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Canon EOS Rebel T3/1100D

1. Elements Organizer Photo Downloader ix Source Save Options Get Photos from Canon EOS T3 vi Location 27 Files Displayed 27 Selected 468 8M8 03 24 2011 05 15 2011 Cl My Picturest S subfolders Create Subfolder s show B IN 4 a Shot Date yyyy mm dd yj Rename Files Do not rename files v 05 15 2011 1 20 PM 05 15 2011 1 20 FM tsi E MG 9126 CR2 E T v Advanced Options MG 9126 pg C Automatically Fix Red Eyes C Automatically Suggest Photo Stacks 7 Make Group Custom Name a Tag C Import into Album After Copying Do Not Delete Originals v Y Apply Metadata Template to Use Bask Metadata x Creator I Copyright 04 19 2011 4 46 PM Eg 04 09 2011 3 30 PM fz MVI 9125 MOV M6 9123 CR2 04 19 2011 4 46 PM A 04 09 2011 3 30 PM A 04 02 2011 2 01 AM A MVI_9125 MOv _MG_9123 CR2 M6 9122 pg E W che 4 Uncheck all Figure 12 13 Photoshop Elements Organizer allows you to download all images or select the pho tos you want to copy to your computer and apply some options such as new filenames or red eye fixes automatically Figure 12 14 The down loader s confir mation dialog box shows the progress as images are transferred Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 333 produce a dialog box that allows you to select which images to download from the mem ory card by marking their thumbnails with a
2. WARNING Use a fully charged battery or Canon s optional ACK E8 AC adapter kit to ensure that you ll have enough power to operate the camera for the entire upgrade Moreover you should not turn off the camera while your old firmware is being overwritten Don t open the memory card door or do anything else that might disrupt operation of the T3 while the firmware is being installed 346 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Download the firmware from Canon you ll find it in the Downloads section of the Support portion of Canon s website and place it on your computer s hard drive The firmware is contained in a self extracting file for either Windows or Mac OS It will have a name such as T3000101 fir 2 In your camera format a memory card Choose Format from the Set up menu and initialize the card make sure you dont have images you want to keep before you do this 3 You can copy the upgrade software to the card either using a memory card reader or by connecting the camera to your computer with a USB cable and using the EOS Utility application furnished with your camera and described in the next section The Firmware Version entry in the Set up 3 menu will remind you that a memory card containing the firmware is required before you can proceed 4 Insert the memory card in the camera and then turn the camera on With the T3 set to any mode other than Creative Auto or Full Au
3. of light in shaping an image Rembrandt was a master of using light to create moods and reveal the character of his subjects Artist Thomas Kinkade s official tagline is Painter of Light The late Dean Collins co founder of Finelight Studios revolution ized how a whole generation of photographers learned and used lighting Photo guru Ed Pierce has a popular seminar called Captivated by the Light It s impossible to underestimate how the use of light adds to and how misuse can detract from your photographs All forms of visual art use light to shape the finished product Sculptors don t have con trol over the light used to illuminate their finished work so they must create shapes using planes and curved surfaces so that the form envisioned by the artist comes to life from a variety of viewing and lighting angles Painters in contrast have absolute con trol over both shape and light in their work as well as the viewing angle so they can use both the contours of their two dimensional subjects and the qualities of the light they use to illuminate those subjects to evoke the image they want to produce Photography is a third form of art The photographer may have little or no control over the subject other than posing human subjects but can often adjust both viewing angle and the nature of the light source to create a particular compelling image The direc tion and intensity of the light sources create the shapes and
4. ers were bigger and brighter than they are today special focusing screens magnifiers and other gadgets were often used to help the photographer achieve correct focus Imagine what it must have been like to focus manually under demanding fast moving conditions such as sports photography I don t have to imagine it I did it for many years I started my career as a sports pho tographer and then traveled the country as a roving photojournalist for more years than I like to admit Okay eighteen years You forced it out of me Indeed I was a hold out for manual focus right through the film era even as AF lenses became the norm and 102 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography autofocus systems in cameras were gradually perfected I purchased my first autofo cus lens back in 2004 at the same time I switched from non SLR digital cameras and my film cameras to digital SLR models Manual focusing was problematic because our eyes and brains have poor memory for correct focus which is why your eye doctor must shift back and forth between sets of lenses and ask Does that look sharper or was it sharper before in determining your correct prescription Similarly manual focusing involves jogging the focus ring back and forth as you go from almost in focus to sharp focus to almost focused again The lit tle clockwise and counterclockwise arcs decrease in size until you ve zeroed in on the point of cor
5. Because depending on your proclivities you might not need to set exposure manually very often you should still make sure you understand how it works Fortunately the Rebel T3 makes setting exposure manually very easy Just set the Mode Dial to M turn the Main Dial to set the shutter speed and hold down the Av button while rotating the Main Dial to adjust the aperture Press the shutter release halfway or press the AE lock button and the exposure scale in the viewfinder shows you how far your chosen setting diverges from the metered exposure Adjusting Exposure with ISO Settings Another way of adjusting exposures is by changing the ISO sensitivity setting Sometimes photographers forget about this option because the common practice is to set the ISO once for a particular shooting session say at ISO 100 or 200 for bright sun light outdoors or ISO 800 when shooting indoors and then forget about ISO The reason for that is that ISOs higher than ISO 100 or 200 are seen as bad or necessary evils However changing the ISO is a valid way of adjusting exposure settings partic ularly with the Canon EOS Rebel T3 which produces good results at ISO settings that create grainy unusable pictures with some other camera models Indeed I find myself using ISO adjustment as a convenient alternate way of adding or subtracting EV when shooting in Manual mode and as a quick way of choosing equiv alent exposures when in Auto or semi automati
6. Canon offers a broad range of accessory electronic flash units for the Rebel T3 They can be mounted to the flash accessory shoe or used off camera with a dedicated cord that plugs into the flash shoe to maintain full communications with the camera for all special features Non dedicated flash units such as studio flash can be connected using a PC terminal adapter mounted in the accessory shoe They range from the Speedlite 580EX II see Figure 11 17 which can correctly expose subjects up to 24 feet away at f 11 and ISO 200 to the 270EX which is good out to 9 feet at f 11 and ISO 200 You ll get greater ranges at even higher ISO settings of course There are also two elec tronic flash units specifically for specialized close up flash photography Canon SPEEDLITE SBOEX Il Figure 11 17 The Canon Speedlite 580EX II is the most powerful shoe mount flash Canon offers Chapter 11 m Working with Light 307 Speedlite 580 EX Il This flagship of the Canon accessory flash line and most expensive at about 450 is the most powerful unit the company offers with a GN of 190 and a manual automatic zoom flash head that covers the full frame of lenses from 24mm wide angle to 105mm telephoto There s a flip down wide angle diffuser that spreads the flash to cover a 14mm lens s field of view too All angle specifications given by Canon refer to full frame sensors but this flash unit automatically converts its field of view
7. 2 Set lens to autofocus Make sure the focus switch on the lens is set to AE Activate Live View Press the Start Stop button 3 Face detection If you ve selected Face Detection using the AF button or Quick Control screen a frame will appear around a face found in the image See Figure 6 4 If more than one face is found a frame with notches that look like ears appears In that case use the cross keys to move the frame to the face you want to use for focus If no face is detected the AF point will be displayed and focus will be locked into the center Troubleshoot if necessary If you experience problems in Live Face Detection mode press down on the AF button or use the Quick Control screen to toggle between modes Face Detection is far from perfect The AF system may fail to find a face if the person s visage is too large small or light dark in the frame tilted or located near an edge of the picture It may classify a non face as a face If you switch to Live mode you can always select another AF point and press the cross keys but ton again to toggle back to Live Face Detection mode Press and hold the shutter release halfway When focus is achieved the AF point turns green and you ll hear a beep If the T3 is unable to focus the AF point turns orange instead Take picture Press the shutter release all the way down to take the picture 122 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital
8. Figure 8 33 Most of the set tings on the Shooting 4 menu involve Live View functions Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 209 Playback 1 amp 2 Menu Options The two blue coded Playback menus are where you select options related to the display review and printing of the photos you ve taken The choices you ll find include m Protect images m Image jump with Main Dial m Rotate m Slide show m Erase images m Rating m Print order m Ctrl over HDMI m Histogram Protect Images This is the first of four entries in Playback 1 menu see Figure 8 34 If you want to keep an image from being accidentally erased either with the Erase button or by using the Erase Images menu entry you can mark that image for protection To protect one or more images press the MENU button while viewing an image and choose Protect Images Then select from the following options m Select images m All images on card m All images in folder m Unprotect all images on card m Unprotect all images in folder If you choose the first option you can view and select individual images by pressing the SET button when they are displayed on the screen A key icon will appear at the upper edge of the information display while still in the protection screen and when review ing that image later see Figure 8 35 To remove protection repeat the process You can scroll among the other images on your memory card and protect unprotect them
9. For Index prints you can only specify whether the selected image is included in the index print not the number of copies Press SET to confirm You can then use the cross keys to select additional images Press MENU when finished selecting to return to the Print Order screen 7 Output your hardcopies If the camera is linked to a PictBridge compatible printer an additional option appears on the Print Order screen Print You can select that optionally adjust paper Settings as described in the previous section and start the printing process Alternately you can exit the Print Order screen by tapping the shutter release button remove the memory card and insert it in the memory card slot of a compatible printer retailer kiosk or digital minilab Using the Supplied Software Your Canon EOS T3 came with software programs on CD for both Windows PCs and Macs Pop the CD into your computer and it will self install a selection of these useful applications and utilities Manuals for all these programs are included on a separate CD but here s a summary of what you get on the EOS Digital Solutions disc EOS Utility Both Windows and Mac versions are provided for this useful program It serves as com mand center for several useful functions all available from the main control panel shown in Figure 12 5 Using the Control Camera panel you can jump to modules that download images to either Digital Photo Professional or ZoomBrowser EX cha
10. Portrait Close up and Night Portrait modes and is disabled when using Auto No Flash Landscape and Sports modes The flash can be popped up manually when using Creative Auto and any of the Creative Zone modes A DEP P Tv Av or M See Figure 3 4 m Flash button This button located o7 top of the camera but mentioned here releases the built in flash in Creative Zone and Creative Auto modes so it can flip up and start the charging process see Figure 3 4 upper right If you decide you do not want to use the flash you can turn it off by pressing the flash head back down This button can be reprogrammed to produce the ISO screen using Custom Function C Fn IV 09 as described in Chapter 9 If you redefine this button you can still raise the built in flash using the Quick Control screen described later in this chapter The main feature on the side of the Rebel T3 is a rubber cover see Figure 3 5 that pro tects the three connector ports underneath from dust and moisture plus one of two neck strap mounts the other is on the other side of the camera 44 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 5 F STABILIZER ONI r OFF Neck strap i mount Terminal cover Figure 3 6 Remote control terminal USB AV port HDMI port Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 45 The three connectors shown in Figure 3 6 are as follows Remote control terminal You can plug various Cano
11. That is it locks in a focus point when you partially depress the shutter but ton One Shot mode but switches automatically to AI Servo if the subject begins to move This mode is handy when photographing a subject such as a child at quiet play which might move unexpectedly The Flash Off Basic Zone mode uses this focus method Selecting a Focus Point The Canon EOS Rebel T3 uses nine different focus points to calculate correct focus In A DEP or any of the Basic Zone shooting modes the focus point is selected auto matically by the camera In the other Creative Zone modes you can allow the camera to select the focus point automatically or you can specify which focus point should be used There are several methods to set the focus point manually You can press the AF point selection button on the back of the camera it s in the upper right corner marked with a grid like icon and choose a zone from the AF point selection screen that pops up Press the SET button to toggle between automatic focus point selection the camera does it for you or manual focus point selection you need to specify the point your self In manual selection mode the cross keys are used to highlight the point you want to use or you can rotate the Main Dial to cycle highlighting among the available points See Figure 2 6 Press the AF point selection button again or just tap the shutter release button to confirm your choice and exit Or you can loo
12. and the two lower reso lution RAW formats They all allow stretching the capacity of your memory card so you 12M 4272x2848 147 dL 4M 4M 4S1 4S1 SYANS RAW Ea B SET MEO Figure 8 2 Choose your resolution JPEG compres sion and file format from this screen Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 169 can shoehorn quite a few more pictures onto a single memory card That can come in useful when on vacation and you re running out of storage or when you re shooting non critical work that doesn t require full resolution The Small 2 and Small 3 settings can be useful for photos taken for real estate listings web page display photo ID cards or similar non critical applications For most work using lower resolution and extra compression is often false economy You never know when you might actually need that extra bit of picture detail Your best bet is to have enough memory cards to handle all the shooting you want to do until you have the chance to transfer your photos to your computer or a personal storage device However reduced image quality can sometimes be beneficial if you re shooting sequences of photos rapidly as the T3 is able to hold more of them in its internal mem ory buffer before transferring to the memory card Still for most sports and other appli cations youd probably rather have better sharper pictures than longer periods of continuous shooting JPEG vs RAW You ll som
13. ated the vignetting a little to make it more evident on the printed page Keep in mind that the amount of correction available with Digital Photo Pro can be a little more intense than that applied in the camera In addition the higher the ISO speed the less correction is applied If you see severe vignetting with a particular lens focal length or ISO setting you might want to turn off this feature shoot RAW and apply correction using DPP instead When you select this menu option from the Shooting 1 menu the screen shown in Figure 8 7 appears The lens currently attached to the camera is shown along with a notation whether correction data needed to brighten the corners is already registered in the cam era Information about 20 of the most popular lenses is included in the T3 s firmware If so you can use the cross keys to choose Enable to activate the feature or Disable to turn it off Press the SET button to confirm your choice Note that in camera correction must be specified before you take the photo so that the magical DIGIC 4 processing engine can lighten the corners of your photo before it is saved to the memory card If your lens is not registered in the camera you can remedy that deficit using the EOS Utility also described in Chapter 12 Just follow these steps 1 Link up your camera Connect your T3 to your computer using the USB cable supplied with the camera 2 Launch the EOS Utility Load the utility and click on C
14. be the solution you are looking for To use high speed sync using the 580EX II as an example just follow these steps 1 Attach the flash Mount connect the external flash on the T3 using the hot shoe or a cable HSS cannot be used with a flash linked through an adapter that pro vides a PC Xterminal 2 Power up Turn the flash and camera on 3 Check C Fn I 02 To use HSS this Custom Function must be set to 0 Auto Otherwise the T3 will not allow you to choose a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second 4 Select HSS in the camera Set the External Flash Function Setting in the camera to HSS as the T35 sync mode m Choose Flash Control in the Shooting 1 menu m Select External Flash Func Setting m Navigate to the Shutter Sync Entry press SET and choose Hi Speed Press SET again to confirm Choose HSS on the flash Activate HSS FP flash on your attached external flash With the 580EX II press the High speed sync button on the back of the flash unit its the second from the right under the LCD See Figure 11 16 6 Confirm HSS is active The HSS icon will be displayed on the flash units LCD at the upper left side with the 580EX II and at bottom left in the T3 s viewfinder If you choose a shutter speed of 1 200th second or slower the indicator will not appear in the viewfinder as HSS will not be used at slower speeds MA Figure 11 16 Activate high speed sync on the flash Chapter 11 m Workin
15. built in flash 43 AF assist lamp with 293 295 in Basic Zone modes 32 291 292 basics of 291 296 in Creative Zone modes 32 33 292 293 E TTL II mode for 179 180 298 299 evaluative metering for 180 FE lock button with 295 FEV flash exposure compensation for 180 295 299 Flash Control menu settings 179 180 298 299 ISO sensitivity with 31 32 293 range of 293 red eye reduction with 177 178 293 Shooting menu options 179 180 sync speed for 180 298 299 working with 31 33 bulb blowers for sensor cleaning 362 363 for vestibule cleaning 359 bulb mode 148 built in flash in 293 C cables See also USB cables HDMI cables 10 calibrating monitors for color 189 190 camera function settings 57 58 camera shake See also image stabilization short exposures and 146 147 with telephoto lenses 268 with wide angle lenses 263 Canon EOS Rebel T3 back view of 45 51 bottom view of 53 front view of 40 45 top view of 51 53 capacitors 286 Captivated by the Light Pierce 275 Capture One Pro C1 Pro PhaseOne 333 336 card readers for transferring images to computer 35 36 332 333 Carson MiniBrite magnifiers 365 366 cascades blurring 150 151 CCD sensors 90 CDs EOS Digital Solution Disc CD 8 full instruction manual CD 9 software instruction manual CD 8 center weighted metering 26 74 75 chromatic aberration with telephoto lenses 268 269 with wide angle le
16. business of operating the camera hap pens behind it where the photographer resides The front of the T3 actually has very Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 41 few controls and features to worry about Six of them are readily visible in Figures 3 1 and 3 2 Figure 3 2 Main Dial Shutter release Hand grip m DC power port You ll find an opening to connect the cable from the DC power pack under this small rubber door in the side of the camera m Hand grip This provides a comfortable hand hold and also contains the T3 s bat tery m Shutter release Angled on top of the hand grip is the shutter release button Press this button down halfway to lock exposure and focus in One Shot mode and AI Focus with nonmoving subjects The T3 assumes that when you tap or depress the shutter release you are ready to take a picture so the release can be tapped to acti vate the exposure meter or to exit from most menus m Main Dial This dial is used to change shooting settings When settings are avail able in pairs such as shutter speed aperture this dial will be used to make one type of setting such as shutter speed The other setting say the aperture is made using an alternate control such as spinning the Main Dial while holding down an addi tional button like the exposure compensation button which resides conveniently under the thumb on the back of the camera Red eye e reduction self timer lamp M
17. but with less contrast Similar to films in the pre digital age that were intended for studio portraiture Snapshot Portrait This is another translucent skin style but with increased con trast with enhanced contrast indoors or out m Nostalgia This style adds an amber tone to your images while reducing the satu ration of blue and green tones m Clear This style adds contrast for what Canon says is additional depth and clarity m Twilight Adds a purple tone to the sky just before and after sunset or sunrise m Emerald Emphasizes blues and greens m Autumn Hues Increases the richness of browns and red tones seen in Fall colors Dust Delete Data This menu choice is the first of two that appear in the Shooting 3 menu See Figure 8 31 It lets you take a picture of any dust or other particles that may be adhering to your sensor The T3 will then append information about the location of this dust to your photos so that the Digital Photo Professional software can use this reference information to identify dust in your images and remove it automatically You should capture a Dust Delete Data photo from time to time as your final line of defense against sensor dust To use this feature select Dust Delete Data to produce the screen shown in Figure 8 32 Select OK and press the SET button The camera will first perform a self cleaning oper ation by applying ultrasonic vibration to the low pass filter that resides on top
18. camera functions display 58 Playback menu options 209 210 rubber covers for connector ports 43 44 rule of thirds grids See grids 400 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography S saturation Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 340 as Picture Style parameter 193 saving Picture Styles 202 Scene modes 6 See also specific modes in Live View 124 Scotch Brand Magic Tape for cleaning sensors 366 Screen color options Set up menu 224 second curtain sync 286 290 for built in flash 180 298 299 for external flash 181 300 ghost images and 287 288 Select folder option Set up menu 223 224 self timer in Basic Zone modes 99 working with 30 31 153 self timer lamp 41 42 Sensor Brush 363 sensor cleaning 355 360 366 air cleaning 361 363 brush cleaning 361 363 364 Dust Delete Data feature Shooting menu 205 207 liquid cleaning 361 364 365 manual cleaning option Set up menu 227 mirror placement for 361 shutter placement for 361 tape cleaning 361 366 SensorKlear magnifier 365 sensors See also focus points sensor cleaning APS C sensors 252 crop factor and 243 245 focal plane for 52 light captured by 66 long exposure noise and 90 sepia ambience 99 toning effect 198 200 series of lenses 254 SET button 18 19 47 Custom Function assignments 235 236 as DOF depth of field preview button 47 236 set up final set up 13 19 initial setup 11
19. color tone EV compensation and other settings You can also control noise reduction choosing from low normal or high reduction evaluate your changes in the live preview and then save the file as a compressed JPEG or as either an 8 bit or 16 bit TIFF file BreezeBrowser can also create HTML web gal leries directly from your selection of images See www breezesys com 338 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop includes a built in RAW plug in that is compatible with the propri etary formats of a growing number of digital cameras both new and old This plug in also works with Photoshop Elements Note that it s always advisable to visit the Adobe downloads site from time to time as new versions of Adobe Camera Raw are provided with support for newer cameras and sometimes additional features While you can use Adobe Camera Raw to open JPEG files some adjustments are dis abled It works best with RAW files To open a RAW image in Photoshop just follow these steps Elements users can use much the same workflow although fewer settings are available 1 Transfer the RAW images from your camera to your computer s hard drive 2 In Photoshop choose Open from the File menu or use Bridge or Organizer 3 Select a RAW image file The Adobe Camera Raw plug in will pop up showing a preview of the image like the one shown in Figure 12 15 4 If you like use one
20. deserves more space and I am providing it in Chapter 11 But the built in flash is easy enough to work with that you can begin using it right away either to pro vide the main lighting of a scene or as supplementary illumination to fill in the shad ows The T3 will automatically balance the amount of light emitted from the flash so that it illuminates the shadows nicely without overwhelming the highlights and pro ducing a glaring flash look Think Baywatch when they re using too many reflectors on the lifeguards The T3 s flash has a power rating of 9 2 30 meters feet at ISO 100 using the GN guide number system that dates back to the film era and before electronic flash units had any sort of automatic features I ll explain guide numbers which can be a little con fusing in more detail in Chapter 7 but in plain terms the flash s rating means that the unit is powerful enough to allow proper illumination of a subject that s 10 feet away at f 4 at the owest ISO sensitivity setting of your camera Boost the ISO or use a wider f stop and you can shoot subjects that are located at a great distance For example at 32 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography ISO 800 the T3 s flash is good enough for a subject at 20 feet using f 5 6 or alterna tively you can expose that scene at the original 10 feet distance at f 11 Ordinarily the T3 takes care of all these calculations for you If you ne
21. f stop or flash capability to take say a great sports picture under any conditions David Buschs Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography is aimed at both Canon and dSLR veterans as well as newcomers to digital photography and dig ital SLRs Both groups can be overwhelmed by the options the T3 offers while under whelmed by the explanations they receive in their user s manual The manuals are great if you already know what you don t know and you can find an answer somewhere in a booklet arranged by menu listings and written by a camera vendor employee who last threw together instructions on how to operate a camcorder Of course once you ve read this book and are ready to learn more you might want to pick up one of my other guides to digital SLR photography I m listing them here not to hawk my other books but because a large percentage of the e mails I get are from readers who want to know if I ve got a book on this topic or that In the chapters that follow I also may mention another one of my books that covers a particular subject in more depth than is possible in a camera specific guide Again that s only for the bene fit of those who want to delve more deeply into a topic Most of what you need to know to use and enjoy your T3 is contained right here in this book My other guides offered by Course Technology PTR include David Busch s Compact Field Guide for the Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D While most readers enjoy
22. from the retinas to the sensor Another phenomenon you ll encounter under low light levels may be difficulty in focus ing Canons answer to that problem is an autofocus assist beam emitted by the T3 s 294 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography built in flash or by any external dedicated flash unit that you may have attached to the camera and switched on In dim lighting conditions the built in flash will emit a burst of reduced intensity flashes when you press the shutter release halfway providing addi tional illumination for the autofocus system Here are some things you need to know about the AF assist beam m Basic Zone activation When using a Basic Zone exposure mode other than Flash Off Landscape Sports or Movie if AF assist is required the T 35 built in flash will pop up automatically m Creative Zone activation If you re working with a Creative Zone exposure mode you must pop up the built in flash manually using the Flash button to enable AF assist m Focus mode The AF assist beam will fire only if you are using One Shot AF sin gle autofocus or AI Focus AF automatic autofocus The beam is disabled if the camera is set to AI Servo AF continuous autofocus mode m Distance The beam provides autofocus assistance only for subjects closer than roughly 13 feet from the camera The illumination is too dim at great distances to improve autofocus performance If you need more of an as
23. in the instant that the first curtain of the focal plane shutter finishes its movement across the film or sensor plane With slow shutter speeds this feature can create a blur effect from the ambient light showing as patterns that fol low a moving subject with the subject shown sharply frozen at the beginning of the blur trail See also rear curtain sync 2nd curtain sync front lighting Illumination that comes from the direction of the camera See also back lighting and side lighting f stop The relative size of the lens aperture which helps determine both exposure and depth of field The larger the f stop number the smaller the f stop itself graduated filter A lens attachment with variable density or color from one edge to another A graduated neutral density filter for example can be oriented so the neutral density portion is concentrated at the top of the lens s view with the less dense or clear portion at the bottom thus reducing the amount of light from a very bright sky while not interfering with the exposure of the landscape in the foreground Graduated filters can also be split into several color sections to provide a color gradient between portions of the image Glossary 373 gray card A piece of cardboard or other material with a standardized 18 percent reflectance Gray cards can be used as a reference for determining correct exposure or for setting white balance HDMI High Definition Multimedia Interface An inte
24. peripheral illumination correction Shooting menu 174 177 perspectives See also distortion lenses wider perspective with 257 short exposures unseen perspectives with 146 phase detection 102 105 PhaseOne s Capture One Pro C1 Pro 333 336 Photo Rescue 2 354 PhotoAcute 159 Photographic Solutions Eclipse solution 365 sensor cleaning swabs 365 Photomatix Merge to HDR with 87 Photoshop Photoshop Elements See Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements PhotoStitch 330 331 Picasa 155 PictBridge compatible printers See printers and printing Picture Controls in shooting settings display 57 Picture Style Editor 201 203 working with 329 330 Picture Styles 191 205 See also Monochrome Picture Style Picture Style Editor user defined Picture Styles additional styles locating 204 205 contrast correcting 93 Index 397 defining 196 200 DISP button for setting 46 47 editing with Picture Style Editor 201 203 EOS Utility changing settings from 203 204 in Full Auto mode 75 in Live View information display 120 parameters for 192 194 saving 202 selecting 195 196 separately changing parameters 197 198 uploading Picture Style to camera 202 203 Pierce Ed 275 pincushion distortion 269 pixel mapping 356 pixels See also histograms hot stuck pixels 356 light and 66 plastic overlays for LCD 349 Playback button 47 48 thumbnails viewing 35 Playback menus 209 217 See also revi
25. slower shutter speed is actually preferable for example to allow the wheels of a racing automobile or motorcycle or the propeller on a classic aircraft to blur realistically But if you want to do some exotic action freezing photography without resorting to electronic flash the T3 s top shutter speed is at your disposal Here are some things to think about when exploring this type of high speed photography m You ll need a lot of light High shutter speeds cut very fine slices of time and sharply reduce the amount of illumination that reaches your sensor To use 1 4 000th second at an aperture of f 6 3 youd need an ISO setting of 800 even in full daylight To use an f stop smaller than f 6 3 or an ISO setting lower than 800 youd need more light than full daylight provides That s why electronic flash units work so well for high speed photography when used as the sole illumination they provide both the effect of a brief shutter speed and the high levels of illumi nation needed m Forget about reciprocity failure If you re an old time film shooter you might recall that very brief shutter speeds as well as very high light levels and very long exposures produced an effect called reciprocity failure in which given exposures ended up providing less than the calculated value because of the way film responded to very short very intense or very long exposures of light Solid state sensors don t suffer from this defect so you dont need to
26. taken is escorted off the CMOS sensor chip very quickly into an in camera store of memory called a buffer and the EOS T3 is ready to take another photo The buffer con tinues dumping your image onto the Secure Digital card as you keep snapping pictures without pause at least until the buffer fills and you must wait for it to get ahead of your continuous shooting or your memory card fills completely Reviewing the Images You ve Taken The Canon EOS Rebel T3 has a broad range of playback and image review options including the ability to jump ahead 10 or 100 images at a time I ll cover them in more detail in Chapter 3 For now you ll want to learn just the basics Here is all you really need to know at this time as shown in Figure 2 10 34 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Erase image displayed on screen DISP ISO View previous image WB Here are the basics as shown in Figure 2 10 m Display image Press the Playback button marked with a blue right pointing tri angle just southeast of the color LCD to display the most recent image on the LCD in full screen Single Image mode If you last viewed your images using the thumb nail mode described later in this list the Index display appears instead m View additional images Use the left and right cross keys to view the next or pre vious image m Jump forward or back Specify a jump mode of either one image 10 images 1
27. tap the shutter release Language Choose from 25 languages for menu display rotating the cross keys until the language you want to select is highlighted Press the SET button to activate Your choices include English German French Dutch Danish Portuguese Finnish Italian Ukrainian Norwegian Swedish Spanish Greek Russian Polish Czech Magyar Romanian Turkish Arabic Thai Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese Korean and Japanese If you accidentally set a language you don t read and find yourself with incomprehen sible menus don t panic Just choose the fourth option from the top of the Set up 2 menu and select the idioma sprache langue or kieli of your choice English is the first selection in the list Manual Cleaning The T3 lacks the automatic sensor cleaning of the other current EOS cameras but you can clean it yourself manually I ll provide instructions for doing that in Chapter 13 This entry allows you to flip the mirror up and open the shutter for the manual clean ing step Turn the camera off to return to normal operation If the battery level is too low to safely carry out the cleaning operation the T3 will let you know and refuse to proceed unless you use the optional AC Adapter Kit ACK E10 Feature Guide The Feature Guide is an easy pop up description of a function or option that appears when you change the shooting mode or use the Quick Control screen to select a func tion switch to Live view
28. the colors available will be different Adobe RGB is what is often called an expanded color space because it can reproduce a range of colors that is spread over a wider range of the visual spectrum Adobe RGB is useful for commercial and professional printing You don t need this range of colors if your images will be displayed primarily on your computer screen or output by your per sonal printer The other color space sRGB is recommended for images that will be output locally on the user s own printer as this color space matches that of the typical inkjet printer fairly closely While both Adobe RGB and sRGB can reproduce the exact same 16 8 million absolute colors Adobe RGB spreads those colors over a larger portion of the visible spec trum as you can see in the figure Think of a box of crayons the jumbo 16 8 million crayon variety Some of the basic crayons from the original sRGB set have been removed and replaced with new hues not contained in the original box Your new box contains colors that can t be reproduced by your computer monitor but which work just fine with a commercial printing press BEST OF BOTH WORLDS As I mentioned if you re using a Basic Zone mode the T3 selects the sRGB color space automatically In addition you may choose to set the sRGB color space with this menu entry to apply that gamut to all your other photos as well But in either case you can still easily obtain Adobe RGB versions of your
29. the interior mirror box and potentially find its way past the shutter onto the sensor The body cap also protects the vulnerable mirror from damage caused by intruding objects including your fingers if you re not cautious Once the body cap has been removed remove the rear lens cap from the lens set it aside and then mount the lens on the camera by matching the alignment indicator on the lens barrel red for EF lenses and white for EF S lenses with the red or white dot on the camera s lens mount see Figure 1 4 Rotate the lens away from the shutter release until it seats securely You can find out more about the difference between EF and EF S lenses in Chapter 10 Set the focus mode switch on the lens to AF autofocus If the lens hood is bayoneted on the lens in the reversed position which makes the lens hood combination more compact for transport twist it off and remount with the edge fac ing outward see Figure 1 5 A lens hood protects the front of the lens from accidental bumps stray fingerprints and reduces flare caused by extraneous light arriving at the front element of the lens from outside the picture area Figure 1 4 Match the white dot on EF S lenses with the white dot on the camera mount to properly align the lens with the bayo net mount For EF lenses use the red dots 4405 ty i W3zrigvis Figure 1 5 A lens hood protects the lens from extra neous light and accidental bumps Figure
30. the majority m Zoom ring Turn this ring to change the zoom setting Zoom scale These markings on the lens show the current focal length selected m Focus ring This is the ring you turn when you manually focus the lens Filter threads Lens hood bayonet rri INSESSSEIERENIEI VEU Zoom position Focus distance Autofocus Manual focus switch Focus scale Image stabilizer switch Lens mounting Figure 3 13 index mark Figure 3 14 Electrical contacts Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 55 3 Z Lens mount bayonet m Distance scale This is a readout that rotates in unison with the lens s focus mech anism to show the distance at which the lens has been focused It s a useful indica tor for double checking autofocus roughly evaluating depth of field and for setting manual focus guesstimates m Autofocus Manual switch Allows you to change from automatic focus to man ual focus m Image stabilization switch Lenses with IS include a separate switch for adjusting the stabilization feature m Electrical contacts On the back of the lens see Figure 3 14 are electrical contacts that the camera uses to communicate focus aperture setting and other information m Lens mount This mount is used to attach the lens to a matching bayonet on the camera body LCD Panel Readouts The Rebel T3 does not have a monochrome status LCD like the one found on the top panel o
31. 1 6 Viewfinder diopter correc tion from 2 5 to 0 5 can be dialed in Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 15 canon EW 3B CANNING waen TT EM PER EE REE EE ULTRASONIC ML in m Adjusting Diopter Correction Those of us with less than perfect eyesight can often benefit from a little optical cor rection in the viewfinder Your contact lenses or glasses may provide all the correction you need but if you are a glasses wearer and want to use the EOS Rebel T3 1100D without your glasses you can take advantage of the camera s built in diopter adjust ment which can be varied from 2 5 to 40 5 correction Press the shutter release halfway to illuminate the indicators in the viewfinder then rotate the diopter adjustment wheel next to the viewfinder see Figure 1 6 while looking through the viewfinder until the indicators appear sharp Diopter correction wheel 16 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography If the available correction is insufficient Canon offers 10 different Dioptric Adjustment Lens Series E correction lenses for the viewfinder window If more than one person uses your T3 and each requires a different diopter setting you can save a little time by not ing the number of clicks and direction clockwise to increase the diopter power coun terclockwise to decrease the diopter value required to change from one user to the other There are 18 detents i
32. 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography AKIRI ON t NO Standard Monochrome Portrait User Def 1 se cala SHIFT Neutral User Def 3 Lens aberration correction Faithful Return SOT os Di 4 0 0 0 oo Register User Defined style P WB SHIFT 4 SSS eae Lens aberration co S r Default set Return Choose the Shooting menu It s marked with an icon of a white camera on a red background from the menu bar located about midway in the control panel that appears on your computer display Access the Picture Style Click on the Picture Style choice to produce the screen shown at upper right in Figure 8 30 The currently active Picture Style in the cam era will be shown along with its detail settings Choose a Picture Style to modify Click the Picture Style box highlighted with a red box at upper left in Figure 8 30 to produce a listing of all the available Picture Styles which you can see at right in Figure 8 30 For this illustration I clicked on Landscape which is highlighted with a red box Click Detail Set At lower left Landscape is now highlighted When you click on Detail Set the dialog box shown at lower right in Figure 8 30 appears You can move the sliders to change the settings as described earlier You can also click the Default Set button to return the settings to their original values Confirm choice Click Return when you ve finished making changes and th
33. 13 Set up menus 219 241 See also Custom Functions Auto power off options 220 221 Auto Rotate options 220 221 Clear settings options 238 240 Copyright settings 236 238 Date Time options 226 227 Eye Fi settings options 224 Feature Guide options 227 File numbering options 222 223 Firmware version 241 Format options 17 222 Language options 228 LCD brightness options 224 225 LCD Off On button options 226 Manual cleaning options 227 Screen color options 224 Select folder option 223 224 sharpness See also blurring lenses for 259 in Live View 125 as Picture Style parameter 192 193 Quick Control screen for changing 97 Shooting menus 166 208 See also Flash control menu Picture Styles AEB automatic exposure bracketing options 182 Auto ISO options 207 Auto Lighting Optimizer options 182 184 Beep options 171 172 Color space options 187 190 Custom WB white balance options 185 Dust Delete Data feature 205 207 EV exposure compensation options 182 Image review options 173 Live View shooting settings 208 Metering mode options 185 Peripheral illumination correction feature 174 177 Quality settings 167 171 Red eye reduction feature 177 178 Release shutter without card feature 16 171 173 WBB white balance bracketing options 186 187 White balance shift options 186 187 shooting modes LCD display 56 57 Live View and 118 120 selecting 21 shooting scripts for movies 132
34. 13 inserting 13 for monolights 313 for movies 125 shooting settings display 57 unpacking 8 battery chargers 12 13 beeper camera functions display 58 Shooting menu options 171 172 bias bracketing 187 Bibble Professional 337 noise reduction with 334 black and white See also Monochrome Picture Style printing effects 323 viewfinder information display 59 60 black body radiators 282 incandescent illumination and 284 blacks with Adobe Camera Raw 340 blower bulbs See bulb blowers Blue toning effects 198 200 blurring bokeh 269 270 circles of confusion 108 110 in Live View 125 with long exposures 150 151 Quick Control screen for changing 97 with telephoto lenses 268 body cap 8 removing 14 bokeh 269 270 bootstrap loaders 345 382 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography bottom view of camera 53 bouncing light 311 bowing outward lines with wide angle lenses 265 266 box unpacking 7 9 bracketing 84 90 See also AEB automatic exposure bracketing bias bracketing 187 and Merge to HDR 86 90 WEBB white balance bracketing 186 187 BreezeBrowser EX 336 Brighter ambience 24 99 100 brightness See also brightness histograms Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 340 LCD brightness options Set up menu 224 225 printing effect 323 brightness histograms 92 94 Playback menu options 212 213 brush cleaning sensors 361 363 364 buffer and continuous shooting 142 143
35. 4 SELLING CAMERA ud ELO David Buschs CANON EOS REBEL T3 1100D David D Busch DAVID BUSCH S CANON EOS REBEL T3 1100D GUIDE TO DIGITAL SLR PHOTOGRAPHY David D Busch Course Technology PTR A part of Cengage Learning amp o COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Australia Brazil Japan Korea Mexico Singapore Spain United Kingdom United States x amp v COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography David D Busch Publisher and General Manager Course Technology PTR Stacy L Hiquet Associate Director of Marketing Sarah Panella Manager of Editorial Services Heather Talbot Marketing Manager Jordan Castellani Executive Editor Kevin Harreld Project Editor Jenny Davidson Technical Reviewer Michael D Sullivan Interior Layout Tech Bill Hartman Cover Designer Mike Tanamachi Indexer Katherine Stimson Proofreader Sara Gullion Printed in the United States of America 1234567131211 2012 David D Busch ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced transmitted stored or used in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying recording scanning digitizing taping Web distribution information networks or information storage and retrieval systems except as permitted under Section
36. 750th or 1 500th second if necessary should the lighting change a little A blinking 30 or 4000 shutter speed in the viewfinder indicates that the T3 is unable to select an appropriate shutter speed at the selected aperture and that over and under exposure will occur at the current ISO setting Thats the major pitfall of using Av you 78 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 15 Use Aperture priority to lock in a large f stop when you want to blur the background Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 79 might select an f stop that is too small or too large to allow an optimal exposure with the available shutter speeds For example if you choose f 2 8 as your aperture and the illumination is quite bright say at the beach or in snow even your cameras fastest shutter speed might not be able to cut down the amount of light reaching the sensor to provide the right exposure Or if you select f 8 in a dimly lit room you might find your self shooting with a very slow shutter speed that can cause blurring from subject move ment or camera shake Aperture priority is best used by those with a bit of experience in choosing settings Many seasoned photographers leave their T3 set on Av all the time Shutter Priority Shutter priority Tv is the inverse of Aperture priority you choose the shutter speed youd like to use and the cameras metering system selects the appropriate f stop Pe
37. Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 353 Another way to lose images is to do commonplace things with your memory card at an inopportune time If you remove the card from the T3 while the camera is writing images to the card you ll lose any photos in the buffer and may damage the file struc ture of the card making it difficult or impossible to retrieve the other pictures you ve taken The same thing can happen if you remove the memory card from your com puter s card reader while the computer is writing to the card say to erase files you ve already moved to your computer You can avoid this by zor using your computer to erase files on a memory card but instead always reformatting the card in your T3 before you use it again What Can You Do Pay attention If you re having problems the first thing you should do is stop using that memory card Don t take any more pictures Don t do anything with the card until you ve figured out what s wrong Your second line of defense your first line is to be suf ficiently careful with your cards that you avoid problems in the first place is to do no harm that hasn t already been done Read the rest of this section and then if necessary decide on a course of action such as using a data recovery service or software described later before you risk damaging the data on your card further Now that you ve calmed down the first thing to check is whether you ve actually inserted a card in t
38. Controls the behavior of the LCD when the Rebel T3 is switched on There are two options m 0 Display on When the T3 is powered on the shooting settings screen will be shown You can turn this screen on and off by pressing the DISP button Use this option if you always want the settings screen to be displayed when the camera is turned on m 1 Previous display status When the Rebel T3 is turned on the LCD monitor will display the shooting settings screen if it was turned on when the camera was last powered down If the screen had been turned off by pressing the DISP but ton it will not be displayed when the T3 is next powered up Use this option if you frequently turn off the settings screen and want the camera to remember whether the screen was on display when the T3 was last powered down Copyright Settings You can embed your name as author or auteur of the image and copyright infor mation in the Exif Exchangeable Image File format data appended to each photo that you take Figure 9 10 Access text entry screens for entering the name of the photographer and copyright details here Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 237 When you choose this menu entry see Figure 9 10 you have four options m Display copyright info Shows the current author and copyright data m Enter author s name Produces a text entry screen like the one shown in Figure 9 11 See Entering Text for instr
39. EF 24 70mm f 2 8L USM Autofocus lens I couldnt leave this premium lens out of the mix even though it costs well over 1 000 As part of Canon s L series Luxury lens line it offers the best sharpness over its focal range than any of the other lenses in this list Best of all it s fast for a zoom with an f 2 8 maximum aperture that doesnt change as you zoom out Unlike the other lenses which may offer only an f 5 6 maximum f stop at their longest zoom setting this is a constant aperture lens which retains its maximum f stop The added sharpness constant aperture and ultra smooth USM motor are what you re paying for with this lens What Lenses Can You Use The previous section helped you sort out what lens you need to buy with your T3 assuming you already didnt own any Canon lenses Now you re probably wondering what lenses can be added to your growing collection trust me it will grow You need to know which lenses are suitable and most importantly which lenses are fully com patible with your T3 With the Canon T3 the compatibility issue is a simple one It accepts any lens with the EF or EF S designation with full availability of all autofocus autoaperture autoexpo sure and image stabilization features if present It s comforting to know that any EF for full frame or cropped sensors or EF S for cropped sensor cameras only will work as designed with your camera As I noted at the beginning of the chapter that s m
40. EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Sports In this mode the T3 tries to use high shutter speeds to freeze action switches to continuous shooting to allow taking a quick sequence of pictures with one press of the shutter release and uses AI Servo AF to continually refocus as your subject moves around in the frame You can find more information on autofocus options in Chapter 5 m Night Portrait Combines flash with ambient light to produce an image that is mainly illuminated by the flash but the background is exposed by the available light This mode uses longer exposures so a tripod monopod or IS lens is a must That Quick Control Screen Again I ve previously described how to use the Quick Control screen when working with Creative Zone modes to change many settings such as ISO shutter speed aperture and other parameters When using Basic Zone modes your options are different In each case you can activate the Quick Control screen by pressing the Quick Control button Then one of several different screens will appear on your LCD Full Auto Auto No Flash In either of these modes a screen like the one shown in Figure 4 29 will pop up Your only choices are Single shooting and Self timer 10 Second Remote Control Press the DISP button to exit Single shooting Figure 4 29 Quick Control screen in Full Auto Auto No Flash modes Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 97 Creative Auto Mode When t
41. Eye Fi Settings entry at the bottom of the Set up 1 menu that appears when you have an Eye Fi card inserted with one entry m Eye Fi trans This setting has two options Enable and Disable Because the Eye Fi card draws its power from the T3 you might want to disable the capability when you don t want it in order to save some juice I tend to leave it on all the time and allow the card to upload information to the networks I ve specified When enabled the card can also draw location information from the hotspots it accesses associat ing geographical information with each shot too m Connection info This displays current information about your Eye Fi card s link to your network or hotspot and other data such as the firmware version See Figure 7 11 When uploading to online sites you can specify not just where your images are sent but how they are organized by specifying preset album names tags descriptions and even privacy preferences on certain sharing sites You should be cautious about shar ing your location when using social media sites Some Eye Fi cards also include geot agging service which helps you view uploaded photos on a map and sort them by location Eye Fi s geotagging uses WiFi Positioning System WPS technology Using built in WiFi the Eye Fi card senses surrounding WiFi networks as you take pictures When photos are uploaded the Eye Fi service then adds the geotags to your photos You don t need to have
42. JPEG images you take RAW images are a special case They have the information for both sRGB and Adobe RGB but when you load such photos into your image editor it will default to sRGB with Full Auto or Creative Auto shots or the color space specified here unless you change that setting while importing the photos See the Best of Both Worlds sidebar that follows for more information You may be surprised to learn that the Rebel T3 doesn t automatically capture a the colors we see Unfortunately that s impossible because of the limitations of the sensor and the filters used to capture the fundamental red green and blue colors as well as 188 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography that of the elements used to display those colors on your camera and computer moni tors Nor is it possible to print every color our eyes detect because the inks or pigments used dont absorb and reflect colors perfectly In short your sensor doesn t capture all the colors that we can see your monitor cant display all the colors that the sensor cap tures and your printer outputs yet another version On the other hand the T3 does capture quite a few more colors than we need The orig inal 14 bit RAW image contains a possible 4 4 trillion different hues which are con densed down to a mere 16 8 million possible colors when converted to a 24 bit eight bits per channel image While 16 8 million colors may seem like a l
43. Menu and My Menu 221 SSH Auto power off 30 sec 1 min 2 min 4 min gt 8 min 15 min Off za Auto rotate Jen e E On Off 222 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Auto Rotate off any pictures shot while the feature is disabled will not be automatically rotated when you turn Auto Rotate back on information embedded in the image file when the photo 7s taken is used to determine whether autorotation is applied Format Use this item to erase everything on your memory card and set up a fresh file system ready for use When you select Format you ll see a display like Figure 9 4 showing the capacity of the card how much of that space is currently in use and two choices at the bottom of the screen to Cancel or OK proceed with the format Press the Trash but ton if youd like to do a low level format That s a more basic format that removes all sectors from the card and creates new ones which can help speed up a card that seems to be slow because the camera must skip over bad sectors left behind from previous uses An orange bar appears on the screen to show the progress of the formatting step File Numbering The EOS T3 will automatically apply a file number to each picture you take using con secutive numbering for all your photos over a long period of time spanning many dif ferent memory cards starting over from scratch when you insert a new card or when you manually rese
44. Press this button marked with a red dot to its left to activate deactivate Live View To shoot movies turn the Mode Dial to the Movie position and then press this button to start stop video audio recording Cross keys This array of four directional keys provides left right up down move ment to navigate menus and is used to cycle among various options usually with the left right buttons and to choose amounts with the up down buttons The four cross keys also have secondary functions to adjust ISO white balance auto focus mode and drive mode I ll describe these separately SET button Located in the center of the cross key cluster this button is used to confirm a selection or activate a feature Because the T3 does not have a dedicated depth of field preview button you might want to redefine the SET button to per form this function using Custom Function C Fn IV 08 choice 5 as described in Chapter 9 The DOF preview stops down the lens to the aperture that will be used to take the picture so you can see in the viewfinder how much of the image is in focus The view grows dimmer as the aperture is reduced AE lock FE lock Reduce Zoom button AF point selection Magnify button Speaker Change screen DISP information display ISO Cross keys Autofocus mode button Memory card access lamp Playback button 48 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Quick Control Direct
45. RO m Scroll among text When the text area is highlighted you can scroll among the text using the cross keys Up to 63 alphanumeric characters can be entered dis played m Enter characters When the available characters list is highlighted use the cross keys to move among the alphanumeric characters shown Press the SET button to enter that character at the cursor position in the text area above You can delete the current character by pressing the Delete Trash button m Finish Cancel When finished entering text press the MENU button to confirm your choice or press the INFO button to cancel and return to the Copyright Information screen Clear Settings This menu choice resets all the settings to their default values Regardless of how you ve set up your EOS T3 it will be adjusted for One Shot AF mode Automatic AF point selection Evaluative metering JPEG Fine Large image quality Automatic ISO sRGB color mode Automatic white balance and Standard Picture Style Any changes you ve made to exposure compensation flash exposure compensation and white balance will be canceled and any bracketing for exposure or white balance nullified Custom white balances and Dust Delete Data will be erased Chapter 9 B Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 239 However Custom Functions will not be cleared If you want to cancel those as well youll need to use the Camera User Setting option described previously and the Custom Function
46. SLR Photography Figure 6 4 The T3 can detect faces during autofocus 5 235 02002 7772 Quick Mode This mode uses phase detection as described in Chapter 5 It temporarily interrupts Live View mode to allow the EOS T3 to focus the same AF sensor used when you focus through the viewfinder Because the step takes a second or so you may get better results using this autofocus mode when the camera is mounted on a tripod If you hand hold the T3 you may displace the point of focus achieved by the autofocus system It also simplifies the operation if you use One Shot focus and center the focus point You can use AI Servo and AF or Manual focus point selection but if the focus point doesnt coin cide with the subject you want to focus on you ll end up with an out of focus image Just follow these steps 1 Set lens to autofocus Make sure the focus switch on the lens is set to AE 2 Activate Live View Press the Start Stop button 3 Choose AF point Press the Q button and then use the cross keys to move the active AF focus point around on the screen Select subject Compose the image on the LCD so the selected focus point is on the subject Press and hold the shutter release halfway The LCD will blank as the mirror flips down reflecting the view of the subject to the phase detection AF sensor VA Figure 6 5 You can manu ally focus the center area which can be zoomed in 5X or 10X Chapter 6 m Live View
47. SLR Photography m JPEG RAW or both You can elect to store only JPEG versions of the images you shoot 6 4MB each at the Large Fine resolution setting or you can save your pho tos as uncompressed loss free RAW files which consume about four times as much space on your memory card up to 20MB per file Or you can store both at once as you shoot Many photographers elect to save both a JPEG and a RAW file so they ll have a JPEG version that might be usable as is as well as the original digi tal negative RAW file in case they want to do some processing of the image later Youll end up with two different versions of the same file one with a JPG exten sion and one with the CR2 extension that signifies a Canon RAW file To choose the combination you want access the menus scroll to Quality and press the SET button A screen similar to the one shown in Figure 8 2 will appear with two rows of choices The top row and first two entries on the second row are for JPEG only set tings two Large and Medium options at Fine and Normal compression and four Small choices representing S1 Fine S1 Normal S2 and S3 at the resolutions listed above A red box appears around the currently selected choice You can also select RAW JPEG Large Fine and RAW only Both produce full resolution versions of the image Why so many choices There are some limited advantages to using the Medium and Small resolution settings Normal JPEG compression setting
48. Select Beep from the menu press SET and use the cross keys to choose Enable or Disable as you prefer as shown in Figure 8 3 Press SET again to activate your choice Release Shutter Without Card This entry in the Set up 1 menu see Figure 8 4 gives you the ability to snap off pic tures without a memory card installed or to lock the camera shutter release if that is the case It is sometimes called Play mode because you can experiment with your cam era s features or even hand your T3 to a friend to let him fool around without any dan ger of pictures actually being taken Back in our film days wed sometimes finish a roll rewind the film back into its cassette surreptitiously and then hand the camera to a child to take a few pictures without actually wasting any film It s hard to waste digital film 172 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 3 Silence your cameras beep when it might prove distracting gt Enable DIREI e Figure 8 4 Release shutter without card You can enable triggering the shutter even Enable when no memory card Disable is present MENU Mn Figure 8 5 Adjust the time an image is dis played on the LCD for review after a picture is taken Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 173 but Release Shutter without Card mode is still appreciated by some especially camera vendors who want to be able to
49. You can even get a good quality LED video light for less than 100 Work lights sold at many home improvement stores can also serve as video lights since you can set the cameras white balance to correct for any colorcasts Much of the challenge depends upon whether you re just trying to add some fill light on your subject versus trying to boost the light on an entire scene A small video light in the cameras hot shoe mount or on a flash bracket will do just fine for the former It wont handle the latter Creative Lighting While ramping up the light intensity will produce better technical quality in your video it wont necessarily improve the artistic quality of it Whether we re outdoors or indoors we re used to seeing light come from above Videographers need to consider how they position their lights to provide even illumination while up high enough to angle shad ows down low and out of sight of the camera When considering lighting for video there are several factors One is the quality of the light It can either be hard direct light or soft diffused Hard light is good for show ing detail but can also be very harsh and unforgiving Softening the light but dif fusing it somehow can reduce the intensity of the light but make for a kinder gentler light as well While mixing light sources isn t always a good idea one approach is to combine win dow light with supplemental lighting Position your subject with the window to one
50. ZoomBrowser ImageBrowser allow red eye cor rection brightness contrast and color correction manipulating sharpness trimming photos and a few other functions For more complex editing you can transfer images directly from this application to Photoshop or another image editor The software also includes applications for planning and editing movies and for extracting still photos from video clips PhotoStitch This Windows Mac utility available free from Canon allows you to take several JPEG images and combine them to create a panorama in a single new file You can choose the images to be merged in ZoomBrowser and then transfer them to PhotoStitch or oper ate the utility as a standalone module and select the images using the standard File gt Open commands see Figure 12 12 Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 331 Figure 12 11 ZoomBrowser allows organiz amp 4 3s Peppy Ac ing your images 5 4 Orne C C BS SUE n Ui Digtsr Photo Professi STE Pietre TJ and performing sce nete Tools Window Help egens eaivetmert Lat simple fixes 3 CENENE Cimi Shot seins pim Picture oe En Stencerd Nl Beewte un 3 June on Coce tone 0 Celer saturation 0 Sra Hr af reos 192 209 207 228 Figure 12 12 Panoramas are easy to ay Merge Images create with Click Stari to begin merging PhotoStitch a STITCHOI JPG STITCHO2JP
51. a nifty set of wizard like commands that automate common tasks such as removing red eye and scratches as well as filters and effects which can be expanded with other Photoshop plug ins Corel Painter Here s another image editing program from Corel for both Mac and Windows This one s strength is in mimicking natural media such as charcoal pastels and various kinds of paint Painter includes a basic assortment of tools that you can use to edit existing images but the program is really designed for artists to use in creating original illustrations As a photographer you might prefer another image editor but if Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 335 you like to paint on top of your photographic images nothing else really does the job of Painter Corel PhotoImpact Corel finally brought one of the last remaining non Adobe image editors into its fold when it acquired Ulead PhotoImpact This is a general purpose photo editing program for Windows with a huge assortment of brushes for painting retouching and cloning in addition to the usual selection cropping and fill tools If you frequently find yourself performing the same image manipulations on a number of files you ll appreciate PhotoImpact s batch operations Using this feature you can select multiple image files and then apply any one of a long list of filters enhancements or auto process commandis to all the selected files RAW Utilities Your so
52. a silhouette effect or to illuminate translucent objects See also front lighting and side lighting barrel distortion A lens defect that causes straight lines at the top or side edges of an image to bow outward into a barrel shape See also pincushion distortion blooming An image distortion caused when a photosite in an image sensor has absorbed all the photons it can handle so that additional photons reaching that pixel overflow to affect surrounding pixels producing unwanted brightness and overexpo sure around the edges of objects blur To soften an image or part of an image by throwing it out of focus or by allow ing it to become soft due to subject or camera motion Blur can also be applied in an image editing program bokeh A term derived from the Japanese word for blur which describes the aesthetic qualities of the out of focus parts of an image Some lenses produce good bokeh and others offer bad bokeh Some lenses produce uniformly illuminated out of focus discs Others produce a disc that has a bright edge and a dark center producing a doughnut effect which is the worst from a bokeh standpoint Lenses that generate a bright cen ter that fades to a darker edge are favored because their bokeh allows the circle of con fusion to blend more smoothly with the surroundings The bokeh characteristics of a lens are most important when youre using selective focus say when shooting a por trait to deemphasize the bac
53. absorbing or reflective materials in its path m Light s duration We tend to think of most light sources as continuous But as you ll learn in Chapter 11 the duration of light can change quickly enough to mod ify the exposure as when the main illumination in a photograph comes from an intermittent source such as an electronic flash m Light reflected transmitted or emitted Once light is produced by its source either continuously or in a brief burst we are able to see and photograph objects by the light that is reflected from our subjects towards the camera lens transmit ted say from translucent objects that are lit from behind or emitted by a candle or television screen When more or less light reaches the lens from the subject we need to adjust the exposure This part of the equation is under our control to the extent we can increase the amount of light falling on or passing through the sub ject by adding extra light sources or using reflectors or by pumping up the light that s emitted by increasing the brightness of the glowing object m Light passed by the lens Not all the illumination that reaches the front of the lens makes it all the way through Filters can remove some of the light before it enters the lens Inside the lens barrel is a variable sized diaphragm that dilates and con tracts to vary the size of the aperture and control the amount of light that enters the lens You or the T3 s autoexposure system
54. add to the blinding bursts when you have a camera that will take per fectly good pictures at ISO 3200 Of course I invariably see one or two people flashing away at events where flash is not allowed but that doesn t mean I am eager to join in the festivities Built in Flash Function Setting There are four user selectable choices for this menu which normally appears as shown in Figure 11 12 Pressing the DISP button to the right of the LCD while this menu screen is visible clears the current flash settings m Flash Mode This entry is fixed at E TTL II in the T3 and user changes are not allowed Other Rebels allow changing flash mode to Manual using this menu entry m Shutter sync Choose 1st curtain sync which fires the pre flash used to calculate the exposure before the shutter opens followed by the main flash as soon as the shutter is completely open This is the default mode and you ll generally perceive the pre flash and main flash as a single burst Alternatively you can select 2nd cur tain sync which fires the pre flash as soon as the shutter opens and then triggers the main flash in a second burst at the end of the exposure just before the shutter starts to close If the shutter speed is slow enough you may clearly see both the Figure 11 12 Five entries are shown on the Built in Flash Functions menu Shutter sync 1st curtain Flash exp comp 72 1 9 1 E TTL II meter Evaluative Chapter 11 m Workin
55. adhe sive tape Placing the Shutter in the Locked and Fully Upright Position for Landing Make sure you re using a fully charged battery or the optional AC Adapter Kit ACK E6 1 Remove the lens from the camera and then turn the camera on 2 Set the EOS T3 to any one of the non fully automatic modes 3 You ll find the Clean Manually menu choice in the Set up 2 menu Press the SET button 4 Select OK and press SET again The mirror will flip up and the shutter will open see Figure 13 13 5 Use one of the methods described below to remove dust and grime from your sen sor Be careful not to accidentally switch the power off or open the memory card or battery compartment doors as you work If that happens the shutter may be damaged if it closes onto your cleaning tool 6 When youre finished turn the power off replace your lens and switch your cam era back on 362 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Air Cleaning Your first attempts at cleaning your sensor should always involve gentle blasts of air Many times you ll be able to dislodge dust spots which will fall off the sensor and with luck out of the mirror box Attempt one of the other methods only when you ve already tried air cleaning and it didn t remove all the dust Here are some tips for doing air cleaning m Use a clean powerful air bulb Your best bet is bulb cleaners designed for the job like the Giottos Rocket
56. adjustment screen appears First you press the cross keys to set the range of the shift in either the green magenta dimension move to the left to change the vertical separation of the three dots representing the separate expo sures or in the blue yellow amber dimension by pressing the right cross key Use all four cross keys to move the bracket set around within the color space and outside the green magenta or blue yellow amber axes In most cases it s fairly easy to determine if you want your image to be more green more magenta more blue or more yellow although judging your current shots on the LCD screen can be tricky unless you view the screen in a darkened location so it will be bright and easy to see Bracketing is covered in Chapter 4 Color Space When you are using one of the Creative Zone modes you can select one of two differ ent color spaces also called color gamuts using this menu entry shown previously among the other menu choices in Figure 8 13 One color space is named Adobe RGB because it was developed by Adobe Systems in 1998 while the other is called sRGB supposedly because it is the standard RGB color space These two color gamuts define a specific set of colors that can be applied to the images your T3 captures The Color Space menu choice applies directly to JPEG images shot using P Tv Av and M exposure modes When youre using Full Auto or Creative Auto modes the T3 uses the sRGB color space for all the
57. and My Menu 219 Set up 1 2 and 3 Menu Options sues puer RR REOR vee ead was 219 Auto Power Off 935 ac cad dg Sh eee Sad p enari ia kd RW 220 Auto Rotate a 6 evi edo pas rA ew Ta e WEAR en bea ee rd REA 220 Format sad ue EX RS Ae E ee Sa A Ra x OPER 222 File Nig Nets xe amp a oA a a EUR COVERS YE RR 222 Select Foldet soa du v xr BSG QE eee eRe Rae ER 223 Screen Color aid d ak ahs be Rw Clea Rae dd bee ee ems 224 Eye Fi ceed ie Sus de ee ie ha Oe ede tei ee eee 224 LOD Bienes so anda ke a ko ea XR ee eee exe 224 LCD Off On BUG oo bono Sede ee ws ode we esis Sede CS 28s 226 Date Time ss ars sau od a RES 8S XAR ERES AA AE He EE AUR war 226 Language sererai t ede odeual ieee cued ree eU ENGU Dus E e ERA 227 Manual Cleaning s 2e osx eR Rr RA AA RERRET PX mS P VE X 227 Feste Guides 24 te ae bie Sean Bes iu Oe e aa a a a dad 227 Custom Functions x vere Hore pa READER A TE 228 Copyright Settings soas i rbkcieexs eu as baGa rk AQ eiqa rss 236 Ic Settings 240 ene due whe ben beeen rbv ve ES S pi S rae d 238 Firmware Version sosem aerer ccc eee eee eee eee eens 241 X David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 10 Working with Lenses 243 But Don t Forget the Crop Factors as waa aac EAE CORO eR oe 243 Your EIPSULOISA ua cbe erede QUE ee bee eh RR ee dees Show EE wa 245 Buy Now Expand Latet xs ak exu e RE RRRROE ORO Jn 247 What Lenses Can You Use vs cance wa ER OERiN WE VexTPREOUE NE Edd 2
58. and all the menu entries for still shooting and not take the time to single out those that are not available when using Full Auto and Creative Auto modes The automatic modes are intended for situations when you don t want full control over your T35 operation anyway and menu limitations go with the territory The Movie menus were previously discussed in Chapter 6 and won t be repeated here The T3 s tabs are color coded red for Shooting menus blue for Playback menus amber for Set up menus and green for the My Menu tab The currently selected menu s icon is white within a white border on a background corresponding to its color code All the inactive menus are dimmed and the icons and their borders are color coded MENU NAVIGATION Remember you can use the Main Dial to move from menu to menu and the cross keys to highlight a particular menu entry Press the SET button to select a menu item That procedure is probably the best way to start out because those controls are used to make so many settings with the Rebel T3 that they quickly become almost intuitive You can jump from tab to tab even if you ve highlighted a particular menu setting on another tab and the T3 will remember which menu entry you ve highlighted when you return to that menu The memorization works even if you leave the menu system or turn off your camera The T3 always remembers the last menu entry you used with a particu lar tab So if you generally use the Format
59. appear sharp with a ghostly trail behind him See also front curtain sync 1st curtain sync red eye An effect from flash photography that appears to make a person s eyes glow red or an animal s yellow or green It s caused by light bouncing from the retina of the eye and is most pronounced in dim illumination when the irises are wide open and when the electronic flash is close to the lens and therefore prone to reflect directly back Image editors can fix red eye through cloning other pixels over the offending red or orange ones The T3 has a red eye reduction mode that provides a burst of light that causes the irises to close down if the subject is looking at the camera reducing the effect Glossary 377 RGB color A color model that represents the three colors red green and blue used by devices such as scanners or monitors to reproduce color Photoshop works in RGB mode by default and even displays CMYK images by converting them to RGB saturation The purity of color the amount by which a pure color is diluted with white or gray selective focus Choosing a lens opening that produces a shallow depth of field Usually this is used to isolate a subject in portraits close ups and other types of images by caus ing most other elements in the scene to be blurred self timer A mechanism that delays the opening of the shutter for some seconds after the release has been operated sensitivity A measure of the degree of response
60. at right in Figure 8 28 to pop up the Advanced Picture Style Settings dialog box that appears at left in the figure These are the same parameters you can change in the camera Click OK when you re finished Make advanced changes The Tool palette has additional functions for adjusting hue tonal range and curves Use of these tools is beyond the scope of a single chap ter let alone a notation in a list but if you re familiar with the advanced tools in Photoshop Photoshop Elements Digital Photo Pro or another image editor you can experiment to your heart s content Note that these modifications go way beyond what you can do with Picture Styles in the camera itself so learning how to work with them is worth the effort Save your Picture Style When you re finished choose Save Picture Style File from the File menu to store your new style as a PF2 file on your hard disk Add a cap tion and copyright information to your style in the boxes provided If you click Disable Subsequent Editing your style will be locked and protected from further changes and the modifications you did make will be hidden from view just in case you dream up your own personal secret style But you ll be unable to edit that style later on If you think you might want to change your custom Picture Style save a second copy without marking the Disable Subsequent Editing box Uploading a Picture Style to the Camera Now it s time to upload your ne
61. better lens that offers the proper degree of correction or stop down the lens to minimize the problem But that s not always Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 269 possible Your second best choice may be to correct the fringing in your favorite RAW conversion tool or image editor Photoshop s Lens Correction filter offers slid ers that minimize both red cyan and blue yellow fringing Symptom lines that curve inwards Pincushion distortion is found in many tele photo lenses You might find after a bit of testing that it is worse at certain focal lengths with your particular zoom lens Like chromatic aberration it can be par tially corrected using tools like Photoshop s Lens Correction filter and Photoshop Elements Correct Camera Distortion filter Symptom low contrast from haze or fog When you re photographing distant objects a long lens shoots through a lot more atmosphere which generally is mud died up with extra haze and fog That dirt or moisture in the atmosphere can reduce contrast and mute colors Some feel that a skylight or UV filter can help but this practice is mostly a holdover from the film days Digital sensors are not sensitive enough to UV light for a UV filter to have much effect So you should be prepared to boost contrast and color saturation in your Picture Styles menu or image editor if necessary Symptom low contrast from flare Lenses are furnished with lens hoods for a good reason to reduce flare from b
62. box opens and it includes most of the sliders and controls you ll need to fine tune your image as you import it into Photoshop These include m White Balance Leave it As Shot or change to a value such as Daylight Cloudy Shade Tungsten Fluorescent or Flash If you like you can set a custom white bal ance using the Temperature and Tint sliders m Exposure This slider adjusts the overall brightness and darkness of the image m Recovery Restores detail in the red green and blue color channels m Fill Light Reconstructs detail in shadows m Blacks Increases the number of tones represented as black in the final image emphasizing tones in the shadow areas of the image m Brightness This slider adjusts the brightness and darkness of an image m Contrast Manipulates the contrast of the midtones of your image m Clarity Use this slider to apply a hybrid type of contrast enhancement to boost midtone contrast m Vibrance Prevents over saturation when enriching the colors of an image m Saturation Manipulates the richness of all colors equally from zero saturation gray black no color at the 100 setting to double the usual saturation at the 100 setting Additional controls are available on the Tone Curve Detail HSL Grayscale Split Toning Lens Corrections Camera Calibration FX Presets and Snapshots tabs shown in Figure 12 16 The Tone Curve tab can change the tonal values of your image The Detail tab lets you adj
