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Getting the Lay of the Land
In This Chapter
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Attaching and using an SLR lens
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Adjusting the viewfinder focus
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Working with camera memory cards
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Getting acquainted with external camera controls
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Selecting options from menus
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Using the Shooting Settings and Quick Control displays
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Customizing basic camera operations
F
or many people, getting your first serious camera means moving from
a point and shoot to an SLR (single lens reflex) model. Like with
any growth spurt, the excitement of the move is often tempered
with a bit of anxiety. Sure, you'll be able to do lots of new
things with your dSLR (digital SLR), but along with that
newfound capability comes a barrage of new buttons,
knobs, LCD menus, and mechanical knickknacks.
Heck, this may be the first time you've even changed
a lens on a camera — a big step in itself.
If the Rebel T3/1100D is both your first SLR and
your first digital camera, you're getting something
of a double-whammy in the New Stuff department.
But fear not: With some practice and the help of
this chapter, which introduces you to each external
control, we explain in simple language how to adjust
camera settings and offer advice on a few setup options.
You'll get comfortable with your new camera quickly.
1
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Related Manuals for Canon Rebel T3/1100D
Summary of Contents for Canon Rebel T3/1100D
- Page 1 Heck, this may be the first time you’ve even changed a lens on a camera — a big step in itself. If the Rebel T3/1100D is both your first SLR and your first digital camera, you’re getting something of a double-whammy in the New Stuff department.
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Page 2: Attaching A Lens
And no, you don’t need to remember what the abbreviation stands for. Just 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. You get the best end of this deal because the T3/1100D is compatible with both new types of Canon lenses, whereas EF-compatible cameras can only fit the EF type lenses. - Page 3 — the EF-S 18–55mm IS (Image Stabilizer) zoom lens that Canon sells as a unit with the Rebel T3/1100D. If you buy a different lens, the index marker may be red or some other color, so again, check the lens instruction manual.
- Page 4 Using an IS (Image Stabilizer) lens The 18–55mm lens sold with the Rebel T3/1100D camera offers image stabili- zation. On Canon lenses, this feature is indicated by the initials IS in the lens name.
- Page 5 This switch sets the focus operation to either auto (AF) or manual (MF). Figure 1-3 shows you the switch as it appears on the Rebel T3/1100D kit lens. The switch should be in a similar location on other Canon lenses.
- Page 6 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Focusing ring Focal length (zoom) indicator Zoom ring Auto/Manual focus switch Image Stabilizer switch Figure 1-3: Image Stabilization can help ensure sharper handheld shots. 2. Look through the viewfinder and twist the focusing ring until your subject comes into focus.
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Page 7: Adjusting The Viewfinder Focus
Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land close-focus range is about 10 inches; for other lenses, check the specifi- cations in the lens manual.) You also may need to adjust the viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight; see the next section for details. Some lenses enable you to use autofocusing to set the initial focusing point and then fine-tune focus manually. -
Page 8: Using The Lcd Monitor
Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight is critical: If you don’t, scenes that appear out of focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa. Follow these steps to adjust your viewfinder: 1. - Page 9 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land Shooting settings displayed Shooting settings displayed in Full Auto mode in Aperture-priority AE mode Photo playback Movie made (zoomed in) (during shooting) Figure 1-5: The monitor is one of the most important parts of the camera. ✓...
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Page 10: Working With Memory Cards
Working with Memory Cards Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Your Rebel T3/1100D uses a specific type of memory card — an SD (Secure Digital) card, shown in Figures 1-6 and 1-7. You can also use high-capacity SD cards, which carry the label SDHC and come in capacities ranging from 4–32GB (gigabytes), and extended-capacity (SDXC) cards, which... - Page 11 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land ✓ 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 ensures that the card is properly prepared to record your pic- tures.
- Page 12 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Flash button Main dial Shutter button Focal plane indicator Flash hot shoe Mode dial Figure 1-8: The tiny pictures on the Mode dial represent special automatic shooting modes. The items of note here are ✓...
- Page 13 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land ✓ Main dial: Just forward of the Mode dial, you see a black dial that has the official name Main dial. You use this dial when selecting many camera settings. (Specifics are provided throughout the book.) In fact, this dial plays such an important role that you’d think it might have a more auspicious name, but Main dial it is.
- Page 14 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Speaker AF Point Selection AE Lock Set button and cross keys Figure 1-9: Having lots of external buttons makes accessing the camera’s functions easier. Throughout this book, pictures of some of these buttons appear in the mar- gins to help you locate the button being discussed.
- Page 15 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land button as the AF Point Selection button. Again, though, the margin icons help you know exactly which button is being described. 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.
