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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
If you're as excited as we are about the Rebel XSi/450D, you probably can't wait to start shooting. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies will show you how to make every shot count! Even if you're new to digital SLR cameras or are unfamiliar with general photography terms and techniques, this handy guide will show you how to feel comfortable with the controls and start taking beautiful photographs. Don't worry if you've never heard the words aperture, white balance, or ISO. You'll soon be switching easily between automatic and manual modes, managing exposure, and using the all-important Quality setting! You'll learn everything about the lenses, from how to choose the ones you need to how to handle them. You'll finally know how to push just the right buttons to achieve the results that you desire. In a snap, you will find out how to unleash your creativity by manipulating exposure and lighting. You will find out how to: * Control picture quality * Adjust resolution for image quality and size * Shoot in automatic and manual modes * Review photos using Playback Mode and the histogram, delete unwanted photos, and protect valuable photos from accidental deletion * Manipulate exposure, color, focus, and lighting * Download, organize, archive, print, and share photos with family and friends Complete with lists of ten fast photo-editing tricks and ten special-purpose features to explore on a rainy day, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies is your one-stop guide to setting up, working with, and making the most of your new Canon digital SLR camera.
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Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies
by Julie Adair King
Canon® EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies®
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933790
ISBN: 978-0-470-38537-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Julie Adair King is the author of many books about digital photography and imaging, including the best-selling Digital Photography For Dummies. Her most recent titles include Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D For Dummies,Digital Photography Before & After Makeovers,Digital Photo Projects For Dummies, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop For Photographers, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop Elements, and Shoot Like a Pro!: Digital Photography Techniques. When not writing, King teaches digital photography at such locations as the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. A graduate of Purdue University, she resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I am extremely grateful to the team of talented professionals at John Wiley and Sons for all their efforts in putting together this book. Special thanks go to my awesome project editor, Kim Darosett, who is the type of editor that all authors hope for but rarely experience: supportive, skilled, and amazingly calm in the face of any storm, including my not infrequent freakouts.
I also owe much to the rest of the folks in both the editorial and art departments, especially Heidi Unger, Rashell Smith, Shelley Lea, Steve Hayes, Andy Cummings, and Mary Bednarek. Thanks, too, to Jonathan Conrad for providing the awesome nighttime shot for Chapter 7, and to agent extraordinaire, Margot Maley Hutchison, for her continuing help and encouragement.
Last but oh, so not least, I am deeply indebted to Canon guru Chuck Westfall for always answering all my questions, even the silly ones; to Scott Heath at Synergy Communications for his help with this book and various other projects; and to technical editor Chuck Pace, whose keen eye and vast experience set me on the right track whenever I mistakenly thought I should go left. Thank you, thank you, for sharing your time and your expertise — the book would not have been the same without it.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions and Editorial
Project Editor: Kim Darosett
Executive Editor: Steven Hayes
Copy Editor: Heidi Unger
Technical Editor: Chuck Pace
Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Erin Smith
Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis, Andrea Hornberger
Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Shannon Ramsey
Indexer: Slivoskey Indexing Services
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents
Title
Introduction
A Quick Look at What’s Ahead
Icons and Other Stuff to Note
About the Software Shown in This Book
Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!
Part I : Fast Track to Super Snaps
1: Getting the Lay of the Land
Getting Comfortable with Your Lens
Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus
Working with Memory Cards
Exploring External Camera Controls
Ordering from Camera Menus
Monitoring Critical Camera Settings
Decoding Viewfinder Data
Reviewing Basic Setup Options
2: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically
Getting Good Point-and-Shoot Results
Using Flash in Automatic Exposure Modes
Exploring Your Automatic Options
Changing the Drive Mode
3: Controlling Picture Quality
Diagnosing Quality Problems
Decoding the Quality Options
Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small?
Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw)
4: Monitor Matters: Picture Playback and Live View Shooting
Disabling and Adjusting Instant Review
Viewing Images in Playback Mode
Viewing Picture Data
Deleting Photos
Protecting Photos
Using Your Monitor as a Viewfinder
Part II : Taking Creative Control
5: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting
Kicking Your Camera into Advanced Gear
Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO
Monitoring Exposure Settings
Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode
Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed
Overriding Autoexposure Results with Exposure Compensation
Holding on to Highlights
Disabling Auto Lighting Optimization
Locking Autoexposure Settings
Bracketing Exposures Automatically
Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes
6: Manipulating Focus and Color
Reviewing Focus Basics
Adjusting Autofocus Performance
Autofocusing in Live View Mode
Manipulating Depth of Field
Controlling Color
Choosing a Color Space: sRGB vs. Adobe RGB
Exploring Picture Styles
7: Putting It All Together
Recapping Basic Picture Settings
Setting Up for Specific Scenes
Coping with Special Situations
Part III : Working with Picture Files
8: Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Photos
Sending Pictures to the Computer
Using ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser
Exploring Other Software Options
Processing Raw (CR2) Files
9: Printing and Sharing Your Photos
Avoiding Printing Problems
Printing Online or In-Store
Printing from ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser
Preparing Pictures for E-Mail
Creating an In-Camera Slide Show
Viewing Your Photos on a Television
Part IV : The Part of Tens
10: Ten Fast Photo-Editing Tricks
Removing Red-Eye
Cropping Your Photo
Adjusting Color Saturation
Tweaking Color Balance
Adjusting Exposure
Sharpening Focus (Sort Of)
Shifting to AutoPilot
Adding Text
Saving Your Edited Files
11: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day
Changing the Function of the Set Button
Customizing Exposure and Focus Lock Options
Disabling the AF-Assist Beam
Enabling Mirror Lockup
Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images
Turning Off the Camera Settings Screen
Creating Desktop Wallpaper
Adding Original Decision Data
Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu
Getting Free Help and Creative Ideas
Introduction
In 2003, when Canon introduced the very first sub-$1000 digital SLR camera, the EOS Digital Rebel/300D, it revolutionized the camera scene. For the first time, photography enthusiasts could enjoy the benefits of digital SLR photography without breaking the bank. And even at the then-unheard-of price, the camera delivered exceptional performance and picture quality, earning it rave reviews and multiple industry awards. No wonder it quickly became a best seller.