63. but not very useful when youd rather isolate your subject using selec tive focus telephoto lenses are better for that Stepping back Wide angle lenses have the effect of making it seem that you are standing farther from your subject than you really are They re helpful when you dont want to back up or can t because there are impediments in your way m Wider field of view While making your subject seem farther away as implied above a wide angle lens also provides a larger field of view including more of the subject in your photos Table 9 1 shows the diagonal field of view offered by an assortment of lenses taking into account the crop factor introduced by the T3 s smaller than full frame sensor m More foreground As background objects retreat more of the foreground is brought into view by a wide angle lens That gives you extra emphasis on the area that s closest to the camera Photograph your home with a normal lens normal zoom setting and the front yard probably looks fairly conventional in your photo that s why they re called normal lenses Switch to a wider lens and you ll discover that your lawn now makes up much more of the photo So wide angle lenses are great when you want to emphasize that lake in the foreground but problematic when your intended subject is located farther in the distance Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 263 Table 10 1 Field of View at Various Focal Lengths Diagonal Field Focal Length Focal L
64. button to confirm or press SET to view a selection screen similar to the one in Figure 2 4 but with a different color scheme choose with the cross keys and then press SET again to confirm Your three choices in either case are as follows m Evaluative metering The standard metering mode the T3 attempts to intelligently classify your image and choose the best exposure based on readings from 63 differ ent zones in the frame with emphasis on the autofocus points m Partial metering Exposure is based on a central spot roughly ten percent of the image area The T3 unlike most other EOS Rebels does not have a true Spot metering mode m Center weighted averaging metering The T3 meters the entire scene but gives the most emphasis to the central area of the frame Youll find a detailed description of each of these modes in Chapter 4 Figure 2 4 Metering modes left to right Evaluative Partial Center weighted Evaluative metering ie LJ SET OK Figure 2 5 Set AF mode Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 27 Choosing a Focus Mode You can easily switch between automatic and manual focus by moving the AF MF switch on the lens mounted on your camera However if you re using a Creative Zone shooting mode you ll still need to choose an appropriate focus mode You can read more on selecting focus parameters in Chapter 5 If youre using a Basic Zone mode the focus method is set for you automa
65. camera back to life by pressing the shut ter button Auto Rotate You can turn this feature On or Off When activated the EOS T3 rotates pictures taken in vertical orientation on the LCD screen so you don t have to turn the camera to view them comfortably However this orientation also means that the longest dimension of the image is shown using the shortest dimension of the LCD so the picture is reduced in size You have three options shown in Figure 9 3 The image can be autorotated when viewing in the camera and on your computer screen using your image editing viewing software The image can be marked to autorotate only when reviewing your image in your image editor or viewing software This option allows you to have rotation applied when using your computer while retaining the ability to maximize the image on your LCD in the camera The third choice is Off The image will not be rotated when displayed in the camera or with your computer Note that if you switch Auto power off 4 min Auto rotate en e E Format File numbering Continuous Select folder screen color Eye Fi settings Figure 9 1 The Set up 1 menu has seven options Figure 9 2 Select an auto matic shut off period to save battery power Figure 9 3 Choose auto rotation both in the camera and on your computer dis play top only on your com puter display middle or no automatic rota tion bottom Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up
66. can be used for sophisticated photography m Graphic artists and others who already may be adept in image editing with Photoshop or another program and who may already be using a film SLR Canon or otherwise but who need to learn more about digital photography and the spe cial capabilities of the T3 dSLR Introduction xix Who Am I After spending years as the world s most successful unknown author I ve become slightly less obscure in the past few years thanks to a horde of camera guidebooks and other photographically oriented tomes You may have seen my photography articles in Popular Photography amp Imaging magazine I ve also written about 2 000 articles for magazines like Petersens PhotoGraphic which is now defunct through no fault of my own plus The Rangefinder Professional Photographer and dozens of other photographic publica tions But first and foremost I m a photojournalist and made my living in the field until I began devoting most of my time to writing books Although I love writing I m happiest when I m out taking pictures which is why I invariably spend several days each week photographing landscapes people close up sub jects and other things I spend a month or two each year traveling to events such as Native American powwows Civil War re enactments county fairs ballet and sports baseball basketball football and soccer are favorites Later this year I m scheduled to spend a full two we
67. cases exposure wont be exactly right and you may need some flash exposure compensation adjustment External Flash Function Setting You can access this menu only when you have a compatible electronic flash attached and switched on The settings available are shown in Figure 11 13 If you press the DISP button while adjusting flash settings both the changes made to the settings of an attached external flash and to the built in flash will be cleared m Flash mode This entry allows you to set the flash mode for the external flash from E TTL IL Manual flash MULTI flash TTL AutoExFlash and ManEx flash The first two are identical to the modes described earlier The third MULTI flash allows stroboscopic repeating flash effects and will be described next The remaining three are optional metering modes available with certain flash units such as the 580EX II and are available for those who might need one of those less sophisticated flash metering systems TTL measures light bouncing back from your subject through the lens to calculate exposure but unlike E TTL II does not use a pre flash or intel ligent evaluation of the measurements to adjust for different types of scenes AutoExFlash and ManEx flash don t measure light through the lens at all but instead meter the illumination falling on an external sensor with an unvarying 20 degree angle of view that s built into the flash The former method performs automatic exposure calculation us
68. certain conditions your images might suffer from a phe nomenon called vignetting which is a darkening of the four corners of the frame because of a slight amount of fall off in illumination at those nether regions This menu option allows you to activate a clever feature built in to the Rebel T3 that partially or fully compensates for this effect Depending on the f stop you use the lens mounted on the camera and the focal length setting vignetting can be non existent slight or may be so strong that it appears you ve used a too small hood on your camera Indeed the wrong lens hood can produce a vignette effect of its own Vignetting can be affected by the use of a telephoto converter more on those in Chapter 10 too Peripheral illumination drop off even if pronounced may not be much of a problem I actually add vignetting sometimes when shooting portraits and some other subjects Slightly dark corners tend to focus attention on a subject in the middle of the frame On the other hand vignetting with subjects that are supposed to be evenly illuminated such as landscapes is seldom a benefit To minimize the effects of corner light fall off you can process RAW files using Digital Photo Professional described in Chapter 12 or if you want your JPEG files fixed as you shoot them by using this menu option Figure 8 6 shows an image without periph eral illumination correction at top and a corrected image at the bottom I ve exagger
69. command each time you access the Set up 1 menu that s the entry that will be highlighted when you choose that tab The camera remembers which tab was last used too so potentially formatting your memory card might take just a couple presses the MENU button the SET button to select the high lighted Format command then a click of the cross keys to choose OK and another press of SET to start the format process 166 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Here are the things to watch for as you navigate the menus Menu tabs In the top row of the menu screen the menu that is currently active will be highlighted as described earlier One two three or four dots in the tab lets you know if you are in say Shooting 1 Shooting 2 Shooting 3 or Shooting 4 Just remember that the four red camera icons stand for shooting options the two blue right pointing triangles represent playback options the three yellow wrench icons stand for set up options and the green star stands for personalized menus defined for the star of the show you m Selected menu item The currently selected menu item will have a black back ground and will be surrounded by a box the same hue as its color code m Other menu choices The other menu items visible on the screen will have a dark gray background m Current setting The current settings for visible menu items are shown in the right hand column until one menu item
70. correction features give you exactly the effect you want For example when I shot the ballet dancer in Figure 4 18 82 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 17 Exposure comp AEB setting EV changes are displayed on the scale in the LCD when using the Shooting 2 menu top Darker Brighter aera SA32 level 23 ae ae TESERTEREELE ELE ELI CETT TET RE lt gt Figure 4 18 Manual expo sure allows selecting both f stop and shutter speed especially use ful when you re experimenting as with this shot of ballet dancers Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 83 in front of a mostly dark background highlighted by an illuminated curtain off to the right there was no way any of my cameras exposure modes would be able to interpret the scene the way I wanted to shoot it even with Partial metering which didnt have a narrow enough field of view from my position So I took a couple test exposures and set the exposure manually using the exact shutter speed and f stop I needed You might be working in a studio environment using multiple flash units The additional flash are triggered by slave devices gadgets that set off the flash when they sense the light from another flash or perhaps from a radio or infrared remote control Your camera s expo sure meter doesnt compensate for the extra illumination and cant interpret the flash exposure at all so you need to set the aperture manually
71. could apply it to my work This book is the result of what I ve learned and I hope it will help you master your T3 digital SLR too As I write this I m currently in the throes of upgrading my website which you can find at www dslrguides com blog adding tutorials and information about my other books There s a lot of information about several Canon models right now but I ll be adding more tips and recommendations including a list of equipment and accessories that I cant live without in the next few months I ve also set up a wish list of Canon cameras xx David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography lenses and accessories on Amazon com for those who want to begin shopping now If you happen to spot a typo or two in this book Id love to fix them for the next print ing and add the goofs that you spot to my errata page at my blog If you like you can register there and contact me directly with your comments and questions Part I Getting Started with Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D 2 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The first part of this book consisting of just three short chapters is designed to famil iarize you with the basics of your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D as quickly as possible even though I have no doubt that you ve already been out shooting a few hundred or thousand photographs with your pride and joy After all inserting a memory card mounting
72. coverage to accommodate the crop factor of the Rebel T3 and the other 1 6X crop Canon dSLRs Introduced in early 2008 the 580EX II itself is due to be replaced during the life of this book but as I write this there are only rumors If you want a top line model now this is your baby The unit offers full swivel 180 degrees in either direction and has its own built in AF assist beam and an exposure system that s compatible with the nine focus points of the T3 Powered by economical AA size batteries the unit recycles in 0 1 to 6 seconds and can squeeze 100 to 700 flashes from a set of alkaline batteries The 580EX II automatically communicates white balance information to your camera allowing it to adjust WB to match the flash output You can even simulate a modeling light effect When you press the depth of field preview button on the T3 the 580EX II emits a one second burst of light that allows you to judge the flash effect If you re using multiple flash units with Canon s wireless E TTL system this model can serve as a master flash that controls the slave units you ve set up more about this later or func tion as a slave itself It s easy to access all the features of this unit because it has a large backlit LCD panel on the back that provides information about all flash settings There are 14 Custom Functions that can be controlled from the flash numbered from 00 to 14 These func tions are the first setting is the default val
73. dSLR in the sub 1 000 price range only a few years ago Indeed the T3 retains the ease of use that smoothes the transition for those new to digital photography For those just dipping their toes into the digital pond the experience is warm and inviting But once you ve confirmed that you made a wise purchase decision the question comes up how do I use this thing All those cool features can be mind numbing to learn if all you have as a guide is the manual furnished with the camera Help is on the way I sin cerely believe that this book is your best bet for learning how to use your new camera and for learning how to use it well If you re a Canon EOS Rebel T3 owner whos looking to learn more about how to use this great camera you ve probably already explored your options There are DVDs and online tutorials but who can learn how to use a camera by sitting in front of a televi sion or computer screen Do you want to watch a movie or click on HTML links or do you want to go out and take photos with your camera Videos are fun but not the best answer There s always the manual furnished with the T3 It s compact and filled with infor mation but theres really very little about why you should use particular settings or fea tures and its organization may make it difficult to find what you need Multiple cross references may send you flipping back and forth between two or three sections of the book to find what you want to know The basi
74. dark shadows using a technique called fill flash But electronic flash isnt as inherently easy to use as continuous lighting As I noted ear lier electronic flash units are more expensive don t show you exactly what the lighting effect will be unless you use a second source called a modeling light for a preview and the exposure of electronic flash units is more difficult to calculate accurately How Electronic Flash Works The bursts of light we call electronic flash are produced by a flash of photons generated by an electrical charge that is accumulated in a component called a capacitor and then directed through a glass tube containing xenon gas which absorbs the energy and emits the brief flash For the pop up flash built into the Rebel T3 the full burst of light lasts about 1 1 000th of a second and provides enough illumination to shoot a subject 10 feet away at f 4 using the ISO 100 setting In a more typical situation youd use ISO 200 5 6 to f 8 and photograph something 8 to 10 feet away As you can see the built in flash is somewhat limited in range you ll see why external flash units are often a good idea later in this chapter An electronic flash whether built in or connected to the Rebel T3 through a cable plugged into a hot shoe adapter is triggered at the instant of exposure during a period when the sensor is fully exposed by the shutter As I mentioned earlier in this book the T3 has a vertically traveling shutter th
75. electronic release cable The advantage of this approach is that you can take an exposure of virtually any duration without the need for special equip ment the tethered release is optional You can press the shutter release button go off for a few minutes and come back to close the shutter assuming your camera is still there The disadvantages of this mode are exposures must be timed manually and with shorter exposures it s possible for the vibration of manually opening and closing the shutter to register in the photo For longer exposures the period of vibra tion is relatively brief and not usually a problem and there is always the release cable option to eliminate photographer caused camera shake entirely While the T3 does not have a built in time exposure capability you can simulate it with the bulb exposure technique described previously Working with Long Exposures Because the EOS T3 produces such good images at longer exposures and there are so many creative things you can do with long exposure techniques you ll want to do some experimenting Get yourself a tripod or another firm support and take some test shots Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 149 with long exposure noise reduction both enabled and disabled using the Custom Function C Fn I 03 as explained in Chapter 9 to see whether you prefer low noise or high detail and get started Here are some things to try Make people invisible One very cool thing about long e
76. enough to read the instruc tions before initiating play with a new toy No matter how extensive your experience level is you don t need to fret about wading through a manual to find out what you must know to take those first few tentative snaps I m going to help you hit the ground running with this chapter which will help you set up your camera and begin shooting in minutes You wont find a lot of detail in this chapter Indeed I m going to give you the basics accompanied by some interesting tid bits that will help you become acclimated I ll go into more depth and even repeat some of what I explain here in later chapters so you don t have to memorize everything you see Because I realize that some of you may already have experience with Canon cam eras similar to the T3 each of the major sections in this chapter will begin with a brief description of what is covered in that section so you can easily jump ahead to the next if you are in a hurry to get started First Things First This section helps get you oriented with all the things that come in the box with your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D including what they do I ll also describe some optional equipment you might want to have If you want to get started immediately skim through this section and jump ahead to Initial Set up later in the chapter Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 7 The Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D comes in an impressive b
77. features are also straight forward to use So why do you need the four chapters in Part II Beyond the Basics I think you ll find that even if you ve mastered the fundamentals and controls of the Rebel T3 there is lots of room to learn more and use the features of the camera to their fullest Even if you re getting great exposures a high percentage of the time you can fine tune tonal values and use your shutter speed aperture and ISO controls creatively Your cameras high performance autofocus system may zero in on your subject in most situations but you still need to be able to tell the T3 what to focus on and when Other tools at your dis posal let you freeze an instant of time record a continuous series of instants as a movie and improve your images in other imaginative ways The chapters in this Part will help you move your photography to the next level by understanding exposure mastering the mysteries of autofocus and using the Canon Rebel T3 s advanced features Understanding Exposure As you learn to use your T3 creatively you re going to find that the right settings as determined by the camera s exposure meter and intelligence need to be adjusted to account for your creative decisions or special situations For example when you shoot with the main light source behind the subject you end up with backlighting which results in an overexposed background and or an underex posed subject The Rebel T3 recognizes backlit
78. flash in the various Basic Zone and Creative Zone modes Basic Zone Flash When the T3 is set to one of the Basic Zone modes except for Landscape Sports or Flash Off modes the built in flash will pop up when needed to provide extra illumi nation in low light situations or when your subject matter is backlit and could bene fit from some fill flash The flash doesn t pop up in Landscape mode because the flash 292 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography doesn t have enough reach to have much effect for pictures of distant vistas in any case nor does the flash pop up automatically in Sports mode because you ll often want to use shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second and or be shooting subjects that are out of flash range Pop up flash is disabled in Flash Off mode for obvious reasons If you happen to be shooting a landscape photo and do want to use flash say to add some illumination to a subject that s closer to the camera or you want flash with your sports photos or you dont want the flash popping up all the time when using one of the other Basic Zone modes switch to an appropriate Creative Zone mode and use that instead Creative Zone Flash When youre using a Creative Zone mode you ll have to judge for yourself when flash might be useful and flip it up yourself by pressing the Flash button on the top right of the camera If you ve redefined this button to serve as an ISO button instea
79. focal length You can allow the external flash to zoom auto matically based on information provided or manually using a zoom button on the flash itself This setting is disabled when using a flash like the Canon 270EX II which does not have zooming capability You can select Auto in which case the camera will tell the flash unit the focal length of the lens or choose individual focal lengths from 24mm to 105mm 302 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Learning about MULTI Flash The MULT flash setting makes it possible to shoot cool stroboscopic effects with the flash firing several times in quick succession You can use the capability to produce mul tiple images of moving objects to trace movement say your golf swing When you ve activated MULTI flash additional parameters appear on the External Flash Function Setting menu They include m Flash output You can select from 1 4 power to 1 128th power The flash output you choose determines how many flashes per second can be produced The higher the power level the fewer flashes the external unit can emit in a continuous burst m Frequency This figure specifies the number of bursts per second With an exter nal flash you can choose theoretically 1 to 199 bursts per second The actual num ber of flashes produced will be determined by your flash count which turns off the flash after the specified number of flashes and flash output higher o
80. focus points confirmation in viewfinder information display 59 60 with telephoto lenses 267 390 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography focus modes 108 114 See also AI Focus AF AI Servo AF One Shot AF AF assist lamp in 294 cross keys for setting 47 50 in Live View 118 120 for movies 126 shooting settings display 57 focus points AF point selection button 47 49 cross type focus points 105 106 explanation of 110 manual selection of 28 29 114 phase detection system 102 104 selecting 28 29 setting AF points 113 114 viewfinder information display 58 59 focus ring on lens 54 focus stacking 157 159 foggy contrast with telephoto lenses 269 folders jumping through 50 214 Select folder option Set up menu 223 224 foregrounds with telephoto lenses 268 with wide angle lenses 262 foreign language options Set up menu 227 formatting See memory cards freezing action with continuous light 278 external flash for 143 with flash 279 280 image stabilization and 273 with short exposures 143 144 with Speedlites 143 in Tv Shutter priority mode 79 80 front curtain sync See first curtain sync front view of camera 40 45 Full Auto mode 22 exposure choices in 75 95 Quick Control screen in 96 full frame cameras 244 full instruction manual CD 9 G gamuts See color spaces GE color rendering index CRI 284 geotagging 154 157 with Eye Fi cards 155
81. focus points will be active When all nine are live auto point selection will be switched back on When you press the Q button and the Quick Control screen is visible then press the AF point selection button the screen shown in Figure 5 11 appears on the LCD You can then rotate the Main Dial or use the cross keys to select the focus point This method may be easier under dark conditions when the viewfinder focus points are not as easily seen or when youre photographing a subject that has many red hues it hap pens and the viewfinder image awash in red doesn t show the red highlighted focus points readily AF point selection Manual selection Figure 5 11 When selecting focus points manually rotate the Main Dial to select specific points Continue rotat ing until all nine points are visible and the T3 switches back to auto matic AF point selection mode Live View and Movies Cameras like the Canon EOS T3 are loaded with killer features And by killer I mean that new capabilities found in digital SLRs have virtually killed off whole categories of cameras such as high end point and shoot cameras that lack interchangeable lenses or superzoom optics and in the future camcorders Who needs a camcorder when your digital SLR can shoot full HD 1080p video and stills Live View has been around long enough that it s becoming old hat for some but we have learned it was really just a precursor to one of
82. for electro focus in a more rugged and less complicated form A tiny motor was built into the lens itself eliminat ing the need for mechanical linkages with the camera Instead electrical contacts are used to send power and the required focusing information to the motor That s a much more robust and resilient system that made it easier for Canon to design faster and more accurate autofocus mechanisms just by redesigning the lenses WHY SO MANY LENS MOUNTS Four different lens mounts in 40 plus years might seem like a lot of different mounting systems especially when compared to the Nikon F mount of 1959 which retained quite a bit of compatibility with that company s film and digital camera bodies during that same span However in digital photography terms the EF mount itself is positively ancient having remained reasonably stable for almost two decades Lenses designed for the EF system work reliably with every EOS film and digital camera ever produced However at the time yet another lens mount switch especially a change from the tradi tional breech system to a more conventional bayonet type mount was indeed a daring move by Canon One of the reasons for staying with a particular lens type is to lock current users into a specific camera system By introducing the EF mount Canon in effect cut loose every photographer in its existing user base If they chose to upgrade they were free to choose another vendors products and len
83. for some because of its com pact size and built in wall plug prongs that connect directly into your power strip or wall socket and require no cord This charger as well as the LC E8E has a switch ing power module that is fully compatible with 100V to 240V 50 60 Hz AC power so you can use it outside the US with no problems When I travel to Europe for example I take my charger and an adapter to convert the plug shape for the European sockets No voltage converter is needed m AC Adapter Kit ACK E5 This device consists of Compact Power Adapter CA PS700 and DC Couple DR E10 and allows you to operate your Rebel T3 directly from AC power with no battery required You also might want to use the AC adapter when viewing images on a TV connected to your T3 or when shooting remote or time lapse photos Charging the Battery When the battery is inserted into the LC E10 charger properly it s impossible to insert it incorrectly a Charge light begins glowing orange red When the battery completes the charge the Full Charge lamp glows green approximately two hours later When the battery is charged remove it from the charger flip the lever on the bottom of the cam era and slide the battery in See Figure 1 3 To remove the battery you must press a lever which prevents the pack from slipping out when the door is opened Final Steps Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 is almost ready to fire up and shoot You ll need to select and mount a lens adju
84. given distance and may perceive smaller circles of confusion than someone standing next to them For the most part however such dif ferences are small Truly blurry images will look blurry to just about everyone under the same conditions Technically there is just one plane within your picture area parallel to the back of the camera or sensor in the case of a digital camera that is in sharp focus That s the plane in which the points of the image are rendered as precise points At every other plane in front of or behind the focus plane the points show up as discs that range from slightly blurry to extremely blurry until as you can see in Figure 5 9 the out of focus areas become one large blur that de emphasizes the background In practice the discs in many of these planes will still be so small that we see them as points and that s where we get depth of field Depth of field is just the range of planes that include discs that we perceive as points rather than blurred splotches The size of this range increases as the aperture is reduced in size and is allocated roughly one third in front of the plane of sharpest focus and two thirds behind it The range of sharp focus is always greater behind your subject than in front of it Figure 5 9 The back ground is almost totally blurred thanks to a wide f stop Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 111 Making Sense of Sensors The number and type of autofocus
85. going to waste a lot of space on some of the more obvious menu choices For example you can probably figure out that the Beep option in Shooting 1 menu deals 164 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography with the solid state beeper in your camera that sounds off during various activities such as the self timer countdown You can certainly decipher the import of the two options available for the Beep entry Enable and Disable In this chapter I ll devote no more than a sentence or two to the blatantly obvious settings and concentrate on the more confusing aspects of T3 set up such as automatic exposure bracketing I ll cover the Shooting menus and Playback menus in this chapter and turn to the Set up Custom Functions and My Menu options in Chapter 9 Let s start off with an overview of the T3 s menus themselves Anatomy of the Rebel T3 s Menus If you have jumped directly to the Canon Rebel T3 from an ancient model like the EOS 30D you re in for a pleasant surprise from a menu perspective Like all recent EOS cam eras this model abandons the time consuming scrolling through one endless menu in favor of 10 individually tabbed menus each with a single screen of options so you wont need to scroll within a menu to see all the entries The menus are much cleaner too If you ve used another EOS model you ll find the T3 s menu system familiar but with a more attractive look that includes shaded men
86. if you want to change from the recommended settings for the next exposure you ll need to repeat those steps Making EV Changes Sometimes you ll want more or less exposure than indicated by the T3 s metering sys tem Perhaps you want to underexpose to create a silhouette effect or overexpose to pro duce a high key look It s easy to use the T3 s Exposure Compensation system to override the exposure recommendations available in any Creative Zone mode except Manual Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 81 There are two ways to make exposure value EV changes with the Rebel T3 One method is fast and a bit clumsy to use especially if your fingers aren t well coordinated The other method takes a few seconds longer but can be done smoothly by the most fumble fingered among us Fast EV Changes Activate the exposure meters by tapping the shutter release button Then just hold down the AV button located on the back next to the upper right corner of the LCD and rotate the Main Dial to the right to make the image brighter add exposure and to the left to make the image darker subtract exposure The exposure scale in the viewfinder and on the LCD indicates the EV change youve made The EV change you ve made remains for the exposures that follow until you manually zero out the EV setting with the AV button Main Dial EV changes are ignored when using M or any of the Basic Zone modes Slower EV Changes If you find yourself not turni
87. image even at ISO 100 If you want to use a larger f stop for selective focus then you encounter the second problem 1 200th second wont allow apertures wider than f 8 or f 5 6 under many daylight conditions at ISO 100 See the discussion of fill flash with Aperture priority in the next bullet 304 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Finally if you re shooting action youll probably want a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second if at all possible under the current lighting That s because in fill flash situations the ambient light often daylight provides the primary source of illumination For many sports and fast moving subjects 1 500th second or faster is desirable HSS allows you to increase your shutter speed and still avail yourself of fill flash This assumes that your subject is close enough to your camera that the fill flash has some effect forget about using fill and HSS with subjects a dozen feet away or farther The flash wont be powerful enough to have much effect on the shadows m When using fill flash with Aperture priority The difficulties of using selective focus with fill flash mentioned earlier become particularly acute when you switch to Av exposure mode Selecting f 5 6 f 4 or a wider aperture when using flash is guaranteed to create problems when photographing close in subjects particularly at ISO settings higher than ISO 100 If you own an external flash unit HSS may
88. in the same way Image protection will not save your images from removal when the card is reformatted Rotate While you can set the Rebel T3 to automatically rotate images taken in a vertical ori entation using the Auto Rotate option in the Set up 1 menu as described in Chapter 9 you can manually rotate an image during playback using this menu selection Select Rotate from the Playback 1 menu use the cross keys to page through the available images on your memory card until the one you want to rotate appears then press SET The image will appear on the screen rotated 90 degrees as shown in Figure 8 36 Press SET again and the image will be rotated 270 degrees 210 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Protect images Rotate Erase images Print order Figure 8 35 Protected images can be locked against accidental era sure but not preserved from formatting MENU ams Figure 8 36 A vertically ori ented image that isn t rotated appears larger on the LCD but rota tion allows viewing the photo without turning the camera Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 211 Erase Images Choose this menu entry and you ll be given three choices Select and Erase Images All Images in Folder and All Images on Card You can use the first two to selectively remove images although the third option does delete all the pictures on a card using the Format comm
89. incandescent lamps We re not going to be dragged kicking and screaming to compact fluorescent lights CFL which may not work in all fixtures and for all applications such as dimmers even if you purchase special dimmable CFLs electronic timer or dusk to dawn light con trollers illuminated wall switches or motion sensors Only certain cold cathode CFLs operate outside in cold weather they emit IR signals that can confuse the remote control of your TV air conditioner etc and the typical CFL has a Color Rendering Index of 80 compared to the virtually perfect 100 rating of incandescent lights The biggest change will be that you ll be paying a bit more for your bulbs and will be purchasing them by their brightness rating rather than wattage If you want the same illu mination as an old style 100 watt bulb you ll purchase one rated at 1 600 lumens instead and wont care that it s a 72 watt halogen incandescent bulb or 23 26 watt CFL except at the cash register and again when your electric bill arrives 284 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography allows tungsten halogen or quartz halogen quartz iodine depending on their con struction lamps to burn hotter and whiter Although popular for automobile head lamps today they are also popular for photographic illumination Although incandescent illumination isn t a perfect black body radiator it s close enough that the color tempera
90. indicate the number of frames that can be taken in continuous mode using the current settings m Focus confirmation This green dot appears when the subject covered by the active autofocus zone is in sharp focus Highlight Tone Priority Displayed when this highlight detail boosting feature is turned on Part Il Beyond the Basics 62 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography When you bought your Canon Rebel T3 you probably thought your days of worrying about getting the correct exposure achieving focus and struggling with using more advanced features like Live View and movie making were over To paraphrase an old Kodak tagline dating back to the 19th Century the goal is you press the button and the camera does the rest For the most part that s a realistic objective The T3 is one of the smartest cameras avail able when it comes to calculating the right exposure for most situations locking in focus and shooting video clips For exposure you can generally choose one of the automatic modes either Full Auto or Creative Auto or spin the Mode Dial to Program P Aperture priority Av or Shutter priority Tv and shoot away Autofocus too is quick and easy You can use One Shot AF for stationary subjects AI Servo AF for subjects that are in motion or AI Focus to allow the T3 to decide which of the other two modes to use depending on circumstances Most of the other advanced
91. is thronged with people as Figure 7 5 With the camera still on a tripod a 30 you can see in this two second exposure using only the second exposure rendered the passersby almost invisible available illumination 150 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 7 6 This musician produced a swirl of move ment during the 1 8th sec ond exposure m Produce light trails At night car headlights and taillights and other moving sources of illumination can generate interesting light trails Your camera doesnt even need to be mounted on a tripod hand holding the T3 for longer exposures adds movement and patterns to your trails If you re shooting fireworks a longer expo sure may allow you to combine several bursts into one picture as shown in the tri pod shot in Figure 7 7 Blur waterfalls etc You ll find that waterfalls and other sources of moving liquid produce a special type of long exposure blur because the water merges into a fan tasy like veil that looks different at different exposure times and with different waterfalls Cascades with turbulent flow produce a rougher look at a given longer exposure than falls that flow smoothly Although blurred waterfalls have become almost a clich there are still plenty of variations for a creative photographer to explore as you can see in Figure 7 8 Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 151 Figure 7 7 A long expo sure allows cap turing sever
92. latest purchase to the test you ll know the disease has reached the terminal phase What Lenses Can Do for You A saner approach to expanding your lens collection is to consider what each of your options can do for you and then choosing the type of lens that will really boost your creative opportunities Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 257 Heres a general guide to the sort of capabilities you can gain by adding a lens to your repertoire m Wider perspective Your 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 or 17 85mm f 4 5 6 or 18 200mm lens has served you well for moderate wide angle shots Now you find your back is up against a wall and you can take a step backwards to take in more subject mat ter Perhaps you re standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and you want to take in as much of the breathtaking view as you can You might find yourself just behind the baseline at a high school basketball game and want an interesting shot with a little perspective distortion tossed in the mix Theres a lens out there that will pro vide you with what you need such as the EF S 10 22mm f 3 5 4 5 USM Zoom If you want to stay in the sub 600 price category you ll need something like the Sigma Super Wide Angle 10 20mm f 4 5 6 EX DC HSM Autofocus lens The two lenses provide the equivalent of a 16mm to 32 35mm wide angle view For a dis torted view there is the Canon Fisheye EF 15mm f 2 8 Autofocus with a similar lens available from Sigma which offers an extra wide circu
93. light and diffusers and filters Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 139 Tips for Better Audio Since recording high quality audio is such a challenge it s a good idea to do everything possible to maximize recording quality Here are some ideas for improving the quality of the audio your T3 records m Get the camera and its built in microphone close to the speaker The farther the microphone is from the audio source the less effective it will be in picking up that sound This means you ll have to boost volume in postproduction which will also amplify any background noises While having to position the camera closer to the subject affects your lens choices and lens perspective options it will make the most of your audio source m Turn off any sound makers you can Little things like fans and air handling units arent obvious to the human ear but will be picked up by the microphone Try to turn off any machinery or devices that you can plus make sure cell phones are set to silent mode Also do what you can to minimize sounds such as wind radio tel evision or people talking in the background Dont forget to close windows if you re inside to shut out noises from the outside m Make sure to record some natural sound If you re shooting video at an event of some kind make sure you get some background sound that you can add to your audio as desired in postproduction m Consider recording audio separately Lip syncing is probably beyond
94. lock no AE lock Pressing the AE lock button interrupts the autofocus and locks focus in AI Servo mode Exposure is not locked at all until the actual moment of exposure when you press the shutter release all the way This mode is handy when moving objects may pass in front of the camera say a tight end crosses Chapter 9 B Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 235 your field of view as you focus on the quarterback and you want to be able to avoid change of focus Note that you cant lock in exposure using this option m 3 AE AK no AE lock Pressing the shutter release halfway locks in autofocus except in AI Servo mode in which you can use the button to start or stop auto focus Exposure is always determined at the moment the picture is taken and can not be locked C Fn IV 8 Using the SET Button as a Function Key Assign SET button You already know that the SET button is used to select a choice or option when navigating the menus However when you re taking photos it has no function at all You can easily remedy that with this setting This setting allows you to assign one of five different actions to the SET key Because the button is within easy reach of your right thumb that makes it quite convenient for accessing a frequently used function When this Custom Function is set to 5 the SET button has no addi tional function during shooting mode except to activate Live View when it is turned on and options 0 through 4 a
95. memory card access lamp 47 50 memory cards 10 See also Eye Fi cards Jump feature transferring images to computer camera functions display 58 eggs in one basket argument 350 352 failure rates for 352 formatting 16 17 in computer 17 low level formatting 17 problems caused by 352 Set up menu options 17 222 by transferring images to computer 17 inserting 16 interleaving shots on 351 352 for movies 125 printing directly from 321 324 recovering images on 353 354 for time lapse photography 154 troubleshooting 350 354 MENU button 46 47 metering mode selecting 72 menus See also specific menus explanation of 164 166 SET button assignment for displays 236 metering modes See also evaluative metering partial metering center weighted metering 26 74 75 selecting 24 26 72 75 Shooting menu options 185 shooting settings display 57 metering timer in Live View 119 208 for movies 128 MF manual focus 101 102 108 180 in Live View 119 120 123 124 in Quick mode 122 microphone 41 42 tips for using 139 Index 395 mirror dust on 355 in Live View 119 120 sensor cleaning placement for 361 MM micromotor drive lens 254 255 MobileMe 155 Mode Dial 51 52 shooting mode selecting 21 modeling flash 286 monitor color calibrating 189 190 Monochrome ambience 24 99 100 Monochrome Picture Style 191 205 filter effects with 194 198 200 modifying 198 199 with RAW fo
96. might have stretched your budget a bit to purchase your 13 so you might want to keep the cost of your first lens fairly low Fortunately there are excellent lenses available that will add from 100 to 500 to the price of your camera if pur chased at the same time m Zoom range If you have only one lens you ll want a fairly long zoom range to pro vide as much flexibility as possible Fortunately the two most popular basic lenses for the T3 have 3X to 5X zoom ranges extending from moderate wide angle nor mal out to medium telephoto These are fine for everyday shooting portraits and some types of sports Adequate maximum aperture You ll want an f stop of at least f 3 5 to f 4 for shooting under fairly low light conditions The thing to watch for is the maximum aperture when the lens is zoomed to its telephoto end You may end up with no better than an f 5 6 maximum aperture That s not great but you can often live with it Image quality Your starter lens should have good image quality befitting a cam era with 12 2MP of resolution because that s one of the primary factors that will be used to judge your photos Even at a low price the several different lenses sold with the T3 as a kit include extra low dispersion glass and aspherical elements that minimize distortion and chromatic aberration they are sharp enough for most applications If you read the user evaluations in the online photography forums you know that owners of the k
97. most of the people you re going to be shooting but there s nothing that says you cant record narration separately and add it later Any time the speaker is off camera you can work with separately recorded narration using a program like Adobe Premiere rather than recording the speaker on camera This can produce much cleaner sound This page intentionally left blank Advanced Shooting You can happily spend your entire shooting career using the techniques and features already explained in this book Great exposures sharp pictures and creative composi tions are all you really need to produce great shot after great shot But those with enough interest in getting the most out of their Canon EOS T3 who buy this book probably will be interested in going beyond those basics to explore some of the more advanced techniques and capabilities of the camera Capturing the briefest instant of time transforming common scenes into the unusual with lengthy time exposures and working with new tools like WiFi are all tempting avenues for exploration So in this chapter I m going to offer longer discussions of some of the more advanced techniques and capabilities that I like to put to work Continuous Shooting The Canon EOS T3 s Continuous shooting mode reminds me how far digital photog raphy has brought us The first accessory I purchased when I worked as a sports pho tographer some years ago was a motor drive for my film SLR It enabled me t
98. of the tools found in the toolbar at the top left of the dialog box From left to right they are as follows m Zoom Operates just like the Zoom tool in Photoshop m Hand Use like the Hand tool in Photoshop m White Balance Click an area in the image that should be neutral gray or white to set the white balance quickly m Color Sampler Use to determine the RGB values of areas you click with this eyedropper m Crop Pre crops the image so that only the portion you specify is imported into Photoshop This option saves time when you want to work on a section of a large image and you dont need the entire file m Straighten Drag in the preview image to define what should be a horizontal or vertical line and ACR will realign the image to straighten it m Retouch Used to heal or clone areas you define m Red Eye Removal Quickly zap red pupils in your human subjects m ACR Preferences Produces a dialog box of Adobe Camera Raw preferences m Rotate Counterclockwise Rotates counterclockwise in 90 degree increments with a click m Rotate Clockwise Rotates clockwise in 90 degree increments with a click Figure 12 15 The basic ACR dialog box looks like this when process ing a single image Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 339 QZ fuusxXx 780u5o5oc 5 Using the Basic tab you can have ACR show you red and blue highlights in the preview that indicate shadow areas that are clipped
99. of view Your First Lens Back in ancient times the pre zoom pre autofocus era before the mid 1980s choos ing the first lens for your camera was a no brainer you had few or no options Canon cameras which used a different lens mount in those days were sold with a 50mm f 1 4 a 50mm f 1 8 or if you had deeper pockets a super fast 50mm f 1 2 lens It was also possible to buy a camera as a body alone which didn t save much money back when a film SLR like the Canon A 1 sold for 435 with lens Thanks to the era of relatively cheap optics I still own a total of eight 50mm f 1 4 lenses Today your choices are more complicated and Canon lenses which now include zoom autofocus and more often than not built in image stabilization IS features tend to cost a lot more compared to the price of a camera Adjusted for inflation that 435 A 1 cost 879 in today s dollars The Canon EOS T3 is frequently purchased with a lens even now often the Canon EF S 18 200mm f 3 5 5 6 IS lens about 575 that provides a very useful 11X zoom range Some buyers don t need quite that zoom range and save a few dollars by pur chasing the EF S 18 135mm f 3 5 5 6 IS lens about 450 or Canon EF 28 135mm 3 5 5 6 IS USM lens 409 The latter lens has one advantage EF lenses like the 28 135mm zoom can also be used with any full frame camera you add migrate to at a later date You ll learn the difference later in this chapter True bu
100. on by flipping the power switch located to the right of the Mode Dial to On Next you need to select which shooting mode to use If you re very new to digital photography you might want to set the camera to Auto the green frame on the Mode Dial or P Program mode and start snapping away Either mode will make all the appropriate settings for you for many shooting situations If you have a specific type of picture you want to shoot you can try out one of the Image Zone Scene modes within the Basic Zone They are indicated on the Mode Dial with appropriate icons as shown in the figure m Full Auto In this mode marked with a green icon the EOS T3 makes all the expo sure decisions for you and will pop up the flash if necessary under low light con ditions m Flash Off This mode is like Full Auto with the flash disabled You ll want to use it in museums and other locations where flash is forbidden or inappropriate Figure 2 1 The Creative Zone modes left side of dial as shown let the photogra pher control how exposures are made to increase cre ative options The Basic Zone settings right side of the dial make all the exposure deci sions for you The Movie mode is used for capturing video clips Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 23 It otherwise operates exactly like the auto setting but disables the pop up internal flash unit m CA This Creative Auto mode is basically the same as the Full Aut
101. one shown in Figure 8 24 for the five color styles or three User Def styles 3 Choose a parameter to change Use the cross keys to scroll among the four param eters plus Default Set at the bottom of the screen which restores the values to the preset numbers 4 Activate changes Press SET to change the values of one of the four parameters If youre redefining one of the default presets the menu screen will look like Figure 8 24 which represents the Landscape Picture Style Detail set Landscape Sharpness Contrast S Saturation amp Color tone Default set MENU lu 198 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 5 Adjust values Use the cross keys to move the triangle to the value you want to use Note that the previous value remains on the scale represented by a gray triangle This makes it easy to return to the original setting if you want 6 Confirm changes Press the SET button to lock in that value then press the MENU button three times to back out of the menu system Any Picture Style that has been changed from its defaults will be shown in the Picture Style menu with blue highlighting the altered parameter You dont have to worry about changing a Picture Style and then forgetting that youve modified it A quick glance at the Picture Style menu will show you which styles and parameters have been changed Making changes in the Monochrome Picture Style is slightly different as th
102. optics Zoom or Prime Zoom lenses have changed the way serious photographers take pictures One of the rea sons that I own 12 SLR film bodies is that in ancient times it was common to mount a different fixed focal length prime lens on various cameras and take pictures with two or three cameras around your neck or tucked in a camera case so youd be ready to take a long shot or an intimate close up or wide angle view on a moments notice with out the need to switch lenses It made sense at the time to have a half dozen or so bod ies two to use one in the shop one in transit and a couple backups Zoom lenses of the time had a limited zoom range were heavy and not very sharp especially when you tried to wield one of those monsters hand held 260 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Thats all changed today Lenses like the razor sharp Canon EF 28 300mm f 3 5 5 6L IS USM can boast 10X or longer zoom ranges in a package that s about 7 inches long and while not petite at 3 7 pounds quite usable hand held especially with IS switched on Although such a lens might seem expensive at 2 200 plus it s actually much less costly than the six or so lenses it replaces When selecting between zoom and prime lenses there are several considerations to pon der Here s a checklist of the most important factors I already mentioned image qual ity and maximum aperture earlier but thos
103. or reflec tors used to bounce existing light onto your subject Electronic flash is notable because it can be much more intense than continuous light ing lasts only a brief moment and can be much more portable than supplementary incandescent sources It s a light source you can carry with you and use anywhere Indeed your Rebel T3 has a flip up electronic flash unit built in But you can also use an external flash either mounted on the T3 s accessory shoe or used off camera and linked with a cable or triggered by a slave light which sets off a flash when it senses the firing of another unit Studio flash units are electronic flash too and arent limited to professional shooters as there are economical monolight one piece flash power supply units available in the 200 price range You can buy a couple to store in a closet and use to set up a home studio or use as supplementary lighting when traveling away from home There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of illumination Here s a quick checklist of pros and cons m Lighting preview Pro continuous lighting With continuous lighting you always know exactly what kind of lighting effect you re going to get and if multi ple light sources are used how they will interact with each other as shown in Figure 11 1 where the main light was the sun directly overhead but a bit of fill was pro vided by a gold reflector held up a few feet off camera to her left Wit
104. or slower Chapter 11 m Working with Light 279 Figure 11 2 A light source that is twice as far away provides only one quarter as much illumination m Action stopping Pro electronic flash When it comes to the ability to freeze moving objects in their tracks the advantage goes to electronic flash The brief dura tion of electronic flash serves as a very high shutter speed when the flash is the main or only source of illumination for the photo Your Rebel T3 s shutter speed may be set for 1 200th second during a flash exposure but if the flash illumination predominates the effective exposure time will be the 1 1 000th to 1 50 000th sec ond or less duration of the flash as you can see in Figure 11 3 because the flash unit reduces the amount of light released by cutting short the duration of the flash The only fly in the ointment is that if the ambient light is strong enough it may produce a secondary ghost exposure as I ll explain later in this chapter m Cost Pro continuous lighting Incandescent or fluorescent lamps are generally much less expensive than electronic flash units which can easily cost several hun dred dollars I ve used everything from desktop high intensity lamps to reflector flood lights for continuous illumination at very little cost There are lamps made especially for photographic purposes too priced up to 50 or so Maintenance is economical too many incandescent or fluorescents use bu
105. plane shutter At left is pictured the closed shutter in the middle version you can see the first curtain has moved down about 1 4 of the distance from the top and in the right hand version the second cur tain has started to chase the first curtain across the frame towards the bottom If the flash is triggered while this slit is moving only the exposed portion of the sensor will receive any illumination You end up with a photo like the one shown in Figure 11 9 Note that a band across the bottom of the image is black That s a shadow of the 290 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography second shutter curtain which had started to move when the flash was triggered Sharp eyed readers will wonder why the black band is at the bottom of the frame rather than at the top where the second curtain begins its journey The answer is simple your lens flips the image upside down and forms it on the sensor in a reversed position You never notice that because the camera is smart enough to show you the pixels that make up your photo in their proper orientation But this image flip is why if your sensor gets dirty and you detect a spot of dust in the upper half of a test photo if cleaning manu ally you need to look for the speck in the bottom half of the sensor I generally end up with sync speed problems only when shooting in the studio using studio flash units rather than my T35 built in flash or a Canon dedi
106. prime offender can cast a semi circular shadow in the lower portion of the frame when using the built in flash Sometimes removing the lens hood or zooming in a bit can eliminate the shadow Mounting an external flash unit such as the mighty Canon 580EX II can solve both problems as it has zoomable cover age up to 114 degrees with the included adapter sufficient for a 15mm rectilinear lens Its higher vantage point eliminates the problem of lens hood shadow too 266 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 10 11 Many wide angle lenses cause lines to bow outwards towards the edges of the image with a fisheye lens this tendency is especially useful for creating special effects as in this shot Symptom light and dark areas when using polarizing filter If you know that polarizers work best when the camera is pointed 90 degrees away from the sun and have the least effect when the camera is oriented 180 degrees from the sun you know only half the story With lenses having a focal length of 10mm to 18mm the equivalent of 16mm 28mm the angle of view 107 to 75 degrees diagonally or 97 to 44 degrees horizontally is extensive enough to cause problems Think about it when a 10mm lens is pointed at the proper 90 degree angle from the sun objects at the edges of the frame will be oriented at 135 to 41 degrees with only the cen ter at exactly 90 degrees Either edge will have much less of a polarized
107. print button This button activates the Quick Control screen described later in this chapter which allows you to set image recording quality and switch between single shot and self timer remote settings including Ambience options when using Basic Zone exposure modes and to set a full range of controls when using Creative Zone exposure modes The button can also be used when the T3 is connected to a printer or personal computer to initiate transfer Aperture value AV Exposure compensation button When using manual expo sure mode hold down this button and rotate the Main Dial to specify a lens aper ture rotate the Main Dial alone to choose the shutter speed In other Creative Zone exposure modes Aperture priority Av Shutter priority Tv or Program P hold down this button and rotate the Main Dial to the right to add exposure com pensation EV to an image making it brighter or rotate to the left to subtract EV and make the image darker When you re reviewing an image you ve already taken this control functions as an Erase button Press to erase the image shown on the LCD A menu will pop up displaying Cancel and Erase choices Use the left right cross keys to select one of these actions then press the SET button to acti vate your choice m Playback button Displays the last picture taken Thereafter you can move back and forth among the available images by pressing the left right cross keys to advance or reverse one image a
108. protection in case the T3 needs to be sent in for repair 8 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Rubber eyecup Ef This slide on soft rubber eyecup should be attached to the viewfinder when you receive the camera It helps you squeeze your eye tightly against the window excluding extraneous light and also protects your eyeglasses if you wear them from scratching m Body cap The twist off body cap keeps dust from entering the camera when no lens is mounted Even with automatic sensor cleaning built into the T3 you ll want to keep the amount of dust to a minimum The body cap belongs in your camera bag if you contemplate the need to travel with the lens removed m Lens if purchased The Rebel T3 probably came in a kit with the Canon Zoom Lens EF S 18 55mm 3 5 5 6 IS II lens Or you may purchase it with another lens The lens will come with a lens cap on the front and a rear lens cap aft m Battery pack LP E10 with cover The power source for your Rebel T3 is pack aged separately You ll need to charge this 7 4V 860mAh milliampere hour bat tery before using it It should be charged as soon as possible as described next and inserted in the camera Save the protective cover If you transport a battery outside the camera it s a good idea to re attach the cover to prevent the electrical contacts from shorting out m Battery charger LC E10 or LC E10e One of these two battery chargers wi
109. really like Bibble s ability to rename batches of files using new names that you specify Bibble is fully color managed which means it can support all the popular color spaces Adobe sRGB and so forth and use custom profiles generated by third party color man agement software There are two editions of Bibble a Pro version and a Lite version Because the Pro version is reasonably priced at 199 I don t really see the need to save 100 with the Lite edition which lacks the top line s options for tethered shooting embedding IPTC compatible captions in images and can also be used as a Photoshop plug in if you prefer not to work with the application in its standalone mode Bibble Pro now incorporates Noise Ninja technology a state of the art noise reduction mod ule so you can get double duty from this valuable application See www bibblelabs com BreezeBrowser BreezeBrowser was long the RAW converter of choice for Canon dSLR owners who run Windows and who were dissatisfied with Canons lame antique File Viewer Utility It works quickly and has lots of options for converting CRW and CR2 files to other for mats You can choose to show highlights that will be blown out in your finished photo as flashing areas so they can be more easily identified and corrected use histograms to correct tones add color profiles auto rotate images and adjust all those raw image parameters such as white balance color space saturation contrast sharpening
110. removed along with the noise So you might want to use this feature with moderation Some types of images dont require noise reduction because the grainy pattern tends to blend into the overall scene Figure 4 23 shows some jellyfish photographed at ISO 3200 there is some noise in the background but the noise becomes lost in the creatures watery environment Figure 4 23 A slight amount of noise is not objectionable for some types of images such as this photograph of jellyfish 92 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography To activate your T3 s long exposure noise reduction features go to the Custom Functions in the Set up menu choose C Fn II Image and select either C Fn I 03 Long Exposure Noise Reduction or C Fn I 04 High ISO Speed Noise Reduction as explained further in Chapter 9 You can also apply noise reduction to a lesser extent using Photoshop and when con verting RAW files to some other format using your favorite RAW converter or an industrial strength product like Noise Ninja www picturecode com to wipe out noise after you ve already taken the picture Fixing Exposures with Histograms While you can often recover poorly exposed photos in your image editor your best bet is to arrive at the correct exposure in the camera minimizing the tweaks that you have to make in post processing However you can t always judge exposure just by viewing the image on your T3 s LCD af
111. represent less sig nificant upgrades and minor tweaks respectively Theoretically a camera should have a firmware version number of 1 0 0 when it is introduced as my T3 did but vendors have been known to do some minor fixes during testing and unveil a camera with a 1 0 4 firmware designation If a given model is available long enough it can evolve into significant upgrades such as 2 0 3 Firmware upgrades are used most frequently to fix bugs in the software and much less frequently to add or enhance features For example previous firmware upgrades for Canon cameras have mended things like incorrect color temperature reporting when using specific Canon Speedlites or problems communicating with memory cards under Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 345 certain conditions The exact changes made to the firmware are generally spelled out in the firmware release announcement You can examine the remedies provided and decide if a given firmware patch is important to you If not you can usually safely wait a while before going through the bother of upgrading your firmware at least long enough for the early adopters to report whether the bug fixes have introduced new bugs of their own Each new firmware release incorporates the changes from previous releases so if you skip a minor upgrade you should have no problems Upgrading Your Firmware If you re computer savvy you might wonder how your EOS T3 is able to ove
112. represent the range at ISO 100 For example the Rebel T3 s built in flash has a GN of 13 43 meters feet at ISO 100 To calculate the right exposure at that ISO setting youd divide the guide number by the distance to arrive at the appropriate f stop Using the T3 s built in flash as an example at ISO 200 with its GN of 43 if you wanted to shoot a subject at a distance of 10 feet youd use f 4 3 43 divided by 10 round to f 4 for simplicity s sake At 8 feet an f stop of f 5 3 round up to f 5 6 would be used Some quick mental calculations with the GN will give you any particular electronic flash s range You can easily see that the built in flash would begin to peter out at about 15 feet where youd need an aperture of roughly f 2 8 at ISO 200 Of course in the real world youd probably bump the sensitivity up to a setting of ISO 400 so you could use a more practical f 5 6 at that distance Today guide numbers are most useful for comparing the power of various flash units You don t need to be a math genius to see that an electronic flash with a GN of say 190 would be a ot more powerful than your built in flash at ISO 100 you could use f 13 instead of f 2 8 at 15 feet Getting Started with the Built In Flash The Canon Rebel T3 s built in flash is a handy accessory because it is available as required without the need to carry an external flash around with you constantly The next sections explain how to use the flip up
113. sets the appropriate shut ter speed The focus zones that can be rendered in sharp focus will flash red other zones that cant be included in the focus range remain black as shown in Figure 4 14 If you ve defined the SET button so it triggers depth of field preview Ill show you how using wi TA tP S0 TC t il t Figure 4 14 A DEP mode can provide automatic depth of field for many types of subjects Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure TI C Fn IV 08 in Chapter 9 press it to check the range of focus if you want This mode wont work under all conditions for example with flash in which case the T3 acts as if you ve selected P mode or if you re using manual focus The viewfinder provides you with status information m Flashing red AF points Shows the subjects covered by the DOF range set m Blinking aperture indicator in viewfinder The desired DOF range cannot be set because the subjects are separated too widely for sufficient depth of field at the smallest available aperture m Blinking 30 shutter speed in viewfinder Illumination is too dim to provide requested DOF at the current ISO setting m Blinking 4000 shutter speed in viewfinder Illumination is too bright to provide requested DOF at the current ISO setting Because of the limitations of A DEP mode I dont favor it However it s fun to play with and may come in handy in certain situations especially when you re shooting quickly and don t have time to manip
114. shades fall at the extremes of the range between white and black In a low contrast image the tones are closer together Custom Functions C Fn A group of settings you can make to specify how the EOS T3 behaves such as the function of certain controls electronic flash features and other customizable attributes dedicated flash An electronic flash unit such as the Canon 580EX II Speedlite designed to work with the automatic exposure features of a specific camera depth of field A distance range in a photograph in which all included portions of an image are at least acceptably sharp With the Canon EOS T3 you can see the available depth of field at the taking aperture by pressing the depth of field preview button or estimate the range by viewing the depth of field scale found on many lenses diaphragm An adjustable component similar to the iris in the human eye that can open and close to provide specific sized lens openings or f stops and thus control the amount of light reaching the sensor or film diffuse lighting Soft low contrast lighting Glossary 371 digital processing chip A solid state device found in digital cameras such as the EOS T3 s DIGIC 4 module that s in charge of applying the image algorithms to the raw pic ture data prior to storage on the memory card diopter A value used to represent the magnification power of a lens calculated as the reciprocal of a lens s focal length in meters Diopters are mo
115. short exposures camera shake and 146 freezing action with 143 144 light for 144 perspectives with 146 reciprocity failure 144 working with 145 147 shots remaining See remaining shots shutter light passed through 66 sensor cleaning placement for 361 shutter priority mode See Tv Shutter priority mode Shutter release button 41 52 53 Custom Function setting for partially releasing 234 235 for movies 127 Index 401 shutter speed See also Av Aperture priority mode short exposures sync speed Tv Shutter priority mode equivalent exposures 68 f stops and 67 in Live View information display 120 shooting settings display 57 viewfinder information display 59 Sigma Fisheye 8mm f 3 5 EX DDG Circular Fisheye lens 257 macro lenses 257 272 Super Wide Angle 10 20mm f 4 5 6 EX DC HSM lens 257 silhouette effect EV exposure compensation changes for 80 in M Manual mode 81 single autofocus See One Shot AF single image display 56 single image with recording quality display 56 size of circles of confusion 110 filter thread on lens 255 of first lens 247 paper settings for printing 324 slave triggers for flash units 315 Slide show options Playback menu 214 216 slow sync and ghost images 303 Smugmug 155 Snapshot Picture Style 205 snoots 317 Soft ambience 24 99 100 soft boxes 310 315 316 light stands supporting 316 softening light 310 312 for movies 137 402 David Busch s C
116. shown use the left right cross keys to high light one and then press the SET button to activate that function m Exit Exits playback mode m Playback Begins playback of the movie To pause playback press the SET button again That restores the row of icons so you can choose a function m Slow motion Displays the video in slow motion m First frame Jumps to the first frame of the video or the first scene of an album s first video snapshot 130 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Previous frame Press SET to view previous frame hold down SET to rewind movie m Next frame Press SET to view next frame hold down SET to fast forward movie Last frame Jumps to last frame of the video or the last scene of the album s last video snapshot m Edit Summons an Editing screen see Figure 6 9 Background music volume Select to turn background music on off Rotate the Main Dial to adjust the volume of the background music While reviewing your video you can trim from the beginning or end of your video clip by selecting the scissors symbol The icons that appear have the following functions Cut beginning Trims off all video prior to the current point m Cut end Removes video after the current point Exit Playback Slow First Previous Next Last Edit Background motion frame frame frame frame music volume Figure 6 8 Options appear as a movie is being played back P
117. side and bring in either a supplemental light or a reflector to the other side for reason ably even lighting 138 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Lighting Styles Some lighting styles are more heavily used than others Some forms are used for special effects while others are designed to be invisible At its most basic lighting just illumi nates the scene but when used properly it can also create drama Let s look at some types of lighting styles Three point lighting This is a basic lighting setup for one person A main light illuminates the strong side of a person s face while a fill light lights up the other side A third light is then positioned above and behind the subject to light the back of the head and shoulders Flat lighting Use this type of lighting to provide illumination and nothing more It calls for a variety of lights and diffusers set to raise the light level in a space enough for good video reproduction but not to create a particular mood or emphasize a particular scene or individual With flat lighting you re trying to create even light ing levels throughout the video space and minimizing any shadows Generally the lights are placed up high and angled downward or possibly pointed straight up to bounce off of a white ceiling Ghoul lighting This is the style of lighting used for old horror movies The idea is to position the light down low pointed upward
118. situations nicely and can properly base exposure on the main subject producing a decent photo Features like Highlight Tone Priority and the Auto Lighting Optimizer can fine tune exposure to preserve detail in the highlights and shadows But what if you want to underexpose the subject to produce a silhouette effect Or per haps you might want to flip up the T3 s built in flash unit to fill in the shadows on your subject The more you know about how to use your T3 the more you ll run into situations where you want to creatively tweak the exposure to provide a different look than youd get with a straight shot This chapter shows you the fundamentals of exposure so you ll be better equipped to override the Rebel T3 s default settings when you want to or need to After all correct exposure is one of the foundations of good photography along with accurate focus and sharpness appropriate color balance freedom from unwanted noise and excessive con trast as well as pleasing composition The Rebel T3 gives you a great deal of control over all of these although composition is entirely up to you You must still frame the photograph to create an interesting arrangement of subject matter but all the other parameters are basic functions of the camera You can let your T3 set them for you automatically you can fine tune how the camera applies its automatic settings or you can make them yourself manually 64 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebe
119. sync described later in this chapter otherwise available only when using a compatible external flash m Tv When using flash in Tv mode you set the shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1 200th second and the T3 will choose the correct aperture for the correct flash exposure If you accidentally set the shutter speed higher than 1 200th second the camera will reduce it to 1 200th second when you re using the flash Chapter 11 m Working with Light 293 m M B In Manual or Bulb exposure modes you select both shutter speed 30 sec onds to 1 200th second and aperture The camera will adjust the shutter speed to 1 200th second if you try to use a faster speed with the internal flash The E TTL II system will provide the correct amount of exposure for your main subject at the aperture youve chosen if the subject is within the flash s range of course In Bulb mode the shutter will remain open for as long as the release button on top of the camera is held down or the release of your remote control is activated Flash Range The illumination of the Rebel T35 built in flash varies with distance focal length and ISO sensitivity setting m Distance The farther away your subject is from the camera the greater the light fall off thanks to the inverse square law discussed earlier Keep in mind that a sub ject that s twice as far away receives only one quarter as much light which is two f stops worth m Focal length The built in flash cov
120. that basket There are only two really good reasons to justify limiting yourself to smaller memory cards when larger ones can be purchased at the same cost per gigabyte One of them is when every single picture is precious to you and the loss of any of them would be a dis aster If you re a wedding photographer for example and unlikely to be able to restage the nuptials if a memory card goes bad you ll probably want to shoot no more pictures than you can afford to lose on a single card and have an assistant ready to copy each card removed from the camera onto a backup hard drive or DVD onsite To be even safer youd want to alternate cameras or have a second photographer at least partially duplicating your coverage so your shots are distributed over several memory cards simultaneously Strictly speaking the safest route of all is to use an Eye Fi wire less card and beam the images to a computer as you shoot them If none of these options are available to you consider interleaving your shots Say you don t shoot weddings but you do go on vacation from time to time Take 50 or so pictures on one card or whatever number of images might fill about 25 percent of its 352 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography capacity Then replace it with a different card and shoot about 25 percent of that card s available space Repeat these steps with diligence you d have to be determined to go through this inconve
121. that of the person facing away from the camera See Figure 6 14 right Figure 6 14 A two shot features two people in the frame This version can be framed at various distances such as medium or close up left an over the shoulder shot is a popular shot for interview programs right Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 137 Lighting for Video Much like in still photography how you handle light pretty much can make or break your videography Lighting for video though can be more complicated than lighting for still photography since both subject and camera movement is often part of the process Lighting for video presents several concerns First off you want enough illumination to create a useable video Beyond that you want to use light to help tell your story or increase drama Let s take a better look at both Illumination You can significantly improve the quality of your video by increasing the light falling in the scene This is true indoors or out by the way While it may seem like sunlight is more than enough it depends on how much contrast you re dealing with If your sub ject is in shadow which can help them from squinting or wearing a ball cap a video light can help make them look a lot better Lighting choices for amateur videographers are a lot better these days than they were a decade or two ago An inexpensive shoe mount video light which will easily fit in a cam era bag can be found for 15 or 20
122. that s avail able increase the aperture by one stop make the shutter speed twice as long or boost the ISO setting 2X youll get twice as much exposure Similarly you can increase any of these factors while decreasing one of the others by a similar amount to keep the same exposure F STOPS AND SHUTTER SPEEDS If you re really new to more advanced cameras and I realize that many soon to be ambi tious photographers do purchase the T3 as their first digital SLR you might need to know that the lens aperture or f stop is a ratio much like a fraction which is why 2 is larger than f 4 just as 1 2 is larger than 1 4 However f 2 is actually four times as large as f 4 If you remember your high school geometry you ll know that to double the area of a circle you multiply its diameter by the square root of two 1 4 Lenses are usually marked with intermediate f stops that represent a size that s twice as much half as much as the previous aperture So a lens might be marked f 2 f 2 8 f 4 5 6 8 11 16 f 22 with each larger number representing an aperture that admits half as much light as the one before as shown in Figure 4 3 Shutter speeds are actual fractions of a second but the numerator is omitted so that 60 125 250 500 1 000 and so forth represent 1 60th 1 125th 1 250th 1 500th and 1 1 000th second To avoid confusion EOS uses quotation marks to signify longer exposures 2 2 5 4 and so forth rep
