fairly well despite this. I guess I need to study
my manual more and work harder..........

[Greg McCary]

My Rebel 2000 only goes to 4.0 as well....

[EOSThree]

What lens are you using? If the lens only opens to 4.0 that's all you'll get.

[subhuman]

I'm using the kit lens the 28-90mm thats probably
what the problems is Thanks

[Greg McCary]

That's me 28-85mm...
Greg

[photophorous]

:mad2: I have recently been taking some pictures inside, lower light pics,
I have a Canon Rebel T2, so I put it on the AV setting, so that I can change the
aperture, but the camera will only let me open the aperture to about 4.0
its supposed to go to 2.1 or something like isnt it? there is very little light where
I am taking pics(inside of abandonded buildings , no electricity=no lights)
the pictures have come out fairly well despite this. I guess I need to study
my manual more and work harder..........

The max aperture is going to be limited by the lens, on any camera. In your case, if you are using the kit lens, 4.0 (maybe 3.5) is most likely as big as it gets. It should say on your lens...maybe something like 4.0-5.6? That means the max will be 4.0 when you are at 28mm and incrementally shrink to 5.6 as you zoom in. So at longer focal lengths, you may not even get 4.0. I'm not sure about your specific lens, but that's how a lot of them are.

For best results in the situation you describe, you should use a tripod. Then you could use a smaller aperture and longer exposures. You'll also want to use a cable release or the self-timer so you don't shake the camera on long exposures. If you don't have a tripod, you should get one.

Good luck,
Paul

[another view]

Exactly what Paul said. I'd probably use the self timer instead of the cable release because it's one less thing to carry. Unless you need to time a moving object, this works just fine. Set the timer to just a couple of seconds if you can, so you don't have to wait so long for it to go off. The idea with this (or the cable release) is that you don't shake the camera when pressing the shutter release, resulting in sharper pictures. I'd also probably stop down in a lot of situations like this to f8 or f11 for more depth of field. Long shutter speeds aren't a problem with a good tripod and a non-moving subject.

[Greg McCary]

My Rebel 2000's timer is hard to set in the dark, and shooting film I have wasted it trying, take a small flashlite if you don't get the cable. Also my cable ,Canon, will hang up at times and take two or three picture before I can stop it if I am not careful. It has a lock feature that will hangs it up. So be careful with that too...
Greg