That tradition of excellence and value lives on in the EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D, known in most circles (and in this book) as simply the Rebel XSi/450D. For an even lower price than its older brother, this baby offers the range of advanced controls that experienced photographers demand plus an assortment of tools designed to help beginners to be successful as well.
If you count yourself among the latter camp, you may have a few questions about how to take advantage of all the features your camera offers, however. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLRmeans or how it affects your picture taking, let alone have a clue as to all the other techie terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, white balance, file format, and so on. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode. Which is a shame because it’s sort of like buying a Porsche and never actually taking it on the road.
Therein lies the point of Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies: Through this book, you can discover not just what each bell and whistle on your camera does, but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.
In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Canon picture-taking powerhouse. Whether your interests lie in taking family photos, exploring nature and travel photography, or snapping product shots for your business, you’ll get the information you need to capture the images you envision.
A Quick Look at What’s Ahead
This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, I’ve also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore the topics that interest you in any order you please.
The following sections offer brief previews of each part. If you’re eager to find details on a specific topic, the index shows you exactly where to look.
Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps
Part I contains four chapters that help you get up and running with your Rebel XSi/450D:
Chapter 1, “Getting the Lay of the Land,” offers a tour of the external controls on your camera, shows you how to navigate camera menus to access internal options, and walks you through initial camera setup and customization steps.
Chapter 2, “Taking Great Pictures, Automatically,” shows you how to get the best results when using the camera’s fully automatic exposure modes, including Portrait, Sports, and Landscape modes.
Chapter 3, “Controlling Picture Quality,” introduces you to one setting that’s critical whether you shoot in automatic or manual mode: the Quality setting, which affects resolution (pixel count), file format, file size, and picture quality.
Chapter 4, “Monitor Matters: Picture Playback and Live View Shooting,” explains how to review your pictures on the camera monitor, delete unwanted images, and protect your favorites from accidental erasure. In addition, this chapter introduces you to Live View shooting, in which you can use your monitor as a viewfinder.
Part II: Taking Creative Control
Chapters in this part help you unleash the full creative power of your camera by moving into semiautomatic or manual photography modes.
Chapter 5, “Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting,” covers the all-important topic of exposure, starting with an explanation of three critical exposure controls: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. This chapter also discusses your camera’s advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP), explains exposure options such as metering mode and exposure compensation, and offers tips for using the built-in flash.
Chapter 6, “Manipulating Focus and Color,” provides help with controlling those aspects of your pictures. Look here for information about your camera’s automatic and manual focusing features as well as details about color controls such as white balance and the Picture Style options.
Chapter 7, “Putting It All Together,”summarizes all the techniques explained in earlier chapters, providing a quick-reference guide to the camera settings and shooting strategies that produce the best results for specific types of pictures: portraits, action shots, landscape scenes, close-ups, and more.
Part III: Working with Picture Files
This part of the book, as its title implies, discusses the often-confusing aspect of moving your pictures from camera to computer and beyond.
Chapter 8, “Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Photos,” guides you through the process of transferring pictures from your camera memory card to your computer’s hard drive or other storage device. Just as important, this chapter explains how to organize and safeguard your photo files.
Chapter 9, “Printing and Sharing Your Photos,” helps you turn your digital files into “hard copies,” covering both retail and do-it-yourself printing options. This chapter also explains how to prepare your pictures for online sharing and, for times when you have the neighbors over, how to display your pictures on a television screen.
Part IV: The Part of Tens
In famous For Dummies tradition, the book concludes with two “top ten” lists containing additional bits of information and advice.
Chapter 10, “Ten Fast Photo-Editing Tricks,” shows you how to fix less-than-perfect images using the free software provided with your camera. You can find out how to remove red-eye, adjust color and exposure, crop your photo, and more.
Chapter 11, “Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day,” presents information about some camera features that, while not found on most “Top Ten Reasons I Bought My Rebel XSi/450D” lists, are nonetheless interesting, useful on occasion, or a bit of both.