123. the cameras internal logic has processed it and converted the image to a standard file format RAW doesn t save as much space as JPEG What it does do is preserve all the information captured by your camera after it s been converted from ana log to digital form Of course the T3 s RAW format preserves the settings information So why don t we always use RAW Although some photographers do save only in RAW format it s more common to use either RAW plus one of the JPEG options or just 170 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography shoot JPEG and avoid RAW altogether That s because having only RAW files to work with can significantly slow down your workflow While RAW is overwhelmingly help ful when an image needs to be fine tuned in other situations working with a RAW file when all you really need is a good quality un tweaked JPEG image consumes time that you may not want to waste For example RAW images take longer to store on the mem ory card and require more post processing effort whether you elect to go with the default settings in force when the picture was taken or just make minor adjustments As a result those who depend on speedy access to images or who shoot large numbers of photos at once may prefer JPEG over RAW Wedding photographers for example might expose several thousand photos during a bridal affair and offer hundreds to clients as electronic proofs for possible inclusion in an al
124. the distant subjects you re shooting Avoiding Telephoto Lens Problems Many of the problems that telephoto lenses pose are really just challenges and not that difficult to overcome Here is a list of the seven most common picture maladies and suggested solutions m Symptom flat faces in portraits Head and shoulders portraits of humans tend to be more flattering when a focal length of 50mm to 85mm is used Longer focal lengths compress the distance between features like noses and ears making the face look wider and flat A wide angle might make noses look huge and ears tiny when you fill the frame with a face So stick with 50mm to 85mm focal lengths going longer only when you re forced to shoot from a greater distance and wider only when shooting three quarters full length portraits or group shots m Symptom blur due to camera shake Use a higher shutter speed boosting ISO if necessary consider an image stabilized lens or mount your camera on a tripod monopod or brace it with some other support Of those three solutions only the first will reduce blur caused by subject motion an IS lens or tripod wont help you freeze a race car in mid lap m Symptom color fringes Chromatic aberration is the most pernicious optical prob lem found in telephoto lenses There are others including spherical aberration astigmatism coma curvature of field and similarly scary sounding phenomena The best solution for any of these is to use a
125. theoretically have no height or width There is perfect contrast between the point and its surroundings You can think of each point as a pinpoint of light in a darkened room When a given point is out of focus its edges decrease in contrast and it changes from a perfect point to a tiny disc with blurry edges remember blur is the lack of contrast between boundaries in an image See Figure 5 8 If this blurry disc the circle of confusion is small enough our eye still perceives it as a point It s only when the disc grows large enough that we can see it as a blur rather than a sharp point that a given point is viewed as out of focus You can see then that enlarging an image either by displaying it larger on your computer monitor or by mak ing a large print also enlarges the size of each circle of confusion Moving closer to the image does the same thing So parts of an image that may look perfectly sharp in a 5 X 7 inch print viewed at arms length might appear blurry when blown up to 11 x 14 and examined at the same distance Take a few steps back however and it may look sharp again Figure 5 8 When a pin point of light left goes out of focus its blurry edges form a circle of confusion cen ter and right 110 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography To a lesser extent the viewer also affects the apparent size of these circles of confusion Some people see details better at a
126. this procedure 2 Connect a wired remote control or use an infrared remote control if possible If not consider using the self timer to avoid any movement of the camera when images are captured 158 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figures 7 13 7 14 7 15 These three shots were all focused on different distances within the same scene No single shot could bring the entire subject into sharp focus Figure 7 16 Three partially out of focus shots have been merged along with ten others through a focus stacking proce dure in Adobe Photoshop CS5 to pro duce a single image with the entire subject in focus Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 159 3 Set the camera to manual focus mode 4 Set the exposure ISO and white balance manually using test shots if necessary to determine the best values This step will help prevent visible variations from aris ing among the multiple shots that you ll be taking 5 Set the quality of the images to RAW amp JPEG or FINE 6 Focus manually on the very closest point of the subject to the lens Trip the shut ter using the remote control or self timer 7 Focus on a point slightly farther away from the lens and trip the shutter again 8 Continue taking photographs in this way until you have covered the entire subject with in focus shots 9 In Photoshop CS4 or CS5 select File gt Scripts gt Load Files into Stack In the dia log
127. too dark to show detail and light areas that are blown out too bright Click the triangles in the upper left cor ner of the histogram display shadow clipping and upper right corner highlight clipping to toggle these indicators on or off 6 Also in the Basic tab you can choose white balance either from the drop down list or by setting a color temperature and green magenta color bias tint using the sliders 7 Other sliders are available to control exposure recovery fill light blacks bright ness contrast vibrance and saturation A checkbox can be marked to convert the image to grayscale 8 Make other adjustments described in more detail below 9 ACR makes automatic adjustments for you You can click Default and make the changes for yourself or click the Auto link located just above the Exposure slider to reapply the automatic adjustments after you ve made your own modifications 10 If you ve marked more than one image to be opened the additional images appear in a filmstrip at the left side of the screen You can click on each thumbnail in the filmstrip in turn and apply different settings to each 340 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 11 Click Open Image Open Image s into Photoshop using the settings you ve made or click Save Image at the bottom left to save the settings you ve made without open ing the file The Basic tab is displayed by default when the ACR dialog
128. trying again in the camera m Set up menu format To use the recommended method to format a memory card turn on the camera press the MENU button rotate the Main Dial located on top of the camera just behind the shutter release button or use the left right cross keys to choose the Set up menu 1 which is represented by a wrench icon with a single dot next to it use the up down cross keys to navigate to the Format entry and press the SET button in the center of the cross key pad to access the Format screen Press the left right cross keys again to select OK and press the SET button one final time to begin the format process LOW LEVEL FORMAT You can also press the Trash button located in the lower right corner of the back of the camera to mark the Low level format box on the Format screen This tells the T3 to per form an additional more thorough formatting of the card after the initial format is fin ished The low level format serves to remove data from all writable portions of your memory card while locking out bad sectors and can be used to restore a memory card that is slowing down as it trips over those bad sectors This extra step takes a bit longer than a standard reformat and need not be used every time you format your card 18 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Cs C Iso DISP WB Powering Up Setting Date and Time Rotate the On Off switch on top of the
129. twice as much exposure by using a larger f stop slower shut ter speed or both fill lighting In photography lighting is used to illuminate shadows Reflectors or addi tional incandescent lighting or electronic flash can be used to brighten shadows One common technique for outdoors is to use the cameras flash as a fill filter In photography a device that fits over the lens changing the light in some way In image editing a feature that changes the pixels in an image to produce blurring sharpening and other special effects Photoshop includes several interesting filter effects including Lens Blur and Photo Filters flash sync The timing mechanism that ensures that an internal or external electronic flash fires at the correct time during the exposure cycle A digital SLR s flash sync speed is the highest shutter speed or range of speeds that can be used with flash ordinarily 30 seconds to 1 200th of a second with the Canon EOS T3 See also front curtain sync and rear curtain sync 372 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography focal length The distance between the film and the optical center of the lens when the lens is focused on infinity usually measured in millimeters focal plane An imaginary line perpendicular to the optical access that passes through the focal point forming a plane of sharp focus when the lens is set at infinity A focal plane indicator is etched into the Canon EOS T3 at the ri
130. types of shots you re going after what dialogue you re going to use audio effects tran sitions and graphics When you first begin shooting movies your shooting scripts will be very simple As you gain experience you ll learn how to tell stories with video and will map out your script in more detail before you even begin to capture the first sequence A shooting script will also help you if you need to shoot out of sequence For example you may have several scenes that take place on different days at the same location It probably will make sense to shoot all those scenes at one time rather than in the movies chronological order You can check the shooting script to see what types of video and audio you need for the separate scenes as well as what dialogue your actors need to deliver even if as is the case for most informal videos the lines are ad libbed as you shoot Use Storyboards A storyboard is a series of panels providing visuals of what each scene should look like While the ones produced by Hollywood are generally of very high quality there s noth ing that says drawing skills are important for this step Stick figures work just fine if that s the best you can do The storyboard just helps you visualize locations placement of actors actresses props and furniture and also helps everyone involved get an idea of what youre trying to show It also helps show how you want to frame or compose a shot You can even
131. when you press the WB button the up cross key See Figure 8 16 To set the white balance to an appropriate color temperature under the current ambi ent lighting conditions focus manually with the lens set on MF on a plain white or gray object such as a card or wall making sure the object fills the spot metering circle in the center of the viewfinder Then take a photo Next press the MENU button and select Custom WB from the Shooting 2 menu Use the cross keys until the reference image you just took appears and press the SET button to store the white balance of the image as your Custom setting i r KALIZA NN a TIS TINS SET MEO 186 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography A WHITE BALANCE LIBRARY Shoot a selection of blank card images under a variety of lighting conditions on a spare memory card If you want to recycle one of the color temperatures you ve stored insert the card and set the Custom white balance to that of one of the images in your white bal ance library as described above White Balance Shift and Bracketing White balance shift allows you to dial in a white balance color bias along the blue yel low amber dimensions and or magenta green scale In other words you can set your color balance so that it is a little bluer or yellower only a little more magenta or green only or a combination of the two bias dimensions You can also bracket exposures ta
132. wide shot of the campus with a sign welcoming you to the school in the foreground Another example would be for a child s birthday party the establishing shot could be the front of the house decorated with birthday signs and streamers or a shot of the dining room table decked out with party favors and a candle covered birthday cake Or in Figure 6 12 left I wanted to show the studio where the video was shot m Medium shot This shot is composed from about waist to head room some space above the subject s head It s useful for providing variety from a series of close ups and also makes for a useful first look at a speaker See Figure 6 12 right a Figure 6 12 An establishing shot from a distance sets the stage for closer views left a medium shot is used to bring the viewer into a scene without shocking them right m Close up The close up usually described as from shirt pocket to head room provides a good composition for someone talking directly to the camera Although it s common to have your talking head centered in the shot that s not a require ment In Figure 6 13 left the subject was offset to the right This would allow other images especially graphics or titles to be superimposed in the frame in a real pro fessional production But the compositional technique can be used with your videos too even if special effects are not going to be added m Extreme close up When I went through broadcast traini
133. within reach Although the EOS T3 can t take time lapse interval photographs all by itself if you re willing to tether the camera to a computer a laptop will do using the USB cable you can take time lapse photos using EOS Utility software furnished with your camera see Figure 7 10 Timer shooting settings CES Keep the following for prolonged shooting using interval timer shooting Use household AC outlets for the camera and PC Release the PC s power saving function Delay setting Delay time 00 00 99 59 00 10 Interval timer shooting Shooting interval 00 05 99 59 02 10 Shots minimum 2 10 Start 154 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Here are some tips for effective time lapse photography m Use AC power If you re shooting a long sequence consider connecting your cam era to an AC adapter as leaving the T3 on for long periods of time will rapidly deplete the battery m Make sure you have enough storage space Unless your memory card has enough capacity to hold all the images you ll be taking you might want to change to a higher compression rate or reduced resolution to maximize the image count m Make a movie While time lapse stills are interesting you can increase your fun factor by compiling all your shots into a motion picture using your favorite desk top movie making software m Protect your camera If your camera will be set up for
134. 0 is my choice as a very good second lens Of course it s more likely that your single lens is actually a zoom which is in truth many lenses in one taking you from say 17mm to 85mm or some other range with a rapid twist of the zoom ring You ll still find some creative challenges when you stick to a single zoom lens focal lengths The second advantage of the unilens camera is only a marginal technical benefit since the introduction of the T3 If you dont exchange lenses the chances of dust and dirt getting inside your T3 and settling on the sensor is reduced but ot eliminated entirely Although I ve known some photographers who minimized the number of lens changes they made for this very reason reducing the number of lenses you work with is not a productive or rewarding approach for most of us It s more likely that you ll succumb to the malady known as Lens Lust which is defined as an incurable disease marked by a significant yen for newer better longer faster sharper anything er optics for your camera And it must be noted this disease can cost you significant yen or dollars or whatever currency you use In its worst manifesta tions sufferers find themselves with lenses that have overlapping zoom ranges or capa bilities because one or the other offers a slight margin in performance or suitability for specific tasks When you find yourself already lusting after a new lens before you ve really had a chance to put your
135. 00 images Jump by Stills Date or Movies in the Playback 2 menu I ll explain all the jump options in Chapter 8 Once a jump increment has been selected you can leap forward or back that number of pictures by rotating the Main Dial Turn it counterclockwise to review images from most recent to oldest or clockwise to start with the first image on the memory card and cycle forward to the newest using the jump size you ve selected m View image information Press the DISP button repeatedly to cycle among over lays of basic image information detailed shooting information or no information at all Figure 2 10 Review your images Zoom In Zoom Out Change thumbnails Change type of information displayed View next image Display last image captured Exit image display Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 35 Zoom in on an image When an image is displayed full screen on your LCD press the Magnify Enlarge button repeatedly to zoom in The Magnify Enlarge button is located in the upper right corner of the back of the camera marked with a blue magnifying glass with a plus sign in it The Reduce Image button located to the right of the Magnify Enlarge button zooms back out Press the Playback button to exit magnified display Scroll around in a magnified image Use the left right up down cross keys to scroll around within a magnified image View thumbnail images You can also rapidly move among a large
136. 0th second and aperture and the camera will adjust the flash output to produce a good exposure based on the aperture you ve selected m A DEP Automatic depth of field mode When using flash the A DEP setting functions exactly the same as the P Program mode setting You can read about flash exposure compensation red eye reduction options and other built in flash features in Chapter 11 Taking a Picture This final section of the chapter guides you through taking your first pictures reviewing them on the LCD and transferring your shots to your computer Just press the shutter release button halfway to lock in focus at the selected autofocus point for about four seconds Remember that you can select a focus point manually when using Creative Zone modes other than A DEP while the camera always chooses the focus point in A DEP and Basic Zone modes When the shutter button is in the half depressed position the exposure calculated using the shooting mode you ve selected is also locked Press the button the rest of the way down to take a picture At that instant the mirror flips up out of the light path to the optical viewfinder assuming you re not using Live View mode discussed in Chapter 6 the shutter opens the electronic flash if enabled fires and your T3 s sensor absorbs a burst of light to capture an exposure In moments the shutter closes the mirror flips back down restoring your view and the image you ve
137. 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the prior written permission of the publisher For product information and technology assistance contact us at Cengage Learning Customer amp Sales Support 1 800 354 9706 For permission to use material from this text or product submit all requests online at cengage com permissions Further permissions questions can be e mailed to permissionrequest cengage com Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc in the United States and other countries All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners All images David D Busch unless otherwise noted Library of Congress Control Number 2011926536 ISBN 13 978 1 4354 6026 3 ISBN 10 1 4354 6026 X elSBN 10 1 4354 6027 8 Course Technology a part of Cengage Learning 20 Channel Center Street Boston MA 02210 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe including Singapore the United Kingdom Australia Mexico Brazil and Japan Locate your local office at international cengage com region Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education Ltd For your lifelong learning solutions visit courseptr com Visit our corporate Web site at cengage com For Cathy Acknowledgments Once again thanks to the folks at Course Technology PTR who have pioneered pub lishing digital imaging book
138. 11 The Flash Control menu entry has five setting sub menus Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 179 Flash Control This multi level menu entry includes five settings for controlling the Canon Rebel T3 s built in pop up electronic flash unit as well as accessory flash units you can attach to the camera see Figure 8 11 I ll provide in depth coverage of how you can use these options in Chapter 11 but will list the main options here for reference Flash Firing Use this option to enable or disable the built in electronic flash You might want to totally disable the T3 s flash both built in and accessory flash when shooting in sensi tive environments such as concerts in museums or during religious ceremonies When disabled the flash cannot fire even if you accidentally elevate it or have an accessory flash attached and turned on If you turn off the flash here it is disabled in any expo sure mode Built in Flash Function Setting There are a total of four choices for this menu screen All these are explained in Chapter 11 m Flash mode This entry is fixed at E TTL II Other EOS cameras use this entry to allow you to choose Manual exposure Flash firing Enable Built in flash func setting External flash func setting External flash C Fn setting Clear ext flash C Fn set MENUS 180 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Shutter sync You can cho
139. 20 and 11 21 that fit over your electronic flash head and pro vide a soft flattering light These add ons are more portable than umbrellas and other reflectors yet provide a nice diffuse lighting effect Figure 11 20 The Sto Fen OmniBounce is a clip on Figure 11 21 Soft boxes use Velcro strips to attach diffuser that softens the light of an external flash unit them to third party flash units like the one shown or any Canon external flash Using Multiple Light Sources Once you gain control over the qualities and effects you get with a single light source you ll want to graduate to using multiple light sources Using several lights allows you to shape and mold the illumination of your subjects to provide a variety of effects from backlighting to side lighting to more formal portrait lighting You can start simply with several incandescent light sources bounced off umbrellas or reflectors that you con struct Or you can use more flexible multiple electronic flash setups Effective lighting is the one element that differentiates great photography from candid or snapshot shooting Lighting can make a mundane subject look a little more glam orous Make subjects appear to be soft when you want a soft look or bright and sparkly when you want a vivid look or strong and dramatic if that s what you desire As you might guess having control over your lighting means that you probably can t use the lights that are already in the room You ll ne
140. 23 built in flash in 32 291 292 exposure choices in 95 Quick Control screen in 98 landscape photography long exposures for 149 Landscape Picture Style 191 205 Language options Set up menu 228 lateral transverse chromatic aberration 265 LCD 46 See also Live View acrylic glass shields for 349 brightness options Set up menu 224 225 camera function settings 57 58 Custom Function for display with power on 236 EV exposure compensation changes in 82 flip up hoods for 350 image playback displays 56 information displays on 55 58 manual brightness setting 224 On Off button settings Set up menu 226 plastic overlays for 349 protecting 348 350 SET button assignment for 235 shooting settings display 56 57 leaping photos 145 LED video lights 137 138 Lee lighting gels 281 Leica M cameras 103 R lenses 250 Lens Aberration Correction feature 176 lens hood bayonet 54 lens hoods 14 15 271 vignetting from 265 lens mount 55 lens multiplier factor 243 245 Lens release button 42 lenses See also image stabilization specific types adapter rings for 250 251 additional lenses advantages of 256 categories of 262 cleaning 358 compatibility issues 250 251 components of 54 55 Dioptric Adjustment Lens Series E correction lenses 16 45 first lens 245 247 light passed by 66 motor drives for 255 Index 393 mounting 14 15 registering 174 176 terminology of 253 255 t
141. 3 s USB port and plug the USB cable furnished with the camera into the USB port See Figure 2 12 Figure 2 11 Review thumb nails of four or nine images using Index review Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 37 USB port Figure 2 12 Images can be transferred to your Figure 2 13 A card reader is the fastest way to transfer computer using a USB cable photos 3 Connect the other end of the USB cable to a USB port on your computer 4 Turn the camera on Your installed software usually detects the camera and offers to transfer the pictures or the camera appears on your desktop as a mass storage device enabling you to drag and drop the files to your computer To transfer images from a memory card to the computer using a card reader as shown in Figure 2 13 1 Turn off the camera 2 Slide open the memory card door and press on the card which causes it to pop up so it can be removed from the slot 3 Insert the memory card into your memory card reader Your installed software detects the files on the card and offers to transfer them The card can also appear as a mass storage device on your desktop which you can open and then drag and drop the files to your computer This page intentionally left blank Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap One thing that surprises new owners of the Canon EOS Rebel T3 is that the camera has a total of 496 buttons dials switches levers latches and knobs bristlin
142. 3 if the T3 your budget is strapped Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 249 vertical directions An improved Super Spectra Coating minimizes flare and ghost ing while optimizing color rendition Can you tell that I like this lens Canon EF S 18 135mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Autofocus lens This one priced at about 450 is also popular as a basic lens It s also light compact and covers a useful range from true wide angle to intermediate telephoto As with the 18 200mm lens image stabilization partially compensates for the slow f 5 6 maximum aperture at the telephoto end by allowing you to use longer shutter speeds to capture an image under poor lighting conditions Canon EF 55 200mm f 4 5 5 6 II USM Autofocus Lightweight Compact Telephoto Zoom lens If you bought the 18 55mm kit lens this one picks up where that one leaves off going from short telephoto to medium long 88mm 320mm full frame equivalent It features a desirable ultrasonic motor Best of all it s very affordable at around 225 If you can afford only two lenses the 18 55mm and this one make a good basic set EF S 55 250mm f 4 5 6 IS Telephoto Zoom lens This is an image stabilized EF S lens which means it cant be used with Canons 1 3X and 1 0X crop factor pro cameras providing the longest focal range in the EF S range to date and that 4 stop Image Stabilizer Again at about 250 it s more money than the older non stabilized EF version but it s worth the extra cost
143. 50 EF yS EF S 2225494 eei eR RES RUE Eua PR VE 252 Ingredients of Canon s Alphanumeric Soup lllleuss 253 Your Second and Third Lengcse ceveeceskr o Ra ok Bee ERES 256 What Lenses Can Do for You i iuorue iu RR Rx 256 Zoom r Prime Quoi wide Cees Rede aru feria aba Ewan gu 259 Categories of Lenses ax cu cen LR de bee KO EKER RO ORERE EEN RES 262 Using Wide Angle and Wide Zoom Lenses 000 eee eee 262 Avoiding Potential Wide Angle Problems 00 265 Using Telephoto and Tele Zoom Lenses 000ccescceeees 267 Avoiding Telephoto Lens Problems 2 23 2 5 2heeuceein enee es 268 Jelephotos aud Bokels 222224242 223 ES e uer ERE SS 269 Add ons and Special Features lt lt ces dae emper RE RUE eR 270 Lens HoGUS suu o cad ERRARE EE EAE RAE Cee ee RS ERAN S 271 Telephoto Extenders qu pae iE RUE En ekWA terrent Werte 27 1 Macro FOCUS MERC p 272 Image Stabilization s acus dc ua terio 4s VA Re ORC OO P D ERA 273 Chapter 11 Working with Light 275 Continuous Illumination versus Electronic Flash 4 276 Continpous Lighting Bastess 2359 4 Vu Hirde y EVI oR ee Kr v 281 Daye si a uar xc 4A XXE Be RS YR RU AREA UE or CREER 282 Incandescent Tungsten Light 22522 seis ek PEE headeiaes 282 Fluorescent Light Other Light Sources 2 2229 re ER EE 284 Adjusting White Balance ok an RI er R9 284 Electronic Flash Basics osseedi bewesseipa E eesdereiesrs vis 285 How Electronic Flash Wor
144. 56 in Live View information display 120 for overexposure 93 94 Playback menu options 212 213 for underexposure 93 94 Hoodman flip up hoods for LCD 350 magnifiers for LCD 350 plastic overlays for LCD 349 Index 391 horizontal composition in movies 133 hot shoe See accessory hot shoe hot stuck pixels 356 Hotspot Access 155 Huey monitor calibration system Pantone 190 image editors 333 335 See also Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements Digital Photo Professional Corel Paint Shop Pro 334 Corel Painter 334 335 Corel Photo Paint 334 Corel PhotoImpact 335 dust spots cloning out 359 sRGB color space default to 187 image quality See also JPEG formats RAW formats RAW JPEG format of first lens 246 in Live View information display 120 of prime lenses 260 SET button assignment for 235 Shooting menu settings 167 171 shooting settings display 57 of zoom lenses 260 image ratings jumping through images by 51 214 Playback menu options 216 Image Recall 352 image stabilization 273 274 in camera vs lens 274 for movies 125 need for 273 image stabilization switch 42 54 55 Image Zone modes See Basic Zone modes ImageBrowser working with 330 incandescent tungsten light 282 284 color temperature of 282 future of 283 392 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Index views See thumbnails indoor light for movies 137 information display on reviewing i
145. 60D 1 4354 5950 4 29 99 1 4354 5944 X 29 99 1 4354 5940 7 29 99 1 4354 5994 6 13 99 1 4354 5938 5 29 99 1 4354 5996 2 e 13 99 Tcl oed COMPACT FIELD GUIDE CANON EOS REBEL T3i 6000 CANON EOS 7D CANON EOS REBEL T3i 600D David Busch s David Busch s Nikon David Busch s David Busch s Canon EOS David Busch s Compact David Busch s Sony Q Compact Field Guide D7000 Guide to Digital Compact Field Guide Rebel T3i 600D Guide to Field Guide for the Canon DSLR A580 A560 Guide for the Canon EOS 7D SLR Photography for the Nikon D7000 Digital SLR Photography EOS Rebel T3i 600D to Digital Photography 1 4354 5878 8 13 99 1 4354 5942 3 e 29 99 1 4354 5998 9 13 99 1 4354 6028 6 e 29 99 1 4354 6032 4 e 13 99 E Our comprehensive list of digital photography books can be found e e COURSE TECHNOLOGY EE gital photography a CENGAGE Learning online at www courseptr com by phone at 1 800 354 9706 and Professional Technical Reference at Amazon Barnes amp Noble and other fine retailers nationwide David Busch YOUR COMPLETE SOLUTION Course Technology PTR has your complete digital photography solution Created with the expertise of bestselling author and photographer David Busch we now offer books iPhone applications and field guides on the latest digital and digital SLR cameras from Canon Nikon Sony Olympus and Panasonic These three formats allow you to have a comprehensive book to keep at
146. 68 71 electrical contacts on lens 55 electronic focus ring USM lenses 255 Emerald Picture Style 205 emitted light 66 EOS Digital Solution Disc CD 8 EOS NIK NT adapter rings 250 EOS Utility Picture Style settings changing 203 204 for registering lenses 174 175 for time lapse photography 153 154 transferring images to computer with 332 333 working with 326 328 equivalent exposures 68 in P Program mode 80 establishing shots in movies 135 EV exposure compensation See also bracketing Auto Lighting Optimizer and 295 changes making 80 81 fast changes making 81 LCD information display 82 Index 387 Shooting menu options 182 shooting settings display 57 slower changes making 81 viewfinder information display 59 EV exposure compensation button 47 48 evaluative metering 26 73 in Basic Zone modes 75 for built in flash 180 evenness of illumination with continuous light 278 with flash 278 Exif Exchangeable Image File format settings 236 exposure 63 100 See also bracketing histograms long exposures M Manual mode overexposure short exposures underexposure in A DEP Automatic depth of field mode 76 77 Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 340 Av Aperture priority mode choices in 77 79 in Basic Zone modes 75 76 95 96 calculation of 68 71 continuous light exposure calculation with 277 delayed exposures 152 154 equivalent exposures 68 flash exposure calculation for 27
147. 8 290 291 ISO settings adjusting 83 84 in Live View information display 120 P Program mode choices in 80 shooting settings display 57 size of exposure adjustments Custom Function for 230 Tv Shutter priority mode choices in 79 80 viewfinder information display 59 388 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography exposure lock indication 48 49 exposure simulation in Live View information display 120 working with 124 extension tubes 272 external flash See also Speedlites continuous light compared 276 281 Custom Function settings 182 305 E TTL II mode for 180 299 302 FEB flash exposure bracketing for 181 300 FEV flash exposure compensation for 181 300 Flash Control settings for 180 181 299 305 freezing action with 143 high speed sync with 300 301 303 305 red eye reduction with 177 178 ring lites 309 310 sync speed for 181 300 triggering voltage of 314 vignetting avoiding 265 zooming in out with 181 302 extra batteries 10 11 12 extreme close ups in movies 15 136 Eye Fi cards Endless Memory feature 157 in Live View information display 120 Set up menu options 224 working with 154 156 eyecup 8 eyeglasses See diopter correction F f stops 66 67 equivalent exposures 68 shutter speed and 67 face detection See Live Face Detection mode Facebook 154 155 failure rates for memory cards 352 Faithful Picture Style 191 205
148. By the same token a lens with a maximum aperture of f 1 8 will be easier to autofocus or manually focus than one of the same focal length with an f 4 maximum aperture because the f 4 lens has more depth of field and a dimmer view Thats yet another reason why lenses with a maximum aperture smaller than f 5 6 can give your T3 s autofocus system fits increased depth of field joins forces with a dimmer image that s more difficult to focus using phase detection Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 109 To make things even more complicated many subjects arent polite enough to remain still They move around in the frame so that even if the T3 is sharply focused on your main subject it may change position and require refocusing An intervening subject may pop into the frame and pass between you and the subject you meant to photo graph You or the T3 have to decide whether to lock focus on this new subject or remain focused on the original subject Finally there are some kinds of subjects that are difficult to bring into sharp focus because they lack enough contrast to allow the T3 s AF system or our eyes to lock in Blank walls a clear blue sky or other subject mat ter may make focusing difficult If you find all these focus factors confusing youre on the right track Focus is in fact measured using something called a circle of confusion An ideal image consists of zil lions of tiny little points which like all points
149. FD lenses 251 FE lock button with built in flash 295 Feature Guide Set up menu 227 FEB flash exposure bracketing for external flash 181 300 in Live View information display 120 FEV flash exposure compensation for built in flash 180 295 296 299 for external flash 181 300 in Live View information display 120 SET button assignment for 235 viewfinder information display 59 field of view focal lengths and 263 files numbering options Set up menu 222223 RAW JPEG format files managing 171 fill flash 286 310 high speed sync and 303 304 in Live View 125 fill light with Adobe Camera Raw 340 filter thread on lens 54 size of 255 filters light and 66 Monochrome Picture Style filter effects with 194 198 200 neutral density ND filters invisible people with 149 toning effects compared 199 wide angle lenses polarizing filters with 266 final set up 13 19 Finelight Studios 275 firmware official firmware 344 345 updating 344 348 USB cable for upgrades 348 version viewing 241 first curtain sync 286 290 for built in flash 180 298 299 for external flash 181 300 ghost images and 287 288 fisheye perspective 257 flare with telephoto lenses 269 flash See also built in flash external flash fill flash guide numbers GN Speedlites sync speed Auto ISO with 84 basics of 285 291 continuous light compared 276 281 cost considerations 279 evenness of illumination with 278 ex
150. G STITCHO3 JPG INo of Images 4 Panning Scenery etc z i Z 332 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Transferring Your Photos While it s rewarding to capture some great images and have them ensconced in your camera eventually you ll be transferring them to your laptop or PC whether you re using a Windows or Macintosh machine You have three options for image transfer direct transfer over a USB cable automated transfer using a card reader and transfer software such as the EOS Utility or Adobe Photoshop Elements Photo Downloader or manual transfer using drag and drop from a memory card inserted in a card reader Using a Card Reader and Software You can also use a memory card reader and software to transfer photos and automate the process using the EOS Utility Photoshop Elements Photo Downloader or the downloading program supplied with some other third party applications This method is more frugal in its use of your T3 s battery and can be faster if you have a speedy USB 2 0 or FireWire card reader attached to an appropriate port The installed software automatically remains in memory as you work and it recognizes when a memory card is inserted in your card reader you don t have to launch it your self With Photoshop Elements s Photo Downloader you can click Get Photos to begin the transfer of all images immediately see Figure 12 13 or choose Advanced Dialog to
151. GGS glass shields 349 ghost images with flash 287 288 with high speed sync 303 ghoul lighting for movies 138 Giottos Rocket bulb blower 362 glamour photography ring lites for 309 glass shields for LCD 349 glasses See diopter correction glossary 367 378 GN guide numbers See guide numbers GN Goddard Jean Luc 134 gravity and dust 359 gray cards 68 71 Green filter effects 198 200 Green toning effects 198 200 grids in Live View 119 208 for movies 128 guide numbers GN 291 for built in flash 31 H halogen light 282 Halsman Philippe 145 hand grip 41 Hand tool Adobe Camera Raw 338 hard light for movies 137 Hasselblad H3D 39 cameras 245 hazy contrast with telephoto lenses 269 HDMI cables 10 Ctrl over HDMI options Playback menu 217 port 44 45 HDR High Dynamic Range 64 65 Merge to HDR 86 90 Helicon Focus 159 High Dynamic Range HDR See HDR High Dynamic Range high ISO noise 90 231 Custom Function for eliminating 233 high speed photography See short exposures high speed sync 290 example for using 304 305 with external flash 300 301 303 305 fill flash and 303 304 Highlight Tone Priority Custom Function for 233 in Live View information display 120 for movies 127 viewfinder information display 59 60 histograms 92 See also brightness histograms RGB histograms display options in Playback mode 213 for fixing exposure 92 94 in image playback display
152. IVE button and press the left cross keys until the drive modes appear on the LCD status panel Press the shutter release button halfway to lock in focus on your subjects if you re taking a self portrait focus on an object at a similar distance and use focus lock When you re ready to take the photo continue pressing the shut ter release the rest of the way The lamp on the front of the camera will blink slowly for eight seconds when using the 10 second timer and the beeper will chirp if you havent disabled it in the Shooting menu as described in Chapter 8 During the final two sec onds the beeper sounds more rapidly and the lamp remains on until the picture is taken The self timer remains active until you turn it off even if you power down the T3 so remember to turn it off when finished Time Lapse Interval Photography Who hasn t marveled at a time lapse photograph of a flower opening a series of shots of the moon marching across the sky or one of those extreme time lapse picture sets showing something that takes a very very long time such as a building under construction You probably wont be shooting such construction shots unless you have a spare T3 you dont need for a few months or are willing to go through the rigmarole of figuring out how to set up your camera in precisely the same position using the same lens settings to shoot a series of pictures at intervals However other kinds of time lapse photogra phy are entirely
153. OS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m 4 Menu display Pressing SET produces the T3 s Menu screen on the LCD with the last menu entry you used highlighted Press SET again to work with that menu normally or press the MENU button to cancel and back out of the menus This setting duplicates the MENU buttons function but some find it easier to locate the SET button with their thumb m 5 Depth of field preview As the T3 lacks a traditional depth of field button this option may be your best choice unless you never need to preview depth of field The camera will stop down the lens to the aperture that will be used to take the pic ture at the current meter reading C Fn IV 09 Flash Button Function Flash button function Controls the behavior of the flash button on top of the cam era There are two options m 0 Raise built in flash Press this button to flip up the built in flash You can also raise the flash using the Quick Control menus Flash Up choice so this default set ting isnt a must If you disable the flash raising function you can avoid acciden tally raising the flash when you don need it m 1 ISO speed Other Rebels have had an ISO button on top of the camera If you change ISO often especially if you change ISO more often than you manually flip up the built in flash you can transform the flash button into an ISO button with this setting C Fn IV 10 LCD Display When Power On LCD display when power on
154. Only the image itself is shown with basic shooting infor mation displayed in a band across the top of the image as you can see at upper left in Figure 8 38 m Single image display Image recording quality Identical to Single image display except that the image size RAW format if selected and JPEG compression if selected are overlaid on the image in the lower left corner of the frame m Histogram display Both RGB and brightness histograms are shown along with partial shooting information This menu choice has no effect on which histograms are shown in this display which you can see at upper right in Figure 8 38 Shooting information display Full shooting data is shown along with either a brightness histogram bottom left in Figure 8 38 or RGB histogram bottom right in Figure 8 38 The type of histogram on view in this screen is determined by the setting you make in this menu choice Select Histogram from the Playback 2 menu and choose Brightness or RGB You can read more about using histograms in Chapter 4 100 0345 100 0345 16 pis 16 100 0345 B ea B PN T vi a 1 5 P ISOMTel 5 3 0 0 0 sRGB E0100 25 3 0 0 0 sRGB P Awe AL 5 19MB AL 5 19MB 15 15 12 04 2011 01 09 30 15 15 12 04 2011 01 09 30 214 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Image Jump with Main Dial As first described in Chapter 3 you can leap ahead or back during picture review
155. Red eye reduction m Flash control m Exposure compensation AEB Automatic Exposure Bracketing m Auto Lighting Optimizer m Metering mode m Custom White Balance m WB Shift BKT m Color Space m Picture Style m Dust Delete Data m ISO Auto m Live View shooting m AF mode m Grid display m Metering timer Quality Settings You can choose the image quality settings used by the T3 to store its files You have four choices to make when selecting a quality setting m Resolution The number of pixels captured determines the absolute resolution of the photos you shoot with your T3 Your choices range from 12 2 megapixels Large or L measuring 4 272 x 2 848 6 3 megapixels Medium or M measuring 3 088 X 2 056 pixels 3 4 megapixels Small 1 or S1 2 256 x 1 504 pixels 2 5 megapix els Small 2 or S2 1920 x 1280 and 350 000 pixels Small 3 or S3 720 x 480 m JPEG compression To reduce the size of your image files and allow more photos to be stored on a given memory card the T3 uses JPEG compression to squeeze the images down to a smaller size This compacting reduces the image quality a little so youre offered your choice of Fine compression and Normal compression The symbols help you remember that Fine compression represented by a quarter circle provides the smoothest results while Normal compression signified by a stair step icon provides jaggier images 168 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital
156. S Utility choose OK 5 Click Yes in the confirmation screen 6 Follow the instructions in the dialog boxes that pop up next by pressing the SET button on the camera Protecting Your LCD The color LCD on the back of your EOS T3 almost seems like a target for banging scratching and other abuse Fortunately it s quite rugged and a few errant knocks are unlikely to shatter the protective cover over the LCD and scratches won t easily mar its surface However if you want to be on the safe side there are a number of protective products you can purchase to keep your LCD safe and in some cases make it a little easier to view Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 349 Here s a quick overview of your options m Plastic overlays The simplest solution although not always the cheapest is to apply a plastic overlay sheet or skin cut to fit your LCD These adhere either by static electricity or through a light adhesive coating that s even less clingy than stick it notes You can cut down overlays made for PDAs although these can be pricey at up to 19 95 for a set of several sheets or purchase overlays sold specif ically for digital cameras Vendors such as Hoodman www hoodmanusa com offer overlays of this type These products will do a good job of shielding your T3 s LCD screen from scratches and minor impacts but will not offer much protec tion from a good whack These are your best choice if y
157. See Chapter 8 for more information on Picture Styles 94 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography L 3 Figure 4 26 This histogram shows an underexposed image Figure 4 27 This histogram reveals that the image is over exposed Figure 4 28 A histogram for a properly exposed image should look like this Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 95 Basic Zone Modes The final factor in the exposure equation is one that your T3 offers little control over Basic Zone modes Your Canon Rebel T3 includes eight Basic Zone shooting modes that can automatically make all the basic settings needed for certain types of shooting situations such as Portraits Landscapes Close ups Sports Night Portraits and No Flash zone pictures They are especially useful when you suddenly encounter a picture taking opportunity and dont have time to decide exactly which Creative Zone mode you want to use Instead you can spin the Mode Dial to the appropriate Basic Zone mode and fire away knowing that at least you have a fighting chance of getting a good or usable photo Basic Zone modes are also helpful when you re just learning to use your T3 Once you ve learned how to operate your camera youll probably prefer one of the Creative Zone modes that provides more control over shooting options The Basic Zone scene modes may give you few options or none at all The AF mode drive mode and metering m
158. See dates and times Tokina macro lenses 272 toning effects filters compared 199 with Monochrome Picture Style 194 198 200 top view of camera 51 53 transferring images to computer with card readers 35 36 332 333 with drag and drop 333 formatting memory card on 17 with USB cable 36 37 Index 403 transitions in movies 134 135 transmitted light 66 triggering voltage of flash units 314 tripods Live View shooting in 117 for long exposures 148 149 for Merge to HDR 87 for movies 125 socket for 53 TS E tilt shift lenses 259 TTL mode 180 for external flash 299 tungsten light See incandescent tungsten light Tv Shutter priority mode 24 Auto ISO in 207 built in flash in 32 292 equivalent exposures in 68 exposure choices in 79 80 ISO settings adjusting 83 84 Twilight Picture Style 205 two shots in movies 136 U UD elements for lenses 265 ultrawide angle lenses 262 umbrellas bouncing light with 310 light stands supporting 316 underexposure 64 65 See also HDR High Dynamic Range bracketing 85 86 example of 70 71 histogram of 93 94 unpacking box 7 9 unreal images with short exposures 145 146 uploading See downloading uploading 404 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography USB cables for firmware upgrades 348 for transferring images to computer 35 36 unpacking 8 USB port 44 45 user defined Picture Styles 191 205 contrast cor
159. Smaller bulbs like those air bulbs with a brush attached sometimes sold for lens cleaning or weak nasal aspirators may not provide suffi cient air or a strong enough blast to do much good m Hold the EOS T3 upside down Then look up into the mirror box as you squirt your air blasts increasing the odds that gravity will help pull the expelled dust downward away from the sensor You may have to use some imagination in posi tioning yourself See Figure 13 14 m Never use air canisters The propellant inside these cans can permanently coat your sensor if you tilt the can while spraying It s not worth taking a chance m Avoid air compressors Super strong blasts of air are likely to force dust under the sensor filter Figure 13 13 With the shut ter open and the mirror locked up you can commence cleaning the exposed sensor Figure 13 14 Hold the cam era upside down when cleaning to allow dust to fall out Figure 13 15 A proper brush prefer ably with a grounding strap to elimi nate static elec tricity is required for dusting off your sensor Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 363 Brush Cleaning If your dust is a little more stubborn and cant be dislodged by air alone you may want to try a brush charged with static electricity that can pick off dust spots by electrical attraction One good but expensive option is the Sensor Brush sold at www visible dust com A cheaper
160. Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses A bit overwhelmed by the features and controls of digital SLR lenses and not quite sure when to use each type This book explains lenses their use and lens technology in easy to access two and four page spreads each devoted to a different topic such as depth of field lens aberrations or using zoom lenses David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Lighting This book tells you everything you need to know about using light to create the kind of images you ll be proud of It s not Canon specific and doesnt include any details on using any of the Canon dedicated flash units but the information you ll find applies to any digital SLR photography Mastering Digital SLR Photography Third Edition This book is an introduction to digital SLR photography with nuts and bolts expla nations of the technology more in depth coverage of settings and whole chapters on the most common types of photography While not specific to the T3 this book can show you how to get more from its capabilities I ve added six brand new chapters and the latest technology secrets in this new version Digital SLR Pro Secrets This is my more advanced guide to dSLR photography with greater depth and detail about the topics you re most interested in If you ve already mastered the basics in Mastering Digital SLR Photography this book will take you to the next level Why the Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Needs Special Coverage There a
161. T3 Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus The Canon Rebel T3 is undoubtedly one of the most customizable tweakable fine tunable cameras Canon has offered entry level users If your camera doesn t behave in exactly the way youd like chances are you can make a small change in the Shooting Playback Set up and Custom Functions menus that will tailor the T3 to your needs In fact if you don t like the menus you can create your own using the clever My Menu system This chapter and the next will help you sort out the settings you can make to customize how your Canon Rebel T3 uses its features shoots photos displays images and processes the pictures after they ve been taken As I ve mentioned before this book isnt intended to replace the manual you received with your T3 nor have I any interest in rehashing its contents You ll still find the original manual useful as a standby reference that lists every possible option in exhaustive if mind numbing detail without really telling you how to use those options to take better pictures There is however some unavoidable duplication between the Canon manual and this chapter because I m going to explain the key menu choices and the options you may have in using them You should find though that this chapter gives you the information you need in a much more helpful format with plenty of detail on why you should make some settings that are particularly cryptic I m not
162. a 280mm or 400mm optic respectively Given the T35 crop factor your 200mm lens now has the same field of view as a 448mm or 640mm lens on a full frame camera At around 300 each they re quite a bargain aren t they Actually there are some downsides While extenders retain the closest focusing distance of your original lens autofocus is maintained only if the lens s original maximum aper ture is f 4 or larger for the 1 4X extender or f 2 8 or larger for the 2X extender The components reduce the effective aperture of any lens they are used with by one f stop with the 1 4X extender and 2 f stops with the 2X extender So your EF 200mm f 2 8L 272 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography II USM becomes a 280mm f 4 or 400mm f 5 6 lens Although Canon extenders are precision optical devices they do cost you a little sharpness but that improves when you reduce the aperture by a stop or two Each of the extenders is compatible only with a particular set of lenses of 135mm focal length or greater so you ll want to check Canon s compatibility chart to see if the component can be used with the lens you want to attach to it If your lenses are compatible and you re shooting under bright lighting conditions the Canon Extender EF 1 4x III and Canon Extender EF 2x III make handy accessories Macro Focusing Some telephotos and telephoto zooms available for the T3 have particularly close focus ing capabil
163. a hummingbird in flight for a view of wings that never seem to stop Or capture the splashes as liquid falls into a bowl as shown in Figure 7 3 No elec tronic flash was required for this image and wouldnt have illuminated the water in the bowl as evenly Instead a clutch of high intensity lamps and an ISO setting of 1600 allowed the EOS T3 to capture this image at 1 2 000th second m Vanquish camera shake and gain new angles Heres an idea that s so obvious it isn t always explored to its fullest extent A high enough shutter speed can free you from the tyranny of a tripod making it easier to capture new angles or to shoot quickly while moving around especially with longer lenses I tend to use a mono pod or tripod for almost everything when I m not using an image stabilized lens and I end up missing some shots because of a reluctance to adjust my camera sup port to get a higher lower or different angle If you have enough light and can use Figure 7 3 A large amount of artificial illu mination and an ISO 1600 sensitivity set ting allowed capturing this shot at 1 2 000th sec ond without use of an elec tronic flash Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 147 an f stop wide enough to permit a high shutter speed you ll find a new freedom to choose your shots I have a favored 170mm 500mm lens that I use for sports and wildlife photography almost invariably with a tripod as I dont find the recipro cal of the focal lengt
164. a lens stuffing a charged battery into the base and removing the lens cap to fire off a shot or two isn t rocket science Even the rawest neophyte can rotate the Mode Dial located at top right on the camera body to the P Programmed auto or Full Auto marked with a green icon position and point the T3 at something interesting and press the shutter release Presto A pretty good pic ture will pop up on the color LCD on the back of the camera It s easy But in digital photography there is such a thing as too easy If you bought a T3 you cer tainly had no intention of using the camera as a point and shoot snapshooter After all the T3 is a tool suitable for the most advanced photographic pursuits with an exten sive array of customization possibilities As such you don t want the camera s operation to be brainless you want access to the advanced features to be easy You get that easy access with the Canon T3 However you ll still need to take the time to learn how to use these features and I m going to provide everything you need to know in these first three chapters to begin shooting m Chapter 1 This is a Meet Your T3 introduction where you ll find information about what came in the box with your camera and more importantly what didnt come with the camera that you seriously should consider adding to your arsenal I ll also cover some things you might not have known about charging the T35 bat tery choosing a memory
165. a out at arm s length to preview an image is poor technique and will introduce a lot of camera shake If you want to use Live View for hand held images use an image stabilized lens and or a high shutter speed A tripod is a better choice if you can use one m Watch your power Live View uses a lot of juice and will deplete your battery rap idly Canon estimates that you can get several hundred shots per battery when using Live View depending on the temperature Expect slightly fewer exposures when using flash The optional AC adapter is a useful accessory Enabling Live View You need to take some steps before using Live View This workflow prevents you from accidentally using Live View when you don t mean to thus potentially losing a shot and it also helps ensure that you ve made all the settings necessary to successfully use the feature efficiently 118 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Here are the steps to follow 1 Choose a shooting mode Live View works with any exposure mode including Full Auto and Creative Auto You can even switch from one Basic Zone mode to another or from one Creative Zone mode to another while Live View is activated If you change from Basic to Creative or vice versa while Live View is on it will be deactivated and must be restarted 2 Enable Live View You ll need to activate Live View by choosing Live View Shoot setting from the Shooting 4 menu when the Mo
166. a person it is likely to be a hindrance when you are trying to make an accurate photo graphic record of a flower or small piece of precision equipment One solution to this problem is focus stacking a procedure that can be considered like HDR translated for the world of focus taking multiple shots with different settings and using software as explained below combining the best parts from each image in order to make a whole that is better than the sum of the parts Focus stacking requires a non moving object so some subjects such as flowers are best photographed in a breezeless environment such as indoors For example see Figures 7 13 through 7 15 in which I took photographs of three col orful jacks using a macro lens As you can see from these images the depth of field was extremely narrow and only a small part of the subject was in focus for each shot Now look at Figure 7 16 in which the entire subject is in reasonably sharp focus This image is a composite made up of the three shots above as well as 10 others each one focused on the same scene but at very gradually increasing distances from the camera s lens All 13 images were then combined in Adobe Photoshop CS5 using the focus stack ing procedure Here are the steps you can take to combine shots for the purpose of achieving sharp focus in this sort of situation 1 Set the camera firmly on a solid tripod A tripod or other equally firm support is absolutely essential for
167. acex d EE a Ea EO Ra do Ea gs 315 PART IV ENHANCING YOUR EXPERIENCE Chapter 12 Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 321 PRIMING Ss EP 321 Direct Printing from the Camera 22er a ees eked ood be wes 321 Direct Print Order Format DPOF Printing 0 00085 324 Using the Supplied SOIUWSEFE 2 244 9 44 000 v0 en bo ESSE CR eaten be 326 EO URBE i Gad e ive hl a as ee a be ee ad dd 326 Digital Photo Professional 42v uva ke y uer S hw ie RAO Y 328 Picture Style Editor i52 sa vna Ru RARE CEA AEG X ORA 329 ZoomBrowser ImageBrowser 000s 330 PhOtOSC E so sews Oe eu owe eee dere Pee EINER EAE eE E 330 Ttanst reme Your POS s acusa d a EX UO dE A RR a CE Ra eo Re 332 Usine a Card Reader atid Software x case eee ese p nrc Os 332 Dragging and Dropping i iu aac acre amike ON Re OR EAE RACK 333 Editing Your Photos 2234 9 pCERPEREV AR OVV EXEERPE UAR EK 333 Image Editors 2444454 d X eR RAV EE YU ERER ETE EE 334 RAW IIS sock ao dd edo REED TERREA CE Re E Edd d 335 Adobe PloPosBoD Cox us ave eae YON ene aat d Eee EEEE 338 xii David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 13 Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 343 Updating Your Firmware noce xodcetostertbREe Sw De quK END REA 344 Official Firmware as aa asa pex ode WAR ee eek dhs AS NO roo mii 344 Upgrading Your Firmware 2 2 2 4 e kx GA e e 6465 345 Protecting Your LCD 2 14 od wc ee rund E dira icu e RR t
168. ad media V Switching to Automatic Upload Mode I Switching to Selective Share Mode n4 Switching to Selective Transfer Mode Deleting my Eye Fi card s items Expert Mode E Do not show me any warning dialogs in Eye Fi Center Cancel Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 157 The card has another interesting feature called Endless Memory When pictures have been safely uploaded to an external site the card can be set to automatically erase the oldest images to free up space for new pictures You choose the threshold where the card starts zapping your old pictures to make room Eye Fi currently offers several models in 4GB and 8GB sizes and apps for your iPhone iPad and Android smartphones too The most sophisticated options can add geographic location labels to your photo so you ll know where you took it and frees you from your own computer network by allowing uploads from more than 10 000 WiFi hotspots around the USA Very cool and the ultimate in picture backup Eye Fi has recently added the ability to upload from your camera to your smartphone too Focus Stacking If you are doing macro close up photography of flowers or other small objects at short distances the depth of field often will be extremely narrow In some cases it will be so narrow that it will be impossible to keep the entire subject in focus in one photograph Although having part of the image out of focus can be a pleasing effect for a portrait of
169. ain Dial or cross keys to select the My Menu tab When you first begin the personalized menu will be empty except for the My Menu Settings entry Press the SET button to select it You ll then see a screen like the one shown in Figure 9 12 2 Rotate the cross keys to select Register then press the SET button 3 Use the cross keys to scroll down through the continuous list of menu entries to find one you would like to add Press SET 4 Confirm your choice by selecting OK in the next screen and pressing SET again 5 Continue to select up to six menu entries for My Menu 6 When you re finished press the MENU button twice to return to the My Menu screen to see your customized menu which might look like Figure 9 13 In addition to registering menu items you can perform other functions at the My Menu Settings screen m Changing the order Choose Sort to reorder the items in My Menu Select the menu item and press the SET button Rotate the cross keys to move the item up and down within the menu list When you ve placed it where youd like it press the MENU button to lock in your selection and return to the previous screen m Delete Delete all items Use these to remove an individual menu item or all menu items you ve registered in My Menu 242 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography My Menu settings Register to My Menu Quality AL Sort Beep Picture Style Standard Format Delete item items De
170. al battery eliminates some of the advantages of having a flash with everything in one unit They are very portable because all you need is a case for the monolight itself plus the stands and other accessories you want to carry along Because these units are so popu lar with photographers who are not full time professionals the lower cost monolights 314 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography K CYCLE OK DUMP TEST AND md L FLASH d REMOT 150W lamp max POWER ON OFF Mado in USA by AlienBees Inc s0 6082 AS Nashville TN orcs WWW alienboes c Co to et only rounded out are often designed more for lighter duty than professional studio flash That doesnt mean they aren t rugged you ll just need to handle them with a little more care and perhaps not expect them to be used eight hours a day for weeks on end In most other respects however monolights are the equal of traditional studio flash units in terms of fast recycling built in modeling lamps adjustable power and so forth Connecting Multiple Units to Your Canon Rebel T3 Non dedicated electronic flash units can t use the automated E TTL II features of your Rebel T3 you ll need to calculate exposure manually through test shots evaluated on your cameras LCD or by using an electronic flash meter Moreover you dont have to connect them to the accessory shoe on top of the camera Instead you can use an adapter in the hot sh
171. al bursts of fire works in one image Figure 7 8 A 1 4 second exposure blurred the falling water 152 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Show total darkness in new ways Even on the darkest nights there is enough starlight or glow from distant illumination sources to see by and if you use a long exposure there is enough light to take a picture too See Figure 7 9 S D TP eae i 8 i Uwe UD Sal DACA OO 48 ees LE EN mn mo c s e x p PF e Figure 7 9 A 20 second exposure revealed this view of San Juan Puerto Rico Delayed Exposures Sometimes it s desirable to have a delay of some sort before a picture is actually taken Perhaps you d like to get in the picture yourself and would appreciate it if the camera waited 10 seconds after you press the shutter release to actually take the picture Maybe you want to give a tripod mounted camera time to settle down and damp any residual vibration after the release is pressed to improve sharpness for an exposure with a rela tively slow shutter speed It s possible you want to explore the world of time lapse pho tography The next sections present your delayed exposure options Figure 7 10 The EOS Utility can con trol time lapse photography with a tethered camera Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 153 Self Timer The EOS T3 has a built in self timer with 10 second and 2 second delays Activate the timer by pressing the DR
172. al density ND filters invisible people with 149 Neutral Picture Style 191 205 Newton Isaac 278 night photos with long exposures 152 Night Portrait mode 23 exposure choices in 96 Nikon F mount lenses 250 251 G series lenses 250 Nixon Richard 145 no flash mode See Flash Off mode noise 90 92 See also high ISO noise long exposure noise amp noise 148 dark frame subtraction 91 printing effect for reducing 323 software for noise reduction 334 Noise Ninja 92 334 normal lenses 262 Nostalgia Picture Style 205 Novoflex adapter rings 250 0 Olympus OM lenses 250 On Off button 18 52 53 Set up menu options 226 One Shot AF 27 explanation of 112 113 in Quick mode 122 online sharing with Eye Fi cards 155 OnTrack software 54 Orange filter effects 198 200 outdoor light for movies 137 138 over the shoulder shots in movies 136 overexposure 64 65 See also HDR High Dynamic Range bracketing 85 86 example of 70 histogram of 93 94 P P Program mode 24 Auto ISO in 207 built in flash in 32 292 equivalent exposures in 68 80 exposure choices in 80 panoramas with PhotoStitch 330 331 Pantone s Huey monitor calibration system 190 paper settings for printing 324 partial metering 26 73 74 gray cards with 71 passive phase detection system 102 PC X connector for multiple light sources 314 Pec Pad swabs 364 365 pentaprism system 103 Pentax screw mount lenses 250
173. amera Settings Remote Shooting from the splash screen that appears Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 175 Figure 8 6 Vignetting top is undesirable in a landscape photo You can correct this defect in the camera or by using Digital Photo Pro software 176 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 7 Peripheral illumin correct Peripheral illu mination cor rection can fix dark corners Correction data available Correction Enable Disable 3 Select the Shooting menu It s located on the menu bar located about midway in the control panel that appears on your computer display The panel is shown at left in Figure 8 8 The Shooting menu icon is the white camera on a red background 4 Click on the Lens Aberration Correction choice The screen shown at right in Figure 8 8 will appear Nn Choose your lens Select the category containing the lens you want to register from the panels at the top of the new screen then place a check mark next to all the lenses youd like to register in the camera 6 Confirm your choice Click OK to send the data from your computer to the T3 and register your lenses 7 Activate correction When a newly registered lens is mounted on the camera you will be able to activate the anti vignetting feature for that lens from the Set up 1 menu The Lens Aberration Correction feature is a more versatile fixer upper than the Pe
174. an get a better idea of the kinds of information available with particular applications I m going to include both high end and low end RAW browsers so you can see just what is available Digital Photo Professional Digital Photo Professional introduced earlier in this chapter is preferred by many for Canon dSLR cameras like the T3 DPP offers much higher speed processing of RAW images than was available with the late not lamented sluggardly File Viewer Utility as 336 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography much as six times faster Canon says this utility rivals third party standalone and plug in RAW converters in speed and features It supports both Canon s original CRW for mat and the newer CR2 RAW format used by the T3 along with TIFF Exif TIFF and JPEG You can save settings that include multiple adjustments and apply them to other images and use the clever comparison mode to compare your original and edited versions of an image either side by side or within a single split image The utility allows easy adjust ment of color channels tone curves exposure compensation white balance dynamic range brightness contrast color saturation ICC Profile embedding and assignment of monitor profiles A new feature is the ability to continue editing images while batches of previously adjusted RAW files are rendered and saved in the background IrfanView At the low free end of the price scale is I
175. an extended period of time longer than an hour or two make sure it s protected from weather earthquakes animals young children innocent bystanders and theft m Vary intervals Experiment with different time intervals You dont want to take pictures too often or less often than necessary to capture the changes you hope to image WiFi and Geotagging These days WiFi and GPS capabilities work together with your EOS T3 in interesting new ways Wireless capabilities allow you to upload photos directly from your T3 to your computer at home or in your studio or through a hotspot at your hotel or coffee shop back to your home computer or to a photo sharing service like Facebook or Flickr A special WiFi enabled memory card that you slip in the SD slot of your camera per forms the magic GPS capabilities built right into some of those WiFi cards allow you to mark your photographs with location information so you dont have to guess where a picture was taken Both capabilities are very cool WiFi uploads can provide instant backup of important shots and sharing Geotagging is most important as a way to associate the geographical location where the photographer was when a picture was taken with the actual photo graph itself It can be done with the location mapping capabilities of the WiFi card or through add on devices that third parties make available for your T3 Geotagging can also be done by attaching geographic information to the
176. and make prints when you supply your memory card to them You can read more about assembling print orders in Chapter 12 Histogram The T3 can show either a Brightness histogram or set of three separate Red Green and Blue histograms in the full information display during picture review or it can show you both types of histogram in the partial information display This entry the first on the Playback 2 menu gives you those options See Figure 8 37 Brightness histograms give you information about the overall tonal values present in the image The RGB histograms can show more advanced users valuable data about spe cific channels that might be clipped details are lost in the shadows or highlights Figure 8 37 DISP The Playback 2 Histogram Brightness B Image jump w z fio Slide show Rating Ctrl over HDMI Disable Figure 8 38 Press the DISP button to cycle between Single image display upper left Single image display Image recording quality not shown Histo gram display upper right Shooting infor mation display with brightness histogram bot tom left or RGB histogram bottom right Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 213 This menu choice determines only how they are displayed during picture review The amount of information displayed cycles through the following list as you repeatedly press the DISP button in Playback mode m Single image display
177. and Movies 123 6 Wait for focus When the T3 is able to lock in focus using phase detection a beep if activated will sound If you are hand holding the T3 you may hear several beeps as the AF system focuses and refocuses with each camera movement Then the mir ror will flip back up and the Live View image reappears The AF focus point will be highlighted in green on the LCD 7 Take picture Press the shutter release a the way down to take the picture You cant take a photo while Quick mode AF is in process until the mirror flips back up Manual Mode Focusing manually on an LCD screen isnt as difficult as you might think but Canon has made the process even easier by providing a magnified view Just follow these steps to focus manually 1 Set lens to manual focus and activate Live View Make sure the focus switch on the lens is set to ME 2 Move magnifying frame Use the cross keys to move the focus frame that s super imposed on the screen to the location where you want to focus You can press the cross keys to center the focus frame in the middle of the screen 3 Press the Zoom In button The area of the image inside the focus frame will be magnified 5X See Figure 6 5 Press the Zoom In button a second time to increase the magnification to 10X A third press will return you to the full frame view The TA Q0 F773 124 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography enlarged area is ar
178. and is usually faster and more thorough m Select and Erase Images View the images on your card by pressing the left right cross keys to scroll through them To mark an image for deletion or to remove a check mark press the up down cross keys When youre finished selecting press the Trash button to the left of the viewfinder window and you ll be asked to confirm Choose Cancel or OK and press SET to finish m All Images in Folder You ll be shown a list of the available folders on your mem ory card Press SET and a prompt will appear asking you to confirm and remind ing you that Protected images will not be removed m All Images on Card A prompt will ask you to confirm this step The All Images on Card choice removes all the pictures on the card except for those you ve marked with the Protect command and does not reformat the memory card 212 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Print Order The Rebel T3 supports the DPOF Digital Print Order Format that is now almost uni versally used by digital cameras to specify which images on your memory card should be printed and the number of prints desired of each image This information is recorded on the memory card and can be interpreted by a compatible printer when the camera is linked to the printer using the USB cable or when the memory card is inserted into a card reader slot on the printer itself Photo labs are also equipped to read this data
179. ange of Picture Styles can be applied directly only to JPEG images shot using P Tv Av and M exposure modes When using Full Auto the Canon Rebel T3 selects the Standard Picture Style In Creative Auto you can t access the full Picture Styles You can choose from Standard Portrait Landscape or Monochrome modes only using the Quick Control screen press the C button to access it Any RAW format file can be adjusted to any Picture Style you want when the photo is imported into your image editor Picture Styles are extremely flexible Canon has set the parameters for the five prede fined color Picture Styles and the single monochrome Picture Style to suit the needs of most photographers But you can adjust any of those canned Picture Styles to settings you prefer Better yet you can use those three User Definition files to create brand new styles that are all your own If you want rich bright colors to emulate Velvia film or the work of legendary photographer Pete Turner you can build your own color soaked style If you want soft muted colors and less sharpness to create a romantic look you can do that too Perhaps youd like a setting with extra contrast for shooting outdoors on hazy or cloudy days The parameters applied when using Picture Styles follow Figure 8 21 shows exagger ated examples of the first four color photo attributes as applied by Picture Styles your real world tweaks may not be quite this drastic but are mor
180. angle marked 1X shows the field of view you might expect with a 28mm lens mounted on a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III or EOS 5D Mark II camera so called full frame models The rec tangle marked 1 3X shows the effective field of view from the same vantage point with the exact same lens mounted on a Canon EOS 1D Mark III camera while the area marked 1 6X shows the field of view youd get with that 28mm lens installed on a T3 It s easy to see from the illustration that the 1X rendition provides a wider more expan sive view while the other two are in comparison cropped The cropping effect is produced because the sensors of the latter two cameras are smaller than the sensors of the 1Ds Mark III The full frame camera has a sensor that s the size of the standard 35mm film frame 24mm x 36mm Your T3 s sensor does not meas ure 24mm x 36mm instead it specs out at 22 0mm X 14 7mm or about 62 5 percent of the area of a full frame sensor as shown by the yellow boxes in the figure You can calculate the relative field of view by dividing the focal length of the lens by 625 Thus a 100mm lens mounted on a T3 has the same field of view as a 160mm lens on the 1Ds Mark III We humans tend to perform multiplication operations in our heads more eas ily than division so such field of view comparisons are usually calculated using the recip rocal of 625 1 6 so we can multiply instead 100 625 160 100 x 1 62160 Figure 10 1 Canon of
181. anon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography software See also Digital Photo Professional EOS Utility image editors ZoomBrowser EX for Eye Fi cards 155 ImageBrowser 330 instruction manual CD 9 PhotoStitch 330 331 for recovering images on memory cards 354 sound See audio source light at 66 spare batteries 10 12 special purpose lenses 255 speed See also shutter speed of first lens 247 image stabilization and 273 of lenses 259 of prime lens 261 of zoom lens 261 Speedlite 320EX 308 Speedlite 270EX II 309 Speedlite 430EX II 308 Speedlite 580EX II 306 high speed sync with 304 305 vignetting avoiding 265 working with 307 308 Speedlites 10 See also accessory hot shoe Custom Functions for 182 freezing action with 143 multiple light sources with 313 working with 306 310 Sports mode 23 built in flash in 32 exposure choices in 96 sports photography continuous shooting for 141 143 focus points in 111 JPEG formats for 171 memory cards for 351 short exposures for 144 spot metering See partial metering Spyder products Datacolor 190 sRGB color space 187 190 Standard ambience 24 99 100 Standard Picture Style 191 205 stepping back effect with wide angle lenses 262 264 stills Jump feature for displaying 51 jumping through 214 Sto Fen OmniBounce 312 stopping action See freezing action storyboards for movies 132 straightening with Adobe Camera Raw 338 streaks
182. ards images on 353 354 rectilinear lenses 265 red eye reduction with Adobe Camera Raw 338 with built in flash 177 178 293 camera functions display 58 with external flash 177 178 printing effect 323 Shooting menu feature 177 178 red eye reduction lamp 41 42 Red filter effects 198 200 reflected light 66 reflectors bouncing light with 310 registering lenses 174 176 My Menu items 241 registration cards 9 release priority 113 Release shutter without card option Shooting menu 16 171 173 Index 399 remaining shots camera functions display 58 in Live View information display 120 shooting settings display 57 Rembrandt 275 remote control multiple light sources radio control device for 314 slave triggers for flash units 315 terminal 44 45 RescuePro 354 resolution See also JPEG formats RAW formats RAW JPEG format for movies 125 Shooting menu settings 167 retouching with Adobe Camera Raw 338 revealing images with short exposures 145 reviewing images 33 36 See also Jump feature thumbnails LCD image playback displays in 56 movie images 129 131 Shooting menu options 173 zooming in out on 35 RGB histograms 92 94 Playback menu options 212 213 right angle viewer 10 ring lites 309 310 ring USM ring ultrasonic motor drive lenses 255 Ritchie Guy 134 Roscoe lighting gels 281 rotating images with Adobe Camera Raw 338 Auto Rotate options Set up menu 220 222
183. as part of the creative process Other photographers see the low light capabilities up to ISO 6400 the 3 frames per second continuous shooting commendable ruggedness and 12 2 megapixel resolution of the T3 and gain a sense of empowerment Here is a camera with fewer limitations and more capabilities for exercising renewed creative vision In either case using less mawkish terms the T3 is one of the coolest cameras Canon has ever offered Whether youre upgrading from another brand from another Canon model like one of the ear lier Rebel models or O brave one your T3 is your first digital camera and or SLR welcome to the club But now that you ve unwrapped and recharged the beast mounted a lens and fueled it with a memory card what do you do with it That s where this chapter and the chap ters that follow should come in handy Like many of you I am a Canon user of long standing And like other members of our club I had to learn at least some aspects of my newest EOS camera for the very first time at some point Experienced pro or Canon newbie you bought this book because you wanted to get the most from a very power ful tool and I m here to help 6 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Whether you ve already taken a dozen or twelve hundred photos with your new cam era now that you ve got that initial creative burst out of your system youll want to take a more considered approac
184. ash Off modes the T3 adjusts ISO between ISO 100 3200 as required In Portrait mode ISO is fixed at ISO 100 because the T3 attempts to use larger f stops to blur the background and the lower ISO setting lends itself to those larger stops When using flash Auto ISO produces a setting of ISO 800 automatically except when overexposure would occur as when shooting subjects very close to the camera in which case a lower setting down to ISO 100 will be used If you have an external dedicated flash attached the T3 can set ISO in the range 800 1600 automatically That capabil ity can be useful when shooting outdoor field sports at night and other long distance flash pictures particularly with a telephoto lens because you want to extend the reach of your external flash as far as possible to dozens of feet or more and boosting the ISO does that Remember that if the Auto ISO ranges aren t suitable for you individual ISO values can also be selected in any of the Creative Zone modes Find yourself locked out of ISO settings lower than 200 or higher than 6400 Check C Fn Custom Function II 05 Highlight Tone Priority When set to 1 Enable only ISO 200 6400 can be selected Bracketing Bracketing is a method for shooting several consecutive exposures using different set tings as a way of improving the odds that one will be exactly right Before digital cam eras took over the universe it was common to bracket exposures shoot