- Page 16 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps ✓ Quick Control/Direct Print button: You press this button to display the Quick Control screen, which gives you one way to adjust picture set- tings. As for the Direct Print button, it’s used to print directly from the camera to a compatible printer.
- Page 17 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land ✓ Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera into picture- review mode. Chapter 5 details playback features. ✓ Menu button: Press this button to access the camera menus. See the next section for details on navigating menus.
- Page 18 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps ✓ Lens release button: Press this button to disengage the lens from the lens mount so that you can remove it from the camera. See the first part of this chapter for details on mounting and removing lenses. ✓...
- Page 19 AC power adapter. When open, the AC adapter power cord snakes through this hole cover and down into the battery compartment where it connects to a power coupler. Canon sells the adapter for about $65. See the camera manual for specifics on running the camera on AC power.
- Page 20 Playback menus have a blue symbol; and the My Menu icon is green. (Chapter 11 explains the My Menu feature, through which you can create your own, custom menu.) Table 1-1 Rebel T3/1100D Menus Symbol Open This Menu To Access These Functions...
- Page 21 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land Symbol Open This Menu To Access These Functions Setup Menu 3* Custom Functions, Copyright Embedding, firmware information, and options for resetting camera functions to factory defaults My Menu* User-customized menu setup Movie Menu 1** Movie exposure and focusing options Movie Menu 2** More movie settings, including recording...
- Page 22 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps We explain all the important menu options elsewhere in the book; for now, just familiarize yourself with the process of navigating menus and selecting options. After pressing the Menu button to display the menus, use these techniques: ✓...
- Page 23 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land If you’re running low and don’t have a charger or a spare battery handy, you can preserve the last few bits of battery juice by turning off the features that are the biggest power hogs: the monitor, image stabilization, and flash. Also avoid keeping the shutter button pressed halfway for long periods because the exposure and focusing processes that are activated with a half-press also consume battery power.
- Page 24 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Figure 1-14: Pressing a control button either activates the highlighted setting (left) or takes you to a screen of available settings (right). Taking advantage of the Quick Control screen The Quick Control screen enables you to change certain shooting settings without using the control buttons (for example, the Exposure Compensation button) or menus.
- Page 25 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 3. Press the cross keys to move the highlight over the setting you want to adjust. When you first choose a setting, a little text tip reminds you of the pur- pose of the active setting, as shown on the right in Figure 1-15. If you find the text tips annoying, you can get rid of them by disabling the Feature Guide option on Setup Menu 2.
- Page 26 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps The viewfinder data changes depending on what action you’re undertak- ing and what exposure mode you’re using. For example, if you set the Mode dial to Tv (for shutter-priority autoexposure), you see the basic set of data shown in Figure 1-17: shutter speed, f-stop (aperture setting), Exposure Compensation setting, and ISO setting.
- Page 27 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land While you’re looking through the viewfinder, you can adjust some shoot- ing settings by using the Main dial alone or in conjunction with the function buttons, as you do with the Shooting Settings screen. For example, if you’re working in one of the advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, M, or A-DEP) and press the up cross key (which serves as the ISO button), all data but the cur- rent ISO setting dims, and you can then rotate the Main dial to change the...
- Page 28 Reviewing Basic Setup Options One of the many advantages of investing in the Rebel T3/1100D is that you can customize its performance to suit the way you like to shoot. Later chap- ters explain options related to actual picture taking, such as those that affect flash behavior and autofocusing.
- Page 29 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land happens after 30 seconds, but you can change the shutdown delay to 1, 2, 4, 8, or 15 minutes. Or you can disable auto shutdown altogether by selecting the Off setting, although even at that setting, the monitor still turns itself off if you ignore the camera for 30 minutes.
- Page 30 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Beware of one gotcha that applies both to the Continuous and Auto Reset options: If you swap memory cards and the new card already contains images, the camera may pick up numbering from the last image on the new card, which throws a monkey wrench into things.
- Page 31 Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land If you take this step, what you see on the display may not be an accurate rendition of the actual exposure of your image. Crank up the monitor bright- ness, for example, and an under- exposed photo may look just fine.
- Page 32 Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps Keeping the date/time accurate is important because that information is recorded as part of the image file. In your photo browser, you can then see when you shot an image and (equally handy) search for images by the date they were taken.
- Page 33 Metadata is invisible text data that doesn’t appear on the photo itself but can be read in many photo-viewer programs. Chapter 6 shows you how to view the metadata in the free Canon software that ships with your camera.
- Page 34 According to Canon, the proper pro- two different names— EOS Rebel T3 and EOS nunciation is EE-ohs, which is also how you 1100D. What gives? The answer is that Canon pronounce the name Eos, the goddess of dawn assigns different names to a single camera in Greek mythology.