Icons and Other Stuff to Note
If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large, round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:
A Tip icon flags information that will save you time, effort, money, or some other valuable resource, including your sanity.
When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if ignored.
Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if I present a detail that is useful mainly for impressing your technology-geek friends, I mark it with this icon.
I apply this icon either to introduce information that is especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by some other pressing fact.
Additionally, I need to point out two other details that will help you use this book:
Other margin art: Replicas of some of your camera’s buttons, dials, controls, and menu graphics also appear in the margins of some paragraphs. I include these to provide a quick reminder of the appearance of the button or option being discussed.
If the information you see on your camera menus and other displays isn’t the same as what you see in this book, and you’ve explored other reasons for the discrepancy, a firmware update may be the issue. Firmware is the camera’s internal software; Chapter 1 shows you how to check which version your camera is running. This book was written using version 1.0.4 of the firmware, which was the most current at the time of publication. You can check the Canon Web site (www.canon.com) to find out whether any updates are available. Firmware updates typically don’t carry major feature changes — they’re mostly used to solve technical glitches in existing features — but if you do download an update, be sure to read the accompanying description of what it accomplishes so that you can adapt my instructions as necessary. (Again, changes that affect how you actually operate the camera should be minimal, if any.)
Software menu commands: In sections that cover software, a series of words connected by an arrow indicates commands that you choose from the program menus. For example, if a step tells you to “Choose File⇒Print,” click the File menu to unfurl it and then click the Print command on the menu.
About the Software Shown in This Book
Providing specific instructions for performing photo organizing and editing tasks requires that I feature specific software. In sections that cover file downloading, organizing, printing, and e-mail sharing, I selected Canon EOS Utility along with Canon ZoomBrowser EX (for Windows users) and ImageBrowser (for Mac users). These programs are part of the free software suite that ships with your camera.
Rest assured, though, that the tools used in these programs work very similarly in other programs, so you should be able to easily adapt the steps to whatever software you use. (I recommend that you read your software manual for details, of course.)
Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!
To wrap up this preamble, I want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff a little mind-boggling at first. So take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, each time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire.
I know that it’s hard to believe when you’re just starting out, but it really won’t be long before everything starts to come together. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.
So without further ado, I invite you to grab your camera, a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read, and start exploring the rest of this book. Your Rebel XSi/450D is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I thank you for allowing me, through this book, to serve as your tour guide.
Part I
Fast Track to Super Snaps
In this part . . .
Making sense of all the controls on your Rebel XSi/450D isn’t something you can do in an afternoon — or, heck, in a week, or maybe even a month. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take great pictures today. By using your camera’s point-and-shoot automatic modes, you can capture terrific images with very little effort. All you have to do is compose the scene, and the camera takes care of almost everything else.
This part shows you how to take best advantage of your camera’s automatic features and also addresses some basic setup steps, such as adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight and getting familiar with the camera menus, buttons, and dials. In addition, chapters in this part explain how to obtain the very best picture quality, whether you shoot in an automatic or manual mode, how to use your camera’s picture-playback features, and how to take advantage of Live View shooting.
1
Getting the Lay of the Land
In This Chapter
Attaching and using an SLR lens
Adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight
Working with camera memory cards
Getting acquainted with external camera controls
Using the camera menus and Camera Settings display
Deciphering viewfinder data
Customizing basic camera operations
I still remember the day that I bought my first SLR film camera. I was excited to finally move up from my one-button point-and-shoot camera, but I was a little anxious, too. My new pride and joy sported several unfamiliar buttons and dials, and the explanations in the camera manual clearly were written for someone with an engineering degree. And then there was the whole business of attaching the lens to the camera, an entirely new task for me. I saved up my pennies a long time for that camera — what if my inexperience caused me to damage the thing before I even shot my first pictures?
You may be feeling similarly insecure if your Rebel XSi/450D is your first SLR, although some of the buttons on the camera back may look familiar if you’ve previously used a digital point-and-shoot camera. If your Canon is both your first SLR and first digital camera, you may be doubly intimidated.
Trust me, though, that your camera isn’t nearly as complicated as its exterior makes it appear. With a little practice and the help of this chapter, which introduces you to each external control, you’ll quickly become as comfortable with your camera’s buttons and dials as you are with the ones on your car’s dashboard.
This chapter also guides you through the process of mounting and using an SLR lens, working with digital memory cards, and navigating your camera’s internal menus. Finally, the end of the chapter walks you through options that enable you to customize many aspects of your camera’s basic operation.
Getting Comfortable with Your Lens
One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and an SLR (single-lens reflex) camera is the lens. With an SLR, you can swap out lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from an extreme close-up lens to a super-long telephoto, for example. In addition, an SLR lens has a movable focusing ring that gives you the option of focusing manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism.
Of course, those added capabilities mean that you need a little background information to take full advantage of your lens. To that end, the next three sections explain the process of attaching, removing, and using this critical part of your camera.