185. ash only when the shutter is completely open makes a lot of sense if you think about what s going on To obtain shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second the T3 exposes only part of the sensor at one time by starting the second curtain on its journey before the first curtain has completely opened as shown in Figure 11 8 That effectively provides a briefer exposure as a slit narrower than the full height of the sen sor passes over the surface of the sensor If the flash were to fire during the time when the first and second curtains partially obscured the sensor only the slit that was actu ally open would be exposed Chapter 11 m Working with Light 289 Figure 11 8 A closed shutter left partially open shutter as the first curtain begins to move downwards middle only part of the sensor is exposed as the slit moves right Figure 11 9 If a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second is used you can end up photographing only a portion of the image You d end up with only a narrow band representing the portion of the sensor that was exposed when the picture is taken For shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second the second curtain begins moving before the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame As a result a moving slit the distance between the first and second curtains exposes one portion of the sensor at a time as it moves from the top to the bottom Figure 11 8 shows three views of our typical but imaginary focal
186. ass ing through the lens as it converges to the point of focus on the viewfinder screen when the mirror is down and on the sensor plane when the mirror is flipped up and the shutter has opened Nor does it show the path of the light directed to the autoexposure sensor Only two of the nine pairs of autofocus microlenses are shown and greatly enlarged so you can see their approximate position All we re concerned about here is how light reaches the autofocus sensor Figure 5 1 Part of the light is bounced downward to the autofocus sensor array and split into two images which are com pared and aligned to cre ate a sharply focused image Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 103 amp d el Light path Viewfinder window Secondary mirror Viewfinder screen Partially silvered mirror Shutter Pentaprism Autofocus sensor array Sensor Autoexposure sensor array Microlenses and which can be used to evaluate manual focus It then bounces off two more reflec tive surfaces in the pentamirror a lighter weight less expensive version of the solid glass pentaprism system used in Canon EOS models from the 60D on up emerging at the optical viewfinder correctly oriented left right and up down The image emerges from the lens reversed Some of the illumination is directed to the autoexposure sensor at the top of the pentamirror housing A small portion of the illumination passes through the partially silvere
187. ast lighting conditions Use Disable if youd like to keep the standard tonal range which is opti mized for middle gray tones If you enable this feature then the Auto Lighting Optimizer discussed in Chapter 8 is disabled and your ISO speed range is lim ited to ISO 200 6400 The Movie 2 menu has four entries see Figure 6 7 m Movie rec size Choose 1280 x 720 HD at 30 fps for NTSC television mode or 1280 x 720 HD at 25 fps for the PAL system m Sound recording Choose On or Off You might not want to record sound if you want to shoot silently and add voice over narration music or other sound later in your movie editing software Table 6 1 Shutter AE Lock Button Functions Shutter release AE lock button Option half press function Purpose AF AE lock Activates autofocus Locks exposure Autofocus and lock exposure separately normal operation AE lock AF Locks exposure Activates autofocus Lock exposure then AF after reframing AF AF lock Activates autofocus Hold while taking Avoid refocusing when taking a No AE lock a still photo to shoot still while shooting a movie at current AF setting AE AF Meters but does Activates autofocus Exposure metering continues No AE lock not lock exposure after shutter is half pressed ini tiate autofocus when desired 128 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 6 7 The Movie 2 menu has four Movie rec size 1280x720 ls pem So
188. at avoid swapping lenses in order to minimize the chance of dust getting inside their cameras It makes more sense just to use a blower or brush to dust off the rear lens mount of the replacement lens first so you wont be introducing dust into your camera simply by attaching a new dusty lens Do this before you remove the lens from your camera and then avoid stirring up dust before making the exchange m Work fast Minimize the time your camera is lens less and exposed to dust That means having your replacement lens ready and dusted off and a place to set down the old lens as soon as it is removed so you can quickly attach the new lens m Let gravity help you Face the camera downward when the lens is detached so any dust in the mirror box will tend to fall away from the sensor Turn your back to any breezes indoor forced air vents fans or other sources of dust to minimize infiltration m Protect the lens you just removed Once you ve attached the new lens quickly put the end cap on the one you just removed to reduce the dust that might fall on it Figure 13 12 Use a robust air bulb for clean ing your sensor Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 359 m Clean out the vestibule From time to time remove the lens while in a relatively dust free environment and use a blower bulb like the one shown in Figure 13 12 not compressed air or a vacuum hose to clean out the mirror box area A blower bulb is ge
189. at consists of two curtains The first curtain opens and moves to the opposite side of the frame at which point the shutter is completely open The flash can be triggered at this point so called Zst curtain sync making the flash exposure Then after a delay that can vary from 30 seconds to 1 200th second with the Rebel T3 other cameras may sync at a faster or slower speed a second cur tain begins moving across the sensor plane covering up the sensor again If the flash is triggered just before the second curtain starts to close then 2nd curtain sync is used In both cases though a shutter speed of 1 200th second is the maximum that can be used to take a photo Figure 11 6 illustrates how this works At upper left you can see a fanciful illustration ofa generic shutter your Rebel T3 s shutter does not look like this with both curtains tightly closed At upper right the first curtain begins to move downwards starting to expose a narrow slit that reveals the sensor behind the shutter At lower left the first curtain moves downwards farther until as you can see at lower right in the figure the sensor is fully exposed Chapter 11 m Working with Light 287 Figure 11 6 A focal plane shutter has two curtains the upper or front curtain and a lower second curtain Ghost Images The difference between triggering the flash when the shutter just opens or just when it begins to close might not seem like much But whether you
190. atic aberration cannot Both can be reduced by using lenses with low diffraction index glass or UD elements in Canon nomenclature and by incorporating ele ments that cancel the chromatic aberration of other glass in the lens For example a strong positive lens made of low dispersion crown glass made of a soda lime sil ica composite may be mated with a weaker negative lens made of high dispersion flint glass which contains lead Symptom lines that bow outward Some wide angle lenses cause straight lines to bow outwards with the strongest effect at the edges In fisheye or curvilinear lenses this defect is a feature as you can see in Figure 10 11 When distortion is not desired youll need to use a lens that has corrected barrel distortion Manufacturers like Canon do their best to minimize or eliminate it producing a rectilinear lens often using aspherical lens elements which are not cross sections of a sphere You can also minimize less severe barrel distortion simply by framing your photo with some extra space all around so the edges where the defect is most obvious can be cropped out of the picture Symptom dark corners and shadows in flash photos The Canon EOS T3 s built in electronic flash is designed to provide even coverage for lenses as wide as 17mm If you use a wider lens you can expect darkening or vignetting in the cor ners of the frame At wider focal lengths the lens hood of some lenses my 17mm 85mm lens is a
191. ause of the same design constraints zoom lenses usually have smaller maximum apertures than prime lenses and the most affordable zooms have a lens opening that grows effectively smaller as you zoom in The difference in lens speed verges on the ridiculous at some focal lengths For example the 18mm 55mm basic zoom gives you a 55mm f 5 6 lens when zoomed all the way out while prime lenses in that focal length commonly have f 1 8 or faster maxi mum apertures Indeed the fastest f 2 f 1 8 f 1 4 and f 1 2 lenses are all primes and if you require speed a fixed focal length lens is what you should rely on Figure 10 9 shows an image taken with a Canon 85mm f 1 8 Series EF USM Telephoto lens Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 261 m Speed Using prime lenses takes time and slows you down It takes a few seconds to remove your current lens and mount a new one and the more often you need to do that the more time is wasted If you choose not to swap lenses when using a fixed focal length lens you ll still have to move closer or farther away from your subject to get the field of view you want A zoom lens allows you to change mag nifications and focal lengths with the twist of a ring and generally saves a great deal of time Figure 10 9 An 85mm f 1 8 lens was perfect for this hand held photo of a musician 262 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Categories of Lenses Lenses can be categor
192. ay card is the palm of a human hand the backside of the hand is too variable But a human palm regardless of ethnic group is even brighter than a standard gray card so instead of one half stop more exposure you need to add one additional stop That is if your meter reading is 1 500th of a second at f 11 use 1 500th second at f 8 or 1 250th second at f 11 instead Both exposures are equiva lent You can use exposure compensation described later in this chapter to add the half or full stop of exposure in either case If you actually wanted to use a gray card place it in your frame near your main subject facing the camera and with the exact same even illumination falling on it that is falling on your subject Then use the Spot metering function described in the next section to calculate exposure Of course in most situations it s not necessary to make the tech nically correct adjustment from the gray card human hand reading Your cameras light meter will do a good job of calculating the right exposure that s close enough for prac tical purposes especially if you use the exposure tips in the next section But I felt that explaining exactly what is going on during exposure calculation would help you under stand how your T3 s metering system works WHY THE GRAY CARD CONFUSION Why are so many photographers under the impression that cameras and meters are cali brated to the 18 percent standard rather than the true value which
193. bience settings Background blur sharpen Drive mode Flash settings Current option Shoot by ambience selection 98 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Other Basic Zone Modes When you select one of the other Basic Zone modes you ll see a screen similar to Figure 4 31 which pictures the Landscape version Your options are similar to those in Creative Auto mode m Change shooting parameters by ambience When the top box on the screen is highlighted it will display the most recent ambience setting you ve selected m Press the left right cross keys or rotate the Main Dial and select from among Vivid Soft Warm Intense Cool Brighter Darker or Monochrome the same choices available in Creative Auto mode m You can then rotate the Main Dial to change the Effect to Low Standard or Strong Press the Quick Control button to exit m Press the down cross key to highlight Default Settings This option is available only if you re using Portrait Landscape Close up and Sports modes The prompt in the blue box at the bottom of the screen will change to Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type You can then rotate the Main Dial to cycle through Default setting Daylight Shade Cloudy Tungsten Light Fluorescent Light or Sunset You can also press the SET button and see a menu listing each of these options simultaneously Standard Setting Default setting Shoot by ambience selection Fig
194. box that then appears navigate on your computer to find the files for the pho tographs you have taken and highlight them all 10 At the bottom of the next dialog box that appears check the box that says Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images then click OK The images will load it may take several minutes for the program to load the images and attempt to arrange them into layers that are aligned based on their content 11 Once the program has finished processing the images go to the Layers panel and select all of the layers You can do this by clicking on the top layer and then Shift clicking on the bottom one 12 While the layers are all selected in Photoshop go to Edit gt Auto Blend Layers In the dialog box that appears select the two options Stack Images and Seamless Tones and Colors then click OK The program will process the images possibly for a con siderable length of time 13 If the procedure worked well the result will be a single image made up of numer ous layers that have been processed to produce a sharply focused rendering of your subject If it did not work well you may have to take additional images the next time focusing very carefully on small slices of the subject as you move progressively farther away from the lens Although this procedure can work very well in Photoshop CS4 and CS5 you also may want to try it with programs that were developed more specifically for focus stacking and relate
195. bum or transfer to a CD or DVD These wedding shooters who want JPEG images as their final product take the time to make sure that their in camera settings are correct minimizing the need to post process photos after the event Given that their JPEGs are so good in most cases thanks in large part to the pro photographers extensive experience there is little need to get bogged down shooting RAW Sports photographers also eschew RAW files I visited a local Division III college one sunny September afternoon while I was writing this book and managed to cover a foot ball game trot down a hill to shoot a women s soccer match later that afternoon and ended up in the adjacent field house shooting a volleyball invitational tournament an hour later I managed to shoot 1 920 photos most of them at a 3 0 fps clip in about four hours I certainly didnt have any plans to do post processing on very many of those shots and firing the T3 at its maximum frame rate didn t allow RAW shooting so care fully exposed and precisely focused JPEG images were my file format of choice that day JPEG was invented as a more compact file format that can store most of the informa tion in a digital image but in a much smaller size JPEG predates most digital SLRs and was initially used to squeeze down files for transmission over slow dialup connec tions Even if you were using an early dSLR with 1 3 megapixel files for news photog raphy you didn t want to
196. by rotating the Main Dial using a variety of increments that you can select using this menu entry The Jump method is shown briefly on the screen as you leap ahead to the next image displayed as shown in Figure 8 39 Your options are as follows m 1 image Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back 1 image m 10 images Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back 10 images m 100 images Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back 100 images m Date Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back to the first image taken on the next or previous calendar date m Folder Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back to the first image in the next folder available on your memory card if one exists m Movies Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back displaying movies you captured only m Stills Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back displaying still images only m Rating Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back displaying images by the ratings you ve applied as described next Rotate the Main Dial to choose the rating parameter Slide Show Slide Show is a convenient way to review images one after another without the need to manually switch between them To activate just choose Slide Show from the Playback 2 menu During playback you can press the SET button to pause the slide show in case you want to examine an image more closely
197. c manual is also hobbled by black and white line drawings and tiny monochrome pictures that arent very good examples of what you can do Also available are third party guides to the T3 like this one I haven t been happy with some of these guidebooks which is why I wrote this one The existing books range from skimpy and illustrated by black and white photos to lushly illustrated in full color but too generic to do much good Photography instruction is useful but it needs to be related directly to the Canon EOS T3 as much as possible xvi David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography I ve tried to make David Buschs Canon EOS Rebel 13 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography different from your other T3 learn up options The roadmap sections use larger color pictures to show you where all the buttons and dials are and the explana tions of what they do are longer and more comprehensive T ve tried to avoid overly gen eral advice including the two page checklists on how to take a sports picture or a portrait picture or a travel picture Instead you ll find tips and techniques for using all the features of your Canon EOS T3 to take any kind of picture you want If you want to know where you should stand to take a picture of a quarterback dropping back to unleash a pass there are plenty of books that will tell you that This one concentrates on teaching you how to select the best autofocus mode shutter speed
198. c modes For example I ve selected a Manual exposure with both f stop and shutter speed suitable for my image using say ISO 200 I can change the exposure in full stop increments by pressing the ISO button the up cross key and spinning the Main Dial one click at a time The difference in image quality noise at the base setting of ISO 200 is negligible if I dial in ISO 100 to reduce exposure a little or change to ISO 400 to increase exposure I keep my preferred f stop and shutter speed but still adjust the exposure Or perhaps I am using Tv mode and the metered exposure at ISO 200 is 1 500th sec ond at f 11 If I decide on the spur of the moment I d rather use 1 500th second at f 8 I can press the ISO button and spin the Main Dial to switch to ISO 100 Of course it s 84 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography a good idea to monitor your ISO changes so you don t end up at ISO 1600 acciden tally ISO settings can of course also be used to boost or reduce sensitivity in particu lar shooting situations The Rebel T3 can use ISO settings from ISO 100 up to 6400 The camera can adjust the ISO automatically as appropriate for various lighting con ditions In Basic Zone modes ISO is normally set between ISO 100 3200 When you choose the Auto ISO setting the T3 adjusts the sensitivity dynamically to suit the sub ject matter In Basic Zone Full Auto Landscape Close Up Sports Night Portrait and Fl
199. ca Minolta s dSLR assets and the introduction of an improved in camera image stabilization system has revived an old debate about whether IS belongs in the camera or in the lens Perhaps it s my Canon bias showing but I am quite happy not to have image stabilization available in the body itself Here are some reasons m Should in camera IS fail you have to send the whole camera in for repair and cam era repairs are generally more expensive than lens repairs I like being able to simply switch to another lens if I have an IS problem m IS in the camera doesn t steady your view in the viewfinder whereas an IS lens shows you a steadied image as you shoot m You re stuck with the IS system built into your camera If an improved system is incorporated into a lens and the improvements are important to you just trade in your old lens for the new one m Optimized stabilization Canon claims that it is able to produce the best possible image stabilization for each lens it introduces something that would not be possible if a one size fits all lenses stabilization scheme had to be built into the camera Figure 10 15 Image stabiliza tion made it possible to shoot this con cert photo with a 200mm lens at 1 60th sec ond Note that the drummer s hands are still a blur but her beautiful cos tume is vividly sharp 11 Working with Light Successful photographers and artists have an intimate understanding of the importance
200. camera to the On position Automatic sensor cleaning takes place unless you specifically disable this action as the T3 powers up The camera will remain on or in a standby mode until you manually turn it off After 30 seconds of idling the T3 goes into the standby mode to save battery power Just tap the shutter release button to bring it back to life The automatic sensor cleaning oper ation does not occur when exiting standby mode The first time you use the Rebel T3 it may ask you to enter the time and date This information may have been set by someone checking out your camera on your behalf prior to sale Just follow these steps 1 Press the MENU button located in the upper left corner of the back of the T3 2 Rotate the Main Dial near the shutter release button on top of the camera until the Set up 2 menu is highlighted It s marked by a wrench with two dots next to it 3 Use the up down cross keys to move the highlighting down to the Date Time entry 4 Press the SET button in the center of the keypad to access the Date Time setting screen shown in Figure 1 9 5 Use the left right cross keys to select the value you want to change When the gold box highlights the month day year hour minute or second format you want to adjust press the SET button to activate that value A pair of up down pointing tri angles appears above the value Figure 1 8 The cross keys and SET but ton in their center are your basic navi
201. can control exposure by varying the size of the aperture The relative size of the aperture is called the f stop see Figure 4 3 Light passing through the shutter Once light passes through the lens the amount of time the sensor receives it is determined by the T3 s shutter which can remain open for as long as 30 seconds or even longer if you use the Bulb setting or as briefly as 1 4 000th second m Light captured by the sensor Not all the light falling onto the sensor is captured If the number of photons reaching a particular photosite doesn t pass a set thresh old no information is recorded Similarly if too much light illuminates a pixel in the sensor then the excess isn t recorded or worse spills over to contaminate adja cent pixels We can modify the minimum and maximum number of pixels that con tribute to image detail by adjusting the ISO setting At higher ISOs the incoming light is amplified to boost the effective sensitivity of the sensor Figure 4 3 Top row left to right f 2 2 8 14 f 5 6 bottom row f 8 11 f 16 22 Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 67 These factors the quantity of light produced by the light source the amount reflected or transmitted towards the camera the light passed by the lens the amount of time the shutter is open and the sensitivity of the sensor all work proportionately and recip rocally to produce an exposure That is if you double the amount of light
202. card setting the time and date and a few other pre flight tasks This is basic stuff and if youre a Canon veteran you can skim over it quickly A lot of this first chapter is intended for EOS newbies and even if you personally dont find it essential you ll probably agree that there was some point during your photographic development so to speak that you would have wished this infor mation was spelled out for you There s no extra charge Chapter 2 Here you ll find a Quick Start aimed at those who may not be old hands with Canon cameras having this level of sophistication The T3 has some interesting new features including one of the most advanced autofocus systems ever seen in a mid level camera body and which deserves an entire chapter of its own later in this book But even with all the goodies to play with and learning curve still to climb you ll find that Chapter 2 will get you shooting quickly with a min imum of fuss Part m Getting Started with Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D 3 m Chapter 3 This is a Streetsmart Roadmap to the Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Confused by the tiny little diagrams and multiple cross references for each and every control that send you scurrying around looking for information you know is buried somewhere in the small and inadequate manual stuffed in the box This chapter uses multiple large full color pictures that show every dial knob and button and explain the basics of using each in clear easy to under
203. cated Speedlite Thats because if you re using either type of smart flash the camera knows that a strobe is attached and remedies any unintentional goof in shutter speed settings If you hap pen to set the T3 s shutter to a faster speed in Tv or M mode the camera will auto matically adjust the shutter speed down to 1 200th second In Av P or any of the automatic modes where the T3 selects the shutter speed it will never choose a shutter speed higher than 1 200th second when using flash In P mode shutter speed is auto matically set between 1 60th to 1 200th second when using flash But when using a non dedicated flash such as a studio unit plugged into an adapter with a PC X connector the camera has no way of knowing that a flash is connected so shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second can be set inadvertently Note that the T3 can use a feature called high speed sync that allows shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second with certain external dedicated Canon flash units When using high speed sync the flash fires a continuous serious of bursts at reduced power for the entire duration of the exposure so that the illumination is able to expose the sensor as the slit moves High speed sync is set using the controls on the attached and powered up compatible exter nal flash Determining Exposure Calculating the proper exposure for an electronic flash photograph is a bit more com plicated than determining the settings by contin
204. ccidentally set the Mode Dial to Creative Auto m Venues where flash is forbidden I ve discovered that many No Photography signs actually mean No Flash Photography either because those who make the deci sions feel that flash is distracting or they fear it may potentially damage works of art Tourists may not understand the difference between flash and available light photography or may be unable to set their camera to turn off the flash One of the first phrases I learn in any foreign language is Is it permitted to take photos if I do not use flash A polite request while brandishing an advanced camera like the T3 which may indicate you know what you are doing can often result in permission to shoot away m Venues where flash is ineffective anyway We ve all seen the concert goers who stand up in the last row to shoot flash pictures from 100 yards away I tend to not tell friends that their pictures are not going to come out because they usually come back to me with a dismal grainy shot actually exposed by the dim available light that they find satisfactory just to prove I was wrong 298 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Venues where flash is annoying If I m taking pictures in a situation where flash is permitted but mostly supplies little more than visual pollution I ll disable or avoid using it Concerts or religious ceremonies may allow flash photography but who needs to
205. check You can select the photos you want to transfer plus options such as Automatically Fix Red Eyes Start the download and a confirmation dialog box like the one in Figure 12 14 shows the progress Copying 0 Completed ui From Canon EOS T3 To C My Documents My Pictures 2011 04 19 0 File 1 of 25 Copying File MYI_9124 MOV Dragging and Dropping The final way to move photos from your memory card to your computer is the old fashioned way manually dragging and dropping the files from one window on your computer to another The procedure works pretty much the same whether you re using a Mac ora PC 1 Remove the memory card from the T3 and insert it in your memory card reader 2 Using Windows Explorer My Computer or your Mac desktop open the icon rep resenting the memory card which appears on your desktop as just another disk drive You can also link your camera directly to your computer with a USB cable and it will appear as a disk drive too 3 Open a second window representing the folder on your computer that you want to use as the destination for the files you are copying or moving 4 Drag and drop the files from the memory card window to the folder on your com puter You can select individual files press Ctrl Command A to select all the files or Ctrl Command click to select multiple files Editing Your Photos Image manipulation tasks fall into several categories You might want to fine
206. ck 2 menu as described in Chapter 8 10 or 100 images by index page by date or by folder movies stills or quality rating Check image When an image you want to examine more closely is highlighted press the Magnify Enlarge button until the single image version appears full screen on your LCD 36 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography gor el G EA Bo ot Transferring Photos to Your Computer The final step in your picture taking session will be to transfer the photos you ve taken to your computer for printing further review or image editing Your T3 allows you to print directly to PictBridge compatible printers and to create print orders right in the camera plus you can select which images to transfer to your computer For now you ll probably want to transfer your images either by using a cable transfer from the camera to the computer or by removing the memory card from the T3 and transferring the images with a card reader The latter option is usually the best because it s usually much faster and doesn t deplete the battery of your camera However you can use a cable transfer when you have the cable and a computer but no card reader perhaps you re using the computer of a friend or colleague or at an Internet caf To transfer images from the camera to a Mac or PC computer using the USB cable 1 Turn off the camera 2 Pry back the rubber cover that protects the Rebel T
207. continue through the open shutter to the sensor Your view through the viewfinder is obstructed of course and there is no partially silvered mirror to reflect some light down to the autofocus sensors So an alternate means of autofocus must be used and that Figure 5 6 The AF sensors in the T3 are arranged like this Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 107 method is contrast detection The T3 does have a Quick Mode feature that temporarily flips the mirror back down to allow phase detection autofocus but unless you use that mode which I ll discuss later focus must be achieved either manually with the color LCD live view as a focusing screen or by contrast detection Contrast detection is a bit easier to understand and is illustrated by Figure 5 7 At top in the extreme enlargement of the wood siding the transitions between pixels are soft and blurred When the image is brought into focus bottom the transitions are sharp and clear Although this example is a bit exaggerated so you can see the results on the printed page it s easy to understand that when maximum contrast in a subject is achieved it can be deemed to be in sharp focus Contrast detection is used in Live View mode and may be the only focus mode possi ble with point and shoot cameras that don t offer a through the lens optical viewfinder as found in a digital SLR like the EOS T3 Contrast detection works best with static subjects because it is inherent
208. cro photos too are most often taken with the camera Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 251 mounted on a tripod and manual focus makes a lot of sense for fine tuning focus and depth of field Because of the contemplative nature of close up photography it s not much of an inconvenience to stop down to the taking aperture just before exposure The limitations on use of lenses within Canon s own product line as well as lenses pro duced for earlier Canon SLRs by third party vendors are fairly clear cut The T3 can not be used with any of Canons earlier lens mounting schemes for its film cameras including the immediate predecessor to the EF mount the FD mount introduced with the Canon F1 in 1964 and used until the Canon T60 in 1990 FL 1964 1971 or the original Canon R mount 1959 1964 That s really all you need to know While youll find FD to EF adapters for about 40 you ll lose so many functions that it s rarely worth the bother In retrospect the switch to the EF mount seems like a very good idea as the initial EOS film cameras can now be seen as the beginning of Canons rise to eventually become the leader in film and later digital SLR cameras By completely revamping its lens mount ing system the company was able to take advantage of the latest advances in technol ogy without compromise For example when the original EF bayonet mount was introduced in 1987 the system incorporated new autofocus technology EF actually stands
209. ct size as a telephoto shot would have the same depth of field Try it take a wide angle photo of a friend from a fair distance and then zoom in to duplicate the pic ture in a telephoto image Then enlarge the wide shot so your friend is the same size in both The wide photo will have the same DOF and will have much less detail too Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 265 Avoiding Potential Wide Angle Problems Wide angle lenses have a few quirks that you ll want to keep in mind when shooting so you can avoid falling into some common traps Here s a checklist of tips for avoiding common problems Symptom converging lines Unless you want to use wildly diverging lines as a cre ative effect it s a good idea to keep horizontal and vertical lines in landscapes archi tecture and other subjects carefully aligned with the sides top and bottom of the frame That will help you avoid undesired perspective distortion Sometimes it helps to shoot from a slightly elevated position so you dont have to tilt the camera up or down Symptom color fringes around objects Lenses are often plagued with fringes of color around backlit objects produced by chromatic aberration which comes in two forms longitudinal axial in which all the colors of light don t focus in the same plane and ateral transverse in which the colors are shifted to one side Axial chro matic aberration can be reduced by stopping down the lens but transverse chro m
210. cture The characters FEL will Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 49 appear momentarily in the viewfinder and the exposure lock indication and a flash indicator appear See the description of the viewfinder display later in this chapter In playback mode press this button to switch from single image display to nine image thumbnail index See Figure 3 9 Move highlighting among the thumb nails with the cross keys or Main Dial To view a highlighted image press the Zoom In button In playback mode when an image is zoomed in press this button to zoom out m AF point selection Zoom In button In shooting mode this button activates aut ofocus point selection See Chapter 5 for information on setting autofocus expo sure point selection when using Creative Zone exposure modes In playback mode if youre viewing a single image this button zooms in on the image that s displayed If thumbnail indexes are shown pressing this button switches from nine thumb nails to four thumbnails or from four thumbnails to a full screen view of a high lighted image ISO sensitivity The up cross key also serves to set the ISO sensitivity Press this WB button when using one of the Creative Zone modes A DEP M Av Ty or P to produce the ISO screen Then use the left right cross keys to select an ISO set ting and press SET to confirm Figure 3 9 The Thumb nail Index Zoom Out button changes the playback display from sing
211. d as explained in Chapter 9 you can still raise the flash using the Flash Up option in the Quick Control screen The behavior of the internal flash varies depending on which Creative Zone mode youre using m P A DEP In these modes the T3 fully automates the exposure process giving you subtle fill flash effects in daylight and fully illuminating your subject under dim mer lighting conditions The camera selects a shutter speed from 1 60th to 1 200th second and sets an appropriate aperture m Av In Aperture priority mode you set the aperture as always and the T3 chooses a shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1 200th second Use this mode with care because if the camera detects a dark background it will use the flash to expose the main subject in the foreground and then leave the shutter open long enough to allow the background to be exposed correctly too If you re not using an image sta bilized lens you can end up with blurry ghost images even of non moving subjects at exposures longer than 1 30th second and if your camera is not mounted on a tripod youll see these blurs at exposures longer than about 1 8th second even if you are using IS To disable use of a slow shutter speed with flash access C Fn I 2 Flash Sync Speed in Av mode and change from the default setting 0 Auto to either 1 1 200 1 60sec auto or 2 1 200sec fixed as described in Chapter 9 If anything other than Auto is chosen you wont be able to use high speed
212. d if need be elevate the T3 s built in flash Selecting a Shooting Mode The following sections show you how to choose Scene semi automatic or automatic shooting exposure modes select a metering mode which tells the camera what portions of the frame to evaluate for exposure and set the basic autofocus functions If you under stand how to do these things you can skip ahead to Other Functions You can choose a shooting method from the Mode Dial located on the top right of the Canon EOS Rebel T3 See Figure 2 1 There are eight Basic Zone Image Zone shoot ing modes in which the camera makes virtually all the decisions for you except when to press the shutter plus Movie mode Canon has started sub dividing the Basic Zone modes referring to the true Scene settings Portrait Landscape Close up Sports and Night Portrait as Image Zone modes while the other three automatic modes Full Auto Flash Off and Creative Auto are just plain vanilla Basic Zone modes Because 22 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Creative Zone Movie mode Basic Zone Image Zone these automatic modes share so many characteristics I m going to stick with the origi nal Basic Zone nomenclature for all of them after I ve explained the functions of each in this chapter You ll find a complete discussion of both Basic Image Zone and Creative Zone modes in Chapter 4 Turn your camera
213. d Busch s Compact Field Guides are your solution These new lay flat spiral bound reference guides condense all the must have infor Feed mation you need while shooting into a portable book you ll want to permanently tuck into your Serch camera bag You ll find every settings option for your camera listed along with advice on why you should use or not use each adjustment Useful tables provide recommended settings for a wide More variety of shooting situations including landscapes portraits sports close ups and travel With this guide on hand you have all the information you need at your fingertips so you can confidently use your camera on the go e COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Professional Technical Reference please visit www cou rseptr com davidbusch To learn more browse our complete collection of David Busch titles and purchase
214. d center of the main mirror and is directed downwards to the autofocus sensor array which includes nine separate autofocus detectors In the interests of arrow clutter reduction ACR the diagram doesnt show that parts of the image from opposite sides of the lens sur face are directed through separate microlenses producing two half images These images are compared with each other much like actually exactly like a two window rangefinder used in surveying weaponry and non SLR cameras like the venerable Leica M film models 104 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography When the image is out of focus or out of phase as in Figure 5 2 the two halves each representing a slightly different view from opposite sides of the lens don t line up Sharp focus is achieved when the images are in phase and aligned as in Figure 5 3 The two figures dont show exactly what happens because eight of the nine of the AF sensors in the T3 are of the simpler line sensor variety while the center sensor is of the cross type I ll explain cross type sensors shortly but first you need to understand the basic phase detection process As with any rangefinder like function accuracy is better when the base length between the two images is larger Think back to your high school trigonometry you could cal culate a distance more accurately when the separation between the two points where the angles were mea
215. d procedures such as Helicon Focus www heliconsoft com PhotoAcute www photoacute com or CombineZM www hadleyweb pwp blueyonder co uk This page intentionally left blank Part III Advanced Tools 162 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The next four chapters are devoted to helping you dig deeper into the capabilities of your Canon Rebel T3 so you can exploit all those cool features that your previous cam era lacked Chapters 8 and 9 list every setting and option found in the Shooting Playback Set up and Custom Functions menus Pll not only tell you what each menu item does I ll explain exactly when and why you should use every option Then in Chapter 10 I ll show you how to select the best lenses for the kinds of photography you want to do with my recommendations for starter lenses as well as more advanced optics for specialized applications Chapter 11 is devoted to the magic of light your fundamental tool in creating any photograph There are entire books devoted to working with electronic flash but I hope to get you started with plenty of coverage of the Rebel T3 s capabilities PI show you how to master your camera s built in flash and avoid that built in flash look and offer an introduction to the use of external flash units including the Canon Speedlite 580EX II By the time you finish these essential chapters you ll be well on the way to mastering your Canon Rebel
216. d you require Canon service support 10 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Dont bother rooting around in the box for anything beyond what I ve listed previously There are a few things Canon classifies as optional accessories even though you and I might consider some of them essential Here s a list of what you don get in the box but might want to think about as an impending purchase Ill list them roughly in the order of importance m Memory card First time digital camera buyers are sometimes shocked that their new tool doesnt come with a memory card Why should it The manufacturer does nt have the slightest idea of how much storage you require or whether you want a slow inexpensive card or one that s faster more expensive so why should they pack one in the box and charge you for it For a 12 2 megapixel camera you really need one that s a minimum of 8GB in size m Extra LP E10 battery Even though you might get 500 to more than 1 000 shots from a single battery it s easy to exceed that figure in a few hours of shooting sports at 3 fps Batteries can unexpectedly fail too or simply lose their charge from sit ting around unused for a week or two Buy an extra I own four in total keep it charged and free your mind from worry m Add on Speedlite One of the best ways to enhance your lighting effects is with an external Speedlite such as the new 320EX and 270EX II strobes which wer
217. de Dial is set to a Creative Zone mode if youre using a Basic Zone mode an abbreviated list of Live View options is found in the Shooting 2 menu Press SET and use the up down cross keys to select Enable and press the SET button again to exit Note that even if you ve disabled Live View you can still set the Mode Dial to Movie and shoot video 3 Choose other Live View functions Select from the other Live View functions in the Shooting 4 menu described next or from the Shooting 2 menu if using a Basic Zone mode then press the MENU button to exit from the Live View function settings menu Make sure you re using a Creative Zone mode if you want to view the full array of Live View function options 4 Specify Movie or Live View shooting Rotate the Mode Dial to the Movie posi tion if you want to shoot video instead of stills 5 Activate Live View Press the Start Stop button on the right side of the viewfinder to begin or end Live View or to begin end video capture The button is labeled with a red dot so it s easy to find There are four choices in the Live View menu Shooting 4 menu when using a Creative Zone mode See Figure 6 2 When youre using a Basic Zone mode only the first three choices listed below are available and they are found in the Shooting 2 menu instead The entries include m Live View shoot Enable disable Live View shooting here As I mentioned dis abling Live View does not affect movie shooting whic
218. demo a camera at a store or trade show but don t want to have to equip each and every demonstrator model with a memory card Choose this menu item press SET select Enable or Disable and press SET again to turn this capa bility on or off Image Review You can adjust the amount of time an image is displayed for review on the LCD after each shot is taken You can elect to disable this review entirely Off or choose display times of 2 or 8 seconds You can also select Hold an indefinite display which will keep your image on the screen until you use one of the other controls such as the shut ter button Main Dial or cross keys Turning the review display off or choosing a brief duration can help preserve battery power However the T3 will always override the review display when the shutter button is partially or fully depressed so you ll never miss a shot because a previous image was on the screen Choose Review Time from the Shooting 1 menu and select Off 2 sec 4 sec 8 sec or Hold as shown in Figure 8 5 If you want to retain an image on the screen for a longer period but dont want to use Hold as your default press the Erase button under the LCD monitor The image will display until you choose Cancel or Erase from the menu that pops up at the bottom of the screen Review time 174 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Peripheral Illumination Correction With certain lenses under
219. des ISO 100 6400 Auto Movie shooting ISO 100 6400 208 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Live View Shooting Settings This menu entry is the first in the Shooting 4 menu see Figure 8 33 All of the set tings on this tab pertain to the T3 s Live View functions which I explained in detail in Chapter 6 I ll provide only a recap here m Live View shoot Enable disable Live View shooting here As I mentioned dis abling Live View does not effect movie shooting which is activated by rotating the Mode Dial to the Movie position m Autofocus mode Quick mode Live mode Live Face Detection mode This option explained next lets you choose between Phase Detection Contrast Detection and Contrast Detection with Face Recognition m Grid display Off Grid 1 Grid 2 Overlays Grid 1 a rule of thirds grid on the screen to help you compose your image and align vertical and horizontal lines or Grid 2 which consists of four rows of six boxes which allow finer control over placement of images in your frame m Metering timer 4 sec to 30 min This option allows you to specify how long the EOS T3 s metering system will remain active before switching off Tap the shut ter release to start the timer again after it switches off This choice is not available when using a Basic Zone mode Live View shoot Enable AF mode Live mode Grid display Grid 1 Metering timer 16 sec
220. dget hunters might go for the highly limited but cheap Canon EF S 18 55mm 1 3 5 5 6 IS II autofocus lens It adds only about 100 to the price tag of the body alone 246 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography and is thus an irresistible bargain You can also buy the T3 body with no optics if you already have some lenses Other more upscale Canon models including the EOS 1D Mark III EOS 1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D Mark II are most often purchased without a lens by veteran Canon photographers who already have a complement of optics to use with their cameras I bought my EOS T3 as a body only because I already had a collection of lenses However you ll also find many purchasers who fall into one of the following categories Those who are upgrading from the digital Rebel models or another EOS digital model from a Canon film camera or who are buying the T3 as a second camera body to com plement their other Canon camera These owners too generally already have lenses they can use with their new T3 So depending on which category you fall into you ll need to make a decision about what kit lens to buy or decide what other kind of lenses you need to fill out your com plement of Canon optics This section will cover first lens concerns while later in the chapter we ll look at add on lens considerations When deciding on a first lens there are several factors you ll want to consider m Cost You
221. ding the EOS T3 When you re using Merge to HDR Pro a feature found in Adobe Photoshop similar functions are available in other programs including the Mac PC utility Photomatix www hdrsoft com free to try 99 to buy youd take several pictures As I mentioned earlier one would be exposed for the shadows one for the highlights and perhaps one for the midtones Then youd use the Merge to HDR command or the equivalent in other software to combine all of the images into one HDR image that integrates the well exposed sections of each version You can use the EOS T3 s bracketing feature to produce those images The images should be as identical as possible except for exposure So it s a good idea to mount the T3 on a tripod use a remote release and take all the exposures in one burst Just follow these steps 1 Mount the T3 on a tripod and either connect an optional remote release cable or plan on using the self timer to avoid camera shake 2 Set the camera to shoot RAW images as described in Chapter 8 3 Set bracketing to a 2 stop increment as described above 4 Use Aperture priority Av and select an aperture so that the camera will adjust only shutter speed while bracketing thus retaining the same depth of field and focus which would produce ghosts in the final HDR image 5 Manually focus or autofocus the T3 6 Trigger the camera to expose your set of three images 7 Copy your images to your computer and cont
222. duction Use this setting when you want the maximum amount of detail present in your photograph even though higher noise levels will result This setting also eliminates the extra time needed to take a picture caused by the noise reduction process If you plan to use only lower ISO settings thereby reducing the noise caused by ISO amplification the noise levels produced by longer exposures may be acceptable For example you might be shooting a river spilling over rocks at ISO 100 with the camera mounted on a tripod using a neu tral density filter and long exposure to cause the pounding water to blur slightly To maximize detail in the non moving portions of your photos you can switch off long exposure noise reduction Because the noise reduction process used with set tings 1 and 2 effectively doubles the time required to take a picture this is a good setting to use when you want to avoid this delay when possible m 1 Auto The Rebel T3 examines your photo taken with an exposure of one second or longer and if long exposure noise is detected a second blank exposure is made and compared to the first image Noise found in the dark frame image is sub tracted from your original picture and only the noise corrected image is saved to your memory card m 2 On When this setting is activated the T3 applies dark frame subtraction to all exposures longer than one second You might want to use this option when youre working with high ISO sett
223. e Picture Style you ve modified will be changed in the camera Exit EOS Utility Disconnect your camera from your computer and your modi fied style is ready to use Getting More Picture Styles I ve found that careful Googling can unearth other Picture Styles that helpful fellow EOS owners have made available and even a few from the helpful Canon company itself My own search turned up this link http web canon jp imaging picturestyle file index html where Canon offers a half dozen or more useful PF2 files you can down load and install on your own Remember that Picture Style files are compatible between Figure 8 30 Adjust the settings of a Picture Style in your camera using the EOS Utility Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 205 various Canon EOS camera models that is you can use a style created for the Canon 40D with your T3 but you should be working with the latest software versions to work with the latest cameras and Picture Styles If you installed your software from the CDs that came with your Rebel T3 you re safe If you owned an earlier EOS and haven t re installed the software since your camera upgrade you might need to re install the soft ware It s available for download from the Canon website Try the additional styles Canon offers They include m Studio Portrait Compared to the Portrait style built into the camera this one Canon says expresses translucent skin in smooth tones
224. e 8 15 plus Low Strong and Disable Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 183 Figure 8 13 Exposure et E SE compensation mE Expo comp AEB 92 2 4 12 Sho Auto Lighting Optimizer Metering mode E Custom White Balance WB Shift BKT 0 0 0 Color space sRGB Picture Style Auto Figure 8 14 Ser the range of LXposure comp AEB setting the three brack eted exposures Darker Brighter 6 547 2 eee 15213459157 HORE CEE TMi PTS TTRERRETITITI a SET MEO 184 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 15 Auto Lighting Optimizer can brighten dark low contrast images top giving them a little extra snap and brightness bottom Figure 8 16 Preset white balance settings can be chosen from this menu which appears when you press the WB button Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 185 Metering Mode Use this entry to select from among the available metering modes described in Chapter 2 Evaluative Partial and Center weighted averaging Custom White Balance If automatic white balance or one of the seven preset settings available Auto Daylight Shade Cloudy Twilight Sunset Tungsten White Fluorescent or Flash aren t suitable you can set a custom white balance using this menu option The custom setting you establish will then be applied whenever you select Custom using the White Balance menu that pops up
225. e Angle Telephoto Zoom lens 249 EF 28 105mm f 3 5 4 5 II USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens 249 259 EF 24 105mm f 4L IS USM Zoom lens 259 EF 28 135mm f 3 5 5 6 IS USM Image Stabilized Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens 245 249 EF 28 200mm f 3 5 5 6 USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens 249 EF 28 300mm f 3 5 5 6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom lens 255 260 EF 35mm f 1 4L USM Autofocus Wide Angle lens 256 EF 50mm f 1 8 II lens 256 EF 55 200mm f 4 5 5 6 II USM Autofocus Compact Telephoto Zoom lens 249 EF 70 300mm f 4 5 6 IS USM Autofocus Telephoto Zoom lens 257 EF 85mm f 1 8 USM Telephoto lens 260 261 EF 100mm f 2 Medium Telephoto lens 259 EF 100mm f 2 8 USM Macro Autofocus lens 257 EF 100 300mm f 4 5 5 6 Telephoto Zoom lens 259 EF 100 300mm f 4 5 5 6 USM Autofocus lens 257 EF 100 400mm f 4 5 5 6L IS USM lens 273 EF 135mm f 2L lens 259 EF 400mm f 2 8L lenses 259 EF 600mm f 4L lenses 259 EF S lenses 250 253 EF lenses compared 252 EF S 10 22mm f 3 5 4 5 USM Zoom lens 252 253 257 EF S 17 55mm f 2 8 IS USM lens 273 EF S 17 85mm f 4 5 6 IS USM Autofocus lens 247 248 273 EF S 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 IS II Autofocus lens 245 248 EF S 18 135mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Autofocus lens 249 EF S 18 200mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Autofocus lens 245 248 249 EF S 55 250mm f 4 5 6 IS Telephoto Zoom lens 249 EF S 60mm f 2 8 Compact lens 257 EF S G0mm f 2 8 Macro USM lens 255 1896 gray cards
226. e Mode This mode uses contrast detection described in Chapter 5 using the relative sharpness of the image as it appears on the sensor to determine focus This method is less precise and usually takes longer than Quick mode To autofocus using Live mode follow these steps 1 Set lens to autofocus Make sure the focus switch on the lens is set to AE 2 Activate Live View Press the Start Stop button 6 Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 121 Choose AF point Use the cross keys to move the AF point anywhere you like on the screen except for the edges Press the SET button to return the AF point to the center of the screen Select subject Compose the image on the LCD so the selected focus point is on the subject Press and hold the shutter button halfway When focus is achieved the AF point turns green and you ll hear a beep if the sound has been turned on in the Shooting 1 menu If the T3 is unable to focus the AF point turns orange instead Take picture Press the shutter release all the way down to take the picture Live Face Detection Mode This mode also uses contrast detection using the relative sharpness of the image as it appears on the sensor to determine focus The T3 will search the frame for a human face and attempt to focus on the face Like Live mode this method is less precise and usually takes longer than Quick mode To autofocus using Live Face Detection mode follow these steps 1
227. e Rebel T3 see Figure 3 8 There are more than a dozen buttons in all many of which do double duty to perform sev eral functions I ve divided them into two groups here s the first m MENU button Summons exits the menu displayed on the rear LCD of the T3 When you re working with submenus this button also serves to exit a submenu and return to the main menu m DISP button When pressed repeatedly changes the amount of picture informa tion displayed In playback mode pressing the DISP button cycles among basic display of the image a detailed display with a thumbnail of the image shooting parameters and a brightness histogram and a display with less detail but with sep arate histograms for brightness red green and blue channels I ll show you what these look like later in the chapter When setting Picture Styles the DISP button Figure 3 7 Figure 3 8 Aperture Exposure compensation Trash button Live View Movie shooting Quick Control Direct print button Drive mode button White balance button MENU button Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 47 is used to select a highlighted Picture Style for modification In Live View mode the DISP button adjusts the amount of information overlaid on the live image that appears on the LCD screen When the camera is connected to a printer you can trim an image in direct printing mode the DISP button selects the orientation Live View Movie button
228. e Saturation and Color Tone parameters are replaced with Filter Effect and Toning Effect options See Figure 8 25 Keep in mind that once you ve taken a photo using a Monochrome Picture Style you can t convert the image back to full color You can choose from Yellow Orange Red Green filters or None and specify Sepia Blue Purple or Green toning or None You can still set the Sharpness and Contrast parameters that are avail able with the other Picture Styles Figure 8 26 shows filter effects being applied to the Monochrome Picture Style Detail set Monochrome Sharpness Contrast Filter effect Or Orange Toning effect G Green Default set MENU lu Figure 8 25 Apply changes to the Monochrome Picture Style Figure 8 26 No filter upper left Yellow filter upper right Green filter lower left and Red filter lower right Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 199 FILTERS VS TONING Although some of the color choices overlap you ll get very different looks when choosing between Filter Effects and Toning Effects Filter Effects add no color to the monochrome image Instead they reproduce the look of black and white film that has been shot through a color filter That is Yellow will make the sky darker and the clouds will stand out more whereas Orange makes the sky even darker and sunsets more full of detail The Red filter produces the darkest sky of all and darke
229. e aspects take on additional meaning when comparing zooms and primes Logistics As prime lenses offer just a single focal length you ll need more of them to encompass the full range offered by a single zoom More lenses mean additional slots in your camera bag and extra weight to carry Just within Canon s line alone you can select from about a dozen general purpose prime lenses in 28mm 35mm 50mm 85mm 100mm 135mm 200mm and 300mm focal lengths all of which are overlapped by the 28 300mm zoom I mentioned earlier Even so you might be willing to carry an extra prime lens or two in order to gain the speed or image qual ity that a particular lens offers Image quality Prime lenses usually produce better image quality at their focal length than even the most sophisticated zoom lenses at the same magnification Zoom lenses with their shifting elements and f stops that can vary from zoom posi tion to zoom position are in general more complex to design than fixed focal length lenses That s not to say that the very best prime lenses can t be complicated as well However the exotic designs aspheric elements low dispersion glass and Canon s new diffraction optics DO technology a three layer diffraction grating to better control how light is captured by a lens can be applied to improving the quality of the lens rather than wasting a lot of it on compensating for problems caused by the zoom process itself Maximum aperture Bec
230. e come to know as Live View it was at least in part because they didn t have it and couldn t miss what they never had After all why would you eschew a big bright magnified through the lens optical view that showed depth of field fairly well and which was easily visible under virtually all ambi ent light conditions LCD displays after all were small tended to wash out in bright light and didn t really provide you with an accurate view of what your picture was going to look like There were technical problems as well Real time previews theoretically disabled a dSLR s autofocus system as focus was achieved by measuring contrast through the opti cal viewfinder which is blocked when the mirror is flipped up for a live view Extensive previewing had the same effect on the sensor as long exposures the sensor heated up producing excess noise Pointing the camera at a bright light source when using a real time view could damage the sensor The list of potential problems goes on and on That was then This is now The Canon EOS T3 has a 2 7 inch LCD that can be viewed under a variety of lighting conditions and from wide ranging angles so you don t have to be exactly behind the display to see it clearly See Figure 6 1 It offers a 100 percent view of the sensor s cap ture area the optical viewfinder shows just 96 percent of the sensor s field of view It s large enough to allow manual focusing but if you want to use automatic f
231. e designed especially for cameras in this class Your built in flash can function as the main illu mination for your photo or softened and used to fill in shadows If you do much flash photography at all consider an add on Speedlite as an important accessory m AC Adapter Kit ACK E10 This includes the Compact Power Adapter CA PS700 and DC Coupler DR E10 which are used together to power the T3 independently of the batteries There are several typical situations where this capability can come in handy when youre cleaning the sensor manually and want to totally eliminate the possibility that a lack of juice will cause the fragile shutter and mirror to spring to life during the process when indoors shooting tabletop photos portraits class pictures and so forth for hours on end when using your T3 for remote shooting as well as time lapse photography for extensive review of images on your television or for file transfer to your computer These all use prodigious amounts of power which can be provided by this AC adapter Beware of power outages and black outs when cleaning your sensor however m Angle Finder C right angle viewer This handy accessory fastens in place of the standard rubber eyecup and provides a 90 degree view for framing and composing your image at right angles to the original viewfinder useful for low level or high level shooting Or maybe shooting around corners HDMI cable HTC 100 You ll need this optional cab
232. e difficult to represent on the printed page m Sharpness This parameter determines the apparent contrast between the outlines or edges in an image which we perceive as image sharpness You can adjust the sharpness of the image between values of 0 no sharpening added to 7 dramatic additional sharpness When adjusting sharpness remember that more is not always a good thing A little softness is necessary and is introduced by a blurring anti alias filter in front of the sensor to reduce or eliminate the moir effects that can result when details in your image form a pattern that is too close to the pattern or frequency of the sensor itself The default levels of sharpening which are for most Picture Styles not 0 were chosen by Canon to allow most moir interference to be safely blurred to invisibility at the cost of a little sharpness As you boost sharpness either using a Picture Style or in your image editor moir can become a problem plus you may end up with those noxious halos that appear around the edges of images that have been oversharpened Use this adjustment with care m Contrast Use this control with values from 4 low contrast to 4 higher con trast to change the number of middle tones between the deepest blacks and bright est whites Low contrast settings produce a flatter looking photo while high Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 193 contrast adjustments may impro
233. e doen teed Hee donde Re dados 54 LCD Panel Readouts 4425 ce ok exe dx o eR dee ewe Up Wi ERE LEER 55 Looking Inside the Viewfinder lecce 58 Chapter 4 Understanding Exposure 63 Getting a Handle on Exposure va we edes uaweses the uA vad Fe TEXTS 64 How the Rebel T3 Calculates Exposure 2 000000 40050 0eew REY 68 Correctly Exposed eers ican deine 4b MRS aca E OE LOC aoa dede 69 Overe xposed La d dore 3 ewan Sh 04h oe eb Ro a V Rip dog e 70 UriderexpOSeus q eva bak Ke XX EN 44S RAE RUE AR ROLRRCEX OR DERE E RE 70 Choosing a Metering Method 0ccceccccsecsessceeees 72 Choosing an Exposure Methods 2524 2 wa RR E E kos REPE WEEK 75 Basic Zone Exposure Methods 2235 42e ROC ORARE EER 75 nbl 76 Aperture Priority 0 csse 77 Shutter PHONY resas ni dt pb eR oie eh A EAE UON id eade 79 Program Mode i oed xag cb tha oe ea E a aa Ea De aa De OR 80 Making EV Chantes e bait x e bee E En ves eae Iria 80 Manual Exposure cs dax xu X 46 2 EEGs ASSESS G3 REV d RET KS 81 Adjusting Exposure with ISO Settings ces cer 64444445540 Rn 83 Drac keting ua oe Rer op Ran OCC REI ed ans Se a Oa 84 Bracketing and Merge to HDR iis sace eee 86 Dealing with MOIS e sae raw aw ER A EE CER e Pe e 90 Fixing Exposures with Histograms 00c cece eceeccecees 92 Basic Zone Wipes as uevvestubeteeex eV PR ERE VEO UE E E E 95 That Quick Control Screen Apalies osse rese ceeds ER RE ierit RS 96 Contents vii Chapter 5 Mastering the Mysteries of A
234. e end of the box helpfully designated with a CON TENTS heading At a minimum the box should include a Digital Camera EOS Rebel T3 1100D Wide Strap EW 200D Battery Charger LC E10 Battery Pack LP E10 Interface Cable and a set of software instructional CD ROMs all described in more detail below You also got an abbreviated printed instruction manual and some other paperwork It s likely that the camera was accompanied by a lens as well and that the contents I ve listed above will vary slightly depending on when and where you bought the camera While this level of set up detail may seem as superfluous as the instructions on a bottle of shampoo checking the contents first is always a good idea No matter who sells a camera it s common to open boxes use a particular camera for a demonstration and then repack the box without replacing all the pieces and parts afterwards Someone might actually have helpfully checked out your camera on your behalf and then mis packed the box It s better to know mow that something is missing so you can seek redress immediately rather than discover two months from now that the USB cable you thought you d never use but now must have was never in the box At a minimum the box should have the following m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D digital camera This is hard to miss The camera is the main reason you laid out the big bucks and it is tucked away inside a nifty bubble wrap envelope you should save for
235. e exposure Instead the light must be measured metering the intensity ofa pre flash triggered an instant before the main flash as it is reflected back to the camera and through the lens An alternative is to use a sensor built into an external flash itself and measure reflected light that has not traveled through the lens If you have a do it yourself bent there are hand held flash meters too including models that measure both flash and continuous light Evenness of illumination Pro con continuous lighting Of continuous light sources daylight in particular provides illumination that tends to fill an image completely lighting up the foreground background and your subject almost equally Shadows do come into play of course so you might need to use reflectors or fill in light sources to even out the illumination further but barring objects that block large sections of your image from daylight the light is spread fairly evenly Indoors however continuous lighting is commonly less evenly distributed The average living room for example has hot spots and dark corners But on the plus side you can see this uneven illumination and compensate with additional lamps Evenness of illumination Con electronic flash Electronic flash units like con tinuous light sources such as lamps that don t have the advantage of being located 93 million miles from the subject suffer from the effects of their proximity The inverse square law fi
236. e form of tiny spots larger blobs or even curvy lines if they are caused by minuscule fibers that have settled on the sensor They ll appear out of focus because they arent actually on the sensor surface but rather a fraction of a millimeter above it on the filter that covers the sensor The smaller the f stop used the more in focus the dust becomes At large apertures it may not be visible at all Figure 13 10 A stuck pixel is surrounded by improperly interpolated pixels created by the T3 s demosaicing algorithm Figure 13 11 Only the dust spots in the sky are apparent in this shot Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 357 Q I never see any dust on my sensor What s all the fuss about A Those who never have dust problems with their EOS T3 fall into one of three cat egories those who seldom change their lenses and have clean working habits that minimize the amount of dust that invades their cameras in the first place those who simply don t notice the dust often because they don t shoot many macro photos or other pictures using the small f stops that makes dust evident in their images and those who are very very lucky Identifying and Dealing with Dust Sensor dust is less of a problem than it might be because it shows up only under certain circumstances Indeed you might have dust on your sensor right now and not be aware if it The dust doesn t actually settle on the sensor i
237. e good for approximately 700 shots based on standard tests defined by the Camera amp Imaging Products Association CIPA document DC 002 All rechargeable batteries undergo some degree of self discharge just sitting idle in the camera or in the original packaging Li ion cells lose their power through a chemical reaction that continues when the camera is switched off It s very likely that the battery A BATTERY AND A SPARE My experience is that the CIPA figures are often a little optimistic so it s probably a good idea to have a spare battery on hand I always recommend purchasing Canon brand bat teries for less than 50 over less expensive third party packs My reasoning is that it doesn t make sense to save 20 on a component for an advanced camera especially since batteries from Canon as well as other sources have been known to fail in potentially harmful ways Canon at least will stand behind its products issue a recall if necessary and supply a replacement if a Canon brand battery is truly defective A third party bat tery supplier that sells under a half dozen or more different product labels and brands may not even have an easy way to get the word out that a recall has been issued If your pictures are important to you always have at least one spare battery available and make sure it is an authentic Canon product 12 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography purchased with your ca
238. e mono chrome tonal values in your image but adds a color overlay that gives the photo a sepia blue purple or green cast The predefined Picture Styles are as follows m Standard This Picture Style applies a set of parameters including boosted sharp ness that are useful for most picture taking and which are applied automatically when using Basic Zone modes other than Portrait or Landscape Portrait This style boosts saturation for richer colors when shooting portraits which is particularly beneficial for women and children while reducing sharpness slightly to provide more flattering skin texture The Basic Mode Portrait setting uses this Picture Style You might prefer the Faithful style for portraits of men when you want a more rugged or masculine look or when you want to emphasize character lines in the faces of older subjects of either gender m Landscape This style increases the saturation of blues and greens and increases both color saturation and sharpness for more vivid landscape images The Basic Zone Landscape mode uses this setting Neutral This Picture Style is a less saturated and lower contrast version of the Standard style Use it when you want a more muted look to your images or when the photos you are taking seem too bright and contrasty say at the beach on a sunny day m Faithful The goal of this style is to render the colors of your image as accurately as possible roughly in the same relationships as se
239. e reasonable approach is to try special data recovery software you can install on your computer and use to attempt to resurrect your lost images yourself They may not actually be gone completely Perhaps your memory card s table of contents is jumbled or only a few pictures are damaged in such a way that your camera and com puter can t read some or any of the pictures on the card Some of the available software was written specifically to reconstruct lost pictures while other utilities are more general purpose applications that can be used with any media including floppy disks and hard disk drives They have names like OnTrack Photo Rescue 2 Digital Image Recovery MediaRecover Image Recall and the aptly named Recover My Photos You ll find a comprehensive list and links as well as some picture recovery tips at www ultimateslr com memory card recovery php DIMINISHING RETURNS Usually once you ve recovered any images on a memory card reformatted it and returned it to service it will function reliably for the rest of its useful life However if you find a particular card going bad more than once you ll almost certainly want to stop using it forever See if you can get it replaced by the manufacturer if you can but in the case of memory card failures the third time is never the charm Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 355 Cleaning Your Sensor There s no avoiding dust No matter h
240. e sharp focus to make an educated guess about what kind of picture you re taking based on examination of thousands of different real world photos For example if the top sections of a picture are much lighter than the bottom portions the algorithm can assume that the scene is a landscape photo with lots of sky This mode is the best all purpose metering method for most pictures I ll explain how to choose an autofocus exposure zone in the section on autofocus operation later in this chapter See Figure 4 9 for an example of a scene that can be easily interpreted by the Evaluative metering mode Figure 4 8 Evaluative metering uses 63 zones marked by blue rectangles linked to the autofocus points shown as red brackets Figure 4 9 An evenly lit scene like this one can be metered effectively using the Evaluative metering setting m Partial This is a faux spot mode using roughly 10 percent of the image area to calculate exposure which as you can see in Figure 4 10 is a rather large spot represented by the larger blue circle The status LCD icon is shown in the upper left corner Use this mode if the background is much brighter or darker than the subject as in Figure 4 11 Unlike some other models in the Canon line up the T3 does not have a true spot metering mode 74 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 10 Partial metering uses a center spot that s rou
241. e to Digital SLR Photography Figure 11 7 1st curtain sync produces an image that trails in front of the flash exposure top whereas 2nd curtain sync creates a more natural look ing trail behind the flash image before the shutter opens This produces an image of the subject on the sensor Then the shutter remains open for an additional period 30 seconds to 1 200th second as I said If your subject is moving say towards the right side of the frame the ghost image produced by the ambient light will produce a blur on the right side of the original sub ject image making it look as if your sharp flash produced image is chasing the ghost For those of us who grew up with lightning fast superheroes who always left a ghost trail behind them that looks unnatural see Figure 11 7 So Canon uses 2nd curtain sync to remedy the situation In that mode the shutter opens as before The shutter remains open for its designated duration and the ghost image forms If your subject moves from the left side of the frame to the right side the ghost will move from left to right too Then about 1 5 milliseconds before the second shutter curtain closes the flash is triggered producing a nice sharp flash image ahead of the ghost image Voila We have monsieur Speed Racer outdriving his own trailing image Avoiding Sync Speed Problems Using a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second can cause problems Triggering the electronic fl
242. eating electronic flash unit he patented called the stroboscope As the inventor of the electronic flash he popularized its use to freeze objects in motion and you ve probably seen his photographs of bullets piercing balloons and drops of milk forming a coronet shaped splash Electronic flash freezes action by virtue of its extremely short duration as brief as 1 50 000th second or less Although the EOS T3 s built in flash unit can give you these ultra quick glimpses of moving subjects an external flash such as one of the Canon Speedlites offers even more versatility You can read more about using electronic flash to stop action in Chapter 11 144 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Of course the T3 is fully capable of immobilizing all but the fastest movement using only its shutter speeds which range all the way up to 1 4 000th second Indeed you ll rarely have need for such a brief shutter speed in ordinary shooting If you wanted to use an aperture of f 2 8 at ISO 100 outdoors in bright sunlight for some reason a shut ter speed of 1 4 000th second would more than do the job You d need a faster shutter speed only if you moved the ISO setting to a higher sensitivity but why would you do that Under less than full sunlight 1 4 000th second is more than fast enough for any conditions youre likely to encounter Most sports action can be frozen at 1 2 000th second or slower and for many sports a
243. ed version with lots of detail in highlights that would otherwise be washed out an overexposed rendition that preserves detail in the shadows and several intermediate shots These are combined to produce a single image that has an amazing amount of detail throughout the scene s entire tonal range Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 87 I call this technique a fad because the reason it exists in the first place is due to a tem porary I hope defect in current digital camera sensors It s presently impossible to cap ture the full range of brightness that we perceive digital cameras including the EOS T3 can t even grab the full range of brightness that film can see as I showed you in Figures 4 1 and 4 2 at the beginning of this chapter But as the megapixel race slows down sensor designers have already begun designing capture electronics that have larger density dynamic ranges and I fully expect to see cameras within a few years that can produce images similar to what we re getting now with HDR manipulation in image editors HDR works like this Suppose you wanted to photograph a dimly lit room that had a bright window showing an outdoors scene Proper exposure for the room might be on the order of 1 60th second at f 2 8 at ISO 200 while the outdoors scene probably would require f 11 at 1 400th second That s almost a 7 EV step difference approxi mately 7 f stops and well beyond the dynamic range of any digital camera inclu
244. ed a bigger blast of light you can add one of the Canon external flash units described in Chapter 11 The flash will pop up automatically when using any of the Basic Zone modes except for Landscape Sports or No Flash modes In Creative Zone modes just press the flash but ton marked with a lightning bolt as shown in Figure 2 9 When using these modes the flash functions in the following way m P Program mode The T3 selects a shutter speed from 1 60th to 1 200th second and appropriate aperture automatically m Tv Shutter priority mode You choose a shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1 200th second and the T3 chooses the lens opening for you while adjusting the flash output to provide the correct exposure m Av Aperture priority mode You select the aperture you want to use and the camera will select a shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1 200th second and adjust the flash output to provide the correct exposure In low light levels the T3 may select a very slow shutter speed to allow the flash and background illumination to balance out so you should use a tripod You can disable this behavior using Custom Function I 02 Flash Sync Speed in Av mode as described in Chapter 9 Figure 2 9 The electronic flash will pop up when you press the flash button next to the Mode Dial on top of the camera Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 33 m M Manual mode You choose both shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1 20
245. ed separate discrete lighting fixtures that can be moved aimed brightened and dimmed on command Selecting your lighting gear will depend on the type of photography you do and the budget you have to support it It s entirely possible for a beginning T3 photographer to create a basic inexpensive lighting system capable of delivering high quality results for Chapter 11 m Working with Light 313 a few hundred dollars just as you can spend megabucks 1 000 and up for a sophis ticated lighting system Basic Flash Setups If you want to use multiple electronic flash units the Canon Speedlites described ear lier will serve admirably The two higher end models can be used with Canon s wireless E TTL feature which allows you to place up to three separate groups of flash units sev eral flashes can be included in each group and trigger them using a master flash such as the 580EX II and the camera Just set up one master unit theres a switch on the units foot that sets it for master mode and arrange the compatible slave units around your subject You can set the relative power of each unit separately thereby controlling how much of the scene s illumination comes from the main flash and how much from the auxiliary flash units which can be used as fill flash background lights or if you re careful to illuminate the hair of portrait subjects Studio Flash If you re serious about using multiple flash units a studio flash setup migh
