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. Additionally, 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...
Viewing and Adjusting Camera Settings
You've no doubt already deduced that your Rebel T1i 500D is loaded with options. It also gives you several ways to monitor the current settings and to adjust them if needed. The next sections provide just a quick introduction to viewing and changing settings in later chapters, I explain and illustrate exactly how and where to access individual options. Note, too, that the information here relates to regular shooting modes if you switch to Live View or Movie mode, things work differently. You...
CloseUp mode
Switching to Close-Up mode doesn't enable you to focus at a closer distance to your subject than normal as it does on some non-SLR cameras. The close-focusing capabilities of your camera depend entirely on the lens you use. But choosing Close-Up mode does tell the camera to try to select an aperture f-stop setting that results in a short depth of field, which blurs background objects so that they don't compete for attention with your main subject. I used this setting to capture the orchid in...
Decoding the Quality Options
- Your camera's Quality setting determines both the image resolution and file format of the pictures you shoot. To access the control, you can go two routes Quick Control screen After displaying the Shooting Settings screen, press Set to shift to Quick Control mode and use the cross keys to highlight the Quality icon, as shown on the left screen in Figure 3-2. You can then rotate the Main dial to cycle through the available Quality settings. Or, if you prefer, press Set to display the screen...
Peripheral illumin correct Redeye OnOff Off
Figure 2-6 Turn Red-Eye Reduction flash mode on and off via Shooting Menu 1. The viewfinder and Shooting Settings display don't offer any indication that Red-Eye Reduction is enabled. But you can check the setting by pressing the Menu button and then the DISP button. The Camera Settings display appears look for the little eyeball icon and the word On or Off, as shown in Figure 2-7. After you press the shutter button halfway in Red-Eye Reduction flash mode, a row of vertical bars appears in the...
Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus
Perched on the top-right edge of the viewfinder is a tiny black knob, labeled in Figure 1-4. Officially known as a dioptric adjustment control, this knob enables you to adjust the magnification of the viewfinder to mesh with your eyesight. Viewfinder adjustment knob Autofocus point Viewfinder adjustment knob Autofocus point Figure 1-4 Use the little knob to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight. Figure 1-4 Use the little knob to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight. Adjusting the...
Rotate the Main dial
The camera jumps to the next image. How many images you advance, and whether you see movies as well as still photos, depends on the Jump mode you select. If you select any Jump setting but 1 Image, a jump bar appears at the bottom of the monitor, as shown in Figure 4-5, indicating the current Jump setting. If you want to view the bar in 1 Image mode, press the up cross key. After the bar appears, you can change the Jump setting without having to return to Playback Menu 2. Instead, just press...
Press the right cross key to highlight Erase and then press the Set button
Figure 4-20 Highlight Erase and press Set to delete the current image. Figure 4-20 Highlight Erase and press Set to delete the current image. Your picture is zapped into digital oblivion. If you accidentally erase a picture, don't panic you may be able to restore it by using data-restoration software. One memory card manufacturer, SanDisk, even provides this type of software free with some of its memory cards. You also can buy stand-alone programs such as MediaRecover 30, www.mediarecover.com...
Considering Resolution Large Medium or Small
To decide upon a Quality setting, the first decision you need to make is how many pixels you want your image to contain. Pixels are the little square tiles from which all digital images are made the word pixel is short for picture element. You can see some pixels close up in the right image in Figure 3-4, which shows a greatly magnified view of the eye area in the left image. Figure 3-4 Pixels are the building blocks of digital photos. Figure 3-4 Pixels are the building blocks of digital...