Attaching a lens
Your camera can accept two categories of Canon lenses: those with a so-called EF-S design and those with a plain-old EF design.
The EF stands for electro focus; the S, for short back focus. And no, you don’t really need to remember that little detail — but you do need to make sure that if you buy a Canon lens other than the one sold with the camera, it carries either the EF or EF-S specification. (If you want to buy a non-Canon lens, check the lens manufacturer’s Web site to find out which lenses work with the Rebel XSi/450D.)
Whatever lens you choose, follow these steps to attach it to the camera body:
1.Remove the cap that covers the lens mount on the front of the camera.
2.Remove the cap that covers the back of the lens.
3.Locate the proper lens mounting index on the camera body.
A mounting index is simply a marker that tells you where to align the lens with the camera body when connecting the two. Your camera has two of these markers, one red and one white, as shown in Figure 1-1.
Which marker you use to align your lens depends on the lens type:
• Canon EF-S lens: Align the lens mounting index with the white square on the camera body.
• Canon EF lens: Align the lens mounting index with the red dot instead.
Figure 1-1: Which index marker you should use depends on the lens type.
If you buy a non-Canon lens, check the lens manual for help with this step.
4.Align the mounting index on the lens with the correct one on the camera body.
The lens also has a mounting index; Figure 1-2 shows the one that appears on the so-called “kit lens” — the EF-S 18–55mm IS (image stabilizer) zoom lens that Canon sells as a unit with the Rebel XSi/450D. If you buy a different lens, the index marker on the lens may be red or some other color, so again, check the lens instruction manual.
Figure 1-2: Place the lens in the lens mount with the mounting indexes aligned.
5.Keeping the mounting indexes aligned, position the lens on the camera’s lens mount.
When you do so, grip the lens by its back collar as shown in the figure.
6.Turn the lens in a clockwise direction until the lens clicks into place.
In other words, turn the lens toward the lens release button (see Figure 1-1), as indicated by the red arrow in Figure 1-2.
7.On a lens that has an aperture ring, set and lock the ring so the aperture is set at the highest f-number.
Check your lens manual to find out whether your lens sports an aperture ring and how to adjust it. (The Rebel XSi/450D kit lens doesn’t.) To find out more about apertures and f-stops, see Chapter 5.
Always attach (or switch) lenses in a clean environment to reduce the risk of getting dust, dirt, and other contaminants inside the camera or lens. Changing lenses on a sandy beach, for example, isn’t a good idea. For added safety, point the camera body slightly down when performing this maneuver, as shown in the figure; doing so helps prevent any flotsam in the air from being drawn into the camera by gravity. See Chapter 3 for tips on cleaning your lens.
Removing a lens
To detach a lens from the camera body, take these steps:
1.Locate the lens-release button on the front of the camera.
I labeled the button in Figure 1-1.
2.Grip the rear collar of the lens.
In other words, hold onto the stationary part of the lens that’s closest to the camera body.
3.Press the lens-release button while turning the lens away from the lens-release button.
You should feel the lens release from the mount at this point. Just lift the lens off the mount to remove it.
4.Place the rear protective cap onto the back of the lens.
If you aren’t putting another lens on the camera, cover the lens mount with the protective cap that came with your camera, too.
Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens
If you purchased the Rebel XSi/450D camera kit — that is, the body-and-lens combination put together by Canon — your lens offers a feature called image stabilization. On Canon lenses, this feature is indicated by the initials IS in the lens name.
Image stabilization attempts to compensate for small amounts of camera shake that are common when photographers handhold their cameras and use a slow shutter speed, a lens with a long focal length, or both. That camera movement during the exposure can produce blurry images. Although image stabilization can’t work miracles, it does enable most people to capture sharper handheld shots in many situations than they otherwise could.
However, when you use a tripod, image stabilization can have detrimental effects because the system may try to adjust for movement that isn’t actually occurring. Although this problem shouldn’t be an issue with most Canon IS lenses, if you do see blurry images while using a tripod, try setting the Stabilizer On/Off switch (shown in Figure 1-3) to Off. You also can save battery power by turning off image stabilization when you use a tripod. (Note that blurry images can result from causes other than camera shake; see Chapter 6 for help.)
If you use a non-Canon lens, the image stabilization feature may go by another name: anti-shake, vibration compensation, and so on. In some cases, the manufacturers may recommend that you leave the system turned on or select a special setting when you use a tripod, so be sure to check the lens manual for information.
Chapter 6 offers more tips on achieving blur-free photos, and it also explains focal length and its impact on your pictures. See Chapter 5 for an explanation of shutter speed.
Focusing and zooming the lens
Like any modern camera, digital or film, yours offers autofocusing capabilities, which you can explore in detail in Chapters 2 and 6. But with some subjects, autofocusing can be slow or impossible, which is why your camera also offers manual focusing. The process is quick and easy: You just turn the focusing ring on the lens until your subject comes into focus. To try it out, take these steps:
1.Locate the AF/MF switch on the side of the lens.