246. ee Figure 6 3 Focusing in Live View Press the shutter button halfway to activate autofocus using the currently set Live View autofocus mode Those modes are Live mode Live Face Detection mode and Quick mode You can also use manual focus I ll describe each of these separately 120 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Auto Image AF point Figure 6 3 White Shooting Drive AF Picture Lighting recording Quick Magnifying Press the DISP balance mode mode mode Style Optimizer quality mode frame Histogram button to increase or decrease the amount of information shown on the LCD in Live View mode Eye Fi card transmission status Flash exposure bracketing ee uer ue VR E RHFEBJAEBIExp SIMEP Eni 4 250 16 Seide 235 RO 200 ESL amilinin Battery check AE Flash Shutter Aperture Flash Exposure level Shots ISO Highlight lock ready speed compensation indicator remaining speed Tone AEB bracketing Priority range Select the focus mode for Live View from the Live View entries in the Shooting 4 menu described earlier You can also change focus mode while using Live View by pressing the Q button highlighting the focus options with the cross keys it s at the top left of the column as you saw in Figure 6 3 Then press the SET button and use the left right cross keys to choose one of the following three focus modes Press SET again to con firm your choice Liv
247. een layers to see if any spots you see are present in all lay ers You may have to boost contrast and sharpness to make the dust easier to spot Avoiding Dust Of course the easiest way to protect your sensor from dust is to prevent it from settling on the sensor in the first place Some Canon lenses come with rubberized seals around the lens mounts that help keep dust from infiltrating but you ll find that dust will still find a way to get inside Here are my tips for eliminating the problem before it begins m Clean environment Avoid working in dusty areas if you can do so Hah Serious photographers will take this one with a grain of salt because it usually makes sense to go where the pictures are Only a few of us are so paranoid about sensor dust considering that it is so easily removed that we ll avoid moderately grimy loca tions just to protect something that is when you get down to it just a tool If you find a great picture opportunity at a raging fire during a sandstorm or while sur rounded by dust clouds you might hesitate to take the picture but with a little caution don t remove your lens in these situations and clean the camera after wards you can still shoot However it still makes sense to store your camera in a clean environment One place cameras and lenses pick up a lot of dust is inside a camera bag Clean your bag from time to time and you can avoid problems m Clean lenses There are a few paranoid types th
248. effect The solution is to avoid using a polarizing filter with lenses having an actual focal length of less than 18mm or 28mm equivalent Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 267 Using Telephoto and Tele Zoom Lenses Telephoto lenses also can have a dramatic effect on your photography and Canon is especially strong in the long lens arena with lots of choices in many focal lengths and zoom ranges You should be able to find an affordable telephoto or tele zoom to enhance your photography in several different ways Here are the most important things you need to know In the next section I ll concentrate on telephoto considerations that can be problematic and how to avoid those problems m Selective focus Long lenses have reduced depth of field within the frame allow ing you to use selective focus to isolate your subject You can open the lens up wide to create shallow depth of field see Figure 10 12 or close it down a bit to allow more to be in focus The flip side of the coin is that when you want to make a range of objects sharp you ll need to use a smaller f stop to get the depth of field you need Like fire the depth of field of a telephoto lens can be friend or foe m Getting closer Telephoto lenses bring you closer to wildlife sports action and can did subjects No one wants to get a reputation as a surreptitious or sneaky pho tographer except for paparazzi but when applied to candids in an open and honest way a l
249. eks in Salamanca Spain strictly to shoot photographs of the peo ple landscapes and monuments that I ve grown to love I can offer you my personal advice on how to take photos under a variety of conditions because I ve had to meet those challenges myself on an ongoing basis Like all my digital photography books this one was written by someone with an incur able photography bug My first Canon SLR was a now obscure model called the Pellix back in the 1960s and I ve used a variety of newer models since then I ve worked as a sports photographer for an Ohio newspaper and for an upstate New York college I ve operated my own commercial studio and photo lab cranking out product shots on demand and then printing a few hundred glossy 8 x 10s on a tight deadline for a press kit I ve served as a photo posing instructor for a modeling agency People have actually paid me to shoot their weddings and immortalize them with portraits I even prepared press kits and articles on photography as a PR consultant for a large Rochester N Y company which shall remain nameless My trials and travails with imaging and com puter technology have made their way into print in book form an alarming number of times including a few dozen on scanners and photography Like you I love photography for its own merits and I view technology as just another tool to help me get the images I see in my mind s eye But also like you I had to mas ter this technology before I
250. en by the eye m Monochrome Use this Picture Style to create black and white photos in the cam era If you re shooting JPEG only the colors are gone forever But if you re shoot ing JPEG RAW sRAW1 or sRAW2 you can convert the RAW files to color as you import them into your image editor even if you ve shot using the Monochrome Picture Style Your T3 displays the images in black and white on the screen during playback but the colors are there in the RAW file for later retrieval Figure 8 22 You can select a style from the Picture Style menu in Set up 2 menu Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 195 You can use the Monochrome Picture Style even if you are using one of the RAW formats alone without a JPEG version The Rebel T3 displays your images on the screen in black and white and marks the RAW image as monochrome so it will default to that style when you import it into your image editor However the color information is still present in the RAW file and can be retrieved at your option when importing the image Selecting Picture Styles Canon makes selecting a Picture Style for use very easy and to prevent you from acci dentally changing an existing style when you don t mean to divides selection and mod ification functions into two separate tasks There are actually two different ways to choose from among your existing Picture Styles One way is to choose Picture Styles from the Shooting 2 m
251. ength Needed to Produce 107 degrees 16mm 10mm 94 degrees 20mm 12mm 84 degrees 24mm 15mm 75 degrees 28mm 18mm 63 degrees 35mm 22mm 47 degrees 50mm 31mm 28 degrees 85mm 53mm 18 degrees 135mm 85mm 12 degrees 200mm 125mm 8 2 degrees 300mm 188mm m Super sized subjects The tendency of a wide angle lens to emphasize objects in the foreground while de emphasizing objects in the background can lead to a kind of size distortion that may be more objectionable for some types of subjects than others Shoot a bed of flowers up close with a wide angle and you might like the distorted effect of the larger blossoms nearer the lens Take a photo of a family mem ber with the same lens from the same distance and you re likely to get some com plaints about that gigantic nose in the foreground Perspective distortion When you tilt the camera so the plane of the sensor is no longer perpendicular to the vertical plane of your subject some parts of the subject are now closer to the sensor than they were before while other parts are farther away So buildings flagpoles or NBA players appear to be falling backwards as you can see in Figure 10 10 While this kind of apparent distortion it s not caused by a defect in the lens can happen with any lens it s most apparent when a wide angle is used Steady cam You ll find that you can hand hold a wide angle lens at slower shutter speeds without need for image stabilization than you can with a telephoto l
252. enret EE EIE ERA X eH T Final Steps bu hbo er aoa E Kas bE OR A TA RR EE TEES Rx VPE 13 Chapter 2 Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 21 S lecting a Shooting Mode iua daa RERPSUERES ER X 21 Choosing a Metering Mode 4 ususe Er EY AO ERA x LY Ex 24 Choosing a Focus Mode 454 aekeoe dT E RARE oe URS Re eR PER AXES 27 Selecting a Focus Point 24 2m anke prune e ARA WA ewes 28 Other Settings cin 20d CERCA ERA ORC ORO ECL AO ER OC OR RC 28 Adjusting White Balance and ISO 54a aao ra e xao e xn 30 Using the Self DIE piura RAE EEX FLA DU YI Hay wes ecip ka 30 Usine the Bullpau Plas a is asta a Ver EHE A odo a o ORG 31 Taking a Picture 24 doe wc oder hedoe sewed vU E a Tes VENUES 33 Takinga PICUEG Lu ura dade dhe XT RRHERWOTAXU Geode RA PIE eee QE dd 33 Reviewing the Images You ve Taken nannaa nannan cee eee eens 33 Cruising Through Index VIBSWea exact E 004 So 64 CC eas 25 Transferring Photos to Your Computer b praua 36 vi David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 3 Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 39 Front VIEW P cs 2 ed egies Meda wad ee tebri Re iieri etia men de dniae 40 The Canon EOS Rebel T3 s Business End 00c0ecceccceees 45 J mping Around casta acpacaa eee cca c eee ee E 50 Gone Topsitdle v naque dbackivEaersdcewbErkess4 a eR PEE E ES 31 Und rneath Your Rebel L3 15 2499 lued4 tae bide sha Ek b eRIDXA REX 53 Lens Components sss Catone diced e verd ivneore
253. ens The reduced magnification of the wide lens or wide zoom setting doesn t empha size camera shake like a telephoto lens does Interesting angles Many of the factors already listed combine to produce more interesting angles when shooting with wide angle lenses Raising or lowering a tele photo lens a few feet probably will have little effect on the appearance of the dis tant subjects you re shooting The same change in elevation can produce a dramatic effect for the much closer subjects typically captured with a wide angle lens or wide zoom setting 264 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography j 9 Ff if j yl f il j nb S 3 I d N i Hi EN tA Figure 10 10 Tilting the camera back produces this falling back look in architectural photos The crop factor strikes again You can see from this table that wide angle lenses provide a broader field of view and that because of the T3 s 1 6 crop factor lenses must have a shorter focal length to provide the same field of view If you like working with a 28mm lens with your full frame camera you ll need an 18mm lens for your T3 to get the same field of view Some focal lengths have been rounded slightly for simplification DOF IN DEPTH The depth of field DOF advantage of wide angle lenses is diminished when you enlarge your picture believe it or not a wide angle image enlarged and cropped to provide the same subje
254. ent light exposure m 2 1 200th sec fixed l he camera always uses 1 200th second as its shutter speed in Av mode reducing the effect of ambient light and probably rendering the back ground dark C Fn Il 03 Reducing Noise Effects at Shutter Speeds of One Second or Longer Long exposure noise reduction Visual noise is that graininess that shows up as mul ticolored specks in images and this setting helps you manage it In some ways noise is like the excessive grain found in some high speed photographic films However while photographic grain is sometimes used as a special effect it s rarely desirable in a digital photograph The visual noise producing process is something like listening to a CD in your car and then rolling down all the windows You re adding sonic noise to the audio signal and while increasing the CD player s volume may help a bit you re still contending with an unfavorable signal to noise ratio that probably mutes tones especially higher treble notes that you really want to hear The same thing happens when the analog signal is amplified You re increasing the image information in the signal but boosting the background fuzziness at the same time Tune in a very faint or distant AM radio station on your car stereo Then turn up the volume After a certain point turning up the volume further no longer helps you hear better There s a similar point of diminishing returns for digital sensor ISO increases and si
255. enu and press SET to pro duce the main Picture Style menu screen Use the cross keys to rotate among the nine choices Neutral Faithful Monochrome and User Def 1 User Def 2 and User Def 3 are shown in Figure 8 22 the rest appear when you scroll using the cross keys The ESSI 3 3 F Faithful 2 3M Monochrome s2 2 User Def 2 Standard ERECT a Def 3 Standard Detail set 196 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography TO eee es NISI Itro NCUI c Detail set current settings for each Picture Style are shown on the right half of the screen Press SET to activate your choice Then press the MENU button to exit the menu system You can see that even with this method switching among Picture Styles is fast and easy enough to allow you to shift gears as often as you like during a shooting session But your T3 offers an even simpler way to activate a Picture Style Press the Q button and navigate to the Picture Styles section and press SET Then use the cross keys to scroll through the list of available styles on the screen that appears shown in Figure 8 23 When you use this method the current settings for a particular style are shown only when you ve highlighted that style Press SET to activate the style of your choice Defining Picture Styles Canon makes interpreting current Picture Style settings and applying changes very easy As you saw in Figures 8 22 and 8 23 the current settings of the vi
256. erre Reg 173 Peripheral Illumination Correction xuucsutocs tes Ee ERA A 174 Red Eye Reduction 4 3 ecxaucexx aa x GO EROR OCA 177 Flash Control os viua cence PP Fer ees eaaa ra seid ed 179 Exposure Compensation Automatic Exposure Bracketing 182 Auto Lighting ODOIITEIS a e oci ox doa eV Rare CE ee RA 182 Meterie MOS pe bd e DEOR ERE GER PN En eee CER AER 185 Custom White Balance 2s ie aide y pyra ca E RS 185 White Balance Shift and Bracketing lesse 186 Color Space x doe d eh qo CRACK UR RES RG REE ER OWE LAUS ed e 187 Picture Style oae e via wad AE OE UET E EwAVEvad 5 Ea 9 191 Dust Delete Data as dese irerceree teire t kerker dese Geese gs 205 ISO Autos vac rrine enn deena E EREE EE eee eee Fae Re ee 207 Live View Shooting Settings S dux eae eR e RO EE EAE RS 208 Contents ix Playback 1 amp 2 Menu Options sxe sae RR EXORTU 209 Protect Images sy ewe Reda e e e Ux ue ma va Ghee Saw a aera SURG S 209 ROE IPTE 209 Erase Images 3 04 chee d eee dee ged aes cede ease eae mea es 211 Print Order o c eeu ae eure REPE REGERE UEM Rude ITE 212 Histogram swero Lass dw uatan eaii RU Saou sae eee ae Gane Val i 212 Image Jump with Main ral 14x sae 2 eremi he age hee eee des 214 Slide SHOW ud ae sues eae kee bho oe See niiin BA Eee we UR RES 214 RAE 6s dae ieee ane 4 EX GE EGG X3 b d hda EETA Re dae EE ERS 216 CirLoser HDMI Lis oo his eee ace ered see PL ESAE ERES 217 Chapter 9 Customizing with the Set up Menu
257. ers only a limited angle of view which does nt change So when you re using a lens that is wider than the default focal length the frame may not be covered fully and you ll experience dark areas especially in the corners As you zoom in using longer focal lengths some of the illumination is outside the area of view and is wasted This phenomenon is why some external flash units such as the 580EX II zoom to match the zoom setting of your lens to concentrate the available flash burst onto the actual subject area m ISO setting The higher the ISO sensitivity the more photons captured by the sen sor So doubling the sensitivity from ISO 100 to 200 produces the same effect as say opening up your lens from f 8 to f 5 6 Red Eye Reduction and Autofocus Assist When Red Eye Reduction is turned on in the Shooting 1 menu as described in Chapter 8 and you are using flash with any shooting mode except for Flash Off Landscape Sports or Movie the red eye reduction lamp on the front of the camera will illuminate for about 1 5 seconds when you press down the shutter release halfway theoretically causing your subjects irises to contract if they are looking toward the camera and thereby reducing the red eye effect in your photograph Red eye effects are most fre quent under low light conditions when the pupils of your subjects eyes open to admit more light thus providing a larger target for your flash s illumination to bounce back
258. erture in use If you know you ll be making a grab shot without warning sometimes it is useful to turn off your cameras automatic focus and set the lens to infinity or better yet the hyperfocal distance Then you can snap off a quick picture without having to wait for the lag that occurs with most digital cam eras as their autofocus locks in image rotation A feature that senses whether a picture was taken in horizontal or ver tical orientation That information is embedded in the picture file so that the camera and compatible software applications can automatically display the image in the cor rect orientation image stabilization A technology that compensates for camera shake usually by adjust ing the position of the camera sensor with some vendors or in the case of Canon lens elements that shift in response to movements of the camera incident light Light measured as it falls on a surface as opposed to light reflected from that surface 374 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography International Organization for Standardization ISO A governing body that pro vides standards used to represent film speed or the equivalent sensitivity of a digital cameras sensor Digital camera sensitivity is expressed in ISO settings interpolation A technique digital cameras scanners and image editors use to create new pixels required whenever you resize or change the resolution of an image based on the val
259. es select the number of copies to be output trim the image and select paper settings from your camera While you can print using the current values as shown in the status screen to adjust the settings follow the steps briefly summarized here with the camera connected to the printer m Access the print options screen Press SET when the screen shown in Figure 12 1 is shown on your LCD Figure 12 1 You can print directly from the EOS T3 ress SET L Nb NK M to print amp Printing effects Dateltime imprint Print size Paper type Page layout Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 323 m Use the cross keys Highlight the options shown at right in Figure 12 2 in any order and press SET to adjust that option Within each option use the SET but ton to confirm your entry or the MENU button to back out of the options screen m Printing effects Use the cross keys to choose Off no effects On the printer s automatic corrections will be applied Default values stored in your printer and which will vary depending on your printer Vivid higher saturation in blues and greens or NR noise reduction is applied Three B W choices are also available for B W true blacks B W Cool tone bluish blacks and B W Warm tone yel lowish blacks Natural and Natural M choices are also available to provide true col ors If the INFO icon appears you can press it to make some adjustments to t
260. es a bit of weather dust sealing and protects the back components of the lens if a user attempts to mount it on a camera that is not EF S compatible Figure 10 4 The EF S 10 22mm ultra wide lens was made possible by the shorter back focus dif ference offered by the original Digital Rebel and subsequent Canon 1 6X cropped sen sor models Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 253 CANON E g UM V SOM LENS EF s 10 22mm 1 3 5 an e taneg 2 INFERRE SER ULTRASONIC BI 3 0 2 Ingredients of Canon s Alphanumeric Soup The actual product names of individual Canon lenses are fairly easy to decipher they ll include either the EF or EF S designation the focal length or focal length range of the lens its maximum aperture and some other information Additional data may be engraved or painted on the barrel or ring surrounding the front element of the lens as shown in Figure 10 5 Here s a decoding of what the individual designations mean m EF EF S If the lens is marked EE it can safely be used on any Canon EOS cam era film or digital If it is an EF S lens it should be used only on an EF S com patible camera such as the EOS T3 EOS 20D 30D 40D and any newer APS C cameras introduced after the publication of this book m Focal length Given in millimeters or a millimeter range such as 60mm in the case of a popular Canon macro lens or 17 55mm used to describe a medium wide to short telephoto zo
261. es will see you through the longest shooting session Power Options Several battery chargers and power sources are available for the Canon EOS Rebel T3 The compact LC E10 plugs directly into a wall socket and is commonly furnished with the camera Canon also provides the LC E10E shown in Figure 1 2 which is similar but has a cord Purchasing one of the optional charging devices offers more than some additional features You gain a spare that can keep your camera running until you can replace your primary power rejuvenator Here s a list of your power options m LC E10E This charges a single battery but requires a cord That can be advanta geous in certain situations For example if your power outlet is behind a desk or in some other semi inaccessible location the cord can be plugged in and routed so the charger sits on your desk or another more convenient spot The cord itself is a stan dard one that works with many different chargers and devices including the power supply for my laptop so I purchased several of them and leave them plugged into the wall in various locations I can connect my T3 s charger my laptop computer s charger and several other electronic components to one of these cords without needing to crawl around behind the furniture The cord draws no power when it s not plugged in to a charger Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 13 m LC E10 This charger may be the most convenient
262. ething fail and one of the few major moving parts in the camera itself is a light weight mirror its small size one of the advantages of the T3 s 1 6X crop factor that flips up and down with each shot Of course the camera also has a moving shutter that can fail but the shutter is built rugged enough that you can expect it to last 100 000 shutter cycles or more Unless youre shooting sports in continuous mode day in and day out the shutter on your T3 is likely to last as long as you expect to use the camera The only other things on the camera that move are switches dials buttons the flip up electronic flash and the door that slides open to allow you to remove and insert the memory card Unless you re extraordinarily clumsy or unlucky or give your built in flash a good whack while it is in use there s not a lot that can go wrong mechanically with your EOS T3 344 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography On the other hand one of the chief drawbacks of modern electronic cameras is that they are modern electronic cameras Your T3 is fully dependent on two different batter ies Without them the camera cant be used There are numerous other electrical and electronic connections in the camera many connected to those mechanical switches and dials and components like the color LCD that can potentially fail or suffer dam age The camera also relies on its operating system or firmware which can be p
263. etimes be told that RAW files are the unprocessed image information your camera produces before it s been modified That s nonsense RAW files are no more unprocessed than your camera film is after it s been through the chemicals to produce a negative or transparency A lot can happen in the developer that can affect the qual ity of a film image positively and negatively and similarly your digital image under goes a significant amount of processing before it is saved as a RAW file Canon even applies a name DIGIC 4 to the digital image processing DIP chip used to perform this magic A RAW file is more similar to a film camera s processed negative It contains all the infor mation captured in 14 bit channels per color and stored in a 16 bit space with no compression no sharpening no application of any special filters or other settings you might have specified when you took the picture Those settings are stored with the RAW file so they can be applied when the image is converted to a form compatible with your favorite image editor However using RAW conversion software such as Adobe Camera Raw or Canon s Digital Photo Professional you can override those settings and apply settings of your own You can select essentially the same changes there that you might have specified in your camera s picture taking options RAW exists because sometimes we want to have access to all the information captured by the camera before
264. ettings I introduced the Shooting 1 menu s Flash Control settings in Chapter 8 This next sec tion offers additional information for using the Flash Control menu The menu includes five options see Figure 11 11 Flash Firing Built in Flash Function Settings External Flash Function Settings External Flash C Fn Settings and Clear External Flash C Fn Settings Flash Firing This menu entry has two options Enable and Disable It can be used to activate or deac tivate the built in electronic flash and any attached external electronic flash unit When disabled the flash cannot fire even if you accidentally elevate it or have an accessory flash attached and turned on However you should keep in mind that the AF assist beam can still be used If you want to disable that too you ll need to turn it off using C Fn III 06 Disabling the flash here does so for all exposure modes and so is a better choice than using the Basic Zone Flash Off setting of the Mode Dial Chapter 11 m Working with Light 297 Figure 11 11 Five entries are available from See Flash firing Enable Built in flash func setting External flash func setting External flash C Fn setting Clear ext flash C Fn set MENUS Here are some applications where I always disable my flash and AF assist beam even though my T3 wont pop up the flash and fire without my intervention anyway Some situations are too important to take chances Who knows maybe I ve a
265. etween the flash and the camera There s more on using electronic flash in Chapter 11 m Main Dial This dial is used to make many shooting settings When settings come in pairs such as shutter speed aperture in manual shooting mode the Main Dial is used for one for example shutter speed while some other control such as the AV button Main Dial when shooting in manual exposure mode is used for the other aperture Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 53 m Shutter release button Partially depress this button to lock in exposure and focus Press all the way to take the picture Tapping the shutter release when the camera has turned off the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms reactivates both When a review image is displayed on the back panel color LCD tapping this button removes the image from the display and reactivates the autoexposure and autofo cus mechanisms m On Off switch Flip forward to turn the Rebel T3 on and back to turn it off again Flash button I described this button earlier in the chapter along with the pop up flash As I noted pressing this button releases the built in flash in Creative Zone and Creative Auto modes If you decide you do not want to use the flash you can turn it off by pressing the flash head back down This button can be reprogrammed to produce the ISO screen using Custom Function C Fn IV 09 as described in Chapter 9 If you redefine this button you can still raise the built in fla
266. eview image that simu lates the effect your ambience setting will have on the finished image Examples of each ambience setting can be seen in Figure 4 32 100 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 32 Ambience Top row left to right Standard Vivid Soft Middle Warm Intense Cool Bottom Brighter Darker Monochrome Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus Getting the right exposure is one of the foundations of a great photograph but a lot more goes into a compelling shot than good tonal values A sharp image proper white balance good color and other factors all can help elevate your image from good to exceptional One of the most important and sometimes the most frustrating aspects of shooting with a highly automated yet fully adjustable camera like the T3 is achiev ing sharp focus Your camera has lots of AF controls and options some of them com pletely new to the Canon lineup and new users and veterans alike can quickly become confused In this chapter I m going to clear up the mysteries of autofocus and show you exactly how to use your T3 s AF features to their fullest I ll even tell you when to aban don the autofocus system and turn to the ancient art of manual focus too How Focus Works Although Canon added autofocus capabilities in the 1980s back in the day of film cam eras prior to that focusing was always done manually Honest Even though viewfind
267. ewing images Ctrl over HDMI options 217 Erase Images options 211 histogram options 212 213 Image jump with Main Dial options 214 215 Print order options 212 Protect Images options 209 210 Rating options 216 Raw image processing feature 176 Rotate options 209 210 Slide show options 214 216 playing back images See reviewing images PNG formats with Bibble Professional 337 398 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Pocket Wizard s radio control triggers 314 polarizing filters with wide angle lenses 266 pop up flash See built in flash Portrait mode 23 exposure choices in 95 Portrait Picture Style 191 205 portraits backgrounds for 317 flat faces with telephoto lenses 268 rating images for 216 power See also AC adapters power Auto power off batteries Live View using 117 for monolights 313 turning on 18 predictive AF 113 previewing ambience 99 100 with continuous light 276 277 with flash 276 in Live View 116 prime lenses 259 261 printed instruction manuals 9 printers and printing Direct print button 47 48 direct printing from camera 321 324 DPOF Digital Print Order Format 212 324 326 effects selecting 323 options for 322 324 Playback menu s Print Order options 212 sRGB color space for 189 pro quality lenses 254 255 product photography backgrounds for 317 protecting LCD 348 350 Playback menu options for protecting image
268. f the mid and upper level EOS cameras such as the 60D and 5D Mark II Nor does it have such a monochrome panel underneath the color LCD on the back as the original Digital Rebel and Rebel XT did Lacking this auxiliary information display the T3 uses the generously expansive 2 7 inch color LCD to show you everything you need 56 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography to see from images to a collection of informational data displays Here s an overview of these displays and how to access them m Image playback displays When the T3 shows you a picture for review you can select from among four different information overlays To switch among them press the DISP button while the image is on the screen The LCD will cycle among the single image display Figure 3 15 single image display with recording quality Figure 3 16 histogram display which shows basic shooting information as well as a brightness histogram at bottom right with individual histograms for the red green and blue channels above Figure 3 17 and a complete shooting information dis play Figure 3 18 which includes most of the relevant shooting settings plus a brightness histogram I ll explain how to work with histograms in Chapter 4 Shooting settings display While you are taking pictures in a Creative Zone mode this screen will be shown with information like that in Figure 3 19 Not all of the data pictured will be seen at
269. f the screen are two lines of numbers The top row has numbers from 1 to 10 representing the Custom Function The second row shows the num ber of the current setting If the setting is other than the default value a zero it will be colored blue so you can quickly see which Custom Functions have been modified The currently selected function will have a gold line above it m Available settings Within the alternating medium gray dark gray blocks appear numbered setting options The current setting is highlighted in blue You can use the up down cross keys to scroll to the option you want and then press the SET button to select it then press the MENU button twice to back out of the Custom Functions menus 230 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Current setting Underneath each Custom Function is a number from 0 to 5 that represents the current setting for that function m Option selection When a function is selected the currently selected option appears in a highlighted box As you scroll up and down the option list the setting in the box changes to indicate an alternate value In the listings that follow I m going to depart from the sometimes cryptic labels Canon assigns to each Custom Function in the menu and instead categorize them by what they actually do I m also going to provide you with a great deal more information on each option and what it means to your photography C Fn l 01 S
270. fect is worst under low light con ditions exactly when you might be using a flash as the pupils expand to allow more light to reach the retinas The most you can hope for is to reduce or minimize the red eye effect The best way to truly eliminate red eye is to raise the flash up off the camera so its illu mination approaches the eye from an angle that wont reflect directly back to the retina and into the lens The extra height of the built in flash may not be sufficient however That alone is a good reason for using an external flash If you re working with your T3 s built in flash your only recourse may be to switch on the Red Eye Reduction feature with the menu choice shown in Figure 8 9 It causes a lamp on the front of the camera to illuminate with a half press of the shutter release button which may cause your sub jects pupils to contract decreasing the amount of the red eye effect You may have to ask your subject to look at the lamp to gain maximum effect Figure 8 10 shows the effects of wider pupils left and those that have been contracted using the T3 s Red Eye Reduction feature 178 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Red eye reduc gt Disable Enable Figure 8 9 Turn on your cameras Red Eye Reduction feature to help eliminate demon red pupils Figure 8 10 Red eye left is tamed right thanks to the Rebel T3 s red eye reduction lamp Figure 8
271. fers digital SLRs with full frame 1X crops as well as 1 3X and 1 6X crops Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 245 This translation is generally useful only if you re accustomed to using full frame cam eras usually of the film variety and want to know how a familiar lens will perform on a digital camera I strongly prefer crop factor over lens multiplier because nothing is being multiplied a 100mm lens doesn t become a 160mm lens the depth of field and lens aperture remain the same I ll explain more about these later in this chapter Only the field of view is cropped But crop factor isnt much better as it implies that the 24 x 36mm frame is full and anything else is less I get e mails all the time from pho tographers who point out that they own full frame cameras with 36mm x 48mm sen sors like the Mamiya 645ZD or Hasselblad H3D 39 medium format digitals By their reckoning the half size sensors found in cameras like the 1Ds Mark III and 5D Mark II are cropped If you re accustomed to using full frame film cameras you might find it helpful to use the crop factor multiplier to translate a lens s real focal length into the full frame equiv alent even though as I said nothing is actually being multiplied Throughout most of this book I ve been using actual focal lengths and not equivalents except when refer ring to specific wide angle or telephoto focal length ranges and their fields
272. ffect image quality macro lens A lens that provides continuous focusing from infinity to extreme close ups often to a reproduction ratio of 1 2 half life size or 1 1 life size maximum burst The number of frames that can be exposed at the current settings until the buffer fills See also burst mode midtones Parts of an image with tones of an intermediate value usually in the 25 to 75 percent brightness range Many image editing features allow you to manipulate mid tones independently from the highlights and shadows mirror lock up The ability of the T3 to flip up its mirror to allow access to the sensor for cleaning neutral color A color in which red green and blue are present in equal amounts pro ducing a gray neutral density filter A gray camera filter that reduces the amount of light entering the camera without affecting the colors noise In an image pixels with randomly distributed color values Noise in digital pho tographs tends to be the product of low light conditions and long exposures particu larly when you ve set your camera to an ISO rating higher than about ISO 1600 noise reduction A technology used to cut down on the amount of random informa tion in a digital picture usually caused by long exposures at increased sensitivity rat ings In the Canon EOS T3 noise reduction is automatically applied for long exposures and it involves the camera automatically taking a second blank dark exposure at the same
273. fining all possible colors in percentages of cyan magenta yellow and frequently black K represents black to differentiate it from blue in the RGB color model Black is added to improve rendition of shadow detail CMYK is commonly used for printing both on press and with your inkjet or laser color printer color correction Changing the relative amounts of color in an image to produce a desired effect typically a more accurate representation of those colors Color correction can fix faulty color balance in the original image or compensate for the deficiencies of the inks used to reproduce the image complementary metal oxide semiconductor CMOS A method for manufacturing a type of solid state sensor that captures an image used in scanners and digital cam eras such as the EOS T3 and other cameras from Canon compression Reducing the size of a file by encoding using fewer bits of information to represent the original Some compression schemes such as JPEG operate by dis carding some image information while others such as RAW preserve all the detail in the original discarding only redundant data continuous autofocus An automatic focusing setting AI Servo in which the camera constantly refocuses the image as you frame the picture This setting is often the best choice for moving subjects See also single autofocus contrast The range between the lightest and darkest tones in an image A high con trast image is one in which the
274. for the stabilization Canon EF 24 85mm f 3 5 4 5 USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens If you can get by with normal focal length to medium telephoto range Canon offers four affordable lenses plus one more expensive killer lens that s worth the extra expenditure All of them can be used on full frame or cropped frame digital Canons which is why they include wide angle in their product names They re really wide angle lenses only when mounted on a full frame camera This one priced in the 300 range offers a useful range of focal lengths extending from the equivalent of 38mm to 136mm Canon EF 28 105mm f 3 5 4 5 II USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens If you want to save about 100 and gain a little reach this 45mm 168mm equivalent lens might be what you are looking for Canon EF 28 135mm f 3 5 5 6 IS USM Image Stabilized Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens Image stabilization is especially useful at longer focal lengths which makes this 45mm 216mm equivalent lens worth its 400 plus price tag Several retailers are packing this lens with the T3 as a kit Canon EF 28 200mm f 3 5 5 6 USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens If you want one lens to do everything except wide angle photography this 7X zoom lens costs less than 400 and takes you from the equivalent of 45mm out to a long 320mm 250 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Canon Zoom Wide Angle Telephoto
275. frame camera and automatic conversion to the cropped frame area of the T3 and other 1 6X crop Canon dSLRs The 430EX II also communicates white balance information with the camera and has its own AF assist beam Compatible with Canons wireless E TTL system it makes a good slave unit but cannot serve as a master flash It too uses AA batteries and offers recycle times of 0 1 to 3 7 seconds for 200 to 1 400 flashes depend ing on subject distance This is another aging unit dating from mid 2008 and possibly due for replacement It s a bit more powerful than the just introduced Speedlite 320EX described next which is roughly in the same price range So I m guessing that there will be a slightly more powerful 400 series Speedlite unveiled in the near future with a roughly 325 price point Speedlite 320EX One of two new flash units with the Speedlite 270EX II described next introduced early in 2011 this 249 flash has a GN of 105 Lightweight and more pocket sized than the 430EX II or 580EX II this bounceable both horizontally and vertically flash has some interesting features including a built in LED video light that can be used for shooting movies with the T3 or as a modeling light or even AF assist beam when shoot ing with Live View Canon says that this efficient LED light can provide up to four hours of illumination with a set of AA batteries It can be used as a wireless slave unit and has a new flash release function tha
276. ftware choices for manipulating RAW files are broader than you might think Camera vendors always supply a utility to read their cameras own RAW files but some times particularly with those point and shoot cameras that can produce RAW files the options are fairly limited Other vendors such as Nikon with its Nikon Capture offer RAW file handling that is much more flexible and powerful Because in the past digital camera vendors offered RAW converters that weren t very good Canons File View Utility comes to mind there is a lively market for third party RAW utilities available at extra cost However the EOS Utility and Digital Photo Professional do a good job and may be all that you need The third party solutions are usually available as standalone applications often for both Windows and Macintosh platforms as Photoshop compatible plug ins or both Because the RAW plug ins displace Photoshop s own RAW converter I tend to prefer to use most RAW utilities in standalone mode That way if I choose to open a file directly in Photoshop it automatically opens using Photoshops fast and easy to use Adobe Camera Raw ACR plug in If I have more time or need the capabilities of another converter I can load that open the file and make my corrections there Most are able to transfer the processed file directly to Photoshop even if you aren t using plug in mode This section provides a quick overview of the range of RAW file handlers so you c
277. g nal amplification as well These processes create several different kinds of noise Noise can be produced from high ISO settings As the captured information is amplified to produce higher ISO sensitiv ities some random noise in the signal is amplified along with the photon information Increasing the ISO setting of your camera raises the threshold of sensitivity so that fewer and fewer photons are needed to register as an exposed pixel Yet that also increases the chances of one of those phantom photons being counted among the real life light par ticles too 232 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Fortunately the Rebel T3 s sensor and its digital processing chip are optimized to pro duce the low noise levels so ratings as high as ISO 800 can be used routinely although there will be some noise of course and even ISO 3200 can generate good results A second way noise is created is through longer exposures Extended exposure times allow more photons to reach the sensor but increase the likelihood that some photo sites will react randomly even though not struck by a particle of light Moreover as the sensor remains switched on for the longer exposure it heats and this heat can be mis takenly recorded as if it were a barrage of photons This Custom Function can be used to tailor the amount of noise canceling performed by the digital signal processor m 0 Off Disables long exposure noise re
278. g from its surface Okay I lied Actually the real number is closer to two dozen controls and adjust ments but that s still a lot of components to master especially when you consider that many of these controls serve double duty to give you access to multiple functions Traditionally there have been two ways of providing a roadmap to guide you through this maze of features One approach uses two or three tiny 2 x 3 inch black and white line drawings or photos impaled with dozens of callouts labeled with cross references to the actual pages in the book that tell you what these components do You ll find this tactic used in the pocket sized manual Canon provides with the Rebel T3 and most of the other third party guidebooks as well Deciphering one of these miniature camera layouts is a lot like being presented with a world globe when what you really want to know is how to find the capital of Belgium I originated a more useful approach in my field guides providing you instead of a satel lite view a street level map that includes close up full color photos of the camera from several angles see Figure 3 1 with a smaller number of labels clearly pointing to each individual feature And I don t force you to flip back and forth among dozens of pages to find out what a particular component does Each photo is accompanied by a brief description that summarizes the control so you can begin using it right away Only when a particular feature de
279. g with Light 299 pre flash and main flash as separate bursts of light This action allows photo graphing a blurred trail of light of moving objects with sharp flash exposures at the beginning and the end of the exposure If you have an external compatible Speedlite attached you can also choose High speed sync which allows you to use shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second using the External Flash Function Setting menu described next Flash exposure compensation You can use the Quick Control screen press the Q button and enter flash exposure compensation If youd rather adjust flash expo sure using a menu you can do that here Select this option with the SET button then dial in the amount of flash EV compensation you want using the cross keys The EV that was in place before you started to make your adjustment is shown as a blue indicator so you can return to that value quickly Press SET again to con firm your change then press the MENU button twice to exit m E TTL II metering This choice allows you to choose the type of exposure meter ing the T3 uses for electronic flash You can select the default Evaluative metering which selectively interprets the 63 metering zones in the viewfinder to intelligently classify the scene for exposure purposes Alternatively you can select Average which melds the information from all the zones together as an average exposure You might find this mode useful for evenly lit scenes but in most
280. g with Light 305 High speed sync indicator Effective distance Distance scale XX CFn MODE 5 4 H ZOOM z High speed sync button PILOT 7 View minimum maximum shooting distance Choose a distance based on the maximum shown in the line at the bottom of the flashs LCD display from 0 5 to 18 meters 8 Shoot Take the picture To turn off HSS press the button on the flash again Remember that you can t use MULTI flash or Wireless mode using your external flash as a Master when working with high speed sync External Flash Custom Function Setting Some external Speedlites from Canon include their own list of Custom Functions which can be used to specify things like flash metering mode and flash bracketing sequences as well as more sophisticated features such as modeling light flash if avail able use of external power sources if attached and functions of any slave unit attached to the external flash This menu entry allows you to set an external flash units Custom Functions from your T3 s menu The settings available in the T3 for the Speedlite 580EX II are shown later in the section that describes that flash Clear External Flash Custom Function Setting This entry allows you to zero out any changes you ve made to your external flash s Custom Functions and return them to their factory default settings 306 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Using External Electronic Flash
281. g you need to know about the qualities of these light sources Daylight Daylight is produced by the sun and so is moonlight which is just reflected sunlight Daylight is present of course even when you cant see the sun When sunlight is direct it can be bright and harsh If daylight is diffused by clouds softened by bouncing off objects such as walls or your photo reflectors or filtered by shade it can be much dim mer and less contrasty Daylight s color temperature can vary quite widely It is highest most blue at noon when the sun is directly overhead because the light is traveling through a minimum amount of the filtering layer we call the atmosphere The color temperature at high noon may be 6 000K At other times of day the sun is lower in the sky and the particles in the air provide a filtering effect that warms the illumination to about 5 500K for most of the day Starting an hour before dusk and for an hour after sunrise the warm appear ance of the sunlight is even visible to our eyes when the color temperature may dip below 4 500K as shown in Figure 11 4 Because you ll be taking so many photos in daylight you ll want to learn how to use or compensate for the brightness and contrast of sunlight as well as how to deal with its color temperature I ll provide some hints later in this chapter Incandescent Tungsten Light The term incandescent or tungsten illumination is usually applied to the direct descen dents of Th
282. ga tional controls for menus Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 19 Figure 1 9 Adjust the date iN YET COVA at a time and for mat used to a Set Date Time A 05 14 2011 05 36 30 M mm dd yy 05 14 2011 OK Cancel 6 Press the up down cross keys to adjust the value up or down Press the SET button to confirm the value you ve entered 7 Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each of the other values you want to change The date for mat can be switched from the default mm dd yy to yy mm dd or dd mm yy 8 When finished navigate with the right cross key to select either OK if youre sat isfied with your changes or Cancel if youd like to return to the Set up 2 menu screen without making any changes Press SET to confirm your choice 9 When finished setting the date and time press the MENU button to exit Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D is ready to go If you need a quick start for its basic operation jump ahead to Chapter 2 This page intentionally left blank Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start Now it s time to fire up your EOS T3 and take some photos The easy part is turning on the power that Off On switch on the right side just to the right of the Mode Dial Turn on the camera and if you mounted a lens and inserted a fresh battery and mem ory card as I prompted you in the last chapter youre ready to begin You ll need to select a shooting mode metering mode focus mode an
283. ge stabilizer it will oper ate at all times not just when the shutter button is pressed halfway which is the case with still photography and use a considerable amount of power reducing bat tery life You can switch the IS feature off to conserve power Mount your camera on a tripod and you don t need IS anyway 126 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Silent running You can connect your T3 to a television or video monitor while shooting movies and see the video portion on the bigger screen as you shoot However the sound will not play that s a good idea because otherwise you could likely get a feedback loop of sound going The sound will be recorded properly and will magically appear during playback once shooting has concluded Movie Settings The Movie Settings menus can be summoned by the MENU button only when the T3 has been set to Movie mode rotate the Mode Dial to the Movie position The four set tings on the Movie 1 menu see Figure 6 6 include m AF mode Quick mode Live mode Live Face Detection mode This option explained earlier in the Live View section lets you choose between Phase Detection Contrast Detection and Contrast Detection with Face Recognition In Movie modes none of these autofocus modes will track a moving subject m AF w shutter button during movie recording You can choose Enable to allow refocusing during movie shooting or Disable to prevent i
284. ger exposures also increase the likelihood that some pixels will register random phantom photons often because the longer an imager is hot the warmer it gets and that heat can be mistaken for photons There also a special kind of noise that CMOS sensors like the one used in the T3 are potentially susceptible to With a CCD the entire signal is conveyed off the chip and funneled through a single amplifier and analog to digital conversion circuit Any noise introduced there is at least consistent CMOS imagers on the other hand contain millions of individual ampli fiers and A D converters all working in unison Because all these circuits don t neces sarily process in precisely the same way all the time they can introduce something called fixed pattern noise into the image data Fortunately Canons electronics geniuses have done an exceptional job minimizing noise from all causes in the T3 This type of noise reduction involves the T3 taking a second Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 91 blank exposure and comparing the random pixels in that image with the photograph you just took Pixels that coincide in the two represent noise and can safely be sup pressed This noise reduction system called dark frame subtraction effectively doubles the amount of time required to take a picture and is used only for exposures longer than one second Noise reduction can reduce the amount of detail in your picture as some image information may be
285. ghly nine percent of the frame area Figure 4 11 Partial metering allowed measuring exposure from the central area of the image while giving less emphasis to the darker areas at top and bottom Figure 4 12 Center weighted metering calculates exposure based on the full frame but emphasizes the center area Figure 4 13 Center weighted metering calculated the exposure for this shot from the large area in the center of the frame with less emphasis on the bright window lit area behind the subject Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 75 m Center weighted In this mode the exposure meter emphasizes a zone in the center of the frame to calculate exposure as shown in Figure 4 12 on the theory that for most pictures the main subject will be located in the center Center weighting works best for portraits architectural photos and other pictures in which the most important subject is located in the middle of the frame as in Figure 4 13 As the name suggests the light reading is weighted towards the cen tral portion but information is also used from the rest of the frame If your main subject is surrounded by very bright or very dark areas the exposure might not be exactly right However this scheme works well in many situations if you dont want to use one of the other modes 3 Press the SET button to confirm your choice Choosing an Exposure Method You ll find five Creative Zone methods for choosing the appropriate shu
286. ght side of the pentaprism focus tracking The ability of the automatic focus feature of a camera to change focus as the distance between the subject and the camera changes One type of focus track ing is predictive in which the mechanism anticipates the motion of the object being focused on and adjusts the focus to suit format To erase a memory card and prepare it to accept files fringing A chromatic aberration that produces fringes of color around the edges of sub jects caused by a lens s inability to focus the various wavelengths of light onto the same spot Purple fringing is especially troublesome with backlit images front curtain sync 1st curtain sync The default kind of electronic flash synchro nization technique originally associated with focal plane shutters which consists of a traveling set of curtains including a front curtain 1st curtain in the T3 s menus which opens to reveal the film or sensor and a rear curtain 2nd curtain in the T3 s menus which follows at a distance determined by shutter speed to conceal the film or sensor at the conclusion of the exposure For a flash picture to be taken the entire sensor must be exposed at one time to the brief flash exposure so the image is exposed after the front curtain has reached the other side of the focal plane but before the rear curtain begins to move Front curtain sync causes the flash to fire at the beginning of this period when the shutter is completely open
287. h rule particularly helpful in most cases I would not hand hold this hefty lens at its 5 00mm setting with a 1 500th second shutter speed under most circumstances However at 1 2 000th second or faster and with a sufficiently high ISO setting I recommend ISO 800 1600 to allow such a speed it s entirely possible for a steady hand to use this lens without a tripod or monopod s extra sup port and I ve found that my whole approach to shooting animals and other elusive subjects changes in high speed mode Selective focus allows dramatically isolating my prey wide open at f 6 3 too Long Exposures Longer exposures are a doorway into another world showing us how even familiar scenes can look much different when photographed over periods measured in seconds At night long exposures produce streaks of light from moving illuminated subjects like automobiles or amusement park rides Extra long exposures of seemingly pitch dark subjects can reveal interesting views using light levels barely bright enough to see by At any time of day including daytime in which case you ll often need the help of neutral density filters which reduce the amount of light passing through the lens to make the long exposure practical long exposures can cause moving objects to vanish entirely because they don t remain stationary long enough to register in a photograph Three Ways to Take Long Exposures There are actually three common types of length
288. h thanks to the magic of reduced depth of field pro duce more obviously out of focus areas 270 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Bokeh can vary from lens to lens or even within a given lens depending on the f stop in use Bokeh becomes objectionable when the circles of confusion are evenly illumi nated making them stand out as distinct discs or worse when these circles are darker in the center producing an ugly doughnut effect A lens defect called spherical aber ration may produce out of focus discs that are brighter on the edges and darker in the center because the lens doesn t focus light passing through the edges of the lens exactly as it does light going through the center Mirror or catadioptric lenses also produce this effect Other kinds of spherical aberration generate circles of confusion that are brightest in the center and fade out at the edges producing a smooth blending effect as you can see at right in Figure 10 13 Ironically when no spherical aberration is present at all the discs are a uniform shade which while better than the doughnut effect is not as pleas ing as the bright center dark edge rendition The shape of the disc also comes into play with round smooth circles considered the best and nonagonal or some other polygon determined by the shape of the lens diaphragm considered less desirable Figure 10 13 Bokeh is less pleasing when the discs are pr
289. h electronic flash the general effect you re going to see may be a mystery until you ve built some experience and you may need to review a shot on the LCD make some adjust ments and then reshoot to get the look you want In this sense a digital cameras review capabilities replace the Polaroid test shots pro photographers relied on in decades past Chapter 11 m Working with Light 277 Figure 11 1 You always know how the lighting will look when using continuous illumination m Exposure calculation Pro continuous lighting Your T3 has no problem cal culating exposure for continuous lighting because the illumination remains con stant and can be measured through a sensor that interprets the light reaching the viewfinder The amount of light available just before the exposure will in almost all cases be the same amount of light present when the shutter is released The T3 s Partial metering mode can be used to measure and compare the proportions of light in the highlights and shadows so you can make an adjustment such as using more or less fill light if necessary You can even use a hand held light meter to measure the light yourself 278 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Exposure calculation Con electronic flash Electronic flash illumination doesnt exist until the flash fires and so can t be measured by the T3 s exposure sen sor when the mirror is flipped up during th
290. h image auto matic levels adjustment a quick develop option that allows speedy conversion from RAW to TIFF or JPEG formats dual image side by side views for comparison purposes and helpful grids and guides that can be superimposed over an image Photographers concerned about copyright protection will appreciate the ability to add watermarks to the output images See www phaseone com Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 337 Bibble Pro One of my personal favorites among third party RAW converters is Bibble Pro It sup ports one of the broadest ranges of RAW file formats available which can be handy if you find yourself with the need to convert a file from a friend or colleagues non Canon camera The utility supports lots of different platforms too It s available for Windows Mac OS X and believe it or not Linux Bibble works fast because it offers instantaneous previews and real time feedback as changes are made That s important when you have to convert many images in a short time Bibble s batch processing capabilities also let you convert large numbers of files using settings you specify without further intervention Its customizable interface lets you organize and edit images quickly and then output them in a variety of formats including 16 bit TIFF and PNG You can even create a web gallery from within Bibble I often find myself disliking the generic filenames applied to digital images by cameras so I
291. h is activated by rotating the Mode Dial to the Movie position m Autofocus mode Quick mode Live mode Live Face Detection mode This option explained next lets you choose between Phase Detection Contrast Detection and Contrast Detection with Face Recognition Figure 6 2 Live View function set tings can be found in the Shooting 4 menu Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 119 elleilet elec Live View shoot Enable AF mode Live mode Grid display Grid 1 Metering timer 16 sec m Grid display Off Grid 1 Grid 2 Overlays Grid 1 a rule of thirds grid on the screen to help you compose your image and align vertical and horizontal lines or Grid 2 which consists of four rows of six boxes which allow finer control over placement of images in your frame m Metering timer 4 sec to 30 min This option allows you to specify how long the EOS T3 s metering system will remain active before switching off Tap the shut ter release to start the timer again after it switches off This choice is not available when using a Basic Zone mode Activating Live View Once you ve enabled Live View you can continue taking pictures normally through the T3 s viewfinder When youre ready to activate Live View press the Stop Start button on the back of the camera to the immediate right of the viewfinder window and marked with a red dot The mirror will flip up and the sensor image will appear on the LCD S
292. h to operating the camera This chapter and the next are designed to get your camera fired up and ready for shooting as quickly as possible After all the T3 is not a point and shoot camera even though it does boast easy to use Basic Zone and Image Zone options with icons on a handy dial representing various fully automatic modes plus Scene modes with icons for a person for portraits flower close ups mountain scene landscapes or runner sports activity So I m going to provide a basic pre flight checklist that you need to complete before you really spread your wings and take off You won t find a lot of detail in these first two chapters Indeed I m going to tell you just what you absolutely must understand accom panied by some interesting tidbits that will help you become acclimated to your T3 I ll go into more depth and even repeat some of what I explain here in later chapters so you don t have to memorize everything you see Just relax follow a few easy steps and then go out and begin taking your best shots ever Even if youre a long time Canon shooter I hope you wont be tempted to skip this chap ter or the next one I realize that you probably didn t purchase this book the same day you bought your camera and that even if you did the urge to go out and take a few hundred or thousand photos with your new camera is enticing As valuable as a book like this one is nobody can suppress their excitement long
293. h will be embedded in the image file along with exposure information and other data As first outlined in Chapter 1 you can set the date and time by following these steps 1 Access this menu entry from the Set up 2 menu 2 Use the cross keys to move the highlighting down to the Date Time entry 3 Press the SET button in the center of the cross keys to access the Date Time set ting screen shown in Figure 9 7 4 Use the cross keys to select the value you want to change When the gold box high lights the month day year hour minute second or year format you want to adjust press the SET button to activate that value A pair of up down pointing triangles appears above the value Figure 9 7 Date Time ZZ ZAZLLL LL and date Set Date Time A 03 14 2011 05 36 30 v mm dd yy 03 14 2011 OK Chapter 9 B Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 227 5 Use the cross keys to adjust the value up or down Press the SET button to confirm the value you ve entered 6 Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each of the other values you want to change The date for mat can be switched from the default mm dd yy to yy mm dd or dd mm yy 7 When finished rotate the cross keys to select either OK if you re satisfied with your changes or Cancel if youd like to return to the Set up 2 menu without making any changes Press SET to confirm your choice 8 When finished setting the date and time press the MENU button to exit or just
294. has a provision for slow sync in its Basic Mode Night Portrait setting that allows using a slow shutter speed to record the ambient light and help illuminate dark backgrounds But if your sub ject is moving the secondary image creates a ghost image High speed sync gives you the ability to use a higher shutter speed If ambient light produces a ghost image at 1 200th second upping the shutter speed to 1 500th or 1 1 000th second may eliminate it Of course HSS reduces the amount of light the flash produces If your subject is not close to the camera the waning illumination of the flash may force you to use a larger f stop to capture the flash exposure So while shifting from 1 200th sec ond at f 8 to 1 500th second at f 8 will reduce ghost images if you switch to 1 500th second at f 5 6 because the flash is effectively less intense you ll end up with the same ambient light exposure Still it s worth a try Improved fill flash in daylight The T3 can use the built in flash or an attached unit to fill in inky shadows both automatically and using manually specified power ratios as described earlier in this chapter However both methods force you to use a 1 200th second or slower shutter speed That limitation can cause three complications First in very bright surroundings such as beach or snow scenes it may be difficult to get the correct exposure at 1 200th second You might have to use f 16 or a smaller f stop to expose a given
295. hat darker 12 percent gray I ll explain more about this later That average 12 to 18 percent gray assumption is necessary because different subjects reflect different amounts of light In a photo containing say a white cat and a dark gray cat the white cat might reflect five times as much light as the gray cat An exposure based on the white cat will cause the gray cat to appear to be black while an exposure based only on the gray cat will make the white cat washed out This is more easily understood if you look at some photos of subjects that are dark they reflect little light those that have predominantly middle tones and subjects that are highly reflective The next few figures show some images of actual cats actually the same cat rendered in black gray and white varieties through the magic of Photoshop with each of the three strips exposed using a different cat for reference Correctly Exposed The three pictures shown in Figure 4 4 represent how the black gray and white cats would appear if the exposure were calculated by measuring the light reflecting from the middle gray cat which for the sake of illustration well assume reflects approximately 12 to 18 percent of the light that strikes it The exposure meter sees an object that it thinks is a middle gray calculates an exposure based on that and the feline in the cen ter of the strip is rendered at its proper tonal value Best of all because the resulting expo sure i
296. he printing effect including image brightening levels and red eye correction m Date File number imprint You can set this to On Off Default Date File No or Both m Copies Select 1 to 99 copies of the selected image m Trimming Use this to crop your image Your image appears on a trimming screen Press the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons to magnify or reduce the size of the crop ping frame Use the cross keys to move the cropping frame around within the image Rotate the cross keys to rotate the image Press the INFO button to toggle the crop ping frame between horizontal and vertical orientations When you ve defined the crop for the image press the SET button to apply your trimming to the image Figure 12 2 SES p Choose the A number of copies crop the image and nm x 9 apply other d Off settings and J 3 copies preferences Print options ji A E is j Tri m ming Date time imprint Paper settings o M Cancel P Defau Crop the image P ri nt Bordered Paper size 324 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Paper settings Choose the paper size type and layout Use the cross keys to select your paper size with choices from credit card size through 8 5 X 11 inches Press SET to confirm and the screen changes to a Paper Type selection After choosing Paper Type press SET once more and choose a layout from Borderless Bordered 2 up 4 up 9 up 16 up and 20 up
297. he Mode Dial is set to Creative Auto a screen like the one shown in Figure 4 30 appears You can then do one of three things m Change shooting parameters by ambience Press the Quick Control button and then the up cross key to select the ambience box When the top box on the screen is highlighted it will display the most recent ambience setting you ve selected Standard unless you ve made a change Ambience is a type of picture style that adjusts parameters like sharpness or color richness to produce a particular look m Press the left right cross keys or rotate the Main Dial and select from among Vivid Soft Warm Intense Cool Brighter Darker or Monochrome m You can then rotate the Main Dial to change the Effect to Low Standard or Strong Press the Quick Control button to exit m Press the down cross key to highlight Background Blurred gt Sharp Then rotate the Main Dial to adjust the amount of background blurring The T3 will try to use a larger f stop to reduce depth of field and blur the background or a smaller f stop and increased depth of field to sharpen the background m Press the down cross key to highlight Drive mode Flash firing Then press the SET button to pop up the Drive mode Flash firing screen In this screen you can rotate the Main Dial to change among the various drive modes or use the left right cross keys to switch among flash modes Figure 4 30 Quick Control screen in Creative Auto mode Am
298. he camera If you ve set the camera in the Shooting menu so that Shoot w o Card has been turned on it s entirely possible although not particularly plausible that you ve been snapping away with no memory card to store the pictures to which can lead to massive disappointment later on Of course the No Memory Card message appears on the LCD when the camera is powered up and it is superimposed on the review image after every shot but maybe youre inattentive aren t using picture review or have purchased one of those LCD fold up hoods mentioned earlier in this chapter You can avoid all this by turning the Shoot w o Card feature off and leaving it off Things get more exciting when the card itself is put in jeopardy If you lose a card there s not a lot you can do other than take a picture of a similar card and print up some Have You Seen This Lost Flash Memory flyers to post on utility poles all around town If all you care about is reusing the card and have resigned yourself to losing the pic tures try reformatting the card in your camera You may find that reformatting removes the corrupted data and restores your card to health Sometimes I ve had success refor matting a card in my computer using a memory card reader this is normally a no no because your operating system doesnt understand the needs of your T3 and then refor matting again in the camera If your memory card is not behaving properly and you do want to recover your image
299. he histogram for an image that is badly underexposed You can guess from the shape of the histogram that many of the dark tones to the left of the graph have been clipped off There s plenty of room on the right side for addi tional pixels to reside without having them become overexposed Or a histogram might look like Figure 4 27 which is overexposed In either case you can increase or decrease the exposure either by changing the f stop or shutter speed in manual mode or by adding or subtracting an EV value in autoexposure mode to produce the corrected his togram shown in Figure 4 28 in which the tones hug the right side of the histogram to produce as many highlight details as possible See Making EV Changes above for information on dialing in exposure compensation The histogram can also be used to aid in fixing the contrast of an image although gaug ing incorrect contrast is more difficult For example if the histogram shows all the tones bunched up in one place in the image the photo will be low in contrast If the tones are spread out more or less evenly the image is probably high in contrast In either case your best bet may be to switch to RAW if you re not already using that format so you can adjust contrast in post processing However you can also change to a user defined Picture Style User Def 1 User Def 2 or User Def 3 in the Picture Style menu with contrast set lower 1 to 4 or higher 1 to 4 as required
300. he memory card either using a direct cable transfer or with a card reader as described later in this chapter the old image files are erased from the card leaving the card blank Theoretically This method does not remove files that you ve labeled as Protected choosing the Protect Images func tion in the Playback menu nor does it identify and lock out parts of your memory card that have become corrupted or unusable since the last time you formatted the card Therefore I recommend always formatting the card rather than simply mov ing the image files each time you want to make a blank card The only exception is when you want to leave the protected unerased images on the card for awhile longer say to share with friends family and colleagues m Don t Format in your computer With the memory card inserted in a card reader or card slot in your computer you can use Windows or Mac OS to reformat the memory card Don t The operating system wont necessarily arrange the structure of the card the way the T3 likes to see it in computer terms an incorrect file system may be installed The only way to ensure that the card has been properly format ted for your camera is to perform the format in the camera itself The only excep tion to this rule is when you have a seriously corrupted memory card that your camera refuses to format Sometimes it is possible to revive such a corrupted card by allowing the operating system to reformat it first then
301. he well exposed ocean of the second image and the detail filled sky of the third version Note that ide ally nothing should move between shots In the example pictures the ocean is moving a a Figure 4 20 Make one exposure for the shadow areas left a second for the midtones middle and a third for the highlights such as the sky Figure 4 21 Use the Merge to HDR Pro command to combine the three images Figure 4 22 You ll end up with an exten ded dynamic range photo like this one 3 7 Merge to HDR Pro Source Fies Choose two or more files from a set of exposures to merge and create a High Dynamic Range image Use Fies gt Cliffs01 psd Browse cliffs02 psd Lame cliffs03 psd Remove Add Open Fles Z Attempt to Automaticaly Align Source Images OK Cancel Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 89 90 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography but the exposures were made so close together that all within about one half second after the merger you cant really tell What if you don t have the opportunity inclination or skills to create several images at different exposures as described If you shoot in RAW format you can still use Merge to HDR working with a single original image file What you do is import the image into Photoshop several times using Adobe Camera Raw to create multiple copies of
302. hird party lenses 250 251 unpacking 8 Li ion batteries See batteries library for WB white balance options 186 light 65 68 See also continuous light exposure flash softening light window light diffusing light 310 312 duration of 66 emitted light 66 lens light passed by 66 movies lighting for 137 138 multiple light sources 312 315 reflected light 66 sensors light captured by 66 for short exposures 144 shutter light passed through 66 source light at 66 transmitted light 66 light stands 316 light trails with long exposures 150 151 lighting gels 281 Linux Bibble Professional with 337 liquid cleaning sensors 361 364 365 Live mode in Live View 120 121 208 for movies 126 Live Face Detection mode contrast detection in 106 107 in Live View 121 122 208 for movies 126 Live View activating 119 120 AF assist lamp in 294 AF autofocus in 119 120 208 ambience setting in 99 100 124 394 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography applications of 116 117 batteries information display on 120 power use in Live View 117 camera functions display 58 contrast detection in 106 107 default settings 240 enabling 117 119 flash options in 25 focus in 118 120 grid display in 119 208 information display in 120 in Live mode 120 121 208 in Live Face Detection mode 121 122 208 menu choices 118 119 metering timer in 119 208 MF manual foc
303. home an iPhone app to take with you when you re on the go and a pocket sized compact guide you can store in your camera bag Now all the camera information you need is at your fingertips in whatever format you prefer SONY C DSLR OLYMPUS A390 A290 PEN E P2 NIKON amer ides David Busch is the 1 bestselling camera guide author A professional photographer with more than 20 years of experience and over a million books in print David provides expert authority to these guides covering digital and digital SLR cameras from Canon Nikon Sony Olympus and Panasonic Featuring beautiful full color images David Busch camera guides show you how when and most importantly why to use all the cool features and functions of your camera to take stunning photographs iPhone Apps NEW Now take the expert advice of bestselling camera guide author David Busch with you wherever you take your iPhone You ll find the same rich infor mation as our camera guides as well as new interactive and multimedia elements in an easy to access searchable Menus portable format for your on Oase the go needs Visit the iTunes store for more information and to purchase mpact Fiel ides Are you tired of squinting at the tiny color coded tables and difficult to read text you find on the typical laminated reference card or cheat sheet Dovid Buschs COMPACT FIELD GUIDE that you keep with you when you re in the field or on location Davi
304. hooting weddings for hire and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college His photos and articles have been published in Popular Photography amp Imaging The Rangefinder The Professional Photographer and hundreds of other publications He s also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and Computer Shopper When About com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography debut ing at the 1 and 2 slots were Busch s Digital Photography All In One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography During the past year he s had as many as five of his books listed in the Top 20 of Amazon com s Digital Photography Bestseller list simultaneously Busch s 150 other books published since 1983 include bestsellers like David Buschs Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses His advice has been featured on National Public Radio s A Tech Considered Busch is a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society www clevelandphoto org which has operated continuously since 1887 Visit his website at http www dslrguides com blog UTC EREUTTSIOITROTITTII TUTTI xiii Introduction 2 0 ee eee eee as XV PART I GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR CANON EOS REBEL T3 1100D Chapter 1 Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 5 First Things Firsts oben erei annisa ben es sieeee e ei eai 6 Initial Sei erus ior oe de aa E d A eee E ENEE 11 Battery Included s icpecrirecerie r
305. ibed later in this chapter to modify a RAW image as it is imported You can define your own color response using a color picker in a sample RAW photo graph to choose a specific hue which you can then modify using hue saturation lumi nance adjustments The range of adjacent colors affected by your new settings can also be specified Before after views let you compare the Picture Style settings you ve entered with standard settings using a sample image you upload 330 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Advanced Picture Style settings B Reset 010234528 7 8 9 10 Sharpness 9 4 3 2 4 O of 02 03 4 Contrast 2 4 3 2 E Hf 02 03 8 Color saturation 9 4o3 2 4 09334 Color tone Ce C enen Figure 12 10 The Picture Style Editor lets you create your own Picture Styles for use by the T3 or Digital Photo Professional when importing image files ZoomBrowser ImageBrowser This is an image viewing and editing application for Windows PCs the equivalent pro gram for Macs is called ImageBrowser and performs the same functions You can organ ize sort classify and rename files and convert JPEG files in batches This utility is especially useful for printing index sheets of groups of images see Figure 12 11 It can also prepare images for e mailing It works with RAW Image Task for converting CR2 files to some other format for editing The simple image editing facilities of
306. icrophone 42 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Red eye reduction self timer lamp This LED provides a blip of light shortly before a flash exposure to cause the subjects pupils to close down reducing the effect of red eye reflections off their retinas When using the self timer this lamp also flashes to mark the countdown until the photo is taken m Microphone This is a monaural non stereo microphone for recording the audio track of your HDTV movies You ll find more controls on the other side of the T3 shown in Figures 3 3 and 3 4 m Lens autofocus manual switch Canon autofocus lenses have a switch to allow changing between automatic focus and manual focus m Lens image stabilization switch With IS lenses this switch is used to turn image stabilization on and off m Lens release button Press and hold this button to unlock the lens so you can rotate the lens to remove it from the camera Figure 3 3 Lens autofocus manual switch Image stabilization switch STROLLS Ow ro Lens release button Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 43 Figure 3 4 Pressing the Flash button upper right which has an arrow lightning bolt symbol pops up the built in flash unit and starts the charging process Pop up electronic flash Flash release button m Pop up flash The internal flash unit pops up automatically when needed when using Basic Zone Full Auto
307. igital Photo Professional described in Chapter 12 to modify a RAW image as it is imported To create and load your own Picture Style just follow these steps 1 Load the editor Launch the Picture Style Editor PSE not to be confused with the other PSE Photoshop Elements 2 Access a RAW file Load a RAW CR2 image youd like to use as a reference into PSE You can drag a file from a folder into the editors main window or use the Open command in the File menu 3 Choose an existing style to base your new style on Select any of the base styles except for Standard Your new style will begin with all the attributes of the base style you choose so start with one that already is fairly close to the look you want to achieve tweaking is easier than building a style from the ground up File Edt View Toots Hep i roc Figure 8 28 The Picture Style Editor lets you create your own Picture Styles for use by the T3 or Digital Photo Professional when importing image files 202 Nn David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Split the screen You can compare the appearance of your new style with the base style you are working from Near the lower left edge of the display pane are three buttons you can click to split the old new styles vertically horizontally or return to a single image Dial in basic changes Click the Advanced button in the Tool palette shown
308. ilter becomes scratched through inept clean ing you cant simply remove it yourself and replace it with a new one Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 361 There are four basic kinds of cleaning processes that can be used to remove dusty and sticky stuff that settles on your dSLR s sensor All of these must be performed with the shutter locked open I ll describe these methods and provide instructions for locking the shutter later in this section m Air cleaning This process involves squirting blasts of air inside your camera with the shutter locked open This works well for dust that s not clinging stubbornly to your sensor m Brushing A soft very fine brush is passed across the surface of the sensor filter dislodging mildly persistent dust particles and sweeping them off the imager m Liquid cleaning A soft swab dipped in a cleaning solution such as ethanol is used to wipe the sensor filter removing more obstinate particles m Tape cleaning There are some who get good results by applying a special form of tape to the surface of their sensor When the tape is peeled off all the dust goes with it Supposedly I d be remiss if I didnt point out right now that this form of clean ing is somewhat controversial the other three methods are much more widely accepted Now that Canon has equipped the front sensor filter with a special anti dust coating I wouldn t chance damaging that coating by using any kind of
309. im inating it when it begins to affect your shots I also cover this subject in my book Digital SLR Pro Secrets with complete instructions for constructing your own sensor cleaning tools However I ll provide a condensed version here of some of the information in that book because sensor dust and sensor cleaning are two of the most contentious subjects Canon EOS T3 owners have to deal with Dust the FAQs Ma am Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about sensor dust issues Q I see tiny specks in my viewfinder Do I have dust on my sensor A Ifyou see sharp well defined specks they are clinging to the underside of your focus screen and not on your sensor They have absolutely no effect on your photographs and are merely annoying or distracting Q I can see dust on my mirror How can I remove it A Like focus screen dust any artifacts that have settled on your mirror wont affect your photos You can often remove dust on the mirror or focus screen with a bulb air blower which will loosen it and whisk it away Stubborn dust on the focus screen can sometimes be gently flicked away with a soft brush designed for cleaning lenses I dont recommend brushing the mirror or touching it in any way The mirror is a special front surface silvered optical device unlike conventional mirrors which are 356 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography silvered on the back side of a piece of glass or
310. images You can make RAW adjustments correct tonal curves color tone color saturation sharpness as well Figure 12 9 Digital Photo Professional will never replace Photo shop but it has some basic image editing features Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 329 Digital Photo Professional ogg File Edit View Bookmark Adjustment Tools Window Help 3 Destop amp My Computer lt o Drive C C e Drive D D lt Drive E E e Drive F F Sw Drive G G Se Drive HH lt Drive CN D DVO RAM Drive M Se Drive NON Se Drive 0 0 Se Drive P P P e Drive 5 Se Drive T T Se Orive UCL SS Officejet Pro 8500 A909a 192 168 2 2 2 as brightness and contrast Especially handy are the recipes that can be developed and saved so that a given set of corrections can be kept separate from the file itself and if desired applied to other images see Figure 12 9 Picture Style Editor The Picture Style Editor shown in Figure 12 10 allows you to create your own custom Picture Styles or edit existing styles including the Standard Landscape Faithful and other predefined settings already present in your T3 You can change sharpness con trast color saturation and color tone and a lot more and then save the modifica tions as a PF2 file that can be uploaded to the camera or used by Digital Photo Professional descr
311. in effect by viewing the D icon shown in the viewfinder on the ISO Selection screen and in the shooting information display for a particular image C Fn Ill O6 Activation of the Autofocus Assist Lamp Activation of autofocus assist beam This setting determines when the AF assist lamp in the camera or an external flash is activated to emit a pulse of light prior to the main exposure that helps provide enough contrast for the Rebel T3 to focus on a subject 234 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m 0 Emits The AF assist light is emitted by the cameras built in flash whenever light levels are too low for accurate focusing using the ambient light m 1 Does not emit The AF assist illumination is disabled You might want to use this setting when shooting at concerts weddings or darkened locations where the light might prove distracting or discourteous m 2 Only external flash emits The built in AF assist light is disabled but if a Canon EX dedicated flash unit is attached to the camera its AF assist feature a flash pulse will be used when needed Because the flash unit s AF assist is more powerful you ll find this option useful when youre using flash and are photographing objects in dim light that are more than a few feet away from the camera and thus not likely to be illuminated usefully by the Rebel T3 s built in light source Note that if AF assist beam firing is disabled within the flash
312. ination with 278 exposure calculation with 277 flash compared 276 281 flexibility of 281 freezing action with 278 previewing with 276 277 continuous shooting 141 143 in Live View 125 contrast Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 340 histograms for fixing 93 as Picture Style parameter 192 193 telephoto lens problems with 269 contrast detection 106 107 converging lines with wide angle lenses 265 Cool ambience 24 99 100 copies for printing selecting 323 copperhillimages com 363 copyright options Set up menu 236 238 Corel Paint Shop Pro 334 384 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Corel Painter 334 335 Corel Photo Paint 333 334 Corel PhotoImpact 335 cost of continuous light 279 of flash 279 of lenses 246 of monolights 313 of telephoto extenders 271 Creative Auto CA mode 23 exposure choices in 75 76 95 Quick Control screen in 97 tweaking settings in 24 25 Creative Zone modes 21 24 AF assist lamp in 294 built in flash in 32 33 292 293 continuous shooting with 142 focus points in 113 LCD shooting settings display 56 57 crop factor 243 245 cropping with Adobe Camera Raw 338 crop factor 243 245 movie clips 130 131 on printing images 323 cross fades in movies 135 cross keys 18 19 47 drive mode setting 47 50 focus modes setting 47 50 ISO sensitivity setting 47 49 WB white balance setting 47 50 cross type focus poi
313. information I explained the T3 s Eye Fi options in detail in Chapter 7 LCD Brightness Choose this menu option the first on the second Set up menu tab see Figure 9 5 and a thumbnail image with a grayscale strip appears on the LCD as shown in Figure 9 6 You can manually set brightness m Manual brightness Use the cross keys to adjust the brightness to a comfortable viewing level Use the gray bars as a guide you want to be able to see both the light est and darkest steps at top and bottom and not lose any of the steps in the mid dle Brighter settings use more battery power but can allow you to view an image on the LCD outdoors in bright sunlight When you have the brightness you want press the SET button to lock it in and return to the menu Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 225 ouo ah eeg menu includes 77 LCD brightness LCD off on btn ohutter btn Date Time 07 25 11 14 05 Language English Clean manually Feature guide Enable Figure 9 6 Adjust LCD brightness for easier viewing under varying ambient light ing conditions 226 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography LCD Off On Button Choose which buttons can be used to turn the LCD on or off Your choices are the shut ter button alone the shutter button plus the DISP button or Remains On the LCD does not shut off Date Time Use this option to set the date and time whic
314. information that tells it which combination of shut ter speed and aperture will work best for a particular photo If the correct exposure can not be achieved at the current ISO setting the shutter speed indicator in the viewfinder will blink 30 or 4000 indicating under or overexposure respectively You can then boost or reduce the ISO to increase or decrease sensitivity The T3 s recommended exposure can be overridden if you want Use the EV setting fea ture described later because it also applies to Tv and Av modes to add or subtract expo sure from the metered value And as I mentioned earlier in this chapter you can change from the recommended setting to an equivalent setting as shown in Table 4 1 that pro duces the same exposure but using a different combination of f stop and shutter speed To accomplish this 1 Lock in base exposure Press the shutter release halfway to lock in the current base exposure or press the AE lock button on the back of the camera in which case the indicator will illuminate in the viewfinder to show that the exposure has been locked There is no such indicator on the LCD 2 Select a different combination of shutter speed aperture Spin the Main Dial to change the shutter speed the T3 will adjust the f stop to match The Program Shift will be canceled after taking the current picture The feature is not available when using flash Your adjustment remains in force for a single exposure
315. ing say a series of three photos at 1 125th second but varying the f stop from f 8 to f 11 to f 16 In practice smaller than whole stop increments were used for greater precision Plus it was just as common to keep the same aperture and vary the shutter speed although in the days before electronic shutters film cameras often had only whole increment shut ter speeds available Today cameras like the T3 can bracket exposures much more precisely and bracket white balance as well While WB bracketing is sometimes used when getting color absolutely correct in the camera is important autoexposure bracketing AEB is used Figure 4 19 Use the left right cross keys to bias the bracketing towards more or less exposure Range Stop increments Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 85 much more often When this feature is activated the T3 takes three consecutive pho tos one at the metered correct exposure one with less exposure and one with more exposure using an increment of your choice up to plus 2 minus 2 stops in 1 3 stop increments In Av mode the shutter speed will change while in Tv mode the aperture speed will change Using AEB is trickier than it needs to be but has been made more flexible than with some earlier Rebel models With the T3 you can now choose to bracket only overex posures or underexposures a very useful improvement Just follow these steps 1 Activate the EV AEB screen Press the MENU butto
316. ing 3 Shooting 4 Playback 1 and Playback 2 menus In this chapter you ll learn how to work with the three count em Set up menus and how to assemble your own roster of favorite menu listings with the My Menu feature If youre jumping directly to this chapter and need some guidance in how to navigate the T3 s menu system review the first few pages of Chapter 8 Otherwise youre wel come to dive right in Set up 1 2 and 3 Menu Options There are three amber coded set up menus where you make adjustments on how your camera behaves during your shooting session as differentiated from the Shooting menu which adjusts how the pictures are actually taken Your choices include m Auto power off m Eye Fi settings m Feature Guide m Auto rotate m LCD brightness m Custom Functions m Format m LCD off on button m Copyright information m File numbering m Date Time m Clear settings m Select folder m Language m Firmware Ver m Screen color m Manual Cleaning 220 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Auto Power Off This setting the first in Set up 1 menu see Figure 9 1 allows you to determine how long the EOS T3 remains active before shutting itself off As you can see in Figure 9 2 you can select 30 seconds 1 2 4 8 or 15 minutes or Off which leaves the camera turned on indefinitely However even if the camera has shut itself off if the power switch remains in the On position you can bring the
317. ing flashing highlights and two screens that show histograms An explanation of all the information screens can be found in Chapter 3 One histogram Figure 4 24 shows over all brightness levels the second one Figure 4 25 shows tonal values for the red green and blue channels as well as a brightness histogram During histogram display you ll also see a thumbnail of your image at the top left side of the screen To change your default his togram type from Brightness to RGB use the Histogram setting in the Playback 2 menu Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 93 100 0345 100 0345 PE ISO P E 5 3 0 0 0 AWE AL 6 30MB sRGB AL 6 30MB 15 15 06 24 2011 01 45 22 15 15 Figure 4 24 A histogram shows the relationship of Figure 4 25 Color and brightness histograms tones in an image taller the bar at that position If no bar appears at a particular position on the scale from left to right there are no pixels at that particular brightness level A typical histogram produces a mountain like shape with most of the pixels bunched in the middle tones with fewer pixels at the dark and light ends of the scale Ideally though there will be at least some pixels at either extreme so that your image has both a true black and a true white representing some details Learn to spot histograms that represent over and underexposure and add or subtract exposure using an EV modifi cation to compensate For example Figure 4 26 shows t
318. ing this information while the latter provides data you can use for manual flash exposure 300 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 11 13 External flash units can be controlled from Flash mode E TTL Il ae ns z this menu Shutter sync 1st curtain FEB e a hal e Flash exp comp 272 1 9 1 72 E TTL II meter Evaluative Zoom Auto Clear Speedlite settings m Shutter sync As with the T35 internal flash you can choose Ist curtain sync which fires the flash as soon as the shutter is completely open this is the default mode Alternatively you can select 2nd curtain sync which fires the flash as soon as the shutter opens and then triggers a second flash at the end of the exposure just before the shutter starts to close If a compatible Canon flash such as the Speedlite 580EX II is attached and turned on you can also select high speed sync and shoot using shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second That can be especially handy if you want to use the external flash for fill light outdoors For example in Figure 11 14 I wanted to use an exposure at ISO 200 of 1 1 000th second and f 7 1 so the wider f stop would give me less depth of field to isolate the model s face With high speed sync I was able to use my 580EX II flash as a fill light m FEB Flash Exposure Bracketing FEB operates similarly to ordinary exposure brack eting providing a series of different exposures to improve y
319. ing to the wide ranging needs of a broad user base from novice photo enthusiasts to advanced amateur and professional photographers It s this mind bending assortment of high quality lenses available to enhance the capabilities of cameras like the Canon EOS T3 that make the product line so appealing Thousands of current and older lenses introduced by Canon and third party vendors since 1987 can be used to give you a wider view bring distant subjects closer let you focus closer shoot under lower light conditions or provide a more detailed sharper image for critical work Other than the sensor itself the lens you choose for your dSLR is the most important component in determining image quality and perspective of your images This chapter explains how to select the best lenses for the kinds of photography you want to do But Don t Forget the Crop Factor From time to time you ve heard the term crop factor and youve probably also heard the term Jens multiplier factor Both are misleading and inaccurate terms used to describe the same phenomenon the fact that cameras like the T3 and most other affordable 244 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography digital SLRs provide a field of view that s smaller and narrower than that produced by certain other usually much more expensive cameras when fitted with exactly the same lens Figure 10 1 quite clearly shows the phenomenon at work The outer rect
320. ings which will already have noise boosted a bit and want to make sure that any additional noise from long exposures is eliminated too Noise reduction will be applied to some exposures that would not have caused it to kick in using the Auto setting While the dark frame is being exposed the LCD screen will be blank during Live View mode and the number of shots you can take in continuous shooting mode will be reduced White balance bracketing is disabled during this process Chapter 9 B Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 233 C Fn Il 04 Eliminating Noise Caused by Higher ISO Sensitivities High ISO speed noise reduct n This setting applies noise reduction that is especially useful for pictures taken at high ISO sensitivity settings The default is 0 Standard noise reduction but you can specify 1 low or 2 strong noise reduction or disable noise reduction entirely At lower ISO values noise reduction improves the appearance of shadow areas without affecting highlights at higher ISO settings noise reduction is applied to the entire photo Note that when the 2 Strong option is selected the maxi mum number of continuous shots that can be taken will decrease significantly because of the additional processing time for the images m 0 Standard At lower ISO values noise reduction is applied primarily to shadow areas at higher ISO settings noise reduction affects the entire image m 1 Low A smaller amount of
321. inue in Photoshop with the Merge to HDR Pro steps listed next 88 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The next steps show you how to combine the separate exposures into one merged high dynamic range image The sample images shown in Figure 4 20 show the results you can get from a three shot bracketed sequence exposed for the highlights midtones and shadow areas of the scene 1 If you use an application to transfer the files to your computer make sure it does not make any adjustments to brightness contrast or exposure You want the real raw information for Merge to HDR to work with Load the images into Photoshop using your preferred RAW converter Save as PSD files Activate Merge to HDR Pro by choosing File gt Automate gt Merge to HDR Pro MA a UD N Select the photos to be merged as shown in Figure 4 21 where I have specified the three PSD files You ll note a checkbox that can be used to automatically align the images if they were not taken with the T3 mounted on a rock steady support 6 Once HDR merge has done its thing you must save in PSD to retain the file s full color information in case you want to work with the HDR image later Otherwise you can convert to a normal 24 bit file and save in any compatible format If you do everything correctly you ll end up with a photo like the one shown in Figure 4 22 which has the properly exposed foreground of the first shot t
322. is selected by pressing the SET key At that point all the settings vanish from the screen except for those dealing with the active menu choice When you ve moved the menu highlighting to the menu item you want to work with press the SET button to select it The current settings for the other menu items in the list will be hidden and a list of options for the selected menu item or a submenu screen will appear Within the menu choices you can scroll up or down with the cross keys Press SET to select the choice you ve made and press the MENU button again to exit Shooting 1 2 3 amp 4 Menu Options The various direct setting buttons that serve as secondary functions for the cross keys are likely to be the most frequent settings changes you make with changes during a par ticular session fairly common You ll find that the Shooting menu options are those that you access second most frequently when you re using your Rebel T3 You might make such adjustments as you begin a shooting session or when you move from one type of subject to another Canon makes accessing these changes very easy This section explains the options of the four Shooting menus available in Creative Zone modes and how to use them The options you ll find in these red coded menus include m Quality m Beep m Release shutter without card m Image review Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 167 m Peripheral illumination correction m
323. it lenses have been very pleased with their image quality Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 247 m Size matters A good walking around lens is compact in size and light in weight m Fast close focusing Your first lens should have a speedy autofocus system which is where the ultrasonic motor USM found in nearly all moderately priced lenses is an advantage Close focusing to 12 inches or closer will let you use your basic lens for some types of macro photography You can find comparisons of the lenses discussed in the next section as well as third party lenses from Sigma Tokina Tamron and other vendors in online groups and web sites I ll provide my recommendations but more information is always helpful Buy Now Expand Later The T3 is commonly available with several good basic lenses that can serve you well as a walk around lens one you keep on the camera most of the time especially when you re out and about without your camera bag The number of options available to you is actually quite amazing even if your budget is limited to about 100 500 for your first lens One other vendor for example offers only 18mm 70mm and 18mm 55mm kit lenses in that price range plus a 24mm 85mm zoom Two popular starter lenses Canon offers are shown in Figures 10 2 and 10 3 Canons best bet first lenses are as follows m Canon EF S 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 IS II Autofocus lens This lens was given some cosmetic changes and a II designatio
324. ith the Shooting and Playback Menus 181 Flash mode E TTL Il Shutter sync 1st curtain FEB Sh zt ble br Flash exp comp 272 1 9 1 72 E TTL II meter Evaluative Zoom Auto Clear Speedlite settings m Shutter sync As with the T3 s built in flash you can choose Ist curtain sync which fires the flash as soon as the shutter is completely open this is the default mode Alternatively you can select 2nd curtain sync which fires the flash as soon as the shutter opens and then triggers a second flash at the end of the exposure just before the shutter starts to close m FEB Flash Exposure Bracketing FEB operates similarly to ordinary exposure bracketing providing a series of different exposures to improve your chances of getting the exact right exposure or to provide alternative renditions for creative purposes m Flash exposure compensation You can adjust flash exposure using a menu here Select this option with the SET button then dial in the amount of flash EV com pensation you want using the cross keys The EV that was in place before you started to make your adjustment is shown as a blue indicator so you can return to that value quickly Press SET again to confirm your change then press the MENU but ton twice to exit m Zoom Some flash units can vary their coverage to better match the field of view of your lens at a particular focal length You can allow the external flash to zoom auto matically based on informati
325. ities making them macro lenses Of course the object is not necessarily to get close get too close and you ll find it difficult to light your subject What you re really looking for in a macro lens is to magnify the apparent size of the subject in the final image Camera to subject distance is most important when you want to back up farther from your subject say to avoid spooking skittish insects or small animals In that case you ll want a macro lens with a longer focal length to allow that distance while retaining the desired magnification Canon makes 50mm 60mm 65mm 100mm and 180mm lenses with official macro designations You ll also find macro lenses macro zooms and other close focusing lenses available from Sigma Tamron and Tokina If you want to focus closer with a macro lens or any other lens you can add an accessory called an extension tube shown in Figure 10 14 These add ons move the lens farther from the focal plane allowing it to focus more closely Canon also sells add on close up lenses which look like filters and allow lenses to focus more closely Figure 10 14 Extension tubes enable any lens to focus more closely to the subject Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 273 Image Stabilization Canon has a burgeoning line of more than a dozen lenses with built in image stabiliza tion IS capabilities This feature uses lens elements that are shifted internally in response to the motion of the lens during ha
326. ive mode Grid display Off Metering timer 16 seconds Movie Settings Default AF mode Live mode AF w shutter button during movie shooting Disable Shutter AE Lock Button AF AE lock Movie shooting highlight tone priority Disable Movie recording size Unchanged Sound recording On Metering timer 16 sec Grid display Off Auto Lighting Optimizer Standard Custom white balance Canceled Exposure compensation Canceled Picture Style Standard Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 241 Firmware Version You can see the current firmware release in use in the menu listing If you want to update to a new firmware version insert a memory card containing the binary file and press the SET button to begin the process You can read more about firmware updates in Chapter 13 My Menu The Canon EOS T3 has a great feature that allows you to define your own menu with just the items listed that you want Remember that the T3 always returns to the last menu and menu entry accessed when you press the MENU button So you can set up My Menu to include just the items you want and jump to those items instantly by pressing the MENU button Or you can set your camera so that My Menu appears when the MENU button has been pressed regardless of what other menu entry you accessed last To create your own My Menu you have to register the menu items you want to include Just follow these steps 1 Press the MENU button and use the M
327. ize of Exposure Adjustments Exposure level increments This setting tells the Rebel T3 the size of the jumps it should use when making exposure adjustments either one third or one half stop The increment you specify here applies to f stops shutter speeds EV changes and autoex posure bracketing m 0 1 3 stop Choose this setting when you want the finest increments between shut ter speeds and or f stops For example the T3 will use shutter speeds such as 1 60th 1 80th 1 100th and 1 125th second and f stops such as f 5 6 f 6 3 f 7 1 and f 8 giving you and the autoexposure system maximum control m 1 1 2 stop Use this setting when you want larger and more noticeable changes between increments The T3 will apply shutter speeds such as 1 60th 1 125th 1 250th and 1 500th second and f stops including f 5 6 f 6 7 8 9 5 and f 11 These coarser adjustments are useful when you want more dramatic changes between different exposures C Fn 1 02 Flash Synchronization Speed When Using Aperture Priority Flash sync speed in Av mode You ll find this setting useful when using flash When youre set to Aperture priority mode Av you select a fixed f stop and the Rebel T3 chooses an appropriate shutter speed That works fine when youre shooting by avail able light However when you re using flash the flash itself provides virtually all of the illumination that makes the main exposure and the shutter speed determines how
328. ized by their intended purpose general photography macro pho tography and so forth or by their focal length The range of available focal lengths is usually divided into three main groups wide angle normal and telephoto Prime lenses fall neatly into one of these classifications Zooms can overlap designations with a sig nificant number falling into the catch all wide to telephoto zoom range This section provides more information about focal length ranges and how they are used Any lens with an equivalent focal length of 10mm to 20mm is said to be an ultrawide angle lens from about 20mm to 40mm equivalent is said to be a wide angle lens Normal lenses have a focal length roughly equivalent to the diagonal of the film or sen sor in millimeters and so fall into the range of about 45mm to 60mm on a full frame camera Telephoto lenses usually fall into the 75mm and longer focal lengths while those from about 300mm 400mm and longer often are referred to as super telephotos Using Wide Angle and Wide Zoom Lenses To use wide angle prime lenses and wide zooms you need to understand how they affect your photography Here s a quick summary of the things you need to know m More depth of field Practically speaking wide angle lenses offer more depth of field at a particular subject distance and aperture But see the sidebar below for an important note Youll find that helpful when you want to maximize sharpness of a large zone
329. k through the viewfinder press the AF point selection button and rotate the Main Dial to move the focus point to the zone you want to use The focus point will cycle among the edge points counterclockwise if you turn the Main Dial to the left or clockwise if you spin the Main Dial to the right ending starting with the cen ter focus point all nine focus points See Figure 2 7 Other Settings There are a few other options such as ISO using the self timer or working with flash You use these right away if you re feeling ambitious but don t feel ashamed if you postpone using these features until you ve racked up a little more experience with your EOS T3 Figure 2 6 Select a focus point and selec tion mode from the AF point selection screen Figure 2 7 Or choose the focus point while looking through the viewfinder Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start AF point selection anual selectio 29 30 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Adjusting White Balance and ISO If you like you can custom tailor your white balance color balance and ISO sensitiv ity settings To start out it s best to set white balance WB to Auto and ISO to ISO 100 or ISO 200 for daylight photos and ISO 400 for pictures in dimmer light MAKING SETTINGS When making settings if a screen I m describing does not appear when you press a but ton the display may be turned
330. kes most of the exposure decisions for you just as in Full Auto mode but allows you to make some adjustments in a round about way In terms of exposure adjustments what you can do is adjust the f stop used by telling the T3 whether you want the background more blurred or less blurred Because the Basic 76 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Zone modes dont provide extensive exposure control Pll continue the description of the adjustments you can make at the end of this chapter A DEP The Automatic Depth of Field exposure mode is a handy method to use when you want to maximize the range of sharpness in your image The camera actually selects an f stop that will allow as much of the subject matter you ve framed as possible to be in sharp focus and then applies the shutter speed necessary to provide a good exposure at that aperture The disadvantage of this mode is that you relinquish control over shut ter speed f stop and focus distance which makes A DEP a bit more like a Basic Zone Scene mode than a true Creative Zone mode You might end up with the required depth of field but a blurry photo because the T3 has selected a shutter speed that s too slow for hand holding A DEP performs its magic by examining the nine autofocus points in the viewfinder to discover the nearest and farthest objects in the frame Then it chooses an aperture and focus point that supplies the required DOF if possible and
331. kground or when shallow depth of field is a given because youre working with a macro lens a long telephoto or a wide open aperture See also circle of confusion Glossary 369 bounce lighting Light bounced off a reflector including ceiling and walls to provide a soft natural looking light bracketing Taking a series of photographs of the same subject at different settings including exposure and white balance to help ensure that one setting will be the cor rect one buffer The digital cameras internal memory where an image is stored immediately after it is taken until it can be written to the camera s non volatile semi permanent mem ory or a memory card burst mode The digital camera s equivalent of the film camera s motor drive used to take multiple shots within a short period of time with each shot stored in a memory buffer temporarily before writing it to the media calibration A process used to correct for the differences in the output of a printer or monitor when compared to the original image Once you ve calibrated your scanner monitor and or your image editor the images you see on the screen more closely rep resent what you ll get from your printer even though calibration is never perfect Camera Raw A plug in included with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements that can manipulate the unprocessed images captured by digital cameras such as the Canon EOS T3 s CR2 files The latest versions of this module can also w
332. king several consecutive pictures each with a slightly different color balance biased in the directions you specify The process is a little easier to visualize if you look at Figure 8 17 The center intersec tion of lines BA and GM remember high school geometry is the point of zero bias Move the point at that intersection using the cross keys to locate it at any point on the Figure 8 17 Use the cross keys to specify color balance bracketing using green magenta bias or to specify blue yellow amber bias DISP SRAY TANI z X Bracket OK Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 187 graph using the blue yellow amber and green magenta coordinates The amount of shift will be displayed in the SHIFT box to the right of the graph White balance bracketing is like white balance shifting only the bracketed changes occur along the bias axis you specify The three squares in Figure 8 17 show that the white bal ance bracketing will occur in two stop steps along the blue yellow amber axis The amount of the bracketing is shown in the lower box to the right of the graph This form of bracketing is similar to exposure bracketing but with the added dimen sion of hue Bias bracketing can be performed in any JPEG only mode You cant use any RAW format or RAW JPEG format because the RAW files already contain the information needed to fine tune the white balance and white balance bias When you select WB SHIFT BKT the
333. ks e640 er Rar R RE 286 Determining Exposure 2 0 eee eee eee et Tarent ks 290 Getting Started with the Built In Flash 25 sz cieceke se dese eds dex 291 Basie Jone Fl sh isece sagend ee Pease ete ae EXC S EGG ERA 291 Greative Zone Flashi on cetideeeiie siete baevewseeindeuidds 292 Flash Range iode es eed es CORRODE CROSS EEE HSER WR 293 Red Eye Reduction and Autofocus Assist 000 eee ana 293 Using FE Lock and Flash Exposure Compensation 295 Contents xi More on Flash Control Settings ices exceed a RC ORARE 296 Flash PROS pent pw ea bse PR 4 ee 08 VERI on SE DERE 296 Built in Flash Function Setting 52 reas 4X PER ee ee ede ewes 298 External Flash Function Setting eue REGRESAR E E Wd 299 External Flash Custom Function Setting 0c0eeee08 305 Clear External Flash Custom Function Setting 305 Using External Electronic Flash elle 306 Speedlite S80EX IL 443 aduakanciarsndey ad sen Paxadene dda wan 306 Speedlite FIO EX IP rss adc ded a A hoc atc E 308 Speedlite 320EX uu bec d WR ee Ed E wit E EX Ped wee ba 308 Sperdlite 27DBEX JE 1s aae docet bre te ERROR ROO EE ar 308 Ring bates ocd aie fe eee PO Ee Ge A Doe er oe ale a eG A 309 More Advanced Lighting Techniques e 00eccesccescess 310 Diffusing and Softening the Light 000cceeccescess 310 Using Multiple Light Sources ci eeu ete caw big REO ive ee 312 Other Lighting Accessories Ve aacsce
334. ks and need to view the screen outdoors in bright sunlight there is noth ing better However I have a couple problems with these devices First with the cover closed you can t peek down after taking a shot to see what your image looks like during picture review You must open the cap each time you want to look at the LCD Moreover with the hood unfolded it s difficult to look through the viewfinder Don t count on being able to use the viewfinder and the LCD at the same time with one of these hoods in place m Magnifiers If you look hard enough you should be able to find an LCD magni fier that fits over the monitor panel and provides a 2X magnification These often strap on clumsily and serve better as a way to get an enlarged view of the LCD than as protection Hoodman and other suppliers offer these specialized devices Troubleshooting Memory Cards Sometimes good memory cards go bad Sometimes good photographers can treat their memory cards badly It s possible that a memory card that works fine in one camera wont be recognized when inserted into another In the worst case you can have a card full of important photos and find that the card seems to be corrupted and you cant access any of them Don t panic If these scenarios sound horrific to you there are lots of things you can do to prevent them from happening and a variety of remedies avail able if they do occur You ll want to take some time before disaster strikes to co
335. l Press the Q button while using a Creative Zone in Live View and you can adjust any of the values shown in the left hand column in Figure 6 3 These include AF mode Drive mode White Balance Picture Style Auto Lighting Optimizer settings and Image quality settings plus ISO sensitivity which appears in the left hand column only when you press the Q button If you re using a Basic Zone mode you can change AF mode Self timer and several other settings depending on the Basic Zone mode you are using m Shoot by ambience Can be changed when using Creative Auto Portrait Landscape Close up Sports and Night Portrait modes m Shoot by lighting or scene type Can be changed in Portrait Landscape Close up and Sports modes Chapter 6 B Live View and Movies 125 m Blurring Sharpening the background Can be changed in Creative Auto mode m Automatic Flash Firing Can be changed in Creative Auto mode is set automat ically in Full Auto Auto Flash Off Portrait Close Up and Night Portrait modes m Flash on at all times Fill flash Can be set in Creative Auto mode m Flash Off Can be set in Creative Auto mode is set automatically in Auto Flash Off Landscape and Sports modes m Drive mode continuous shooting Can be set in Creative Auto Portrait and Sports modes Shooting Movies The Canon EOS T3 can shoot standard HDTV movies with monaural sound at 1280 x 720 resolution In some ways the cameras Movie mode is cl
336. l Unlock exposure again by pressing the AF point magnify button 6 Stop filming Press the Start Stop button again to stop filming 7 View your clip Press the Playback button located to the bottom right of the LCD You will see a still frame with the clip timing and a symbol telling you to press the SET button to see the clip A series of video controls appears at the bottom of the frame Press SET again and the clip begins A blue thermometer bar progresses in the upper left corner as the timing counts down Press SET to stop at any time GETTING INFO The information display shown on the LCD screen when shooting movies is almost iden tical to the one displayed during Live View shooting The settings icons in the left col umn show the same options which can be changed in Movie mode too except that the Drive mode choice is replaced by an indicator that shows the current movie resolution and time remaining on your memory card Playback and Editing You can play back your video snapshots from the confirmation screen Or you can exit Movie mode and review your stills and images and play any of them back by pressing the playback button located to the lower right of the LCD A movie will be marked with an icon in the upper left corner Press the SET button to play back a movie when you see this icon As a movie is being played back a screen of options appears at the bottom of the screen as shown in Figure 6 8 When the icons are
337. l T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The amount of control you have over exposure sensitivity ISO settings color balance focus and image parameters like sharpness and contrast make the T3 a versatile tool for creating images In the next few pages I m going to give you a grounding in one of those foundations and explain the basics of exposure either as an introduction or as a refresher course depending on your current level of expertise When you finish this chapter you ll under stand most of what you need to know to take well exposed photographs creatively in a broad range of situations Getting a Handle on Exposure Exposure determines the look feel and tone of an image in more ways than one Incorrect exposure can impair even the best composed image by cloaking important tones in darkness or by washing them out so they become featureless to the eye On the other hand correct exposure brings out the detail in the areas you want to picture and provides the range of tones and colors you need to create the desired image However getting the perfect exposure can be tricky because digital sensors can t cap ture all the tones we are able to see If the range of tones in an image is extensive embrac ing both inky black shadows and bright highlights the sensor may not be able to capture them all Sometimes we must settle for an exposure that renders most of those tones but not all in a way that best suits the pho
338. lagued by bugs that cause unexpected behavior Luckily electronic components are generally more reliable and trouble free especially when compared to their mechanical counter parts from the pre electronic film camera days Film cameras of the last 10 to 20 years have had almost as many electronic features as digital cameras but believe it or not there were whole generations of film cameras that had zo electronics or batteries Digital cameras have problems unique to their breed too the most troublesome being the need to clean the sensor of dust and grime periodically This chapter will show you how to diagnose problems fix some common ills and importantly learn how to avoid them in the future Updating Your Firmware As I said the firmware in your EOS T3 is the cameras operating system which handles everything from menu display including fonts colors and the actual entries them selves what languages are available and even support for specific devices and features Upgrading the firmware to a new version makes it possible to add new features while fixing some of the bugs that sneak in Official Firmware Official firmware for your T3 is given a version number that you can view by turning the power on pressing the MENU button and scrolling to Firmware Ver x x x in the Set up 3 menu As I write this the current version is 1 0 4 The first number in the string represents the major release number while the second and third
339. lar fisheye and the Sigma Fisheye 8mm f 3 5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Your extra wide choices may not be abundant but they are there Figure 10 6 shows the perspective you get from an ultrawide angle non fisheye lens Bring objects closer A long lens brings distant subjects closer to you offers bet ter control over depth of field and avoids the perspective distortion that wide angle lenses provide They compress the apparent distance between objects in your frame In the telephoto realm Canon is second to none with a dozen or more offerings in the sub 600 range including the Canon EF 100 300mm f 4 5 5 6 USM Autofocus and Canon EF 70 300mm f 4 5 6 IS USM Autofocus Telephoto Zoom lenses and a broad array of zooms and fixed focal length optics if youre willing to spend up to 1 000 or a bit more Dont forget that the T3 s crop fac tor narrows the field of view of all these lenses so your 70 300mm lens looks more like a 112mm 480mm zoom through the viewfinder Figures 10 7 and 10 8 were taken from the same position as Figure 10 6 but with an 85mm and 500mm lens respectively m Bring your camera closer Macro lenses allow you to focus to within an inch or two of your subject Canons best close up lenses are all fixed focal length optics in the 50mm to 180mm range including the well regarded Canon EF S 60mm f 2 8 Compact and Canon EF 100mm f 2 8 USM Macro Autofocus lenses But you ll find macro zooms available from Sigma and others They d
340. lat ing exposure With digital SLRs like the Canon EOS T3 lag time is generally very short with non dSLRs the elapsed time easily can be one second or more latitude The range of camera exposure that produces acceptable images with a partic ular digital sensor or film lens flare A feature of conventional photography that is both a bane and a creative out let It is an effect produced by the reflection of light internally among elements of an optical lens Bright light sources within or just outside the field of view cause lens flare Flare can be reduced by the use of coatings on the lens elements or with the use of lens hoods Photographers sometimes use the effect as a creative technique and Photoshop includes a filter that lets you add lens flare at your whim lighting ratio The proportional relationship between the amount of light falling on the subject from the main light and other lights expressed in a ratio such as 3 1 Glossary 375 Live View The ability of newer Canon cameras including the T3 to provide a real time preview image as seen by the sensor on the rear panel color LCD achieved by flipping up the mirror and opening the shutter lossless compression An image compression scheme that preserves all image detail When the image is decompressed it is identical to the original version lossy compression An image compression scheme such as JPEG that creates smaller files by discarding image information which can a
341. layback time Figure 6 9 The Editing screen allows you to snip off the beginning or end of a video clip Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 131 Trim Trim Playback Save Exit Adjust beginning end volume m Play video Play back your video to reach the point where you want to trim the beginning or end m Save Saves your video to the memory card A screen appears offering to save the clip as a New File or to Overwrite the existing movie with your edited clip m Exit Exits editing mode m Adjust volume Modifies the volume of the background music Tips for Shooting Better Movies Producing high quality movies can be a real challenge for amateur photographers After all by comparison we re used to watching the best productions that television video and motion pictures can offer Whether it s fair or not our efforts are compared to what we re used to seeing produced by experts While this chapter can t make you into a pro videographer it can help you improve your efforts There are a number of different things to consider when planning a video shoot and when possible a shooting script and storyboard can help you produce a higher quality video 132 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Make a Shooting Script A shooting script is nothing more than a coordinated plan that covers both audio and video and provides order and structure for your video A detailed script will cover what
342. lbs that cost only a few dollars m Cost Con electronic flash Electronic flash units aren t particularly cheap The lowest cost dedicated flash designed specifically for the Canon dSLRs is about 110 Such units are limited in features however and intended for those with entry level cameras Plan on spending some money to get the features that a sophisticated elec tronic flash offers 280 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 11 3 Electronic flash can freeze almost any action Chapter 11 m Working with Light 281 m Flexibility Con continuous lighting Because incandescent and fluorescent lamps are not as bright as electronic flash the slower shutter speeds required see Action stopping above mean that you may have to use a tripod more often espe cially when shooting portraits The incandescent variety of continuous lighting gets hot especially in the studio and the side effects range from discomfort for your human models to disintegration if you happen to be shooting perishable foods like ice cream The heat also makes it more difficult to add filtration to incandes cent sources m Flexibility Pro electronic flash Electronic flash s action freezing power allows you to work without a tripod in the studio and elsewhere adding flexibility and speed when choosing angles and positions Flash units can be easily filtered and because the filtration is placed o
343. le if you want to connect your camera directly to an HDTV for viewing your images Not everyone owns a high def television and Canon saved the holdouts a few bucks by not including one or charging for it Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 11 Initial Set up This section helps you become familiar with the controls most used to make adjustments the cross keys the Quick Control button and the Main Dial You ll also find information on charging the battery setting the clock mounting a lens and making diopter vision adjustments If you re comfortable with all these things skim through and skip ahead to Activating Your EOS Rebel T3 1100D in the next section The initial set up of your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D is fast and easy Basically you just need to charge the battery attach a lens and insert a memory card I ll address each of these steps separately but if you already feel you can manage these set up tasks with out further instructions feel free to skip this section entirely You should at least skim its contents however because I m going to list a few options that you might not be aware of Battery Included Your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D is a sophisticated hunk of machinery and electron ics but it needs a charged battery to function so rejuvenating the LP E10 lithium ion battery pack furnished with the camera should be your first step A fully charged power source should b
344. le image to four or nine thumbnails 50 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m White balance The down cross key also serves to access the white balance func tion Press this WB button when using one of the Creative Zone modes A DEP M Av Tv or P to produce the White Balance screen Then use the left right cross keys to select a white balance and press SET to confirm m AF mode Press the right cross key when using a Creative Zone mode to produce a screen that allows choosing autofocus mode from among One Shot AI Focus and AI Servo Press repeatedly until the focus mode you want is selected Then press SET to confirm your focus mode m Drive mode Press the left cross key to produce a screen that allows choosing a drive mode in both Creative Zone and Basic Zone modes Then press the right cross key to select the 10 second self timer which also can be used with the optional IR remote controls 2 second self timer or Self timer Continuous which allows you to specify a number of shots to be taken from 2 to 10 with the up down keys Press SET to confirm your choice Memory card access lamp When lit or blinking this lamp indicates that the mem ory card is being accessed Jumping Around When a photo you ve taken is displayed on the color LCD you can change the method used to jump with the Main Dial To select a Jump method when viewing a single full screen image during playback p
345. lens hood it s important to have the right hood for the lens usually the one offered for that lens by Canon or the third party manufacturer You want a hood that blocks precisely the right amount of light neither too much light nor too little A hood with a front diameter that is too small can show up in your pictures as vignetting A hood that has a front diameter that s too large isnt stopping all the light it should Generic lens hoods may not do the job When your telephoto is a zoom lens it s even more important to get the right hood because you need one that does what it is supposed to at both the wide angle and tele photo ends of the zoom range Lens hoods may be cylindrical rectangular shaped like the image frame or petal shaped that is cylindrical but with cut out areas at the cor ners which correspond to the actual image area Lens hoods should be mounted in the correct orientation a bayonet mount for the hood on the front of the lens usually takes care of this Telephoto Extenders Telephoto extenders often called teleconverters outside the Canon world multiply the actual focal length of your lens giving you a longer telephoto for much less than the price of a lens with that actual focal length These extenders fit between the lens and your camera and contain optical elements that magnify the image produced by the lens Available in 1 4X and 2 0X configurations from Canon an extender transforms say a 200mm lens into
346. lete all items Display from My Menu Disable Flash control My Menu settings MENU Figure 9 13 You can add one to six menu entries to My Figure 9 12 In the My Menu Settings screen you can Mem add menu items delete them and specify whether My Menu always pops up when the MENU button is pressed m Display from My Menu As I mentioned earlier the T3 almost always shows the last menu item accessed That s convenient if you used My Menu last but if you happen to use another menu then pressing the MENU button will return to that item instead If you enable the Display from My Menu option pressing the MENU button will always display My Menu first You are free to switch to another menu tab if you like but the next time you press the MENU button My Menu will come up again Use this option if you work with My Menu a great deal and make set tings with other menu items less frequently 10 Working with Lenses In February 2011 Canon announced that it had produced its 60 millionth EF series lens a mere 24 years after the company s current autofocus mount was introduced back in the film era Considering that it took 11 years for Canon to sell its first 10 million copies of its EF lens line but only one year to peddle its most recent 10 million lenses it s easy to see that the digital photography revolution can take credit for the most recent explosion With more than five dozen lenses in its current lineup Canon is cater
347. ll be included m Wide strap EW 200D Canon provides you with a suitable neck strap emblazoned with Canon advertising While I am justifiably proud of owning a fine Canon cam era I prefer a low key more versatile strap from Optech www optech com or UPstrap www upstrap com If you carry your camera over one shoulder as many do I particularly recommend the UPstrap shown in Figure 1 1 That patented non slip pad offers reassuring traction and eliminates the contortions we sometimes go through to keep the camera from slipping off I know several photographers who refuse to use anything else If you do purchase an UPstrap be sure you mention to photographer inventor Al Stegmeyer that I sent you hence You wont get a dis count but Al will get yet another confirmation of how much I like his neck straps m Interface cable You can use this USB cable to transfer photos from the camera to your computer although I dont recommend that mode because direct transfer uses a lot of battery power You can also use the cable to upload and download settings between the camera and your computer highly recommended and to operate your camera remotely using the software included on the CD ROM This cable is a stan dard one that works with the majority of digital cameras Canon and otherwise so if you already own one now you have a spare m EOS Digital Solution Disc CD The disc contains useful software that will be dis cussed in more detail in Cha
348. lling a picture story with a photo essay still pictures often stand alone But with movies each of your compositions must relate to the shot that preceded it and the one that follows It can be jarring to jump from a long shot to a tight close up unless the director you is very cre ative Another common error is the jump cut in which successive shots vary only slightly in camera angle making it appear that the main subject has jumped from one place to another Although everyone from French New Wave director Jean Luc Goddard to Guy Ritchie Madonna s ex have used jump cuts effectively in their films The rule of thumb is to vary the camera angle by at least 30 degrees between shots to make it appear to be seamless Unless you prefer that your images flaunt convention and appear to be seamy m The time dimension Unlike still photography with motion pictures there s a lot more emphasis on using a series of images to build on each other to tell a story Static shots where the camera is mounted on a tripod and everything is shot from the same distance are a recipe for dull videos Watch a television program sometime and notice how often camera shots change distances and directions Viewers are used to this variety and have come to expect it Professional video productions are often done with multiple cameras shooting from different angles and positions But many professional productions are shot with just one camera and careful plan
349. lly focusing would have done the trick To save battery power your T3 doesnt start to focus the lens until you partially depress the shutter release But autofocus isn t some mindless beast out there snapping your 112 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography pictures in and out of focus with no feedback from you after you press that button There are several settings you can modify that return at least a modicum of control to you Your first decision should be whether you set the T3 to One Shot AI Servo AE or AI Focus AE With the camera set for one of the Creative Zone modes press the AF but ton the right cross key and use the Main Dial or left right cross keys to select the focus mode you want see Figure 5 10 Press SET to confirm your choice The AF M switch on the lens must be set to AF before you can change autofocus mode One Shot AF In this mode also called single autofocus focus is set once and remains at that setting until the button is fully depressed taking the picture or until you release the shutter button without taking a shot For non action photography this setting is usually your best choice as it minimizes out of focus pictures at the expense of spontaneity The drawback here is that you might not be able to take a picture at all while the camera is seeking focus youre locked out until the autofocus mechanism is happy with the cur rent setting One Shot AF single autofocus i
350. lp you visualize the illumination youre going to get mount around the lens at the camera position and help solve many close up lighting problems But in recent years the ring lite has gone far beyond the macro realm and is now prob ably even more popular as a light source for fashion and glamour photography The right ring lite properly used can provide killer illumination for glamour shots while eliminating the need to move and reset lights for those shots that lend themselves to ring lite illumination As you the photographer move around your subject the ring lite moves with you One of the key drawbacks to ring lites whether used for macro or glamour photogra phy is that they are somewhat bulky and clumsy to use they must be fastened around the camera lens itself or the photographer must position the ring lite and then shoot through the opening or ring That means that you might not be moving round your subject as much as you thought and will instead mount the ring lite and camera on a tripod studio stand or other support Another drawback is the cost The MR 14EX and MR 24EX are priced in the 550 and 800 range respectively You have to be planning a o of macro or fashion work to pay for one of those Specialists take note I tend to favor a third party substitute the Alien Bees ABR800 Ringflash shown in Figure 11 18 It s priced at about 400 and besides it integrates very well with my other Alien Bees studio fla
351. ls only Specifies jumping only between still images when using a card that has both video clips and still images m Display by image rating As explained in Chapter 8 you can rate a particular movie or still photo by applying from one to five stars using the Rating menu entry in the Playback 2 menu This Jump choice allows you to select a rating rank and then jump among photos with that rating applied Going Topside The top surface of the Canon EOS Rebel T3 has a few frequently accessed controls of its own The key controls shown in Figure 3 11 are as follows m Mode Dial Rotate this dial to switch among Basic Zone Creative Zone and Movie modes You ll find these modes and options described in more detail in Chapters 4 and 6 52 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 11 Shutter Flash Main release release button Sensor plane Accessorylhot shoe Mode Dial On Off switch m Sensor focal plane Precision macro and scientific photography sometimes requires knowing exactly where the focal plane of the sensor is The symbol on the top side of the camera to the left of the viewfinder marks that plane m Flash accessory hot shoe Slide an electronic flash into this mount when you need a more powerful Speedlite A dedicated flash unit like those from Canon can use the multiple contact points shown to communicate exposure zoom setting white balance information and other data b
352. lution on the swab to help soak the dirt off Once you overcome your nervousness at touching your T3 s sensor the process is easy You ll wipe continuously with the swab in one direction then flip it over and wipe in the other direction You need to completely wipe the entire surface otherwise you may end up depositing the dust you collect at the far end of your stroke Wipe don t rub If you want a close up look at your sensor to make sure the dust has been removed you can pay 50 100 for a special sensor microscope with an illuminator See Figure 13 18 Or you can do like I do and work with a plain old Carson MiniBrite PO 25 366 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography illuminated 3X magnifier as seen in Figure 13 19 Older packaging and ads may call this a 2X magnifier but it s actually a 3X unit It has a built in LED and held a few inches from the lens mount with the lens removed from your T3 provides a sharp close up view of the sensor with enough contrast to reveal any dust that remains You can read more about this great device at http dslrguides com blog p 274 Tape Cleaning There are people who absolutely swear by the tape method of sensor cleaning The con cept seems totally wacky and I have never tried it personally so I can t say with certainty that it either does or does not work In the interest of completeness I m including it here I can t give yo
353. ly depress the shutter button the viewfinder will display a number representing the maximum number of shots you can take at the current quality settings If your battery is low this figure will be lower Continuous shooting can be affected by the speed with which your T3 is able to focus So in AI Servo AF mode the frames per second rate may be lower Lenses which inher ently focus more slowly see Chapter 10 for information on the various types of auto focus motors built into Canon lenses and scenes that are poorly lit can also affect the frame rate The buffer in the T3 will generally allow you to take as many as 830 JPEG shots in a single burst your battery may not hold out that long or 5 RAW photos at Figure 7 1 Continuous shooting allows you to capture an entire sequence of exciting moments as they unfold Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 143 the 12MP resolution setting To increase this number in RAW mode reduce the image quality setting by switching to JPEG only from JPEG RAW or by reducing the T3 s resolution from L to M or S The reason the size of your bursts is limited by the buffer in RAW mode is that con tinuous images are first shuttled into the T3 s internal memory then doled out to the memory card as quickly as they can be written to the card Technically the T3 takes the RAW data received from the digital image processor and converts it to the output for mat you ve selected either JPG or CR2 raw or b
354. ly slower and not well suited for tracking moving objects Contrast detection works less well than phase detection in dim light because its accu racy is determined not by the length of the baseline of a rangefinder focus system but by its ability to detect variations in brightness and contrast You ll find that contrast detection works better with faster lenses too not as with phase detection which gains accuracy because the diameter of the lens is simply wider but because larger lens open ings admit more light that can be used by the sensor to measure contrast Figure 5 7 Focus in con trast detection mode evaluates the increase in contrast in the edges of sub jects starting with a blurry image top and producing a sharp con trasty image bottom 108 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Focus Modes Focus modes tell the camera when to evaluate and lock in focus They don t determine where focus should be checked that s the function of other autofocus features Focus modes tell the camera whether to lock in focus once say when you press the shutter release halfway or use some other control such as the AF ON button or whether once activated the camera should continue tracking your subject and if it s moving adjust focus to follow it The T3 has three AF modes One Shot AF also known as single autofocus AI Servo continuous autofocus and AI Focus AF which s
355. mage file format such as the CR2 format in the Canon EOS T3 which includes all the unprocessed information captured by the camera after conversion to digital form RAW files are very large compared to JPEG files and must be processed by a special program such as Canon Digital Photo Pro or Adobe s Camera Raw plug in after being downloaded from the camera rear curtain sync 2nd curtain sync An optional kind of electronic flash synchro nization technique originally associated with focal plane shutters which consists of a traveling set of curtains including a front first curtain which opens to reveal the film or sensor and a rear second curtain which follows at a distance determined by shut ter speed to conceal the film or sensor at the conclusion of the exposure For a flash picture to be taken the entire sensor must be exposed at one time to the brief flash expo sure so the image is exposed after the front curtain has reached the other side of the focal plane but before the rear curtain begins to move Rear curtain sync causes the flash to fire at the end of the exposure a fraction of an instant before the second or rear curtain of the focal plane shutter begins to move With slow shutter speeds this feature can create a blur effect from the ambient light showing as patterns that follow a mov ing subject with the subject shown sharply frozen at the end of the blur trail If you were shooting a photo of The Flash the superhero would
356. mages 34 viewfinder information display 58 60 information displays image playback display 56 in LCD 55 58 in Live View 120 for movies 129 shooting settings display 56 57 infrared AF assist beam activating 234 initial setup 11 13 instruction manuals 9 Intense ambience 24 99 100 intensity of light 66 interface cables See USB cables interleaving shots on memory cards 351 352 International Commission on Illumination CIE 188 interval photography 153 154 inverse square law 278 279 invisible people with long exposures 149 iPad Camera Connection Kit for 170 171 Eye Fi card apps for 157 iPhone Eye Fi card apps for 157 IrfanView 336 ISO sensitivity See also Auto ISO high ISO noise adjusting 30 with built in flash 31 32 293 cross keys for setting 47 49 exposure adjusting 83 84 in Full Auto mode 75 in Live View information display 120 shooting settings display 57 viewfinder information display 59 60 J JPEG formats bias bracketing with 187 color space options 187 continuous shooting with 142 143 PhotoStitch with 330 331 Picture Styles with 192 RAW formats compared 169 171 Shooting menu settings 167 171 vignetting minimizing 174 jump cuts in movies 134 Jump feature 34 50 51 Playback menu options 214 215 K Kelvin scale 281 282 See also color temperature Kinkade Thomas 275 Kodak Gallery 155 gray cards 70 71 L L series lenses 254 255 Landscape mode
357. make an adjustment when using high shutter speeds or brief flash bursts Dont combine high shutter speeds with electronic flash You might be tempted to use an electronic flash with a high shutter speed Perhaps you want to stop some action in daylight with a brief shutter speed and use electronic flash only as sup plemental illumination to fill in the shadows Unfortunately under most condi tions you cant use flash in subdued illumination with your T3 at any shutter speed faster than 1 200th second That the fastest speed at which the cameras focal plane shutter is fully open at shorter speeds the slit described above comes into play so that the flash will expose only the small portion of the sensor exposed by the slit during its duration Check out Avoiding Sync Speed Problems in Chapter 11 if you want to see how you can use shutter speeds shorter than 1 200th second with certain Canon Speedlites albeit at much reduced effective power levels Figure 7 2 Top the chop per s blades are frozen at 1 1 000th sec ond bottom a more realistic blurry rendi tion at 1 200th second shutter speed Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 145 Working with Short Exposures You can have a lot of fun exploring the kinds of pictures you can take using very brief exposure times whether you decide to take advantage of the action stopping capabili ties of your built in or external electronic flash or work with the Canon EOS T3 s faster shu
358. may be 12 to 14 percent depending on the vendor The most common explanation is that during a revi sion of Kodak s instructions for its gray cards in the 1970s the advice to open up an extra half stop was omitted and a whole generation of shooters grew up thinking that a meas urement off a gray card could be used as is The proviso returned to the instructions by 1987 it s said but by then it was too late Next to me is a c 2006 version of the instruc tions for KODAK Gray Cards Publication R 27Q and the current directions read with a bit of paraphrasing from me in italics m For subjects of normal reflectance increase the indicated exposure by 1 2 stop m For light subjects use the indicated exposure for very light subjects decrease the exposure by 1 2 stop That is youre measuring a cat thats lighter than middle gray m If the subject is dark to very dark increase the indicated exposure by 1 to 1 1 2 stops Youve shooting a black cat 72 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Choosing a Metering Method To calculate exposure automatically you need to tell the T3 where in the frame to meas ure the light this is called the metering method and what controls should be used aper ture shutter speed or both to set the exposure That s called exposure mode and includes Program P Shutter priority Tv Aperture priority Av or Manual M options plus Auto and Creative Aut
359. mer Continuous which allows you to press the up down cross keys to specify a number of shots to be taken from 2 to 10 once the timer runs its course see Figure 2 8 Press the SET button to confirm your choice and a self timer icon will appear on the shooting settings display on the back of the Rebel T3 Press the shutter release to lock focus and start the timer The self timer lamp will blink and the beeper will sound unless you ve silenced it in the menus until the final two seconds when the lamp remains on and the beeper beeps more rapidly Canon recommends slipping off the eyepiece cup and replacing it with the viewfinder cap in order to keep extraneous light from reaching the exposure meter through the viewfinder back door I usually just shade the viewfinder window with my hand if Figure 2 8 The drive modes include left to right Single shoot ing Contin uous shooting Self timer 10 sec Self timer 2 sec Self timer Contin uous which takes multiple shots when the self timer s delay has elapsed Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 31 Drive mode Self timer Continuous v 92 Pm using the self timer to reduce camera shake for a long exposure or drape a jacket or sweater over the back of the camera if I m scurrying to get into the picture myself Using the Built in Flash Working with the EOS T3 s built in flash as well as external flash units like the Canon 270EX II
360. mera is at least partially pooped out so you ll want to revive it before going out for some serious shooting There are many situations in which you ll be glad you have that spare battery m Remote locales If you like to backpack and will often be far from a source of elec tricity rechargeable cells won t be convenient They tend to lose some charge over time even if not used and will quickly become depleted as you use them You ll have no way to recharge the cells lacking a solar powered charger that might not be a top priority for your backpacking kit m Unexpected needs Perhaps you planned to shoot landscapes one weekend and then are given free front row tickets to a Major League Soccer game Instead of a few dozen pictures of trees and lakes you find yourself shooting hundreds of images of Landon Donovan and company which may be beyond the capacity of the sin gle battery you own If you have a spare battery you re in good shape m Unexpected failures I ve charged up batteries and then discovered that they did nt work when called upon usually because the rechargeable cells had past their use ful life the charger didn t work or because of human error I thought I d charged them That s one reason why I always carry three times as many batteries as I think I will need m Long shooting session Perhaps your niece is getting married and you want to photograph the ceremony receiving line and reception Several extra batteri
361. mething that you do Memory cards are small and easy to misplace if youre not careful For that reason it s a good idea to keep them in their original cases or a card safe offered by Gepe www gepecard safe com Pelican www pelican com and others Always placing your memory card in a case can provide protection from the second most common mishap that befalls memory cards the common household laundry If you slip a memory card in a pocket rather than a case or your camera bag often enough sooner or later it s going to end up in the washing machine and probably the clothes dryer too There are plenty of reports of relieved digital camera owners who ve laundered their memory cards and found they still worked fine but it s not uncommon for such mistreatment to do some damage Memory cards can also be stomped on accidentally bent dropped into the ocean chewed by pets and otherwise rendered unusable in myriad ways It s also possible to force a card into your T3 s memory card slot incorrectly if you re diligent enough doing little a damage to the card itself or slot Or if the card is formatted in your computer with a memory card reader your T3 may fail to recognize it Occasionally I ve found that a memory card used in one camera would fail if used in a different camera until I reformatted it in Windows and then again in the camera Every once in awhile a card goes completely bad and seemingly cant be salvaged Chapter 13 m
362. might measure the illumination bouncing off the white cat and try to render that feline as a middle gray A lot of light is reflected by the white kitty so the exposure is reduced bringing that cat closer to a middle gray tone The cats that were originally gray and black are now rendered too dark Clearly measuring the gray cat or a substitute that reflects about the same amount of light is the only way to ensure that the exposure is precisely correct See Figure 4 6 As you can see the ideal way to measure exposure is to meter from a subject that reflects 12 18 percent of the light that reaches it If you want the most precise exposure calcu lations if you don t have a gray cat handy the solution is to use a stand in such as the evenly illuminated gray card I mentioned earlier But because the standard Kodak gray Figure 4 5 When exposure is calculated based on the black cat at the left the black cat looks gray the gray cat appears to be a light gray and the white cat is seriously over exposed Figure 4 6 When exposure is calculated based on the white cat on the right the other two cats are underexposed Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 71 card reflects 18 percent of the light that reaches it and as I said your camera is cali brated for a somewhat darker 12 percent tone you would need to add about one half stop more exposure than the value metered from the card Another substitute for a gr
363. mirror found in APS C cameras with elements of shorter focal length lenses wide angles that extended into the camera space that was off limits in other models because the mirror passed through that territory as it flipped up to expose the shutter and sensor Canon even calls its flip up reflector a half mirror In short so to speak the EF S mount made it easier to design less expensive wide angle lenses that could be used oz y with 1 6X crop cameras and featured a simpler design and reduced coverage area suitable for those non full frame models The new mount made it possible to produce lenses like the ultra wide EF S 10 22mm f 3 5 4 5 USM lens which has the equivalent field of view as a 16mm 35mm zoom on a full frame camera See Figure 10 4 Suitable cameras for EF S lenses include all recent non full frame models The EF S lenses cannot be used on the APS C sensor EOS 10D the 1D Mark II N Mark III which have a 28 7mm x 19 1mm APS H sensor with a 1 3X crop factor or any of the full frame digital or film EOS models such as the EOS 1Ds Mark III or EOS 5D Mark II It s easy to tell an EF lens from an EF S lens The latter incorporate EF S into their name Plus EF lenses have a raised red dot on the barrel that is used to align the lens with a matching dot on the camera when attaching the lens EF S lenses and com patible bodies use a white square instead Some EF S lenses also have a rubber ring at the attachment end that provid
364. movie making or playback The instructional screen quickly vanishes in a few seconds You can use this setting to enable or disable the Feature Guide I tend to find that it hangs around on my screen for much too long and blocks other information so I disabled it as soon as I became familiar with the T3 228 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Custom Functions Custom Functions the first choice in the Set up 3 menu see Figure 9 8 let you cus tomize the behavior of your camera in a variety of different ways ranging from whether or not the flash fires automatically to the function carried out when the SET button is pressed If you dont like the default way the camera carries out a particular task you just may be able to do something about it You can find the Custom Functions in their own screen with 10 choices divided into four groups of settings Exposure I C Fn 01 02 and 03 Image II C Fn 04 05 and 06 Autofocus Drive III C Fn 07 and 08 and Operation Others IV C Fn 09 and 10 The Roman numeral divisions within a single screen with a single line of choices seem odd until you realize that some other more upscale Canon EOS models such as the EOS 60D separate each of these groups into separate screens with larger numbers of options Each of the Custom Functions is set in exactly the same way so I m not going to bog you down with a bunch of illustrations showing how to make this setti
365. much if any of the ambient light contributes to a second non flash exposure Indeed if the camera or subject is moving you can end up with two distinct exposures in the same frame the sharply defined flash exposure and a second blurry ghost picture cre ated by the ambient light If you dont want that second exposure you should use the highest shutter speed that will synchronize with your flash that s 1 200th second with the Rebel T3 If you do want the ambient light to contribute to the exposure say to allow the background to register in night shots or to use the ghost image as a special effect use a slower Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 231 shutter speed For brighter backgrounds you ll need to put the camera on a tripod or other support to avoid the blurry ghosts m 0 Auto The T3 will vary the shutter speed in Av mode allowing ambient light to partially illuminate the scene in combination with the flash exposure Use a tripod because shutter speeds slower than 1 60th second may be selected m 1 1 200 1 60 sec auto The camera will use a shutter speed from 1 200th sec ond to virtually eliminate ambient light to 1 60th second to allow ambient light to illuminate the picture This compromise allows a slow enough shutter speed to permit ambient light to contribute to the exposure but blocks use of shutter speeds slower than 1 60th second to minimize the blurriness of the secondary ambi
366. multiple copies of the image on a single sheet When using Letter size 8 5 x 11 inch paper you can also elect to print 20 up and 35 up thumbnails of images you ve chosen using the DPOF options described later in this chapter The 20 up version will also include shooting infor mation such as camera and lens used shooting mode shutter speed aperture and other data Another press of the SET button confirms Paper Type and returns to the settings screen m Cancel Returns to the status screen seen in Figure 12 1 m Print Starts the printing process with the selected options The camera warns you not to disconnect the cable during printing To print another photo using the same settings just select it highlight Print and press the SET button Direct Print Order Format DPOF Printing If you dont want to print directly from the camera you can set some of the same options from the Playback 1 menus Print Order entry and designate single or multiple images on your memory card for printing Once marked for DPOF printing you can print the selected images or take your memory card to a digital lab or kiosk which is equipped to read the print order and make the copies you ve specified You can t order prints of RAW images or movies To create a DPOF print order just follow these steps 1 Access Print Order screen In the Playback 1 menu navigate to Print Order See Figure 12 3 Press SET 2 Access Set up The Print Order
367. n sider your options All Your Eggs in One Basket The debate about whether it s better to use one large memory card or several smaller ones has been going on since even before there were memory cards I can remember when computer users wondered whether it was smarter to install a pair of 200MB not gigabyte hard drives in their computer or if they should go for one of those new fan gled 500MB models By the same token a few years ago the user groups were full of proponents who insisted that you ought to use 128MB memory cards rather than the huge 512MB versions Today most of the arguments involve 8GB cards versus 16GB or 32GB cards and I expect that as prices for G amp GB memory cards continue to drop they ll find their way into the debate as well Size is especially important when you re using a camera like the T3 that captures 12 megapixel images Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 351 Why all the fuss Are 16GB memory cards more likely to fail than 8GB cards Are you risking all your photos if you trust your images to a larger card Isn t it better to use sev eral smaller cards so that if one fails you lose only half as many photos Or isn t it wiser to put all your photos onto one larger card because the more cards you use the better your odds of misplacing or damaging one and losing at least some pictures In the end the eggs in one basket argument boils down to statistics and how you hap pen