Figure 1-3 shows you the switch as it appears on the Rebel XSi/450D kit lens. The switch should be in a similar location on other Canon lenses; if you use a lens from another manufacturer, check the lens instruction manual.
Figure 1-3: Set the focusing switch to MF before turning the manual focus ring.
2.Set the switch to the MF position, as shown in the figure.
Don’t try to move the focusing ring with the switch set to the AF (autofocus) position; with some lenses, doing so can damage the lens.
3.While looking through the viewfinder, twist the focusing ring to adjust focus.
The focusing ring is at the far end of the lens barrel, as indicated in Figure 1-3.
If you have trouble focusing, you may be too close to your subject; every lens has a minimum focusing distance. (See Chapter 6 for more tips on focus issues.) You may also need to adjust the viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight; see the next section for details.
If you bought a zoom lens, a movable zoom barrel lies behind the focusing ring, as shown in Figure 1-3. To zoom in or out, just move that zoom barrel forward and backward.
The numbers on the zoom barrel, by the way, represent focal lengths. I explain focal lengths in Chapter 6. In the meantime, just note that when the lens is mounted on the camera, the number that’s aligned with the white focal-length indicator, labeled in Figure 1-3, represents the current focal length. In Figure 1-3, for example, the focal length is 18mm.
Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus
Perched on the top right edge of the viewfinder is a tiny black knob, officially called the dioptric adjustment control. I labeled the knob in Figure 1-4. With this control, you can adjust the magnification of the viewfinder to mesh with your eyesight.
Figure 1-4: Use the dioptric adjustment control to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.
If you don’t take this step, scenes that appear out-of-focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa.
Here’s how to make the necessary adjustment:
1.Remove the lens cap from the front of the lens.
2.Look through the viewfinder and concentrate on the focusing screen shown on the right side of Figure 1-4.
The focusing screen is the collective name assigned to the group of nine autofocus points that appear in the viewfinder — the little squares with the dots inside. I labeled one of the little guys in Figure 1-4. (The circle that surrounds the center autofocus point is related to exposure metering, a subject you can explore in Chapter 5.)
3.Rotate the dioptric adjustment knob until the autofocus points appear to be in focus.
Don’t worry about focusing the actual picture now; just pay attention to the autofocus points.
If your eyesight is such that you can’t get the autofocus points to appear sharp by using the dioptric adjustment control, you can buy an additional eyepiece adapter. This accessory, which you pop onto the eyepiece, just enables further adjustment of the viewfinder display. Prices range from about $15–30 depending on the magnification you need. Look for an adapter called an E-series dioptric adjustment lens.
One other note about the viewfinder: See that little black window underneath the viewfinder — the one labeled Display Off sensor in Figure 1-4? When you put your eye up to the viewfinder, the sensor tells the camera to turn off the monitor display, saving you the trouble of doing the job yourself. If the monitor doesn’t turn off automatically, the upcoming section “Setup Menu 1” tells you how to fix things; see the information related to the LCD Auto Off feature.
Keep in mind, too, that with the XSi/450D, you can opt to use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to frame and preview your shots.
Because many of the functions connected with Live View shooting are similar to those you use during picture playback, I cover both uses of your monitor together in Chapter 4. Chapters 5 and 6 spell out some additional details of setting exposure and focusing in Live View mode.
Working with Memory Cards
Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Your Rebel XSi/450D uses a specific type of memory card called an SD card (for Secure Digital), shown in Figures 1-5 and 1-6. Other card types — CompactFlash, Memory Stick, or any others — aren’t compatible with your camera. However, if you use SD cards in your cell phone, portable music player, or other device, you can use the same cards in your camera. Also, your camera can use the new, high-capacity SD cards, which carry the label SDHC, as well as plain old SD cards.
Figure 1-5: Insert the card with the label facing the camera back.
Figure 1-6: Avoid touching the gold contacts on the card.
Safeguarding your memory cards — and the images you store on them — requires just a few precautions:
Inserting a card: First, be sure that the camera is turned off. Then put the card in the card slot with the label facing the back of the camera, as shown in Figure 1-5. Push the card into the slot until it clicks into place.
Formatting a card: The first time you use a new memory card, take a few seconds to format it by choosing the Format option on Setup Menu 1. This step simply ensures that the card is properly prepared to record your pictures. See the upcoming section “Setup Menu 1” for details.
Removing a card: First, check the status of the memory card access light, labeled in Figure 1-5. After making sure that the light is off, indicating that the camera has finished recording your most recent photo, turn the camera off. Open the memory card door, as shown in Figure 1-5. Depress the memory card slightly until you hear a little click and then let go. The card should pop halfway out of the slot, enabling you to grab it by the tail and remove it.
Handling cards: Don’t touch the gold contacts on the back of the card. (See the left card in Figure 1-6.) When cards aren’t in use, store them in the protective cases they came in or in a memory card wallet. Keep cards away from extreme heat and cold as well.
Locking cards: The tiny switch on the left side of the card, labeled lock switch in Figure 1-6, enables you to lock your card, which prevents any data from being erased or recorded to the card. Press the switch toward the bottom of the card to lock the card contents; press it toward the top of the card to unlock the data.
Exploring External Camera Controls
Scattered across your camera’s exterior are a number of buttons, dials, and switches that you use to change picture-taking settings, review and edit your photos, and perform various other operations.
In later chapters, I discuss all of your camera’s functions in detail and provide the exact steps to follow to access those functions. This section provides just a basic road map to the external controls plus a quick introduction to each. You may want to put a sticky note or other bookmark on this page so that you can find it for easier reference later. (The cheat sheet at the front of the book offers a similar guide, albeit with less detail.)
With that preamble out of the way, the next three sections break down the external controls found on the top, back, and front-left side of the camera.
Topside controls
Your virtual tour begins on the top-right side of the camera, shown in Figure 1-7. There are six items of note here, as follows:
Figure 1-7: The tiny pictures on the Mode dial represent special automatic shooting modes.
On/Off switch: Okay, I’m pretty sure you already figured this one out, but just move the switch to On to fire up the camera and then back to Off to shut it down.
By default, the camera automatically shuts itself off after 30 seconds of inactivity to save battery power. To wake up the camera, just press the shutter button halfway; you don’t need to use the On/Off switch. You can adjust the auto shutdown timing via Setup Menu 1, covered later in this chapter.
Mode dial: Rotate this dial to select an exposure mode, which determines whether the camera operates in fully automatic, semi-automatic, or manual exposure mode. The little pictographs, or icons, on the dial represent Image Zone modes, which are automatic settings geared to specific types of photos: action shots, portraits, landscapes, and so on.
Canon uses the term Basic Zone to refer collectively to the Image Zone modes and Full Auto mode. (That’s the one represented by the green rectangle on the Mode dial.) The more advanced modes (P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP) get the label Creative Zone. I think that having all those zones can be a little confusing, especially because the modes in the Image Zone category are often referred to generically in photography discussions as creative scene mode or creative modes. So, just to help keep things a little simpler in this book, I use the generic terms fully automatic exposure modes to refer to all the Basic Zone modes and advanced exposure modes to refer to the Creative Zone modes. And note that none of the exposure modes affect focusing; you can use autofocus or manual focus in any of the exposure modes, as outlined earlier in this chapter.
Main dial: Just forward of the Mode dial, you see a black dial that has the official name Main dial. This dial plays such an important role in choosing camera settings that you’d think it might have a more auspicious name, but Main dial it is.
ISO button: You use this button, in conjunction with the Main dial, to adjust the camera’s ISO speed, which determines how sensitive the camera is to light. Chapter 5 details this critical exposure setting.
Shutter button: You probably already understand the function of this button, too. But check out Chapter 2 to discover the proper shutter-button-pressing technique — you’d be surprised how many people mess up their pictures because they press that button incorrectly.
Red-Eye Reduction/Self-Timer Lamp: When you set your flash to Red-Eye Reduction mode, this little lamp emits a brief beam of light prior to the real flash — the idea being that your subjects’ pupils will constrict in response to the light, thus lessening the chances of red-eye. If you use the camera’s self-timer feature, the lamp blinks to provide you with a visual countdown to the moment at which the picture will be recorded. See Chapter 2 for more details about Red-Eye Reduction flash mode and the self-timer function.
Back-of-the-body controls
Traveling over the top of the camera to its back side, you encounter a smorgasbord of buttons — 13, in fact, not including the viewfinder’s dioptric adjustment control, discussed earlier in this chapter. Figure 1-8 gives you a look at the layout of backside controls.
Figure 1-8: Having lots of external buttons makes accessing the camera’s functions easier.
Don’t let the abundance of buttons intimidate you. Having all of those external controls actually makes operating your camera easier. On cameras that have only a few external buttons, you have to dig through menus to access the camera features, which is a big pain in the keister. But on your camera, you can access almost every critical shooting setting via the external buttons. That’s a convenience you’ll come to appreciate after you familiarize yourself with all the camera options.
Also, as you look through this book, you may notice that the margins contain little representations of the buttons to help you locate the one being discussed. So even though I provide the official control names in the following list, don’t worry about getting all of those straight right now. The list I provide here is just to get you acquainted with the possibility of what you can accomplish with all of these features.
Do note, however, that many of the buttons have multiple names because they serve multiple purposes depending on whether you’re taking pictures, reviewing images, or performing some other function. In this book, I refer to these buttons by the first label you see in the following list just to simplify things. For example, I refer to the AF Point Selection/Enlarge button as the AF Point Selection button. Again, though, the margin icons help you know exactly which button I’m describing.
And here’s another tip: If the label or icon for a button is blue, it indicates a function related to viewing, printing, or downloading images. Labels that indicate a shooting-related function are either black or white, depending on whether the camera body is silver or black.
With that preamble out of the way, journey with me now over the camera back, starting at the top-right corner and working westward (well, assuming that your lens is pointing north, anyway):
AF Point Selection/Enlarge button: When you use certain advanced shooting modes, you use this button to specify which of the nine autofocus points you want the camera to use when establishing focus. Chapter 6 tells you more about this feature. But in Playback mode and in Live View mode, you use the button to magnify the image display (thus the plus sign in the button’s magnifying glass icon). See Chapter 4 for help with that function.