368. n all Inserting a Memory Card You can t take photos without a memory card inserted in your EOS Rebel T3 1100D although there is a Release Shutter without Card entry in Shooting 1 menu that enables disables shutter release functions when a memory card is absent learn about that in Chapter 8 So your final step will be to insert a memory card First open the battery compartment door You should only remove the memory card when the cam era is switched off but the T3 will remind you if the door is opened while the camera is still writing photos to the memory card Then insert the memory card with the label facing the back of the camera as shown in Figure 1 7 oriented so the edge with the connectors goes into the slot first Close the door and your pre flight checklist is done I m going to assume you remember to remove the lens cap when you re ready to take a picture When you want to remove the memory card later push it inward to make the memory card pop out Formatting a Memory Card There are three ways to create a blank memory card for your T3 and two of them are at least partially wrong Figure 1 7 Insert the memory in the slot with the label facing the back of the camera Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 17 Here are your options both correct and incorrect m Transfer move files to your computer When you transfer rather than copy all the image files to your computer from t
369. n and navigate to the Shooting 2 menu where you ll find the Expo Comp AEB option Press SET to select this choice 2 Set the bracket range Rotate the Main Dial to spread out or contract the three dots to include the desired range you want to cover For example with the dots clus tered tightly together the three bracketed exposures will be spread out over a sin gle stop Separating the cluster produces a wider range and larger exposure change between the three shots in the bracket set as shown in Figure 4 19 Brighter TO SA S 2 wily eo 40 0 1 A A a E a PTS ry Underexposure Metered exposure Overexposure 86 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 3 Adjust zero point By default the bracketing is zeroed around the center of the scale which represents the correct exposure But you might want to have your three bracketed shots all biased towards overexposure or underexposure Perhaps you feel that the metered exposure will be too dark or too light and you want the brack eted shots to lean in the other direction Use the left right cross keys to move the bracket spread towards one end of the scale or the other as shown in Figure 4 19 NON BRACKETING IS EXPOSURE COMPENSATION When the three bracket indicators aren t separated using the left right cross keys simply in effect adds or subtracts exposure compensation You ll be shooting a bracketed set of one picture with the zero p
370. n off the power switch or touch any of the T3 s buttons See Figure 13 7 10 When the update complete screen appears Figure 13 8 you can turn off the EOS T3 remove the AC adapter if used and replace or recharge the battery Then turn the camera on to boot up your camera with the new firmware update 11 Be sure to reformat the card before returning it to regular use to remove the firmware software Firmware update program Firmware update program Please select new firmware version Current version is 1 0 0 T300101 FIR Update Firmware PAO oes Cancel Figure 13 5 Figure 13 6 348 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Firmware update program Firmware update program Updating now Update is complete 10 done 1 0 0 gt 1 0 1 Warning DO NOT turn off OK the power switch or touch any buttons Figure 13 7 Figure 13 8 Using Direct Camera USB Link to Copy the Software The procedure is slightly different and a little more automated if you choose to trans fer the firmware software to the camera through a USB linkup Follow these instruc tions to get started 1 Connect the camera with a freshly charged battery or attached to AC Adapter to the computer using the USB cable and turn it on 2 Load the EOS Utility 3 Click the Camera Settings Remote Shooting button 4 Select the Firmware Update option When the Update Firmware window appears at the bottom of the EO
371. n remote release switches timers and wireless controllers into this connector USB Video out port Plug in the USB cable furnished with your Rebel T3 and connect the other end to a USB port in your computer to transfer photos Or connect the AV cable and connect your camera to a television to view your photos on a large screen Note that some previous Rebel models used two separate ports with different connectors for this pair of functions They were combined to make room for the HDMI port HDMI port Use a Type C HDMI cable not included in the box with your cam era to direct the video and audio output of the T3 to a high definition television HDTV or HD monitor The Canon EOS Rebel T3 s Business End The back panel of the Rebel T3 see Figure 3 7 bristles with more than a dozen differ ent controls buttons and knobs That might seem like a lot of controls to learn but youll find as I noted earlier that it s a lot easier to press a dedicated button and spin a dial than to jump to a menu every time you want to change a setting You can see the controls clustered on the left two thirds of the T3 in Figure 3 7 The key buttons and components and their functions are as follows Viewfinder eyepiece You can frame your composition by peering into the viewfinder It s surrounded by a soft rubber frame that seals out extraneous light when pressing your eye tightly up to the viewfinder and it also protects your eye glass lenses if wo
372. n t be tweaked as extensively or as easily as that of a sensor Electronic Flash Basics Until you delve into the situation deeply enough it might appear that serious photog raphers have a love hate relationship with electronic flash You ll often hear that flash photography is less natural looking and that the built in flash in most cameras should never be used as the primary source of illumination because it provides a harsh garish look Indeed most pro cameras like the Canon EOS 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III dont have a built in flash at all Available continuous lighting is praised and built in flash photography seems to be roundly denounced In truth however the bias is against bad flash photography Indeed flash has become the studio light source of choice for pro photographers because it s more intense and its intensity can be varied to order by the photographer freezes action frees you from 286 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography using a tripod unless you want to use one to lock down a composition and has a snappy consistent light quality that matches daylight While color balance changes as the flash duration shortens some Canon flash units can communicate to the camera the exact white balance provided for that shot And even pros will cede that the built in flash of the Rebel T3 has some important uses as an adjunct to existing light partic ularly to illuminate
373. n when released with the T3 but it is by and large the same basic kit lens that entry level shooters have grown to love over the years It has image stabilization that can counter camera shake by providing the vibration stopping capabilities of a shutter speed four stops faster than the one you ve dialed in That is with image stabilization activated you can shoot at 1 30th second and eliminate camera shake as if you were using a shutter speed of 1 250th second At least thats what Canon claims I usually have slightly less impressive results Of course IS doesn t freeze subject motion that basketball player driving for a layup will still be blurry at 1 30th second even though the effects of camera shake will be effectively nullified But this lens is an all around good choice if your budget is tight Canon introduced a Mark II version of this lens in February 2011 with the EOS T3 and you may get that one with a new T3 purchased after that date If not never fear because the changes to the II version are cosmetic only involving a lighter weight construction To further confuse things Canon also has introduced a Mark III version of the lens without image stabilization as a way to reduce costs for its entry level EOS T3 I don t recommend it as a way to cut cor ners if you can find one available separately m Canon EF S 17 85mm f 4 5 6 IS USM Autofocus lens This lens is a very pop ular basic lens sold for the T3 The allure here is
374. nation of 101 114 in Live Mode 208 in Live View 119 120 phase detection system 102 105 USM ultrasonic motor lenses and 254 AF assist lamp with built in flash 293 295 Custom Function for activating 234 disabling 295 297 298 enabling 295 in Flash Off mode 294 AF MF switch on lens 42 55 56 108 AF point selection button 49 114 AFD arc form drive lenses 255 AI Focus AF 28 explanation of 113 in Quick mode 122 AI Servo AE 28 continuous shooting in 142 explanation of 113 in Quick mode 122 air blowers See bulb blowers air cleaning sensors 361 363 Alien Bees monolights 314 Ringflash 309 310 triggering voltage of units 314 ambience 24 in Basic Zone modes 98 100 in Creative Auto CA mode 97 in Landscape mode 98 in Live View 99 100 124 previewing 99 100 selecting 99 amp noise 148 Android smartphone Eye Fi card apps for 157 angles in movies 134 right angle viewer 10 with telephoto lenses 268 with wide angle lenses 263 aperture constant aperture lens 250 in Live View information display 120 shooting settings display 57 viewfinder information display 59 aperture priority mode See Av Aperture priority mode Apple Camera Connection Kit for iPad 170 171 APS C sensors 252 architectural photography invisible people long exposures for 149 stepping back effect with wide angle lenses 262 264 aspherical lenses 265 AT amp T WiFi hotspots 155 audio See also microphone capt
375. nd held photography countering the shakiness the camera and photographer produce and which telephoto lenses magnify However IS is not limited to long lenses the feature works like a champ at the 17mm zoom position of Canons EF S 17 85mm f 4 5 6 IS USM and EF S 17 55mm f 2 8 IS USM lenses Other Canon IS lenses provide stabilization with zooms that are as wide as 24 28mm Image stabilization provides you with camera steadiness that s the equivalent of at least two or three shutter speed increments Canon claims four which I feel may be opti mistic This extra margin can be invaluable when youre shooting under dim lighting conditions or hand holding a long lens for say wildlife photography Perhaps that shot of a foraging deer calls for a shutter speed of 1 1 000th second at f 5 6 with your EF 100 400mm f 4 5 5 6L IS USM lens Relax You can shoot at 1 250th second at f 11 and get virtually the same results as long as the deer doesnt decide to bound off Or maybe you re shooting a high school play without a tripod or monopod and youd really really like to use 1 15th second at f 4 Assuming the actors aren t flitting around the stage at high speed your 17mm 85mm IS lens can grab the shot for you at its wide angle position However keep these facts in mind m IS doesn t stop action Image stabilization applies only to camera shake You still need a fast shutter speed to freeze action IS works great in low light when youre using long le
376. nerally safer than a can of compressed air or a strong positive negative airflow which can tend to drive dust further into nooks and crannies Be prepared If you re embarking on an important shooting session it s a good idea to clean your sensor now rather than come home with hundreds or thousands of images with dust spots caused by flecks that were sitting on your sensor before you even started Before I left on my recent trip to Spain I put both cameras I was tak ing through a rigid cleaning regimen figuring they could remain dust free for a measly 10 days I even left my bulky blower bulb at home It was a big mistake but my intentions were good Clone out existing spots in your image editor Photoshop and other editors have a clone tool or healing brush you can use to copy pixels from surrounding areas over the dust spot or dead pixel This process can be tedious especially if you have lots of dust spots and or lots of images to be corrected The advantage is that this sort of manual fix it probably will do the least damage to the rest of your photo Only the cloned pixels will be affected Use filtration in your image editor A semi smart filter like Photoshop s Dust amp Scratches filter can remove dust and other artifacts by selectively blurring areas that the plug in decides represent dust spots This method can work well if you have many dust spots because you wont need to patch them manually However any automated method like
377. ng back in the 70s this shot was described as the big talking face shot and we were actively discouraged from employing it Styles and tastes change over the years and now the big talking face is much more commonly used maybe people are better looking these days and so this view may be appropriate Just remember your camera is capable of 136 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 6 13 A close up generally shows the full face with a little head room at the top and down to the shoulders at the bottom of the frame left an extreme close up is a very tight shot that cuts off everything above the top of the head and below the chin right shooting in high definition video and you may be playing the video on a high def TV be careful that you use this composition on a face that can stand up to high definition See Figure 6 13 right m Two shot A two shot shows a pair of subjects in one frame See Figure 6 14 left They can be side by side or one in the foreground and one in the background This does not have to be a head to ground composition Subjects can be standing or seated A three shot is the same principle except that three people are in the frame m Over the shoulder shot Long a composition of interview programs the Over the shoulder shot uses the rear of one person s head and shoulder to serve as a frame for the other person This puts the viewer s perspective as
378. ng or that One quick run through using Figure 9 9 should be enough Here are the key parts of the Custom Functions screen m Custom Functions category At the top of the settings screen is a label that tells you which category that screen represents elletletje ram Custom Functions C Fn Copyright information Clear settings Firmware Ver 1 0 0 Figure 9 8 The Set up 3 menu has four options Figure 9 9 Each C Fn screen has from two to six set tings repre sented by the numbers at the bottom of the screen The currently selected func tion has a gold line above it Current setting C Fn currently selected Current setting of the custom function above Chapter 9 m Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 229 Custom Name of function currently selected Available Fn currently category custom function settings selected sure in Av mode Flash sync 0 Auto pee 2 1 200sec fixed m Current Function name Use the left right cross keys to select the function you want to adjust The name of the function currently selected appears at the top of the screen and its number is marked with an overscore in the row of numbers at the bottom of the screen You don t need to memorize the function numbers m Function currently selected The function number appears in two places In the upper right corner you ll find a box with the current function clearly designated In the lower half o
379. ng receiver that s connected to your flash unit The receiver has both a PC con nector of its own as well as a monoplug connector it looks like a headphone plug that links to a matching port on compatible flash units Finally some flash units have an optical slave trigger built in or can be fitted with one so that they fire automatically when another flash including your cameras built in unit fires Other Lighting Accessories Once you start working with light you ll find there are plenty of useful accessories that can help you Here are some of the most popular that you might want to consider Soft Boxes Soft boxes are large square or rectangular devices that may resemble a square umbrella with a front cover and produce a similar lighting effect They can extend from a few feet square to massive boxes that stand five or six feet tall virtually a wall of light With a flash unit or two inside a soft box you have a very large semi directional light source that s very diffuse and very flattering for portraiture and other people photography 316 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Soft boxes are also handy for photographing shiny objects They not only provide a soft light but if the box itself happens to reflect in the subject say youre photographing a chromium toaster the box will provide an interesting highlight that s indistinct and not distracting You can buy soft boxes like
380. ng settings 239 Live View settings 240 movie settings 240 for printing 323 shooting settings 239 degrees Kelvin 281 282 See also color temperature delayed exposures 152 154 See also self timer time lapse interval photography 153 154 deleting copyright information 237 My Menu options 241 242 Playback menu s Erase Images options 211 Delkin flip up hoods for LCD 350 depth of focus and dust 357 diffraction optics DO technology 260 diffusers 312 diffusing light 310 312 DIGIT 4 cards 174 Digital Image Recovery 352 Digital Photo Professional 169 333 335 336 Dust Delete Data information and 205 207 EOS Utility downloading images from 326 Picture Style Editor with 201 203 vignetting minimizing 174 working with 328 329 diopter correction adjusting 15 16 diopter wheel for 45 46 Index 385 Dioptric Adjustment Lens Series E correction lenses 16 45 Direct print button 47 48 DISP button 24 46 47 histograms displaying 92 making settings with 30 dissolves in movies 135 distance AF assist lamp and 294 with built in flash 293 lens scale on 54 55 distortion barrel distortion 265 266 bowing outward lines with wide angle lenses 265 266 converging lines with wide angle lenses 265 pincushion distortion with telephoto lenses 269 with wide angle lenses 263 264 DOF depth of field See also A DEP Automatic depth of field mode bokeh and 269 270 circles of confu
381. ng the Main Dial quickly enough after you tap the shut ter release button try the second method for making EV changes with the T3 It can be a little slower but gives you more time to dial in your EV adjustment You also have the option of setting exposure bracketing at the same time 1 Press the MENU button and navigate to the Expo Comp AEB entry on the Shooting 2 menu 2 When the screen appears press the left right cross keys to add or subtract EV adjust ment The screen has helpful labels Darker on the left and Brighter on the right to make sure you re adding subtracting when you really want to Note that you can also set automatic exposure bracketing as discussed in Chapter 8 by rotating the Main Dial while viewing this screen See Figure 4 17 3 Press SET to confirm your choice Manual Exposure Part of being an experienced photographer comes from knowing when to rely on your Rebel T3 s automation including Full Auto Creative Auto or P mode when to go semi automatic with Tv or Av and when to set exposure manually using M Some photographers actually prefer to set their exposure manually as the T3 will be happy to provide an indication of when its metering system judges your settings provide the proper exposure using the analog exposure scale at the bottom of the viewfinder Manual exposure can come in handy in some situations You might be taking a silhou ette photo and find that none of the exposure modes or EV
382. nge cam era settings when your T3 is linked to your computer with the USB cable shoot remotely with a Live View image previewed on your computer screen and monitor fold ers for new images Control Camera Accessories Starts to download images Lets you select and download images Camera settings Remote shooting Monitor Folder CE cut Figure 12 5 The EOS Utility s main screen is your command cen ter for a variety of functions Figure 12 6 The download utility allows transfer of pho tos from your camera or memory card to Digital Photo Pro fessional or ZoomBrowser EX Figure 12 7 The EOS Utility gives you direct control of camera settings for remote shooting Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 327 The most used of these options will probably be the download utility shown in Figure 12 6 But many will appreciate the Camera Settings Remote Shooting module that allows you to link your computer with the T3 and use a dialog box see Figure 12 7 to change camera settings and to control the camera for remote shooting You can have File Edit View Window Help Show only selected image Invert selection 100 0049 100 0050 100 0052 100 0053 aloes tt oO EERE KA KAKARI KA B SHIFT 0 0 N N aberration corr Live View shoot Other Functions 328 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photog
383. nges have been made m Shutter speed aperture readouts Most of the time these readouts show the cur rent shutter speed and aperture This pair can also warn you of memory card con ditions full error or missing ISO speed flash exposure lock and a buSY indicator when the camera is busy doing other things including flash recycling m Exposure level indicator This scale shows the current exposure level with the bot tom indicator centered when the exposure is correct as metered The indicator may also move to the left or right to indicate under or overexposure respectively The scale is also used to show the amount of EV and flash EV adjustments the num ber of stops covered by the current automatic exposure bracketing range and is used as a red eye reduction lamp indicator 60 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m ISO sensitivity This useful indicator shows the current ISO setting value Those who have accidentally taken dozens of shots under bright sunlight at ISO 1600 because they forgot to change the setting back after some indoor shooting will treas ure this addition m B W indicator Illuminates when the Monochrome Picture Style is being used There s no way to restore color when you re shooting JPEGs without RAW so this indicator is another valuable warning m White balance correction Shows that white balance has been tweaked m Maximum burst available Changes to a number to
384. ngsten light Light from ordinary room lamps and ceiling fixtures as opposed to flu orescent illumination underexposure A condition in which too little light reaches the film or sensor pro ducing a thin negative a dark slide a muddy looking print or a dark digital image unsharp masking The process for increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels in an image increasing sharpness especially around edges vignetting Dark corners of an image often produced by using a lens hood that is too small for the field of view a lens that does not completely fill the image frame or gen erated artificially using image editing techniques white balance The adjustment of a digital camera to the color temperature of the light source Interior illumination is relatively red outdoor light is relatively blue Digital cameras like the EOS T3 set correct white balance automatically or let you do it through menus Image editors can often do some color correction of images that were exposed using the wrong white balance setting especially when working with RAW files that contain the information originally captured by the camera before white balance was applied A A DEP Automatic depth of field mode 23 built in flash in 33 292 exposure choices in 76 77 focus points in 28 113 viewfinder information in 77 AC adapters power 10 13 for monolights 313 for sensor cleaning 361 studio flash with 313 for time lapse photography 154 access
385. nience and if you use four or more memory cards you ll find your pictures from each location scattered among the different memory cards If you lose or damage one you ll still have some pictures from all the various stops on your trip on the other cards That s more work than I like to do I usually tote around a portable hard disk and copy the files to the drive as I go but it s an option What Can Go Wrong There are lots of things that can go wrong with your memory card but the ones that arent caused by human stupidity are statistically very rare Yes a memory card s inter nal bit bin or controller can suddenly fail due to a manufacturing error or some inex plicable event caused by old age However if your memory card works for the first week or two that you own it it should work forever There s really not a lot that can wear out The typical memory card is rated for a Mean Time Between Failures of 1 000 000 hours of use That s constant use 24 7 for more than 100 years According to the manufac turers they are good for 10 000 insertions in your camera and should be able to retain their data and that s without an external power source for something on the order of 11 years Of course with the millions of memory cards in use there are bound to be a few lemons here or there Given the reliability of solid state memory compared to magnetic memory though it s more likely that your memory problems will stem from so
386. ning and you can do just fine with your camera Within those compositional restraints you still have a great deal of flexibility It only takes a second or two for an establishing shot to impart the necessary information For example many of the scenes for a video documenting a model being photographed in a Rock and Roll music setting might be close ups and talking heads but an establish ing shot showing the studio where the video was captured helps set the scene Provide variety too Change camera angles and perspectives often and never leave a static scene on the screen for a long period of time You can record a static scene for a rea sonably long period and then edit in other shots that cut away and back to the longer scene with close ups that show each person talking When editing keep transitions basic I cant stress this one enough Watch a television program or movie The action jumps from one scene or person to the next Fancy Chapter 6 B Live View and Movies 135 transitions that involve exotic wipes dissolves or cross fades take too long for the aver age viewer and make your video ponderous Here s a look at the different types of commonly used compositional tools m Establishing shot Much like it sounds this type of composition establishes the scene and tells the viewer where the action is taking place Let s say you re shooting a video of your offspring s move to college the establishing shot could be a
387. noise reduction is used This will increase the grainy appearance but preserve more fine image detail m 2 Strong More aggressive noise reduction is used at the cost of some image detail adding a mushy appearance that may be noticeable and objectionable Because of the image processing applied by this setting your continuous shooting maximum burst will decrease significantly m 3 Disable No additional noise reduction will be applied C Fn Il 05 Improving Detail in Highlights Highlight Tone Priority This setting concentrates the available tones in an image from the middle grays up to the brightest highlights in effect expanding the dynamic range of the image at the expense of shadow detail Youd want to activate this option when shooting subjects in which there is lots of important detail in the highlights and less detail in shadow areas Highlight tones will be preserved while shadows will be allowed to go dark more readily and may exhibit an increase in noise levels Bright beach or snow scenes especially those with few shadows think high noon when the shadows are smaller can benefit from using Highlight Tone Priority m 0 Disable The Rebel T3 s normal dynamic range is applied m 1 Enable Highlight areas are given expanded tonal values while the tones avail able for shadow areas are reduced The ISO 100 sensitivity setting is disabled and only ISO 200 ISO 6400 are available You can tell that this restriction is
388. ns green objects such as leaves Human skin may appear lighter than normal The Green filter has the opposite effect on 200 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography leaves making them appear lighter in tone Figure 8 26 shows the same scene shot with no filter then Yellow Green and Red filters The Sepia Blue Purple and Green Toning Effects on the other hand all add a color cast to your monochrome image Use these when you want an old time look or a special effect without bothering to recolor your shots in an image editor Figure 8 27 shows the various Toning Effects available Figure 8 27 Select from among four color filters in the Mono chrome Picture Style including Sepia top left Blue top right Purple lower left and Green lower right Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 201 Adjusting Styles with the Picture Style Editor If youd rather edit Picture Styles in your computer the Picture Style Editor shown in Figure 8 28 supplied for your camera in versions for both Windows and Macs allows you to create your own custom Picture Styles or edit existing styles including the Standard Landscape Faithful and other predefined settings already present in your Rebel T3 You can change sharpness contrast color saturation and color tone and a lot more and then save the modifications as a PF2 file that can be uploaded to the camera or used by D
389. nses 265 CIPA Camera amp Imaging Products Association 11 circles of confusion 108 110 clarity slider Adobe Camera Raw 340 cleaning See also sensor cleaning lenses 358 vestibule 359 Clear Picture Style 205 Clear settings options Set up menus 238 240 clipping 193 RGB histogram information 212 213 cloning out dust spots 359 Close up mode 23 exposure choices in 95 close ups lenses for 257 in movies 135 136 ring lites for 309 telephoto lenses for 267 CMOS sensors 90 Collins Dean 275 color fringes See chromatic aberration color management 189 190 color rendering index CRI of compact fluorescent lights CFLs 283 of fluorescent light 284 color sampler with Adobe Camera Raw 338 color spaces Bibble Professional supporting 337 camera functions display 58 Shooting menu options 187 190 color temperature See also WB white balance of continuous light 281 285 of incandescent light 282 Index 383 color tone parameter Picture Styles 193 194 Colormunki X Rite 190 CombineZM 159 compact fluorescent lights CFLs 283 compression See also JPEG formats with telephoto lenses 268 computers See also transferring images to computer formatting memory cards in 17 Live View shooting with 117 constant aperture lens 250 contents of box 7 9 continuous autofocus See AI Servo AF continuous file numbering 223 continuous light basics of 281 285 cost considerations 279 evenness of illum
390. nses and for macro photography It s not always the best choice for action photography unless you re willing to let subject motion become part of your image as in Figure 10 15 In other situations you may need enough light to allow a sufficiently high shutter speed But in that case IS can make your shot even sharper IS slows you down The process of adjusting the lens elements takes time just as autofocus does so you might find that IS adds to the lag between when you press the shutter and when the picture is actually taken That s another reason why image stabilization might not be a good choice for sports Use when appropriate Some IS lenses produce worse results if you use them while youre panning although newer Canon IS lenses have a mode that works fine when the camera is deliberately moved from side to side or up and down during expo sure Older lenses can confuse the motion with camera shake and overcompensate You might want to switch off IS when panning or when your camera is mounted on a tripod m Do you need IS at all Remember that an inexpensive monopod might be able to provide the same additional steadiness as an IS lens at a much lower cost If you re out in the field shooting wild animals or flowers and think a tripod isn t practical try a monopod first 274 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography IMAGE STABILIZATION IN THE CAMERA OR IN THE LENS Sony s acquisition of Koni
391. nt is shown as a blue indicator so you can return to that value quickly Press SET again to confirm your change then press the MENU button twice to exit m E TTL II meter Choose Evaluative metering in which the camera analyzes the scene type and intelligently calculates the best overall exposure or Average meter ing which simply provides an exposure based on the average reflectance of the entire scene External Flash Function Setting You can access this menu only when you have a compatible electronic flash attached and switched on The first six settings available are shown in Figure 8 12 If you press the DISP button while adjusting flash settings both the changes made to the settings of an attached external flash and to the built in flash will be cleared m Flash mode This entry allows you to set the flash mode for the external flash from E TTL IL Manual flash MULTI flash TTL AutoExtFlash and Man Ext flash The first three are identical to the built in flash modes described earlier The sec ond three are optional metering modes available with certain flash units such as the 580 EX II and are provided for those with a special need for one of those less sophisticated flash metering systems While I don t recommend any of the latter three you can find more information about them in your flash s manual Figure 8 12 External flash units can be controlled from the Canon Rebel T3 using this menu Chapter 8 m Customizing w
392. nts 105 106 CR2 RAW format 336 curving inward lines with telephoto lenses 269 Custom Functions 228 236 AE L AF L lock settings for partially releasing 234 235 AF assist lamp activating 233 234 available functions 229 current settings 230 currently selected functions 229 Exposure level increment settings 230 for external flash 182 305 Flash button assignments 236 high ISO noise eliminating 233 Highlight Tone Priority 233 key parts of screen 228 229 LCD display when power on 236 long exposure noise reduction 231 232 names 229 option selections 230 SET button assignments 235 236 Shutter release button settings for partially releasing 234 235 sync speed in Av Aperture priority mode setting 230 231 custom WB white balance Shooting menu 185 cyanotype ambience 99 Dali Salvador 145 dark frame subtraction 91 Darker ambience 24 99 100 darkness long exposures for 152 Datacolor s Spyder products 190 dates and times camera functions display 58 jumping through images by 50 214 printing imprints for 323 Set up menu Date Time options 226 227 setting 18 19 David Busch s Digital SLR Pro Secrets 355 David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Lighting 310 dawn color temperature at 282 283 daylight color temperature of 281 282 DC power port 41 default settings 239 240 Basic Zone mode default settings highlighting 98 camera settings 239 240 image recordi
393. number of images using the Index mode described in the section that follows this list The Reduce Image Zoom Out button in full frame view switches from single image to display of four or nine reduced size thumbnails To change from a larger number of thumbnails to a smaller number from nine to four to single image for exam ple press the Zoom In button until the display you want appears Cruising Through Index Views You can navigate quickly among thumbnails representing a series of images using the T35 Index mode Here are your options Display thumbnails Press the Playback button to display an image on the color LCD If you last viewed your images using Index mode an Index array of four or nine reduced size images appears automatically see Figure 2 11 If an image pops up full screen in Single Image mode press the Reduce Image button once to view four thumbnails or twice to view nine thumbnails You can switch between four nine and single images by pressing the Reduce Image button to see more smaller versions of your images and the Magnify Enlarge button to see fewer larger ver sions of your images Navigate within a screen of index images In Index mode use the up down left right cross keys to move the blue highlight box around within the current Index display screen View more Index pages To view additional Index pages rotate the Main Dial The display will leap ahead or back by the Jump increment you ve set in the Playba
394. ny would face lawsuits from those whod contend they did it exactly in the way the vendor suggested so the ruined camera is not their fault If you visit Canons website or peruse the manual you ll find this type of recommen dation If the image sensor needs cleaning we recommend having it cleaned at a Canon service center as it is a very delicate component You can see that vendors like Canon tend to be conservative in their recommendations and in doing so make it seem as if sensor cleaning is more daunting and dangerous than it really is Some vendors recommend only dust off cleaning through the use of reasonably gentle blasts of air while condemning more serious scrubbing with swabs and cleaning fluids However these cleaning kits for the exact types of cleaning they recommended against are for sale in Japan only where apparently your average pho tographer is more dexterous than those of us in the rest of the world These kits are sim ilar to those used by official repair staff to clean your sensor if you decide to send your camera in for a dust up As I noted sensors can be affected by dust particles that are much smaller than you might be able to spot visually on the surface of your lens The filters that cover sensors tend to be fairly hard compared to optical glass Cleaning the 22 0mm x 14 7mm sen sor in your Canon T3 within the tight confines of the mirror box can call for a steady hand and careful touch If your sensor s f
395. o Pll explain all these next But first I m going to introduce you to the three metering methods You can select any of the three if you re working with P Tv Av or M exposure modes if youre using Auto or Creative Auto Evaluative metering is selected automatically and cannot be changed 1 There are two ways to specify a metering method m Press the MENU button and navigate to the Shooting 2 menu a camera icon with two dots next to it The third entry is Metering mode Highlight it press SET and choose one of the two modes described below m Use the Quick Control key Q button to access the Quick Control screen and navigate to the metering mode section Then rotate the Main Dial to change the metering mode directly see Figure 4 7 ISO M 1 125 F80 100 3 2 1 9 1 2 0 Feel 3 UP ArFocus e RAWE a pUTy mj U bd Ve ANAOTOrIr rel Figure 4 7 The Quick Control screen is the fastest way to change metering mode and many other common settings Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 73 2 With any of these two methods you ll be choosing one of these options Evaluative Partial or Center weighted m Evaluative The T3 slices up the frame into 63 different zones shown as blue rec tangles in Figure 4 8 The zones used are linked to the autofocus system the 9 autofocus zones are also shown in the figure The camera evaluates the meas urements giving extra emphasis to the metering zones that indicat
396. o a phenomenon called amp noise which manifests itself as a purplish glow often around the edges of an image creating an aurora borealis style ghost effect Amp noise happens when the sensor heats up during a long exposure and some cameras fall victim more readily than others The EOS T3 resists this phenomenon better than most dSLRs but you should be aware it exists even if youd need to use an uncommon exposure on the order of 30 minutes or so to create the effect with your camera Bulb exposures This type of exposure is so called because in the olden days the photographer squeezed and held an air bulb attached to a tube that provided the force necessary to keep the shutter open Traditionally a bulb exposure is one that lasts as long as the shutter release button is pressed when you release the button the exposure ends To make a bulb exposure with the T3 set the camera on M using the Mode Dial then rotate the Main Dial all the way past the longest available shut ter speeds to the Bulb position Then press the shutter button to start the expo sure and release it again to close the shutter m Time exposures This is a setting found on some cameras to produce longer expo sures With cameras that implement this option the shutter opens when you press the shutter release button and remains open until you press the button again Usually you ll be able to close the shutter using a mechanical cable release or more commonly an
397. o ca dra 348 Troubleshooting Memory Cards 4 400 5 dea eae aw CROCO CREDERE 350 All Your Eggs in Ong Basket uere ae ER RECEN 350 What Can Go Wrong ix exces A RE eavdndede ude XAR ESAE 352 What Cam You DD expendi em etude x teste wea taste vies 353 Cleaning Your Sensor x renens adeue Che KOA Lae EEE AEE EE G 355 Dust the FAQs Ma US srete tre T CaN ra sean CHERRY 355 Identifying and Dealing with Dust 1 2224 20969 9E RRERUREE SS 337 Avoiding DOSE iaa dar De A Rd ea dace doa do ew 358 Sensor Cleaning psa fae ud oa TOERE ew ene EASE eK 360 Glossary 367 Index 379 Preface You don t want good pictures from your new Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D you demand outstanding photos After all the T3 1100D is one of the most affordable entry level cameras that Canon has ever introduced It has a useful 12 2 megapixels of reso lution fast automatic focus and cool features like the real time preview system called Live View and standard high definition 1280 x 720 pixel movie shooting But your gateway to pixel proficiency is dragged down by the slim little book included in the box as a manual You know everything you need to know is in there somewhere but you dont know where to start In addition the camera manual doesn t offer much infor mation on photography or digital photography Nor are you interested in spending hours or days studying a comprehensive book on digital SLR photography that doesn t necessarily apply directly to y
398. o option but unlike the other Basic Zone modes allows you to change the brightness and other parameters of the image The T3 still makes most of the decisions for you but you can make some simple adjustments using the Creative Auto setting screen that appears when you press the Q button located immediately to the right of the LCD and shown in Figure 2 2 You can find instructions for using this mode and the other shooting modes in Chapter 4 and a brief summary below Portrait Use this mode when youre taking a portrait of a subject standing rela tively close to the camera and want to de emphasize the background maximize sharpness and produce flattering skin tones m Landscape Select this mode when you want extra sharpness and rich colors of dis tant scenes Close up This modes settings are fine tuned for close up pictures ofa subject from about one foot away or less m Sports Use this mode to freeze fast moving subjects m Night Portrait Choose this mode when you want to illuminate a subject in the foreground with flash but still allow the background to be exposed properly by the available light Be prepared to use a tripod or an image stabilized IS lens to reduce the effects of camera shake You ll find more about IS and camera shake in Chapter 10 m Movie Use this mode to shoot videos in Live View If you have more photographic experience you might want to opt for one of the Creative Zone modes These too are desc
399. o snap off a series of shots in rapid succession which came in very handy when a fullback broke through the line and headed for the end zone Even a seasoned action photographer can miss the decisive instant when a crucial block is made or a baseball superstar s bat shat ters and pieces of cork fly out Continuous shooting simplifies taking a series of pic tures either to ensure that one has more or less the exact moment you want to capture or to capture a sequence that is interesting as a collection of successive images The T3 s motor drive capabilities are in many ways much superior to what you get with a film camera For one thing a motor driven film camera can eat up film at an incredible pace which is why many of them are used with cassettes that hold hundreds 142 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography of feet of film stock At three frames per second typical of film cameras a short burst of a few seconds can burn up as much as half of an ordinary 36 exposure roll of film Digital cameras in contrast have reusable film so if you waste a few dozen shots on non decisive moments you can erase them and shoot more Save only the best shots like the series shown in Figure 7 1 To use the T3 s Continuous shooting mode when using one of the Creative Zone modes press the DRIVE button the left cross key and use the cross keys to select the Continuous shooting icon When you partial
400. ocus there s an option that allows briefly flipping the mirror back down for autofocusing inter rupting Live View and then restoring the sensor preview image after focus is achieved You still have to avoid pointing your T3 at bright light sources especially the Sun when using Live View but the real time preview can be used for fairly long periods without frying the sensor Image quality can degrade but the camera issues a warning when the sensor starts to overheat Live View Essentials You may not have considered just what you can do with Live View because the capa bility is so novel But once you ve played with it you ll discover dozens of applications for this capability Here s a list of things to think about m Preview your images on a TV Connect your EOS T3 to a standard definition tel evision using the video cable or to an HDTV with the optional HDMI cable and you can preview your image on a large screen m Preview remotely Extend the cable between the camera and TV screen and you can preview your images some distance away from the camera Figure 6 1 Live View really shines on the Canon EOS T35 2 7 inch LCD Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 117 Shoot from your computer Canon gives you the software you need to control your camera from your computer so you can preview images and take pictures or movies without physically touching the EOS T3 Shoot from tripod or hand held Of course holding the camer
401. ode are all set for you Here are the modes available m Full Auto All the photographer has to do in this mode is press the shutter release button Every other decision is made by the cameras electronics m Flash Off Absolutely prevents the flash from flipping up and firing which you might want in some situations such as religious ceremonies museums classical music concerts and your double naught spy activities m Creative Auto Similar to Full Auto Creative Auto like the Scene modes described next allows you to change some parameters m Portrait This mode tends to use wider f stops and faster shutter speeds providing blurred backgrounds and images with no camera shake If you hold down the shut ter release the T3 will take a continuous sequence of photos which can be useful in capturing fleeting expressions in portrait situations m Landscape The T3 tries to use smaller f stops for more depth of field and boosts saturation slightly for richer colors m Close up This mode is similar to the Portrait setting with wider f stops to isolate your close up subjects and high shutter speeds to eliminate the camera shake that s accentuated at close focusing distances However if you have your camera mounted on a tripod or are using an image stabilized IS lens you might want to use the Creative Zone Aperture priority Av mode instead so you can specify a smaller f stop with additional depth of field 96 David Busch s Canon
402. oe to provide a PC X connector perhaps with a voltage regulator to con nect these flashes and use a shutter speed of 1 60th second or slower You should be aware that older electronic flash units sometimes use a triggering voltage that is too much for your T3 to handle You can actually damage the cameras electronics if the voltage is too high You won t need to worry about this if you purchase brand new units from Alien Bees Adorama or other vendors But if you must connect an exter nal flash with an unknown triggering voltage I recommend using a Wein Safe Sync see Figure 11 23 which isolates the flash s voltage from the camera triggering circuit and provides a PC X adapter for plugging in non dedicated flash units Figure 11 22 All in one monolights contain flash power supply and a modeling light in one compact pack age umbrella not included Chapter 11 m Working with Light 315 Figure 11 23 A voltage isolator can prevent Figure 11 24 A radio control device frees you from a sync frying your T3 s flash circuits if you use an older cord tether between your flash and camera electronic flash and provides a PC X connector which the Rebel T3 lacks Another safe way to connect external cameras is through a radio control device such as the popular Pocket Wizard products or the generic transmitter receiver set shown in Figure 11 24 It piggybacks onto the T3 s PC X connector and transmits a signal to a matchi
403. of a film or sensor to light measured using the ISO setting shadow The darkest part of an image represented on a digital image by pixels with low numeric values sharpening Increasing the apparent sharpness of an image by boosting the contrast between adjacent pixels that form an edge shutter In a conventional film camera the shutter is a mechanism consisting of blades a curtain a plate or some other movable cover that controls the time during which light reaches the film Digital cameras may use actual mechanical shutters for the slower shut ter speeds less than 1 200th second and an electronic shutter for higher speeds Shutter value Shutter priority An exposure mode represented by the letters Tv Time Value on the T3 s Mode Dial in which you set the shutter speed and the cam era determines the appropriate f stop See also Aperture value Aperture priority side lighting Applying illumination from the left or right sides of the camera See also backlighting and front lighting single autofocus The autofocus mode in which the camera locks focus once when the shutter button is pressed halfway and retains that focus point until the picture is taken or the button is released slave unit An accessory flash unit that supplements the main flash usually triggered electronically when the slave senses the actual light output by the main unit through radio waves or through a pre burst emitted by the cameras main flash unit sl
404. of the sensor Then a screen will appear asking you to press the shutter button Point the T3 at a solid white card with the lens set on manual focus and rotate the focus ring to infin ity When you press the shutter release the camera takes a photo of the card using Aperture priority and f 22 which provides enough depth of field actually in this case depth of focus to image the dust sharply The picture is not saved to your memory card but rather is stored in a special memory area in the camera Finally a Data obtained screen appears 206 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 31 Dust Delete Data is the first Dust Delete Data B ISO Auto Max 3200 _ Figure 8 32 Dust Delete Data Capture updated dust data for your sensor to allow ER Digital Photo Obtaining the data for Bet n to remove it erasing dust with software siomai Refer to Instuction Manual Updated MOTOS ATS OT NU OK Chapter 8 B Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 207 The Dust Delete Data information is retained in the camera until you update it by tak ing a new picture The T3 adds the information to each image file automatically ISO Auto When you select Auto for your ISO sensitivity setting the T3 will choose an ISO appro priate for the amount of illumination available that is a higher ISO in dimmer condi tions and a lower ISO for brighter scenes The actual ISO in u
405. off either because you ve pressed the DISP button or the T3 has gone to sleep In either case just press the DISP button again or tap the shutter release button The camera will then be ready to obey your commands Keep this in mind as a general rule I may not remind you at the start of each and every list of steps to wake up the camera You can adjust either one now by pressing the WB button the down cross key for white balance or the ISO button the up cross key and then using the cross keys to navigate until the setting you want appears on the LCD If you ve been playing with your cameras settings or your T3 has been used by some one else you can restore the factory defaults by selecting Clear Settings from the Set up 3 menu Just press the MENU button located just to the bottom right of the LCD press the right cross key until the yellow wrench icon with a vertical row of three dots is highlighted then press the down cross key to select Clear Settings A screen will pop up asking whether youd like to Clear All Camera Settings or Clear all Custom Func C Fn Choose the one youd like to reset and press the SET button Using the Self Timer If you want to set a short delay before your picture is taken you can use the self timer Press the drive left cross key and then press the right cross key to select from Self timer 10 sec which also can be used with the optional RS 60E3 wired remote Self timer 2 sec or Self ti
406. oices offered by the Canon EOS T3 Adobe RGB is an expanded color space useful for commercial and professional printing and it can reproduce a larger number of colors Canon recommends against using this color space if your images will be displayed primarily on your computer screen or output by your personal printer See also sRGB AEB Automatic exposure bracketing takes a series of pictures at different exposure incre ments to improve the chances of producing one picture that is perfectly exposed ambient lighting Diffuse non directional lighting that doesn t appear to come from a specific source but rather bounces off walls ceilings and other objects in the scene when a picture is taken analog digital converter The DIGIC 4 processes electronics built into a camera that convert the analog information captured by the T35 sensor into digital bits that can be stored as an image bitmap angle of view The area of a scene that a lens can capture determined by the focal length of the lens Lenses with a shorter focal length have a wider angle of view than lenses with a longer focal length anti alias A process that smoothes the look of rough edges in images called jaggies or staircasing by adding partially transparent pixels along the boundaries of diagonal lines that are merged into a smoother line by our eyes See also jaggies Aperture value Aperture priority A camera setting that allows you to specify the lens opening or f stop tha
407. oint placed at the portion of the scale you indicated Until you rotate the Main Dial to separate the three bracket indicators by at least one indicator this screen just supplies EV adjustment Also keep in mind that the increments shown will be either 1 3 stop or 1 2 stop depending on how you ve set C Fn I 01 4 Confirm your choice Press the SET button to enter the settings 5 Take your three photos You can use Single shooting mode to take the trio of pic tures yourself use the self timer which will expose all three pictures after the delay or switch to Continuous shooting mode to take the three pictures in a burst 6 Monitor your shots As the images are captured three indicators will appear on the exposure scale in the viewfinder with one of them flashing for each bracketed photo showing when the base exposure underexposure and overexposure are taken 7 Turn bracketing off when done Bracketing remains in effect when the set is taken so you can continue shooting bracketed exposures until you use the electronic flash turn off the camera or return to the menu to cancel bracketing Bracketing and Merge to HDR HDR High Dynamic Range photography is at the moment an incredibly popular fad There are even entire books that do nothing but tell you how to shoot HDR images If you aren t familiar with the technique HDR involves shooting two or three or more images at different bracketed exposures giving you an underexpos
408. om m Maximum aperture The largest f stop available with a particular lens is given in a string of numbers that might seem confusing at first glance For example you might see 1 1 8 for a fixed focal length prime lens and 1 4 5 5 6 for a zoom The initial 1 signifies that the f stop given is actually a ratio or fraction in regular 254 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography notation f replaces the 1 which is why a 1 2 or f 2 aperture is larger than a 1 4 or f 4 aperture just as 1 2 is larger than 1 4 With most zoom lenses the max imum aperture changes as the lens is zoomed to the telephoto position so a range is given instead 1 4 5 5 6 Some zooms called constant aperture lenses keep the same maximum aperture throughout their range Autofocus type Most newer Canon lenses that arent of the bargain basement type use Canons ultrasonic motor autofocus system more on that later and are given the USM designation If USM does not appear on the lens or its model name the lens uses the less sophisticated AFD arc form drive autofocus system or the micro motor MM drive mechanism Series Canon adds a Roman numeral to many of its products to represent an updated model with the same focal length or focal length range so some lenses will have a II or III added to their name Pro quality Canon s more expensive lenses with more rugged construction and higher optical quality intended fo
409. omas Edison s original electric lamp Such lights consist of a glass bulb that contains a vacuum or is filled with a halogen gas and contains a tungsten filament that is heated by an electrical current producing photons and heat Tungsten halogen lamps are a variation on the basic light bulb using a more rugged and longer lasting fila ment that can be heated to a higher temperature housed in a thicker glass or quartz envelope and filled with iodine or bromine halogen gases The higher temperature Chapter 11 m Working with Light 283 Figure 11 4 At dawn and dusk the color temperature of daylight may dip below 4 500K pro viding this red dish rendition ARE INCANDESCENT LAMPS ON THE WAY OUT Relax The effects of the Federal ban on conventional incandescent lamps are a lot less overwhelming than you might conclude from panicky news reports The law affects only medium base general service bulbs in 40 60 75 and 100 watt sizes Other lamp sizes base types and applications are safe including your 25 watt and 150 watt bulbs three way bulbs bug lights UV and black light bulbs plant lights appliance lamps shatter resistant bulbs and every bulb you might need for your chandeliers And the law doesn t ban incandescent bulbs after the 2012 2014 phase in such bulbs must be at least 25 per cent more energy efficient So the incandescent lamps you ll buy after that will have newer designs such as found in halogen
410. ome sort of deposit from the tip of the bulb ended up on the sensor I panicked until I discov ered that liquid cleaning did a good job of removing whatever it was that took up resi dence on my sensor You can make your own swabs out of pieces of plastic some use fast food restaurant knives with the tip cut at an angle to the proper size covered with a soft cloth or Pec Pad as shown in Figures 13 16 and 13 17 However if you ve got the bucks to spend ET Figure 13 16 You can make your own sensor swab Figure 13 17 Carefully wrap a Pec Pad around the from a plastic knife that s been truncated swab Figure 13 18 This SensorKlear magnifier pro vides a view of your sensor as you work Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 365 you cant go wrong with good quality commercial sensor cleaning swabs such as those sold by Photographic Solutions Inc www photosol com swabproduct htm You want a sturdy swab that won t bend or break so you can apply gentle pressure to the swab as you wipe the sensor surface Use the swab with methanol as pure as you can get it particularly medical grade other ingredients can leave a residue or the Eclipse solution also sold by Photographic Solutions Eclipse is actually quite a bit purer than even medical grade methanol A couple drops of solution should be enough unless you have a spot that s extremely difficult to remove In that case you may need to use extra so
411. ome subjects such as basketball players and tall buildings just lend themselves to vertical compositions But movies are shown in horizontal format only So if you re interviewing a local basketball star you can end up with a worst case situation like the one shown in Figure 6 11 Using the T3 s 1280 x 720 format you are limited to relatively wide frames If you want to show how tall your subject is it s often impractical to move back far enough to show him full length You really can t capture a vertical composition Tricks like getting down on the floor and shooting up at your subject can exaggerate the perspective but arent a perfect solution 134 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Wasted space at the sides Moving in to frame the basketball player as outlined by the yellow box in Figure 6 11 means that you re still forced to leave a lot of empty space on either side Of course you can fill that space with other people and or interesting stuff but that defeats your intent of concentrating on your main sub ject So when faced with some types of subjects in a horizontal frame you can be creative or move in really tight For example if I was willing to give up the height aspect of my composition I could have framed the shot as shown by the green box in the figure and wasted less of the image area at either side of the subject m Seamless or seamed transitions Unless you re te
412. ominent left and less obtrusive when they blend into the background right If you plan to use selective focus a lot you should investigate the bokeh characteristics of a particular lens before you buy Canon user groups and forums will usually be full of comments and questions about bokeh so the research is fairly easy Add ons and Special Features Once you ve purchased your telephoto lens you ll want to think about some appropri ate accessories for it There are some handy add ons available that can be valuable Here are a couple of them to think about Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 271 Lens Hoods Lens hoods are an important accessory for all lenses but they re especially valuable with telephotos As I mentioned earlier lens hoods do a good job of preserving image con trast by keeping bright light sources outside the field of view from striking the lens and potentially bouncing around inside that long tube to generate flare that when coupled with atmospheric haze can rob your image of detail and snap In addition lens hoods serve as valuable protection for that large vulnerable front lens element It s easy to for get that you ve got that long tube sticking out in front of your camera and accidentally whack the front of your lens into something It s cheaper to replace a lens hood than it is to have a lens repaired so you might find that a good hood is valuable protection for your prized optics When choosing a
413. on t tend to focus quite as close but they provide a bit of flexibility when you want to vary your subject dis tance say to avoid spooking a skittish creature 258 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Yr pav Ya 7 Figure 10 6 b An ultrawide angle lens pro vided this view of a castle in Prague Czech Republic Figure 10 7 This photo taken from roughly the same distance shows the view using a short telephoto lens Figure 10 8 A longer tele photo lens cap tured this closer view of the castle from approximately the same shoot ing position Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 259 m Look sharp Many lenses particularly Canon s luxury L line are prized for their sharpness and overall image quality While your run of the mill lens is likely to be plenty sharp for most applications the very best optics are even better over their entire field of view which means no fuzzy corners are sharper at a wider range of focal lengths in the case of zooms and have better correction for various types of distortion That s why the Canon EF 28 105mm f 3 5 4 5 II USM Zoom lens costs a couple hundred dollars while the similar in zoom range only Canon EF 24 105mm f 4L IS USM Zoom is priced 1 000 higher More speed Your Canon EF 100 300mm f 4 5 5 6 Telephoto Zoom lens might have the perfect focal length and sharpness for sports photography but the maxi mum ape
414. on provided or manually using a zoom button on the flash itself This setting is disabled when using a flash like che Canon 270EX II which does not have zooming capability 182 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography External Flash Custom Function Setting Many external Speedlites from Canon include their own list of Custom Functions which can be used to specify things like flash metering mode and flash bracketing sequences as well as more sophisticated features such as modeling light flash if avail able use of external power sources if attached and functions of any slave unit attached to the external flash This menu entry allows you to set an external flash unit s Custom Functions from your T3 menu Clear External Flash Custom Function Setting This entry allows you to zero out any changes you ve made to your external flash s Custom Functions and return them to their factory default settings Exposure Compensation Automatic Exposure Bracketing The first entry on the Shooting 2 menu is Expo Comp AEB or exposure compensa tion and automatic exposure bracketing See Figure 8 13 As you learned in Chapter 4 exposure compensation added subtracted by rotating the cross keys while this menu screen is visible increases or decreases exposure from the metered value Exposure bracketing using the T3 s AEB feature is a way to shoot several consecutive exposures using different settings to improve
415. one time only the settings that are appropriate for the 1 500 8 0 100 1127 1 500 8 0 100 1127 100 0345 1 250 16 100 0345 re Wal P P E SORT AWB AWB 55 3 0 0 0 AL 24 4MB 4L 6 30uB sRGB 15 15 15 15 06 24 2011 01 45 22 Figures 3 15 3 16 3 17 3 18 Image playback displays include single image single image with recording quality histogram and shooting information Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 57 current shooting mode will be displayed I ll explain how to make and use each of these settings later in this book You can turn this display off by pressing the DISP button and restore it again by pressing the DISP button a second time When the shooting settings display is active you can return to it when there is a menu screen or image review on the LCD by tapping the shutter release button If you want to make adjustments press the Quick Control button to activate the Quick Control screen and use the cross keys to navigate to the setting you want to change With Creative Zone modes you can change any of the settings visible in the Quick Control screen including the Flash Up function which raises the built in flash You may need to use this option if you ve redefined the Flash button to function as an ISO settings button instead m Camera function settings When any menu is displayed you can switch to the Camera Functions settings screen by pressing the DISP button A screen like the one sho
416. ong lens can help you capture memorable moments while retaining enough distance to stay out of the way of events as they transpire Figure 10 12 A wide f stop helped isolate the lemur from its background 268 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Reduced foreground increased compression Telephoto lenses have the opposite effect of wide angles they reduce the importance of things in the foreground by squeezing everything together This compression even makes distant objects appear to be closer to subjects in the foreground and middle ranges You can use this effect as a creative tool m Accentuates camera shakiness Telephoto focal lengths hit you with a double whammy in terms of camera photographer shake The lenses themselves are bulkier more difficult to hold steady and may even produce a barely perceptible see saw rocking effect when you support them with one hand halfway down the lens bar rel Telephotos also magnify any camera shake It s no wonder that image stabiliza tion is popular in longer lenses m Interesting angles require creativity Telephoto lenses require more imagination in selecting interesting angles because the angle you do get on your subjects is so narrow Moving from side to side or a bit higher or lower can make a dramatic dif ference in a wide angle shot but raising or lowering a telephoto lens a few feet prob ably will have little effect on the appearance of
417. or the DISP button to change the amount of information displayed on the screen with each image For example you might want to review a set of images and their histograms to judge the exposure of the group of pictures To set up your slide show follow these steps 1 Begin set up Choose Slide Show from the Playback 2 menu pressing SET to dis play the screen shown in Figure 8 40 2 Choose image selection method Navigate to All Images and press SET Then rotate the cross keys to choose from All Images Folder or Date Press SET to acti vate that selection mode If you selected All Images skip to Step 4 3 Choose images If you ve selected Folder or Date press the DISP button to pro duce a screen that allows you to select from the available folders or the available image creation dates on your memory card When you ve chosen a folder or date press SET to confirm your choice Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 215 Figure 8 39 The Jump method is shown on the LCD briefly when you leap forward or back using the Main Dial Figure 8 40 Set up your slide show using this v MESS 22 images e All images n ivo pe Set up Start MENUS 216 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 4 Choose Play Time and Repeat Options Highlight Set up and press SET to pro duce a screen with playing time 1 2 3 or 5 seconds per image and repeating options On o
418. ore than 40 million lenses But wait theres more You can also attach Nikon F mount Leica R Olympus OM and M42 Pentax screw mount lenses with a simple adapter if you don t mind los ing automatic focus and aperture control If you use one of these lenses you ll need to focus manually even if the lens operates in Autofocus mode on the camera it was designed for and adjust the f stop to the aperture you want to use to take the picture That means that lenses that don t have an aperture ring such as Nikon G series lenses must be used only at their maximum aperture if you use them with a simple adapter However Novoflex makes expensive adapter rings the Nikon Lens on Canon Camera version is called EOS NIK NT with an integral aperture control that allows adjusting the aperture of lenses that do not have an old style aperture ring Expect to pay as much as 300 for an adapter of this type Because of these limitations you probably won t want to make extensive use of foreign lenses on your T3 but an adapter can help you when you really really need to use a par ticular focal length but don t have a suitable Canon compatible lens For example I occa sionally use an older 400mm lens that was originally designed for the Nikon line on my T3 The lens needs to be mounted on a tripod for steadiness anyway so its slower oper ation isnt a major pain Another good match is the 105mm Micro Nikkor I sometimes use with my Canon T3 Ma
419. ork with JPEG and TIFF images camera shake Movement of the camera aggravated by slower shutter speeds which produces a blurred image You can minimize camera shake by using a lens with built in image stabilization CCD See charge coupled device CCD Center weighted metering An exposure system that emphasizes the area in the mid dle of the frame when calculating the correct exposure for an image See also Evaluative metering and Partial metering charge coupled device CCD A type of solid state sensor that captures the image used in scanners and digital cameras See also complementary metal oxide semicon ductor CMOS chromatic aberration An image defect often seen as green or purple fringing around the edges of an object caused by a lens failing to focus all colors of a light source at the same point See also fringing circle of confusion A term applied to the fuzzy discs produced when a point of light is out of focus The circle of confusion is not a fixed size The viewing distance and amount of enlargement of the image determine whether we see a particular spot on the image as a point or as a disc See also bokeh 370 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography close up lens A lens add on that allows you to take pictures at a distance that is less than the closest focusing distance of the lens alone CMOS See complementary metal oxide semiconductor CMOS CMYK color model A way of de
420. ory hot shoe 52 See also Speedlites multiple light sources connecting 314 315 studio flash connecting 306 video lights connecting 137 accessory lenses 259 acrylic shields for LCD 349 active phase detection system 102 adapter rings for lenses 250 251 Adobe Camera Raw 169 333 335 338 341 additional controls with 340 Basic tab controls 338 Merge to HDR with 90 noise reduction with 334 Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements 333 334 338 341 See also Adobe Camera Raw chromatic aberration correcting 269 Correct Correction filter 269 Dust amp Scratches filter 359 focus stacking with 157 159 HDR High Dynamic Range tools 64 65 Lens Correction filter 269 Merge to HDR Pro feature 87 90 noise reduction with 92 transferring images to computer with 332 333 Adobe RGB color space 187 190 Adorama 155 triggering voltage of units 314 AE L AF L lock 47 48 Custom Function setting for partially releasing 234 235 in Live View information display 120 for movies 127 viewfinder information display 58 59 AEB automatic exposure bracketing 84 90 in Live View information display 120 Shooting menu options 182 shooting settings display 57 steps for using 85 86 380 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography AF autofocus See also focus modes focus points circles of confusion 108 110 contrast detection 106 107 cross type focus points 105 106 expla
421. ose Ist curtain sync which fires the pre flash used to cal culate the exposure before the shutter opens followed by the main flash as soon as the shutter is completely open This is the default mode and you ll generally per ceive the pre flash and main flash as a single burst Alternatively you can select 2nd curtain sync which fires the pre flash as soon as the shutter opens and then trig gers the main flash in a second burst at the end of the exposure just before the shut ter starts to close If the shutter speed is slow enough you may clearly see both the pre flash and main flash as separate bursts of light This action allows photo graphing a blurred trail of light of moving objects with sharp flash exposures at the beginning and the end of the exposure This type of flash exposure is slightly dif ferent from what some other cameras produce using 2nd curtain sync I ll explain how it works in Chapter 11 If you have an external compatible Speedlite attached you can also choose Hi speed sync which allows you to use shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second using the External Flash Function Setting menu described next and explained in Chapter 11 m Flash exposure compensation If youd like to adjust flash exposure using a menu you can do that here Select this option with the SET button then dial in the amount of flash EV compensation you want using the cross keys The EV that was in place before you started to make your adjustme
422. osely related to the T3 s Live View still mode In fact the T3 uses Live View type imaging to show you the video dip on the LCD as it is captured Many of the functions and setting options are the same so the information in the previous sections will serve you well as you branch out into shooting movies with your camera To shoot in Movie mode just rotate the Mode Dial to the Movie position Press the Start Stop button to begin end capture That s quite simple but there are some addi tional things you need to keep in mind before you start m Choose movie recording size resolution The T3 can capture movies in Standard High Definition 1280 x 720 at 30 or 25 fps Full HD is not available with the T3 m Use the right card You ll want to use a fast memory card at least a Class 6 SDHC card a Class 10 card is even better Slower cards may not work properly Choose a memory card with at least 4GB capacity 8GB or 16GB are preferable If the card you are working with is too slow a five level thermometer like buffer indicator may appear at the right side of the LCD showing the status of your cameras inter nal memory If the indicator reaches the top level because the buffer is full movie shooting will stop automatically Use a fully charged battery Canon says that a fresh battery will allow about up to one hour fifty minutes of filming at normal non Winter temperatures Image stabilizer uses extra power If your lens has an ima
423. ot it s a small sub set of 4 4 trillion captured and an even smaller subset of all the possible colors we can see The set of colors or gamut that can be reproduced or captured by a given device scanner digital camera monitor printer or some other piece of equipment is repre sented as a color space that exists within the larger full range of colors That full range is represented by the odd shaped splotch of color shown in Figure 8 18 as defined by scientists at an international organization called the International Commission on Illumination usually known as the CIE for its French name Commission internationale de l clairage back in 1931 The colors possible with Adobe RGB are represented by the larger black triangle in the figure while the sRGB gamut is represented by the smaller white triangle Figure 8 18 The outer fig ure shows all the colors we can see the two inner out lines show the boundaries of Adobe RGB black triangle and sRGB white triangle Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 189 Regardless of which triangle or color space is used by the T3 you end up with some combination of 16 8 million different colors that can be used in your photograph No one image will contain all 16 8 million If each and every pixel in a 12 megapixel photo were a different color which is extremely unlikely Pyoud need only 12 million dif ferent colors But as you can see from the figure
424. oth and deposits it in the buffer ready to store on the card This internal smart buffer can suck up photos much more quickly than the memory card and indeed some memory cards are significantly faster or slower than others Setting C Fn II 04 High ISO Speed Noise Reduction to Strong also limits the length of your continuous burst When the buffer fills you can t take any more continuous shots a buSY indicator appears in the viewfinder and LCD status panel until the T3 has written some of them to the card making more room in the buffer You should keep in mind that faster memory cards write images more quickly freeing up buffer space faster More Exposure Options In Chapter 4 you learned techniques for getting the right exposure but I haven t explained all your exposure options just yet You ll want to know about the kind of expo sure settings that are available to you with the Canon EOS T3 There are options that let you control when the exposure is made or even how to make an exposure that s out of the ordinary in terms of length time or bulb exposures The sections that follow explain your cameras special exposure features and even discuss a few it does not have and why it doesnt A Tiny Slice of Time Exposures that seem impossibly brief can reveal a world we didn t know existed In the 1930s Dr Harold Edgerton a professor of electrical engineering at MIT pioneered high speed photography using a rep
425. ou plan to reverse the LCD so it faces the camera thicker shields may not allow the LCD panel to close com pletely in the reversed position Acrylic glass shields These scratch resistant panels laser cut to fit your camera per fectly are my choice as the best protection solution and what I use on my own T3 At about 6 each they also happen to be the least expensive option as well I get mine shown in Figure 13 9 from a company called GGS They attach using strips of sticky adhesive that hold the panel flush and tight but which allow the acrylic to be pried off and the adhesive removed easily if you want to remove or replace the shield They dont attenuate your view of the LCD and are non reflective enough for use under a variety of lighting conditions Figure 13 9 A tough acrylic shield here shown with a piece of plastic containing a set of peel off sticky strips to Canon help it adhere to the camera can protect your LCD from scratches 350 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Flip up hoods These protectors slip on using the flanges around your T3 s eye piece and provide a cover that completely shields the LCD but unfolds to provide a three sided hood that allows viewing the LCD while minimizing the extraneous light falling on it and reducing contrast They re sold for about 40 by Hoodman and Delkin www delkin com If you want to completely protect your LCD from hard knoc
426. our T3 What you need is a guide that explains the purpose and function of the T3 s basic con trols how you should use them and w y Ideally there should be information about file formats resolution aperture priority exposure and other special autofocus modes available but youd prefer to read about those topics only after you ve had the chance to go out and take a few hundred great pictures with your new camera Why isn t there a book that summarizes the most important information in its first two or three chap ters with lots of illustrations showing what your results will look like when you use this setting or that Now there is such a book If you want a quick introduction to the T3 s focus controls flash synchronization options how to choose lenses or which exposure modes are best this book is for you If you can t decide on what basic settings to use with your camera because you cant figure out how changing ISO or white balance or focus defaults will affect your pictures you need this guide This page intentionally left blank Introduction Canon took a daring step in providing relatively advanced features in this basic entry level model the Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D The company has packaged up many of the most alluring capabilities of its more advanced digital SLRs and stuffed them into a compact highly affordable body Your new 12 megapixel camera is loaded with capa bilities that few would have expected to find in a
427. our chances of getting the exact right exposure or to provide alternative renditions for creative purposes Flash exposure compensation You can adjust flash exposure for external flash using a menu here Select this option with the SET button then dial in the amount of flash EV compensation you want using the cross keys The EV that was in place before you started to make your adjustment is shown as a blue indicator so you can return to that value quickly Press SET again to confirm your change then press the MENU button twice to exit Figure 11 14 High speed sync allows using an exter nal flash as a fill light at faster shutter speeds Chapter 11 m Working with Light 301 m E TTL II metering As described under Built in Flash Function Settings this choice allows you to choose the type of exposure metering the T3 uses for electronic flash with an external unit You can select the default Evaluative metering which selectively interprets the 63 metering zones in the viewfinder to intelligently clas sify the scene for exposure purposes Alternatively you can select Average which melds the information from all the zones together as an average exposure You might find this mode useful for evenly lit scenes but in most cases exposure wont be exactly right and you may need some flash exposure compensation adjustment Zoom Some flash units can vary their coverage to better match the field of view of your lens at a particular
428. ovies Adjusting White Balance In most cases the Rebel T3 will do a good job of calculating white balance for you so Auto can be used as your choice most of the time Use the preset values or set a custom white balance that matches the current shooting conditions when you need to The only really problematic light sources are likely to be fluorescents Vendors such as GE and Sylvania may actually provide a figure known as the color rendering index or CRI which is a measure of how accurately a particular light source represents standard col ors using a scale of 0 some sodium vapor lamps to 100 daylight and most incan descent lamps Daylight fluorescents and deluxe cool white fluorescents might have a CRI of about 79 to 95 which is perfectly acceptable for most photographic applica tions Warm white fluorescents might have a CRI of 55 White deluxe mercury vapor lights are less suitable with a CRI of 45 while low pressure sodium lamps can vary from CRI 0 18 Remember that if you shoot RAW you can specify the white balance of your image when you import it into Photoshop Photoshop Elements or another image editor using Figure 11 5 The fluorescent lighting in this gym added a distinct green ish cast to the image Chapter 11 m Working with Light 285 your preferred RAW converter While color balancing filters that fit on the front of the lens exist they are primarily useful for film cameras because film s color balance ca