AE Lock/FE Lock/Index/Reduce button: As you can guess from the official name of this button, it serves many purposes. The first two are related to image capture functions: You use the button to lock in the autoexposure (AE) settings and to lock flash exposure (FE). Chapter 5 details both issues. Additionally, during Live View shooting, the button serves as the autofocus and autoexposure trigger, as explained in Chapter 6.
The button also serves two image-viewing functions: It switches the display to Index mode, enabling you to see multiple image thumbnails at once, and it also reduces the magnification of images when viewed in Single-Picture mode. Again, Chapter 4 explains all these monitor-related features.
Aperture/Exposure Compensation button: When you work in M (manual) exposure mode, you press this button and rotate the Main dial to choose the aperture setting, better known as the f-stop. In the other advanced exposure modes, you instead use the button and dial to adjust exposure compensation, a feature that enables you to adjust the exposure selected by the camera’s autoexposure mechanism. Chapter 5 discusses both issues.
White Balance/Print/Share button: Press this button to adjust the camera’s white balance setting, which is a feature you can use to adjust image colors. This button is also involved when you transfer images to your computer or print pictures directly from the camera. See Chapter 6 for details about white balance; check out Chapters 8 and 9 for information about image transfer and printing, respectively.
Set button and cross keys: The Set button and the four surrounding buttons, known as cross keys, team up to perform several functions, including choosing options from the camera menus. You use the cross keys to navigate through menus and then press the Set key to select a specific menu setting. (The later section, “Ordering from Camera Menus,” has the details.)
In this book, the instruction “Press the left cross key” just means to press the one that sports the left-pointing arrowhead. “Press the up cross key” means to press the one with the up-pointing arrowhead, and so on.
The cross keys and the Set button also have individual responsibilities, as follows:
• Press the Set button to switch to Live View display. You must first enable Live View through Setup Menu 2 and select one of the advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M, or A-DEP). See the end of Chapter 4 for details about using Live View.
• Press the right cross key to adjust the AF mode. This option controls the camera’s autofocus behavior, as outlined in Chapter 6.
• Press the left cross key to change the Drive mode. The Drive mode settings enable you to switch the camera from single-frame shooting to continuous capture or self-timer/remote-control shooting. See Chapter 2 for details.
• Press the down cross key to change the Picture Style. Chapter 6 explains Picture Styles, which you can use to adjust color, contrast, and sharpness of your pictures.
• Press the up cross key to change the exposure metering mode or to use the Jump feature during picture playback. The metering mode determines which area of the frame the camera uses when determining the correct exposure settings. Chapter 5 has details. The Jump feature enables you to “fast forward” through your images during playback; see Chapter 4 for specifics.
You can customize the functions of the Set button; Chapter 11 explains how. But while you’re working with this book, stick with the default setup, just described. Otherwise, the instructions I give in the book won’t work.
Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera into picture review mode. Chapter 4 details the camera’s playback features.
Erase button: Sporting a trash can icon, the universal symbol for delete, this button lets you erase pictures from your memory card. Chapter 4 has specifics. In Live View mode, also covered in Chapter 4, this button is involved in the focusing process.
Menu button: Press this button to access the camera menus. See the next section for details on navigating menus.
DISP button: The camera monitor turns on automatically when you press the shutter button halfway, press the Menu button, or press the Playback button. When you put your eye up to the viewfinder, the display automatically turns off. If the monitor doesn’t turn off or on as expected, press this button to kick it into or out of gear.
But that’s just the start of the DISP button’s tricks. If the camera menus are displayed, pressing the button takes you to the Camera Functions display, explained in the upcoming section “Monitoring Critical Camera Settings.” In Playback mode and Live View mode, pressing the button changes the picture-display style, as outlined in Chapter 4.
Front-left buttons
On the front-left side of the camera body, you find three more buttons, all labeled in Figure 1-9. One, the lens-release button, is key to taking the lens off the camera body, as discussed earlier in the chapter. The other two buttons work as follows:
Figure 1-9: Press the Flash button to bring the built-in flash out of hiding.
Flash button: Press this button to bring the camera’s built-in flash out of hiding when you use the advanced shooting modes. (In fully automatic modes, the camera pops up the flash without your help if it decides the flash light is needed.) Chapters 5 and 7 provide tips on flash photography.
Depth-of-Field Preview button: When you press this button, the image in the viewfinder offers an approximation of the depth of field that will result from your selected aperture setting, or f-stop. Depth of field refers to how much of the scene will be in sharp focus. Chapter 6 provides details on depth of field, which is an important aspect of your picture composition. Chapter 5 explains aperture and other exposure settings.
Ordering from Camera Menus
You access many of your camera’s features via internal menus, which, conveniently enough, appear when you press the Menu button, located atop the upper-left corner of the camera monitor. Features are grouped into seven main menus, described briefly in Table 1-1.
After you press the Menu button, a screen similar to the one shown on the left in Figure 1-10 appears. Along the top of the screen, you see the icons shown in Table 1-1, each representing one of the seven menus. The icon that is highlighted is the active menu; options on that menu automatically appear on the main part of the screen. In the figure, Shooting Menu 1 is active, for example.
Figure 1-10: Use the cross keys to navigate menus; press Set to access available settings.
Shooting Menu 2, Setup Menu 3, and My Menu do not appear in the menu display when you set the camera Mode dial to Full Auto or any of the other fully automatic exposure modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and so on). You see these menus only when you use the advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP). And some menu items on Setup Menu 2 are hidden in the fully automatic exposure modes.
I explain all the important menu options elsewhere in the book; for now, just familiarize yourself with the process of navigating menus and selecting options. Here’s the drill:
To select a different menu: Press the right or left cross keys or rotate the Main dial to cycle through the available menus.
To select and adjust a function on the current menu: Press the up or down cross key to highlight the feature you want to adjust. On the left side of Figure 1-10, the Quality option is highlighted, for example. Next, press the Set button. Settings available for the selected item then appear either right next to the menu item or on a separate screen, as shown on the right side of the figure. Either way, use the up and down cross keys to highlight your preferred setting and then press Set again to lock in your choice.
In this book, the instruction “Press the left cross key” simply means to press the cross key to the left of the Set button — the one marked with the left-pointing arrowhead. “Press the up cross key” means to press the cross key on the top side of the Set button, and so on.
Again, I present this information just as a general introduction, so don’t worry about memorizing it. I tell you exactly which button combos to use whenever I explain a function that you activate via the menus.
Monitoring Critical Camera Settings
As you advance in your photography and begin to move beyond the automatic exposure modes, you need a way to keep track of what camera settings are currently active. To that end, your camera offers the Camera Settings display, shown in Figure 1-11. By default, the display appears automatically when you turn on the camera and also when you depress the shutter button halfway — unless your eye is up to the viewfinder. In that case, the display is automatically turned off, but you can monitor some settings in the viewfinder, as explained in the next section. You also can turn the monitor display on and off by pressing the DISP button when no menus are active.
In Figure 1-11, you see an example of the settings that you can monitor in the advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP). In fully automatic modes, many of the settings are hidden to make the display simpler. Either way, if what you see looks like a big confusing mess to you now, don’t worry. Most of it won’t mean anything to you until you make your way through later chapters and explore all of the camera controls.
Figure 1-11: Press the shutter button halfway to activate the Camera Settings display.
The figure does label two key points of data that are helpful even in fully automatic modes, though: how many more pictures can fit on your memory card at the current settings and the status of the battery. A “full” battery icon like the one in the figure shows that the battery is fully charged; if the icon appears empty, go look for your battery charger.
In addition to the Camera Settings display, you can activate the Camera Function Settings display, shown in Figure 1-12. To display this screen, first display the camera menus by pressing the Menu button. Then press the DISP button.
Figure 1-12: Press the DISP button when the menus are active to view this screen.
Again, the items listed on the screen in the figure appear in the advanced exposure modes. The following list explains the settings that you can monitor, detailed from top to bottom in the order they appear on the screen. (The last three lines of the screen each display icons representing two different settings.)
Freespace: This value indicates how much storage space is left on your current camera memory card. How many pictures you can fit into that space depends on the Quality setting you select. Chapter 3 explains this issue.
Color Space: This value tells you whether the camera is currently capturing images in the sRGB or Adobe RGB color space, an advanced option that you can investigate in Chapter 6.
White Balance Shift/Bracketing: Add this to the list of advanced color options covered in Chapter 6.
Live View Shooting: Chapter 4 details this feature, which enables you to use your monitor instead of the viewfinder to compose your shots.
Auto Sensor Cleaning and Red-Eye Reduction flash mode: See “Setup Menu 2,” later in this chapter, for more about automatic sensor cleaning; check out Chapter 2 for information about red-eye reduction flash.
Auto Power Off and Auto Rotate Display: For information on both options, see the upcoming section, “Setup Menu 1.”
Beep and LCD Auto Off: The first setting determines whether the camera beeps at you after certain operations; you can adjust the setting via Shooting Menu 1, as explained later in this chapter. The second setting, covered in the section “Setup Menu 1,” controls whether the monitor turns off automatically when you put your eye to the viewfinder.
Date/Time: The section “Setup Menu 2” also explains how to adjust the date and time.
In the fully automatic exposure modes, the Color Space, White Balance Shift/Bracketing, and Live View Shooting status information doesn’t appear in this screen because you can’t use those features unless you switch to an advanced exposure mode.
Of course, with the exception of the free card space value, you also can simply go to the menu that contains the option in question to check its current status. The Camera Settings display and Camera Function Settings display just give you a quick way to monitor some of the critical functions without hunting through menus.
In addition, if you switch to Live View shooting, you also can display some of the same settings in the monitor preview, along with your image. Chapter 4, which introduces Live View shooting, shows you how to do so.