429. ow careful you are some of it is going to settle on your camera and on the mounts of your lenses eventually making its way inside your camera to settle in the mirror chamber As you take photos the mirror flipping up and down causes the dust to become airborne and eventually make its way past the shutter curtain to come to rest on the anti aliasing filter atop your sensor There dust and par ticles can show up in every single picture you take at a small enough aperture to bring the foreign matter into sharp focus No matter how careful you are and how cleanly you work eventually you will get some of this dust on your camera s sensor Some say that CMOS sensors like the one found in the EOS T3 attract less dust than CCD sen sors found in cameras from other vendors But even the cleanest working photographers using Canon cameras are far from immune Unfortunately the EOS T3 lacks one of the most common features found in all Canon cameras other than a stray entry level model or two like this one automatic sensor clean ing Fortunately if some dust does collect on your sensor you can often map it out of your images making it invisible using software techniques with the Dust Delete Data feature in the Shooting 3 menu Operation of this feature is described in Chapter 8 Of course you may still be required to manually clean your sensor from time to time This section explains the phenomenon and provides some tips on minimizing dust and el
430. ow sync An electronic flash synchronizing method that uses a slow shutter speed so that ambient light is recorded by the camera in addition to the electronic flash illumi nation This allows the background to receive more exposure for a more realistic effect specular highlight Bright spots in an image caused by reflection of light sources often from shiny surfaces 378 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography sRGB One of two color space choices available with the Canon EOS T3 The sRGB setting is recommended for images that will be output locally on the user s own printer as this color space matches that of the typical inkjet printer and a properly calibrated monitor fairly closely See also Adobe RGB subtractive primary colors Cyan magenta and yellow which are the printing inks that theoretically absorb all color and produce black In practice however they gener ate a muddy brown so black is added to preserve detail especially in shadows The combination of the three colors and black is referred to as CMYK K represents black to differentiate it from blue in the RGB model time exposure A picture taken by leaving the shutter open for a long period usually more than one second The camera is generally locked down with a tripod to prevent blur during the long exposure through the lens TTL A system of providing viewing and exposure calculation through the actual lens taking the picture tu
431. ox filled with stuff includ ing connecting cords booklets CDs and lots of paperwork The most important com ponents are the camera and lens if you purchased your T3 with a lens battery battery charger and if you re the nervous type the neck strap You ll also need a memory card as one is not included If you purchased your EOS Rebel T3 1100D from a camera shop as I did the store personnel probably attached the neck strap for you ran through some basic operational advice that you ve already forgotten tried to sell you a memory card and then after theyd given you all the help you could absorb sent you on your way with a handshake Perhaps you purchased your T3 from one of those mass merchandisers that also sell washing machines and vacuum cleaners In that case you might have been sent on your way with only the handshake or maybe not even that if you resisted the efforts to sell you an extended warranty You save a few bucks but dont get the personal service a pro fessional photo retailer provides It s your choice There s a third alternative of course You might have purchased your camera from a mail order or Internet source and your T3 arrived in a big brown or purple red truck Your only interaction when you took possession of your camera was to scrawl your signature on an electronic clipboard In all three cases the first thing to do is carefully unpack the camera and double check the contents with the checklist on on
432. pear to warn you that an adjustment has been made As with non flash exposure compen sation the compensation you make remains in effect for the pictures that follow and even when you ve turned the camera off remember to cancel the flash exposure com pensation adjustment by reversing the steps used to set it when you re done using it A second way to access flash exposure compensation is to assign that feature to the SET button using C Fn IV 08 as described in Chapter 9 Thereafter you can press the SET button when in shooting mode and rotate the Main Dial to adjust flash exposure com pensation from the screen that pops up on the LCD see Figure 11 10 Flash exposure compensation can also be adjusted using the controls on your attached and active exter nal flash unit Those settings any setting other than 0 dialed in with the external flash will override any flash exposure compensation you ve specified in the camera If you ve enabled the Auto Lighting Optimizer in the Shooting 2 menu as described in Chapter 8 it may cancel out any EV you ve subtracted using flash exposure compensa tion Disable the Auto Lighting Optimizer if you find your images are still too bright when using flash exposure compensation 296 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 11 10 Access flash exposure com ISO Av F8 0 o Control screen EIFE 1 22 5 alrocus E RAWE E More on Flash Control S
433. photo after it s already been taken This is often done with online sharing services such as Flickr which allow you to associate your uploaded photographs with a map city street address or postal code When properly geotagged and uploaded to sites like Flickr users can browse through your photos using a map finding pictures you ve taken in a given area or even searching through photos taken at the same location by other users Chapter 7 m Advanced Shooting 155 Although Canon has had 700 WiFi gadgets that could connect to GPS devices for some years normal people like you and me need an affordable solution like that offered by Eye Fi www eye fi The Eye Fi card is an SDHC memory card with a wireless trans mitter built in You insert it in your camera just as with any ordinary card and then specify which networks to use You can add as many as 32 different networks The next time your camera is on within range of a specified network your photos and videos can be uploaded to your computer and or to your favorite sharing site During set up you can customize where you want your images uploaded The Eye Fi card will only send them to the computer and to the sharing site you choose Upload to any of 25 popular sharing websites including Flickr Facebook Picasa Kodak Gallery MobileMe Costco Adorama Smugmug YouTube Shutterfly or Walmart Online Sharing is included as a lifetime unlimited service with all X2 cards Your EOS T3 has an
434. photos if you need them Just shoot using RAW JPEG You ll end up with sRGB JPEGs suitable for output on your own printer but you can still extract an Adobe RGB version from the RAW file at any time It s like capturing two different color spaces at once sRGB and Adobe RGB and getting the best of both worlds Of course choosing the right color space doesn t solve the problems that result from having each device in the image chain manipulating or producing a slightly different set of colors To that end you ll need to investigate the wonderful world of color man agement which uses hardware and software tools to match or calibrate all your devices as closely as possible so that what you see more closely resembles what you capture what you see on your computer display and what ends up on a printed hardcopy Entire books have been devoted to color management and most of what you need to know doesnt directly involve your Canon Rebel T3 so I won t detail the nuts and bolts here 190 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography To manage your color you ll need at the bare minimum some sort of calibration sys tem for your computer display so that your monitor can be adjusted to show a stan dardized set of colors that is repeatable over time What you see on the screen can vary as the monitor ages or even when the room light changes I use Pantone s Huey mon itor color correction system for my compute
435. planation of 286 290 exposure calculation for 278 290 291 flexibility of 281 freezing action with 279 280 ghost images with 287 288 with high shutter speed 144 high speed sync and 290 in Live View information display 120 previewing with 276 shooting settings display 57 telephoto lenses and 269 viewfinder information display 58 59 Flash button 43 52 53 Custom Function for assigning 236 Flash Control menu 179 182 296 305 See also flash firing for built in flash 179 180 298 299 for external flash 179 180 299 305 Index 389 flash firing See also Flash Off mode in Creative Auto CA mode 97 disabling 296 298 in Live View 125 options for 296 298 Shooting menu options 179 flash modes for built in flash 179 for external flash 180 181 299 305 Flash Off mode 22 23 AF assist in 294 built in flash and 32 exposure choices in 95 in Live View 125 Quick Control screen in 96 flat faces with telephoto lenses 268 flat lighting for movies 138 flexibility of continuous light 281 of flash 281 Flickr 154 155 flip up hoods for LCD 350 fluorescent light advantages disadvantages of 284 285 color rendering index CRI of 284 compact fluorescent lights CFLs 283 foamboard reflectors 310 focal lengths with built in flash 293 defined 253 field of view for 263 reciprocal of the focal length rule 147 focal plane for sensor 52 focus See also AF autofocus focus modes
436. plastic and can be easily scratched If you cant blow mirror dust off it s best to just forget about it You cant see it in the viewfinder anyway Q I see a bright spot in the same place in all of my photos Is that sensor dust A You ve probably got either a hot pixel or one that is permanently stuck due to a defect in the sensor A hot pixel is one that shows up as a bright spot only during long exposures as the sensor warms A pixel stuck in the on position always appears in the image Both show up as bright red green or blue pixels usually surrounded by a small cluster of other improperly illuminated pixels caused by the cameras interpolating the hot or stuck pixel into its surroundings as shown in Figure 13 10 A stuck pixel can also be permanently dark Either kind is likely to show up when they contrast with plain evenly colored areas of your image Finding one or two hot or stuck pixels in your sensor is unfortunately fairly com mon They can be removed by telling the T3 to ignore them through a simple process called pixel mapping If the bad pixels become bothersome Canon can remap your sensor s pixels with a quick trip to a service center Bad pixels can also show up on your camera s color LCD panel but unless they are abundant the wisest course is to just ignore them Q I see an irregular out of focus blob in the same place in my photos Is that sen sor dust A Yes Sensor contaminants can take th
437. poring over the wealth of information I provide in my full size guides many of you have asked for a condensed version with just the basic opera tional and settings information in a compact size that can be slipped in a camera bag Well you can throw away your cheat sheets and command cards My Compact Field Guide for your T3 is a spiral bound lay flat full color book with all the information you need when on the go Unlike a laminated command card my field guide tells you what each control menu item and option does and why you should or should not use it If you like my big book and want to get the most from your 13 you need this compact guide too Introduction xvii Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography Consider this a prequel to the book you re holding in your hands It might make a good gift for a spouse or friend who may be using your T3 but who lacks even basic knowl edge about digital photography digital SLR photography and Canon EOS photogra phy It serves as an introduction that summarizes the basic features of digital SLR cameras in general not just the T3 and what settings to use and when such as con tinuous autofocus single autofocus aperture shutter priority EV settings and so forth The guide also includes recipes for shooting the most common kinds of pictures with step by step instructions for capturing effective sports photos portraits landscapes and other types of images David Busch s Quick
438. possible with out resorting to such tools using only the features of your Canon Rebel T3 Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 65 To understand exposure you need to understand the six aspects of light that combine to produce an image Start with a light source the sun an interior lamp or the glow from a campfire and trace its path to your camera through the lens and finally to the sensor that captures the illumination LL in the shadows but the background highlights are washed out Figure 4 2 Combining the two exposures produces the best compromise image 66 H David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography ere s a brief review of the things within our control that affect exposure m Light at its source Our eyes and our cameras film or digital are most sensitive to that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum we call visible light That light has several important aspects that are relevant to photography such as color and harsh ness which is determined primarily by the apparent size of the light source as it illuminates a subject But in terms of exposure the important attribute of a light source is its intensity We may have direct control over intensity which might be the case with an interior light that can be brightened or dimmed Or we might have only indirect control over intensity as with sunlight which can be made to appear dimmer by introducing translucent light
439. pter 12 Chapter 1 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box 9 Figure 1 1 Third party neck straps like this UPstrap model are often preferable to the Canon supplied strap m Software instruction manual CD While the software itself is easy to use if you need more help you ll find it in the PDF manuals included on this CD m Full instructional manual CD The full manual for this camera is not supplied in printed form You must access it from a PDF file stored on this CD m Printed instruction manuals You do get a condensed printed instruction man ual If you cant carry this book with you or don t have my Compact Field Guide version of this book you can copy the full PDF to an old SD card that s too small to be usable on a modern dSLR I still have some 128MB and 256MB cards But an even better choice is to put the manual on a low capacity USB thumb drive which you can buy for less than 10 You ll then be able to access the reference any where you are because you can always find someone with a computer that has a USB port and Adobe Acrobat Reader available You might not be lucky enough to locate a computer with an SD card reader m Warranty and registration card Dont lose these You can register your Canon T3 by mail although you don really need to in order to keep your warranty in force but you may need the information in this paperwork plus the purchase receipt invoice from your retailer shoul
440. r s dual 26 inch widescreen LCD displays The Huey checks room light levels every five minutes and reminds me to recalibrate every week or two using the small sensor device shown in Figure 8 19 which attaches temporarily to the front of the screen with tiny suction cups and interprets test patches that the Huey software displays during calibration The rest of the time the Huey sen sor sits in the stand shown measuring the room illumination and adjusting my mon itors for higher or lower ambient light levels The Huey www pantone com is an inexpensive under 100 system that does a good job of calibrating a single monitor You can upgrade it as I did for use with multiple monitors using a 40 software upgrade available at the Pantone site If you re willing to make a serious investment in equipment to help you produce the most accurate color and make prints youll want a more advanced system up to 500 like the various Spyder products from Datacolor www datacolor com or Colormunki from X Rite www colormunki com Figure 8 19 Pantone s Huey monitor color correction sys tem is an inex pensive device for calibrating your display Figure 8 20 Nine different Picture Styles are available from this scrolling menu these six plus three User Def styles not shown Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 191 Picture Style The Picture Styles feature is one of the most important tools for cus
441. r Off When you ve specified either value press the MENU button to confirm your choice and then MENU once more to go back to the main Slide Show screen MA Start the show Highlight Start and press SET to begin your show If you d rather cancel the show you ve just set up press MENU instead 6 Use show options during display Press SET to pause restart DISP to cycle among the four information displays described in the section before this one MENU to stop the show Rating If you want to apply a quality rating to images or movies you ve shot or use the rating system to represent some other criteria you can use this entry to give particular images one two three four or five stars or turn the rating system off The Image Jump func tion can display only images with a given rating Suppose you were photographing a track meet with multiple events You could apply a one star rating to jumping events two stars to relays three stars to throwing events four stars to hurdles and five stars to dashes Then using the Image Jump feature you could review only images of one par ticular type With a little imagination you can apply the rating system to all sorts of categories At a wedding you could classify pictures of the bride the groom guests attendants and parents of the couple If you were shooting school portraits one rating could apply to First Grade another to Second Grade and so on Given a little thought this featu
442. r professional use include the letter L for lux ury in their product name You can further differentiate these lenses visually by a red ring around the lens barrel and the off white color of the metal barrel itself in virtually all telephoto L series lenses Some L series lenses have shiny or textured black plastic exterior barrels Internally every L lens includes at least one lens Figure 10 5 Most of the key specifications of the lens are marked on the ring around the front element Chapter 10 m Working with Lenses 255 element that is built of ultra low dispersion glass is constructed of expensive fluo rite crystal or uses an expensive ground not molded aspheric non spherical lens component m Filter size You ll find the front lens filter thread diameter in millimeters included on the lens preceded by a symbol as in 67 or 072 m Special purpose lenses Some Canon lenses are designed for specific types of work and they include appropriate designations in their names For example close focus ing lenses such as the Canon EF S 60mm f 2 8 Macro USM lens incorporate the word Macro into their name Lenses with perspective control features preface the lens name with T S for tilt shift Lenses with built in image stabilization features such as the nifty EF 28 300mm f 3 5 5 6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom include S in their product names SORTING THE MOTOR DRIVES Incorporating the autofocus motor inside the lens wa
443. raphy access to many of the T3 s menus right from the software The Settings feature is espe cially useful for changing Picture Styles quickly while you ll find the remote shooting capabilities useful when you want to program a delay before the camera takes a picture or do some interval time lapse shooting The updated version of the utility supports the T3 s Live View and Dust Delete Data functions It includes many preferences you can use to tailor its operation see Figure 12 8 Basic Setings Destnaton Folder Fue Name Downioad Imapes Remote Shooting Ja Basic Sete Destination Foiser File Name Dowrioad Images Remote Shooting Stanu Acton Basic Setings Oestraton Folder Fue Name Downicad images Remete Shooting e Do not moat Orwnicas images z Customize amp Show man window Desteatcn Folder Show Lets you select anc Gownioas images screen CAXRGNDMARINE ESSO Show Camera setangeRemete shooting screen us Execute Stans to conevoad images A otfoider ints WACA P image Wil be saved will automatically be creates ie a Polset Create susfolder nan ima tis function is used Assign Sequence No Number of Digts Fue Prete 7 Stan EOS Utiity automaticaly when the camera is consected V Cownieac Images Remote Shoc ng Stat Auto power off except when using an AC power supply Basras AOS WFT Pairing Software to the Startup fokder V Atomaticalty display Quick Pre
444. rd or to switch between existing folders 224 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Just follow these steps 1 Choose Select Folder Access the option from the Set up 1 menu 2 View list of available folders The Select Folder screen pops up with a list of the available folders on your memory card with names like 100EOSTS3 101EOST3 etc 3 Choose a different folder To store subsequent images in a different existing folder rotate the cross keys to highlight the label for the folder you want to use When a folder that already has photos is selected two thumbnails representing images in that folder are displayed at the right side of the screen 4 Confirm the folder Press SET to confirm your choice of an existing folder Vn Create new folder If youd rather create a new folder highlight Create Folder in the Select Folder screen and press SET The name of the folder that will be created is displayed along with a choice to Cancel or OK creating the folder Press SET to confirm your choice 6 Exit Press MENU to return to the Set up 1 menu Screen Color Here you can select one of four different shooting information screen color schemes which are helpfully displayed in the set up screen so you can decide which looks best Eye Fi Settings This menu item appears when you have an Eye Fi card inserted in the camera You can enable and disable Eye Fi wireless functions and view connection
445. re has many more applications than you might think To use it just follow these steps 1 Choose the rating menu item 2 Use the cross keys to select an image or movie Press the Thumbnail Reduce Image button to display three images at once Press the AF point magnify button to return to a single image 3 When an image or movie is visible press the up down buttons to apply a one to five star rating The display shows how many images have been assigned each rat ing so far 4 When finished rating press the MENU button to exit Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 217 Ctrl over HDMI When your camera is connected to a TV that is compatible with the HDMI CEC stan dard you can use the remote control to activate playback functions You ll need a com patible TV remote control and an HDMI cable to connect your camera to the television Then choose Enable in this menu entry and then follow the directions that came with your television and remote for selecting still photo and movie playback fea tures If your TV does not allow use of the remote return to the menu selection and choose Disable to give the camera control of playback This page intentionally left blank Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu In the last chapter I introduced you to the layout and general functions of the Canon EOS T3 s menu system with specifics on how to customize your camera with the Shooting 1 Shooting 2 Shoot
446. re many general digital photography books on the market Why do I concen trate on books about specific digital SLRs like the T3 One reason is that I feel dSLRs are the wave of the future for serious photographers and those who join the ranks of digital photographers with single lens reflex cameras deserve books tailored to their equipment xviii David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography When I started writing digital photography books in 1995 digital SLRs cost 30 000 and few people other than certain professionals could justify them Most of my readers a dozen years ago were stuck using the point and shoot low resolution digital cameras of the time even if they were advanced photographers I myself took countless digital pictures with an Epson digital camera with 1024 x 768 less than 1 megapixel resolu tion and which cost 500 Less than a decade ago before the original Digital Rebel was introduced the lowest cost dSLRs were priced at 3 000 or more Today anyone with around 600 can afford one of those basic cameras and roughly 1 000 buys you a sophisticated model like the Canon EOS Rebel T3 with lens The digital SLR is no longer the exclusive bailiwick of the professional the wealthy or the serious photography addict willing to scrimp and save to acquire a dream camera Digital SLRs have become the favored camera for any one who wants to go beyond point and shoot capabilities And Canon camera
447. rea behind subjects especially portraits and can be lit separately to provide contrast and separa tion that outlines the subject or which helps set a mood I like to use plain colored backgrounds for portraits and white seamless backgrounds for product photography You can usually construct these yourself from cheap materi als and tape them up on the wall behind your subject or mount them on a pole stretched between a pair of light stands Snoots and Barn Doors These fit over the flash unit and direct the light at your subject Snoots are excellent for converting a flash unit into a hair light while barn doors give you enough control over the illumination by opening and closing their flaps that you can use another flash as a background light with the capability of feathering the light exactly where you want it on the background A barn door unit is shown in Figure 11 26 This page intentionally left blank Part IV Enhancing Your Experience 320 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography What do you do after the shutter clicks and your image has been captured in electrons for posterity This final part of the book will help you get more from your Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D as you download and edit the pictures you ve taken and take the steps necessary to keep your camera humming like the finely non oiled machine that it really is Chapter 12 details some of your options for downloading and edi
448. reas used by the T3 to focus The camera can select the appropriate focus zone for you or you can manually select one or all of the zones as described in Chapters 2 and 5 m Autoexposure lock Shows that exposure has been locked This icon also appears when an automatic exposure bracketing sequence is in process m Flash ready indicator This icon appears when the flash is fully charged It also shows when the flash exposure lock has been applied for an inappropriate exposure value m Flash status indicator Appears along with the flash ready indicator The H is shown when high speed focal plane flash sync is being used The appears when flash exposure lock or a flash exposure bracketing sequence is underway Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 59 Figure 3 21 AF point White display AF balance Maximum indicator points correction burst Aperture Shutter speed Card full warning Flash exposure compensation FE lock Flash exposure brack eting in progress Kram T Tr I I QealesGestet2 ISO irar WB IM 4 54 PS JQ SulesVastieas M AE lock EEG IT ee DF ewe Automatic CE brack Flash ready High Exposure level indicator Highlight ISO Black Focus eting in progress Improper FE speed Exposure compensation tone speed and white confirmation lock warning sync amount Autoexposure priority shooting bracketing range Red eye reduction lamp on indicator m Flash exposure compensation Appears when flash EV cha
449. rect focus What you re looking for is the image with the most contrast between the edges of elements in the image The camera also looks for these contrast differences among pixels to determine relative sharpness There are two ways that sharp focus is determined phase detection and con trast detection Phase Detection Like all digital SLRs that use an optical viewfinder and mirror system to preview an image that is when not in Live View mode the Canon EOS T3 calculates focus using what is called a passive phase detection system It s passive in the sense that the ambient illumination in a scene or that illumination augmented with a focus assist beam is used to determine correct focus An active phase detection system might use a laser sonar or other special signal Parts of the image from two opposite sides of the lens are directed down to the floor of the cameras mirror box where an autofocus sensor array resides the rest of the illumi nation from the lens bounces upwards towards the optical viewfinder system and the autoexposure sensors Figure 5 1 is a wildly over simplified illustration that may help you visualize what is happening As light emerges from the rear element of the lens most of it is reflected upwards towards the focusing screen where the relative sharp focus or lack of it is displayed SIMPLIFICATION MADE OVERLY SIMPLE To reduce the complexity of the diagram it doesn t show the actual path of the light p
450. recting 93 uploading to camera 202 203 USM micromotor ultrasonic motor lenses 254 255 V vestibule cleaning 359 vibrance slider Adobe Camera Raw 340 video lights 137 138 Video out port 44 45 viewfinder A DEP Automatic depth of field mode information in 77 dust on 355 eyepiece 45 46 focus points selecting 28 29 information display 58 60 with self timer 30 31 window 45 46 vignetting peripheral illumination correction Shooting menu 174 177 with wide angle lenses 265 visible light 66 visibledust com 363 Vivid ambience 24 99 100 Vivid printing effect 323 voltage isolators 314 315 W Walmart 155 Warm ambience 24 99 100 warranty cards 9 waterfalls blurring 150 151 WB white balance adjusting 30 284 285 Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 338 340 camera functions display 58 cross keys for setting 47 50 custom WB white balance Shooting menu 185 in Full Auto mode 75 library creating 186 in Live View information display 120 RAW formats specifying for 284 285 shooting settings display 57 viewfinder information display 59 60 WB shift options 186 187 WEBB white balance bracketing options Shooting menu 186 187 WB button 47 49 50 WBB white balance bracketing options Shooting menu 186 187 wedding photography JPEG formats for 170 memory cards for 351 rating images for 216 Wein Safe Sync 314 315 white balance WB See WB white balance
451. resenting 2 0 2 5 and 4 0 second exposures respectively 68 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Most commonly exposure settings are made using the aperture and shutter speed fol lowed by adjusting the ISO sensitivity if it s not possible to get the preferred exposure that is the one that uses the best f stop or shutter speed for the depth of field range of sharp focus or action stopping we want produced by short shutter speeds as PH explain later Table 4 1 shows equivalent exposure settings using various shutter speeds and f stops Table 4 1 Equivalent Exposures Shutter Speed f stop Shutter Speed f stop 1 30th second f 22 1 500th second 5 6 1 60th second 16 1 1 000th second f 1 125th second f 11 1 2 000th second 2 8 1 250th second f 8 1 4 000th second 2 When the T3 is set for P Program mode the metering system selects the correct expo sure for you automatically but you can change quickly to an equivalent exposure by holding down the shutter release button halfway locking the current exposure and then spinning the Main Dial until the desired equivalent exposure combination is dis played You can use this standard Program Shift feature more easily if you remember that you need to rotate the dial towards the ef when you want to increase the amount of depth of field or use a slower shutter speed rotate to the right when you want to reduce
452. ress the up cross key An overlay appears that allows you to choose the method See Figure 3 10 You can choose a Jump method using the Playback 2 menu using the procedure described with all the other menus in Chapter 8 The advantage of using the menu is that you can set both the number of images to jump and the type of jump The Jump feature allows you to leap forward and backward among the images on your memory card using the increment method you have chosen by rotating the Main Dial The Jump method is shown briefly on the screen as you leap ahead to the next image displayed Your options are as follows m 1 image Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back one image m 10 images Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back ten images m 100 images Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back one hundred images m Date Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps forward or back to the first image taken on the next or previous calendar date m Folder Rotating the Main Dial one click jumps to the next folder on your mem ory card Chapter 3 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Roadmap 51 Figure 3 10 Choose a Jump method by pressing the up cross key while viewing an OM T Ld Li m Display Movies only Tells the T3 to jump only among movie images when using a card that contains both video clips and still images This option is useful when you prefer to view only one kind of file m Display Stil
453. rface for transmitting audio and video information between a source such as a digital camera or television tuner to an output device such as a high definition television HDTV monitor high contrast A wide range of density in a print negative or other image High Dynamic Range HDR imaging A technique for expanding the tonal range of an image by combining several bracketed exposures which together contain detail in both the darkest shadows and brightest highlights of an image highlights The brightest parts of an image containing detail histogram A kind of chart showing the relationship of tones in an image using a series of 256 vertical bars one for each brightness level A histogram chart such as the one the Canon EOS T3 can display during picture review typically looks like a curve with one or more slopes and peaks depending on how many highlight midtone and shadow tones are present in the image The T3 can also display separate histograms for the red green and blue channels of an image hot shoe A mount on top of a camera used to hold an electronic flash while provid ing an electrical connection between the flash and the camera hyperfocal distance A point of focus where everything from half that distance to infin ity appears to be acceptably sharp For example if your lens has a hyperfocal distance of four feet everything from two feet to infinity would be sharp The hyperfocal dis tance varies by the lens and the ap
454. rfanView a Windows freeware program you can download at www irfanview com It can read many common RAW photo formats It s a quick way to view RAW files just drag and drop to the IrfanView window and make fast changes to the unprocessed file You can crop rotate or correct your image and do some cool things like swap the colors around red for blue blue for green and so forth to create false color pictures The price is right and IrfanView has some valu able capabilities Check out www irfanview com Phase One Capture One Pro C1 Pro If there is a Cadillac of RAW converters for Nikon and Canon digital SLR cameras C1 Pro has to be it This premium priced program does everything does it well and does it quickly If you cant justify the price tag of this professional level software there are lite versions for serious amateurs and cash challenged professionals called Capture and Capture One Pro 6 at 399 and Capture One Express 6 which costs as little as 129 Aimed at photographers with high volume needs that would include school and por trait photographers as well as busy commercial photographers C1 Pro is available for both Windows and Mac OS X and supports a broad range of Canon digital cameras Phase One is a leading supplier of megabucks digital camera backs for medium and larger format cameras so they really understand the needs of photographers The latest features include individual noise reduction controls for eac
455. rhaps youre shooting action photos and you want to use the absolute fastest shutter speed available with your camera in other cases you might want to use a slow shutter speed to add some blur to a ballet photo that would be mundane if the action were completely frozen see Figure 4 18 later in this section Shutter priority mode gives you some con trol over how much action freezing capability your digital camera brings to bear in a particular situation as you can see in Figure 4 16 Figure 4 16 Lock the shut A a ter at a slow E speed to intro duce a little blur into an action shot seen here in the stick at right and the puck 80 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography You ll also encounter the same problem as with Aperture priority when you select a shut ter speed that s too long or too short for correct exposure under some conditions I ve shot outdoor soccer games on sunny Fall evenings and used Shutter priority mode to lock in a 1 1 000th second shutter speed which triggered the blinking warning even with the lens wide open Like Av mode it s possible to choose an inappropriate shutter speed If that s the case the maximum aperture of your lens to indicate underexposure or the minimum aper ture to indicate overexposure will blink Program Mode Program mode P uses the T3 s built in smarts to select the correct f stop and shutter speed using a database of picture
456. ribed in more detail in Chapter 4 These modes let you apply a little more creativity to your cameras settings These modes are indicated on the Mode Dial by letters A DEP M Av Tv and P m A DEP Automatic depth of field Choose this mode if you want to allow the T3 to select an f stop that will maximize depth of field for the subjects in the frame as it adjusts focus and selects an appropriate shutter speed m M Manual Select when you want full control over the shutter speed and lens opening either for creative effects or because you are using a studio flash or other flash unit not compatible with the T3 s automatic flash metering m Av Aperture priority Choose when you want to use a particular lens opening especially to control sharpness or how much of your image is in focus The T3 will select the appropriate shutter speed for you Av stands for aperture value 24 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Tv Shutter priority This mode Tv stands for time value is useful when you want to use a particular shutter speed to stop action or produce creative blur effects The T3 will select the appropriate f stop for you m P Program This mode allows the T3 to select the basic exposure settings but you can still override the camera s choices to fine tune your image You can change some settings when the shooting settings display is shown on the screen press the DISP button if you want
457. rience Color temperature can be confusing because of a seeming contradiction in how color temperatures are named warmer more reddish color temperatures measured in degrees Kelvin are the ower numbers while cooler bluer color temperatures are higher numbers It might not make sense to say that 3 400K is warmer than 6 000K but that s the way it is If it helps think of a glowing red ember contrasted with a white hot welder s torch rather than fire and ice 282 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The confusion comes from physics Scientists calculate color temperature from the light emitted by a mythical object called a black body radiator which absorbs all the radiant energy that strikes it and reflects none at all Such a black body not only absorbs light perfectly but it emits it perfectly when heated and since nothing in the universe is per fect that makes it mythical At a particular physical temperature this imaginary object always emits light of the same wavelength or color That makes it possible to define color temperature in terms of actual temperature in degrees on the Kelvin scale that scientists use Incandescent light for example typically has a color temperature of 3 200K to 3 400K Daylight might range from 5 500K to 6 000K Each type of illumination we use for photography has its own color temperature range with some cautions The next sections will summa rize everythin
458. right light sources at the periphery of the pic ture area or completely outside it Because telephoto lenses often create images that are lower in contrast in the first place you ll want to be especially careful to use a lens hood to prevent further effects on your image or shade the front of the lens with your hand Symptom dark flash photos Edge to edge flash coverage isn t a problem with telephoto lenses as it is with wide angles The shooting distance is A long lens might make a subject that s 50 feet away look as if it s right next to you but your cameras flash isn t fooled You ll need extra power for distant flash shots and probably more power than your T3 s built in flash provides The shoe mount Canon 580EX II Speedlite for example can automatically zoom its coverage down to that of a medium telephoto lens providing a theoretical full power shooting aperture of about f 8 at 50 feet and ISO 400 Try that with the built in flash Telephotos and Bokeh Bokeh describes the aesthetic qualities of the out of focus parts of an image and whether out of focus points of light circles of confusion are rendered as distracting fuzzy discs or smoothly fade into the background Boke is a Japanese word for blur and the h was added to keep English speakers from rendering it monosyllabically to rhyme with broke Although bokeh is visible in blurry portions of any image it s of particular con cern with telephoto lenses whic
459. ripheral Illumination Correction feature found in earlier cameras Once you ve registered a lens as described above you can use the Raw Image Processing entry in the Playback 1 menu to enable or disable peripheral illumination correction chromatic aberration correction general lens distortion correction and make other changes to the RAW file after it s been shot right in the camera Pll describe this capability later in this chapter Figure 8 8 Select the lenses to be corrected Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 177 O EF14mm f 2 8L USM OC EF20mm f 2 8 USM OC EF50mm 1 8 O EF24mm f 1 4L I USM KM EF50mm f 1 8 II I EF24mm f 1 4L USM C EF85mm f 1 2L II USM O EF24mm f 2 8 EF85mm f 1 2L USM OC EF28mm f 1 8 USM O EF85mm f 1 8 USM O EF28mm f 2 8 O EF 100mm f 2 USM O EF35mm f 1 4L USM O EF135mm f 2 8 with Softfocus O EF35mm f 2 O EF 135mm f 2L USM Show selected lenses only OR FORETORS 7140 EN jones ton bic add ELE ECC d Pus window l Live View shoot Red Eye Reduction Your Rebel T3 has a fairly effective Red Eye Reduction flash mode Unfortunately your camera is unable on its own to eliminate the red eye effects that occur when an elec tronic flash or rarely illumination from other sources bounces off the retinas of the eye and into the camera lens Animals seem to suffer from yellow or green glowing pupils instead the effect is equally undesirable The ef
460. rive for temporary backup four times daily When the top level folder accumulates about 30GB of images I back it up to DVDs and then move the folder to a 2000GB 2 terabyte drive dedicated solely for storage of folders that have already been backed up onto DVD Then I start a new folder such as 13 02 on the working hard drive and repeat the process I always have at least one backup of every image taken either on another hard drive or on a DVD with no RAW file to squeeze a little extra speed out of my T3 s Continuous shooting mode and to reduce the need to wade through eight photo bursts taken in RAW for mat On the other hand on my last trip to Europe I took only RAW instead of my customary RAW JPEG photos to fit more images onto my iPad as I planned on doing at least some post processing on many of the images for a travel book I was working on Beep The Rebel T35 internal beeper provides a helpful chirp to signify various functions such as the countdown of your cameras self timer You can switch it off if you want to avoid the beep because it s annoying impolite or distracting at a concert or museum or undesired for any other reason It s one of the few ways to make the T3 a bit quieter other than Live View s silent shoot mode I ve actually had new dSLR owners ask me how to turn off the shutter sound the camera makes such an option was available in the point and shoot camera they d used previously
461. rmats 195 toning effects with 194 198 200 viewfinder information display 59 60 monolights 313 314 motor drive See continuous shooting mounting lenses 14 15 Movie button 47 Movie mode 22 23 Movie Settings menus 126 128 movies 125 139 See also audio capturing video sound 128 129 composition for 133 136 creative lighting for 137 cropping movie clips 130 131 default settings 240 editing 129 131 focus modes for 126 grid display for 128 Highlight Tone Priority recording in 127 information display for 129 Jump feature for displaying 51 214 lighting for 137 138 metering timer for 128 on camera light for 138 refocusing while shooting 126 396 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography resolution for 25 reviewing movie images 129 131 settings for 126 128 shooting scripts for 132 shutter AE lock button with 127 silent running option 126 storyboards for 132 storytelling in 133 136 styles for lighting 138 time dimension in 134 time lapse photography for 154 tips for shooting 131 136 transitions in 134 135 wasted space in sides 134 MP E 65mm f 2 8 1 5x Macro Photo lenses 259 MULTI flash 180 explanation of 302 for external flash 299 302 multiple light sources 312 315 connecting 314 315 My Menu 241 242 displaying 242 Mylar reflectors 310 names of Custom Function 229 Natural Natural M printing effects 323 Neat Image 334 neck straps 8 neutr
462. rn from scratching Viewfinder window Peer through this to view and frame your subject If you re shooting a picture under bright lighting conditions with the camera mounted on a tripod or you are otherwise not looking through the viewfinder during the expo sure it s a good idea to cover up this window I use my hand Diopter wheel Use this to provide optical correction in the viewfinder While your contact lenses or glasses may provide sufficient correction some glasses wearers want to shoot without them so the built in diopter adjustment which can be varied from 2 5 to 0 5 correction is useful Press the shutter release halfway to illuminate the indicators in the viewfinder then rotate the diopter adjustment wheel next to the viewfinder while looking through the viewfinder until the indicators appear sharp Canon also offers 10 different Dioptric Adjustment Lens Series E correction lenses for additional correction I recommend using these permanent add ons only if you are the only person using your T3 46 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Diopter wheel Viewfinder window Eyepiece LCD m LCD This is the 2 7 inch display that shows your Live View preview displays a shot for image review after the picture is taken shows the shooting settings display before the photo is snapped and all the menus used by the Rebel T3 The most used controls reside on the right side of th
463. rograms are as follows Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements Photoshop is the serious photographers number one choice for image editing and Elements is an excellent option for those who need most of Photoshop s power but not all of its professional level features Both edi tors use the latest version of Adobe s Camera Raw plug in which makes it easy to adjust things like color space profiles color depth either 8 bits or 16 bits per color channel image resolution white balance exposure shadows brightness sharpness luminance and noise reduction One plus with the Adobe products is that they are available in iden tical versions for both Windows and Macs Corel Photo Paint This is the image editing program that is included in the popular CorelDRAW Graphics suite Although a Mac version was available in the past this is primarily a Windows application today It s a full featured photo retouching and image editing program with selection retouching and painting tools for manual image manip ulations and it also includes convenient automated commands for a few common tasks such as red eye removal Photo Paint accepts Photoshop plug ins to expand its assort ment of filters and special effects Corel Paint Shop Pro This is a general purpose Windows only image editor that has gained a reputation as the poor man s Photoshop for providing a substantial portion of Photoshop s capabilities at a fraction of the cost It includes
464. rst applied to both gravity and light by Sir Isaac Newton dic tates that as a light source s distance increases from the subject the amount of light reaching the subject falls off proportionately to the square of the distance In plain English that means that a flash or lamp that s eight feet away from a subject pro vides only one quarter as much illumination as a source that s four feet away rather than half as much See Figure 11 2 This translates into relatively shallow depth of light m Action stopping Con continuous lighting Action stopping with continuous light sources is completely dependent on the shutter speed you ve dialed in on the camera And the speeds available are dependent on the amount of light available and your ISO sensitivity setting Outdoors in daylight there will probably be enough sunlight to let you shoot at 1 2 500th second and f 6 3 with a non grainy sensitivity setting of ISO 400 Thats a fairly useful combination of settings if you re not using a super telephoto with a small maximum aperture But inside the reduced illumination quickly has you pushing your Rebel T3 to its limits For example if you re shooting indoor sports there probably won t be enough available light to allow you to use a 1 2 000th second shutter speed although I routinely shoot indoor basketball with my T3 at ISO 1600 and 1 500th second at f 4 In many indoor sports situations you may find yourself limited to 1 500th second
465. rture wont cut it for night baseball or football games or even any sports shooting in daylight if the weather is cloudy or you need to use some unusually fast shutter speed such as 1 4 000th second You might be happier with the Canon EF 100mm f 2 Medium Telephoto for close range stuff or even the pricier Canon EF 135mm f 2L If money is no object you can spring for Canon s 400mm f 2 8 and 600mm f 4 L series lenses both with image stabilization and priced in the 6 500 and up stratosphere Or maybe you just need the speed and can benefit from an f 1 8 or f 1 lens in the 20mm 85mm range They re all available in Canon mounts there s even an 85mm f 1 2 and 50mm f 1 2 for the real speed demons With any of these lenses you can continue photographing under the dimmest of lighting con ditions without the need for a tripod or flash Special features Accessory lenses give you special features such as tilt shift capa bilities to correct for perspective distortion in architectural shots Canon offers four of these TS E lenses in 17mm 24mm 45mm and 90mm focal lengths at more than 1 000 and up each You ll also find macro lenses including the MP E 65mm f 2 8 1 5x Macro Photo lens a manual focus lens which shoots oz y in the 1X to 5X life size range If you want diffused images check out the EF 135mm f 2 8 with two soft focus settings The fisheye lenses mentioned earlier and all IS image stabilized lenses also count as special feature
466. rwrite its own operating system that is how can the existing firmware be used to load the new version on top of itself It s a little like lifting yourself by reaching down and pulling up on your bootstraps Not ironically that s almost exactly what happens At your com mand when you start the upgrade process the T3 shifts into a special mode in which it is no longer operating from its firmware but rather from a small piece of software called a bootstrap loader a separate protected software program that functions only at startup or when upgrading firmware The loader s function is to look for firmware to launch or when directed to copy new firmware from a memory card or your computer to the internal memory space where the old firmware is located Once the new firmware has replaced the old you can turn your camera off and then on again and the updated operating system will be loaded Because the loader software is small in size and limited in function there are some restrictions on what it can do For example the loader software isn t set up to go hunt ing through your memory card for the firmware file It looks only in the top or root directory of your card so that s where you must copy the firmware you download Once you ve determined that a new firmware update is available for your camera and that you want to install it just follow these steps If you chicken out any Canon service center can install the firmware upgrade for you
467. rytelling 35 Video v crews eRe erei atiu RACE REC OR RR 133 Lighting lor Vide sisie cae der ud WERE TQ PREOA PVP ewe ena 137 Tips Tor Bester Ni 428 va sed ferae vd ia vp qe ES 139 viii David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 7 Advanced Shooting 141 Co ntinyous SDODUHE xa s acad edd ed 05400 SO Ce ace ees 141 More Exposure Options oce dove wh beeen IRE EET gu 143 A Tiny Slice of Tame seva queue x EROR CERCROR eae OR eR ERE AER 143 Working with Short Exposures secet 145 Long ExposufeS e woes e e gate Rs Em REIHE UA RUE ERU RUE UR E RAE 147 Three Ways to Take Long Exposures 2 2 ceo t Re RR 147 Working with Lone Exposutesy ox easc0ceca saves oe ee a 148 Delayed ESpOSHEBS casa aca e EE E PORE e ESAS Sh Ree e 152 Sel Mer wcveee Sea kei nepe E RARE e Gee ease E E 153 Time Lapse Interval Photography 0 0 c ee eee eee 153 WiFi and Geotagging ou Cue vue eA EEREPSC E Swe wR ORE ENS 154 Focus Stacking cuadro a Rr E ER RE V OR C 157 PART III ADVANCED TOOLS Chapter 8 Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 163 Anatomy of the Rebel T3 s Menus 00cceeccescesvceees 164 Shooting 1 2 3 amp 4 Menu Options 2 4 6060000eeeewesesweeess 166 Quality Settings d uer aa ed RT EWETSRT PU OE Ree DERE RE d 167 Beep so y x ERG REE She RSE TEA ee TER 171 Release Shutter Without Cardis cederer zbreree RI REG P XS 171 Image Review scis ssri RR RR RR br k
468. s things get a little more complicated If your pictures are very valuable either to you or to others for example a wedding you can always turn to professional data recovery 354 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography firms Be prepared to pay hundreds of dollars to get your pictures back but these pros often do an amazing job You wouldn t want them working on your memory card on behalf of the police if you d tried to erase some incriminating pictures There are many firms of this type and I ve never used them myself so I can t offer a recommendation Use a Google search to turn up a ton of them I use a software program called RescuePro which came free with one of my SanDisk memory cards THE ULTIMATE IRONY I recently purchased an 8GB Kingston memory card that was furnished with some nifty OnTrack data recovery software The first thing I did was format the card to make sure it was okay Then I hunted around for the free software only to discover it was preloaded onto the memory card I was supposed to copy the software to my computer before using the memory card for the first time Fortunately I had the OnTrack software that would reverse my dumb move so I could retrieve the software No wait I didn t have the software I needed to recover the software I erased I d reformatted it to oblivion Chalk this one up as either the ultimate irony or Stupid Photographer Trick 523 A mor
469. s 209 210 Purple toning effects 198 200 Q Q button 24 focus points selecting 114 metering mode changing 72 Picture Styles selecting 196 Quick Control key See Q button Quick Control screen 47 48 with Basic Zone modes 96 100 in Creative Auto CA mode 97 in Flash Off mode 96 in Full Auto mode 96 in Landscape mode 98 metering mode changing 72 Picture Styles selecting 196 shooting settings display 57 Quick mode in Live View 122 123 208 for movies 126 R rangefinder system 103 104 ratings See image ratings RAW formats continuous shooting with 142 143 contrast correcting 93 image processing feature Playback menu 176 JPEG formats compared 169 171 Merge to HDR with 90 Monochrome Picture Style with 195 Picture Styles adjustment to 192 Shooting menu settings 168 171 vignetting minimizing 174 WB white balance specifying 284 285 RAW utilities 169 333 337 See also Adobe Camera Raw Digital Photo Professional chromatic aberration correcting 269 Digital Photo Professional 335 336 IrfanView 336 noise reduction with 92 RAW PEG format Adobe RGB with 189 benefits of 170 171 continuous shooting with 143 files managing 171 Shooting menu settings 168 171 rear curtain sync See second curtain sync rear lens cap 14 reciprocal of the focal length rule 147 reciprocity failure 144 Recover My Photos 352 recovering Adobe Camera Raw details with 340 memory c
470. s It s such an unnatural style of lighting that it makes its targets seem weird and abnormal Outdoor lighting While shooting outdoors may seem easier because the sun pro vides more light it also presents its own problems As a general rule of thumb keep the sun behind you when you re shooting video outdoors except when shooting faces anything from a medium shot and closer since the viewer wont want to see a squinting subject When shooting another human this way put the sun behind them and use a video light to balance light levels between the foreground and back ground If the sun is simply too bright position the subject in the shade and use the video light for your main illumination Using reflectors white board panels or aluminum foil covered cardboard panels are cheap options can also help balance light effectively On camera lighting While not technically a lighting style this method is com monly used A hot shoe mounted light provides direct lighting in the same direc tion the lens is pointing It s commonly used at weddings events and in photojournalism since it s easy and portable LED video lights are all the rage these days and a wide variety of these lights are available at various price points At the low end these lights tend to be small and produce minimal light but useful for fill work More expensive versions offer greater light output and come with built in barn doors panels that help you control and shape the
471. s Alien Bees ringflash is a more economi cal alternative to Canon s own units Figure 11 19 Window light makes the per fect diffuse illu mination for informal soft focus portraits like this one Chapter 11 m Working with Light 311 Bounce the light External electronic flash units mounted on the T3 usually have a swivel that allows them to be pointed up at a ceiling for a bounce light effect You can also bounce the light off a wall You ll want the surface to be white or have a neutral gray color to avoid a color cast Use reflectors Another way to bounce the light is to use reflectors or photo umbrel las that you can position yourself to provide a greater degree of control over the quantity and direction of the bounced light Good reflectors can be pieces of foam board Mylar or a reflective disk held in place by a clamp and stand Although some expensive photo umbrellas and reflectors are available spending a lot isn t neces sary A simple piece of white foamboard does the job beautifully Umbrellas have the advantage of being compact and foldable while providing a soft even kind of light They re relatively cheap too with a good 40 inch umbrella designed specif ically for photographic applications available for as little as 20 312 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Use diffusers Sto Fen and some other vendors offer clip on diffusers like the ones shown in Figures 11
472. s an innovative move by Canon and this allowed the company to produce better and more sophisticated lenses as technology became available to upgrade the focusing system As a result you ll find four different types of motors in Canon designed lenses each with cost and practical considerations Most newer lenses use only the latest USM motor and incorporate that designation in their names m AFD Arc form drive and Micromotor MM drives are built around tiny versions of electromagnetic motors which generally use gear trains to produce the motion needed to adjust the focus of the lens Both are slow noisy and not particularly effective with larger lenses Manual focus adjustments are possible only when the motor drive is disengaged m Micromotor ultrasonic motor USM drives use high frequency vibration to pro duce the motion used to drive the gear train resulting in a quieter operating system at a cost that s not much more than that of electromagnetic motor drives With the exception of a couple lenses that have a slipping clutch mechanism manual focus with this kind of system is possible only when the motor drive is switched off and the lens is set in manual mode This is the kind of USM system you ll find in lower cost lenses m Ring ultrasonic motor USM drives available in two different types electronic focus ring USM and ring USM also use high frequency movement but generate motion using a pair of vibrating metal rings to adj
473. s clearing option which I ll describe shortly Table 9 1 shows the set ting defaults after using this menu option Table 9 1 Camera Setting Defaults Shooting Settings Default Value AF mode One Shot AF AF point selection Auto selection Metering mode Evaluative ISO speed Auto Drive mode Single shooting Exposure compensation AEB Canceled Flash exposure compensation 0 Custom Functions Unchanged Image Recording Settings Default Value Quality JPEG Large Fine Picture Style Standard Auto Lighting Optimizer Standard Peripheral illumination correction Enable Correction data retained Color space sRGB White balance Auto Custom white balance Canceled White balance correction Canceled WB BKT Canceled File numbering Continuous Dust Delete Data Erased Camera Settings Default Value Auto power off 30 seconds Beep Enable Release shutter without card Enable Image Review 2 seconds Histogram Brightness 240 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Table 9 1 Camera Setting Defaults continued Camera Settings Default Value Image jump with Main Dial 10 images Auto rotate On Camera Computer LCD brightness Centered LCD off on button Shutter button Date Time Unchanged Language Unchanged Feature Guide Enable Copyright information Unchanged Control over HDMI Disable Eye Fi transmission Disable My Menu settings Unchanged Live View Settings Default Live view shooting Enable AF mode L
474. s correct the black cat at left and white cat at right are rendered properly as well When youre shooting pictures with your T3 and the meter happens to base its expo sure on a subject that averages that ideal middle gray then you ll end up with simi lar accurate results The cameras exposure algorithms are concocted to ensure this kind of result as often as possible barring any unusual subjects that is those that are backlit or have uneven illumination The T3 has four different metering modes described next each of which is equipped to handle certain types of unusual subjects as l Il outline VYMTUMUUTUNT crac 70 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Overexposed The strip of three images in Figure 4 5 shows what would happen if the exposure were calculated based on metering the leftmost black cat The light meter sees less light reflecting from the black cat than it would see from a gray middle tone subject and so figures Aha I need to add exposure to brighten this subject up to a middle gray That lightens the black cat so it now appears to be gray But now the cat in the middle that was originally middle gray is overexposed and becomes light gray And the white cat at right is now seriously overexposed and loses detail in the highlights which have become a featureless white Underexposed The third possibility in this simplified scenario is that the light meter
475. s have enjoyed a dominating position among digital SLRs because of Canon s innovation in introducing affordable cameras with interesting features and outstanding performance particularly in the area of high ISO image quality It doesn t hurt that Canon also pro vides both full frame and smaller format digital cameras and a clear migration path between them if you stick to the Canon EF lenses that are compatible with both You ve selected your camera of choice and you belong in the Canon camp if you fall into one of the following categories m Individuals who want to get better pictures or perhaps transform their growing interest in photography into a full fledged hobby or artistic outlet with a Canon T3 and advanced techniques m Those who want to produce more professional looking images for their personal or business website and feel that the T3 will give them more control and capabilities m Small business owners with more advanced graphics capabilities who want to use the T3 to document or promote their business m Corporate workers who may or may not have photographic skills in their job descriptions but who work regularly with graphics and need to learn how to use digital images taken with a Canon EOS T3 for reports presentations or other applications m Professional webmasters with strong skills in programming including Java JavaScript HTML Perl etc but little background in photography but who real ize that the T3
476. s in full color at a price anyone can afford Special thanks to executive editor Kevin Harreld who always gives me the freedom to let my imagi nation run free with a topic as well as my veteran production team including project editor Jenny Davidson and technical editor Mike Sullivan Also thanks to Bill Hartman layout Katherine Stimson indexing Sara Gullion proofreading Mike Tanamachi cover design and my agent Carole Jelen who has the amazing ability to keep both pub lishers and authors happy Id also like to thank the Continent of Europe without which this book would have a lot of blank spaces where illustrations are supposed to go About the Author With more than a million books in print David D Busch is one of the bestselling authors of books on digital photography and imaging technology and the originator of popular series like David Buschs Pro Secrets and David Buschs Quick Snap Guides He has written fifteen hugely successful guidebooks for Canon digital camera models including all time 1 bestsellers for many of them additional user guides for other cam era models as well as many popular books devoted to dSLRs including Mastering Digital SLR Photography Third Edition and Digital SLR Pro Secrets As a roving photo journalist for more than 20 years he illustrated his books magazine articles and news paper reports with award winning images He s operated his own commercial studio suffocated in formal dress while s
477. s sometimes referred to as focus priority for that reason Because of the small delay while the camera zeroes in on correct focus you might experience slightly more shutter lag This mode uses less battery power When sharp focus is achieved the selected focus point will flash red in the viewfinder and the focus confirmation light at the lower right will flash green If you re using One Shot AF r ONE SHOT AI FOCUS Al SERVO Figure 5 10 Press the left right cross keys or rotate the Main Dial until the AF choice you want is selected Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 113 Evaluative metering the exposure will be locked at the same time By keeping the shut ter button depressed halfway you ll find you can reframe the image while retaining the focus and exposure that s been set With other metering methods you can use the AE lock FE lock button to retain the exposure calculated from the center AF point while reframing Al Servo AF This mode also known as continuous autofocus is the mode to use for sports and other fast moving subjects In this mode once the shutter release is partially depressed the camera sets the focus but continues to monitor the subject so that if it moves or you move the lens will be refocused to suit Focus and exposure arent really locked until you press the shutter release down all the way to take the picture You ll often see con tinuous autofocus referred to as release priorit
478. screen will appear See Figure 12 4 Use the cross keys to highlight Set Up Press SET 3 Select Print type Choose Print Type Standard Index Thumbnails print or Both and specify whether Date or File Number imprinting should be turned on or off You can turn one or the other on but not both Date and File Number imprint ing Press MENU to return to the Print Order screen 4 Choose selection method Highlight Sel Image choose individual images By Folder to select deselect all images in a folder or All Image to mark unmark all the images on your memory card Press SET Mn Select individual images With Sel Image use the cross keys to view the images and press SET to mark or unmark an image for printing If youd rather view thumbnails of images press the Thumbnail Zoom In button Press the Magnify Zoom Out button to return to single image view Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 325 Figure 12 3 Print orders can be assem ek Protect images mm Rotate Erase images Print order Figure 12 4 Select the m Print order images to be printed indi m idus by J Standard 1 prints folder or all the images on your memory card Date Off File No Off Sel Image All image 326 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 6 Choose number of prints Once an image is selected rotate the cross keys to spec ify 1 to 99 prints for that image
479. se will be displayed on the top panel LCD when you press the shutter button halfway so you aren t necessar ily in the dark so to speak about the ISO setting being applied The actual range used depends on the shooting mode you re working with and the maximum you set using this menu entry This menu entry allows you to place a limitation on the ranges selected in certain shooting modes as outlined in Table 8 1 and discussed next m D Tv Av M modes You can select a maximum ISO that will be selected when using any of these modes Choose from ISO 400 800 1600 3200 or 6400 Use this capability to minimize the amount of noise that might result by blocking the T3 s ability to automatically select an ISO sensitivity higher than the limit you choose m P and Basic Zone modes except Night Portrait with bounce flash If you select ISO 400 or ISO 800 as your maximum then the T3 will adhere to that limitation when choosing an ISO speed with bounce flash and an external Speedlite If you set the max to ISO 1600 or higher then the T3 will apply the ISO 400 1600 range when using bounce flash in these modes Table 8 1 Automatic ISO Ranges Shooting Mode ISO Range Basic Zone modes other than Portrait mode ISO 100 3200 Auto Portrait mode ISO 100 Fixed Bulb ISO 800 Fixed All modes direct flash ISO 800 Program mode Basic Zone modes except Night ISO 400 1600 Auto Portrait with bounce flash and external Speedlite Program Tv Av M mo
480. send them back to the office over a modem at 1 200 bps But as I noted JPEG provides smaller files by compressing the information in a way that loses some image data JPEG remains a viable alternative because it offers several different quality levels At the highest quality Fine level you might not be able to tell the difference between the original RAW file and the JPEG version In my case I shoot virtually everything at RAW JPEG Fine Most of the time I m not concerned about filling up my memory cards as I usually have a minimum of five fast 8GB memory cards with me I also have some 32GB SD cards that are a little slower so I don t use them for sports but with even more capacity If I think I may fill up all those cards I have Apples Camera Connection Kit for my iPad and can transfer pho tos to that device As I mentioned earlier when shooting sports I ll shift to JPEG Fine Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 171 MANAGING LOTS OF FILES The only long term drawback to shooting everything in RAW JPEG is that it s easy to fill up your computer s hard drive if you are a prolific photographer Here s what I do My most recent photos are stored on my working hard drive in a numbered folder say T3 01 with subfolders named after the shooting session such as 110501 Trees for pictures of trees taken on May 1 2011 An automatic utility Truelmage Home copies new and modified photos to a different hard d
481. sensors can affect how well the system operates As I mentioned the Canon EOS T3 has nine AF points or zones Other EOS cameras may have from seven to 45 AF points These focus sensors can consist of vertical or hori zontal lines of pixels cross shapes and often a mixture of these types within a single camera although as I mentioned the EOS T3 includes a cross type sensor only at the center position The more AF points available the more easily the camera can differ entiate among areas of the frame and the more precisely you can specify the area you want to be in focus if you re manually choosing a focus spot As the camera collects focus information from the sensors it then evaluates it to deter mine whether the desired sharp focus has been achieved The calculations may include whether the subject is moving and whether the camera needs to predict where the subject will be when the shutter release button is fully depressed and the picture is taken The speed with which the camera is able to evaluate focus and then move the lens ele ments into the proper position to achieve the sharpest focus determines how fast the autofocus mechanism is Although your T3 will almost always focus more quickly than a human there are types of shooting situations where that s not fast enough For exam ple if you re having problems shooting sports because the T3 s autofocus system man ically follows each moving subject a better choice might be to s
482. serves a lengthy explanation do I direct you to a more detailed write up later in the book 40 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 1 DC power port So if youre wondering what the depth of field preview does or how you can turn the SET button into a depth of field button because the T3 lacks a traditional DOF con trol Pll tell you up front rather than have you flip to Page 1 282 This book is not a scavenger hunt But after I explain how to use the ISO button to change the sensitivity of the T3 I will provide a cross reference to a longer explanation later in the book that clarifies noise reduction ISO and its effects on exposure I think this kind of organi zation works best for a camera as sophisticated as the Rebel T3 By the time you finish this chapter you ll have a basic understanding of every control and what it does I m not going to delve into menu functions here you ll find a dis cussion of your Set up Shooting and Playback menu options in Chapters 8 and 9 Everything here is devoted to the button pusher and dial twirler in you Front View When we picture a given camera we always imagine the front view That s the view that your subjects see as you snap away and the aspect that s shown in product publicity and on the box The frontal angle is for all intents and purposes the face of a camera like the Rebel T3 But not surprisingly most of the
483. ses Only satisfaction with the pre vious Canon product line and the promise of the new system would keep them in the fold 252 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography EF vs EF S Today in addition to its EF lenses Canon offers lenses that use the EF S the S stands for short back focus mount with the chief difference being as you might expect lens components that extend farther back into the camera body of some of Canons lat est digital cameras specifically those with smaller than full frame sensors such as the T3 As Pll explain next this refinement allows designing more compact less expensive lenses especially for those cameras but not for models like the EOS 5D Mark II 1Ds Mark III or 1D Mark III even though the latter camera does have a sensor that is slightly smaller than full frame Canon s EF S lens mount variation was born in 2003 when the company virtually invented the consumer oriented digital SLR category by introducing the original EOS 300D Digital Rebel a dSLR that cost less than 1 000 with lens at a time when all other interchangeable lens digital cameras including the T3 s grandparent the original EOS 10D were priced closer to 2 000 with a basic lens Like the EOS 10D the EOS T3 features a smaller than full frame sensor with a 1 6X crop factor Canon calls this for mat APS C But the EOS Digital Rebel accepted lenses that took advantage of the shorter
484. settings that contain only noise and then using the blank photo s information to cancel out the noise in the original picture Although the process is very quick it does double the amount of time required to take the photo Noise reduction can be switched off if youd rather not use it normallens A lens that makes the image in a photograph appear in a perspective that is like that of the original scene as viewed typically with a field of view of roughly 45 degrees overexposure A condition in which too much light reaches the film or sensor pro ducing a dense negative or a very bright light print slide or digital image 376 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Partial metering An exposure system that concentrates on a small area in the center of the image See also Center weighted metering and Evaluative metering pincushion distortion A type of lens distortion in which lines at the top and side edges of an image are bent inward producing an effect that looks like a pincushion See also barrel distortion polarizing filter A filter that forces light which normally vibrates in all directions to vibrate only in a single plane reducing or removing the specular reflections from the surface of objects Such filters tend to increase the contrast between colors and make blue skies more dramatic most strongly when the sun is located at a 90 degree angle from the direction the camera is pointed RAW An i
485. sh units 310 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography More Advanced Lighting Techniques As you advance in your Canon Rebel T3 photography you ll want to learn more sophis ticated lighting techniques using more than just straight on flash or using just a sin gle flash unit Check out David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Lighting if you want to delve further I m going to provide a quick introduction to some of the techniques you should be considering Diffusing and Softening the Light Direct light can be harsh and glaring especially if youre using the flash built into your camera or an auxiliary flash mounted in the hot shoe and pointed directly at your sub ject The first thing you should do is stop using direct light unless you re looking for a stark contrasty appearance as a creative effect There are a number of simple things you can do with both continuous and flash illumination m Use window light Light coming in a window can be soft and flattering and a good choice for human subjects Move your subject close enough to the window that its light provides the primary source of illumination You might want to turn off other lights in the room particularly to avoid mixing daylight and incandescent light see Figure 11 19 m Use fill light Your T3 s built in flash makes a perfect fill in light for the shadows brightening inky depths with a kicker of illumination Figure 11 18 Thi
486. sh using the Quick Control screen described later in this chapter Underneath Your Rebel T3 There s not a lot going on with the bottom panel of your Rebel T3 You ll find a tripod socket which secures the camera to a tripod and the access door that opens to allow inserting removing both the battery and a memory card Note that certain tripod heads may keep you from opening this door so it s a good idea to plan ahead and insert a fresh memory card and or battery that might be needed Figure 3 12 shows the underside view of the camera Figure 3 12 J Canon 0512629 E 4 PC FE C Tripod socket Battery memory card access door 54 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Lens Components The typical lens like the ones shown in Figures 3 13 and 3 14 has seven or eight common features Not every component appears on every lens The 18 55mm lens on the left for example lacks the distance scale and distance indicator that the 17 85mm lens on the right has Lenses that lack image stabilization will not have a sta bilization switch m Filter thread Lenses have a thread on the front for attaching filters and other add ons Some also use this thread for attaching a lens hood you screw on the filter first and then attach the hood to the screw thread on the front of the filter m Lens hood bayonet This is used to mount the lens hood for lenses that don t use screw mount hoods
487. shoot a series of still photos and transform them into a storyboard if you want as I did in Figure 6 10 In this case I took pictures of a parade and then used them to assemble a storyboard to follow when I shot video at a similar parade on a later date I a 7 As z ne ro LY Figure 6 10 A storyboard is a series of simple sketches or photos to help visualize a segment of video Figure 6 11 Movie shooting requires you to fit all your subjects into a horizontally oriented frame Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 133 Storytelling in Video Today s audience is accustomed to fast paced short scene storytelling In order to pro duce interesting video for such viewers it s important to view video storytelling as a kind of shorthand code for the more leisurely efforts print media offers Audio and video should always be advancing the story While it s okay to let the camera linger from time to time it should only be for a compelling reason and only briefly Composition is one of the most important tools available to you for telling a story in video However while you can crop a still frame any old way you like in movie shoot ing several factors restrict your composition and impose requirements you just dont always have in still photography although other rules of good composition do apply Here are some of the key differences to keep in mind when composing movie frames m Horizontal compositions only S
488. sible Picture Style options are shown as numeric values on the menu screen Some camera vendors use word descriptions like Sharp Extra Sharp or Vivid More Vivid that are difficult to relate to The T3 s settings on the other hand are values on uniform scales with seven steps from 1 to 7 for sharpness and plus minus four steps clustered around a zero no change value for contrast and saturation so you can change from low contrast low sat uration 4 to high contrast high saturation 4 as well as color tone 4 reddish to Figure 8 23 Choose Picture Style from the Quick Control menu to choose a style from this fast access screen Figure 8 24 Each parameter can be changed separately Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 197 4 yellowish The individual icons at the top of Figure 8 22 represent left to right Sharpness Contrast Saturation and Color Tone You can change one of the existing Picture Styles or define your own whenever the Shooting 2 menu version of the Picture Styles menu or the pop up selection screen shown in Figure 8 23 is visible Just press the DISP button when either screen is on the LCD Follow these steps 1 Choose a style to modify Use the cross keys to scroll to the style youd like to adjust 2 Activate adjustment mode Press the DISP button to choose Detail Set If you re coming from the Shooting 2 menu the screen that appears next will look like the
489. sion 108 110 SET button for previewing 47 236 with telephoto lenses 267 with wide angle lenses 262 264 downloading uploading See also transferring images to computer with EOS Utility 326 328 firmware upgrades 344 348 Picture Styles to camera uploading 202 203 DPOF Digital Print Order Format 212 324 326 drag and drop transferring images with 333 DRIVE button 142 386 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography drive mode in Basic Zone modes 99 in Creative Auto CA mode 97 cross keys for setting 47 50 in Live View 120 125 shooting settings display 57 duration of light 66 dusk color temperature at 282 283 dust See also sensor cleaning avoiding 358 359 Dust Delete Data feature 205 207 FAQs about 355 357 identifying 357 358 Dust Delete Data feature Shooting menu 205 207 dynamic range 64 See also HDR High Dynamic Range E E TTL II mode for built in flash 179 180 298 299 for external flash 180 299 302 for multiple light sources 313 Eclipse solution Photographic Solutions 365 Edgerton Harold 143 146 Edison Thomas 282 editing 333 334 See also image editors RAW utilities movies 129 131 Picture Style Editor 201 203 EF lenses 250 253 EF S lenses compared 252 introduction of 251 EF 15mm f 2 8 Autofocus Fisheye lens 257 EF 24 70mm f 2 8L USM Autofocus Wide Angle Telephoto Zoom lens 250 EF 24 85mm f 3 5 4 5 USM Autofocus Wid
490. sist an external flash such as the 580EX II can provide a focusing aid for subjects as far as 32 8 feet away m Live View The AF assist flash is disabled when using Live View s Live mode and Face Detection focusing modes for both the built in flash and external flash However if a Canon Speedlite with an LED light is used such as the 580EX II the beam will illuminate to provide autofocus assistance The AF assist beam func tions normally when using Quick mode autofocus in Live View m Enabling Disabling AF assist You can specify how the AF assist beam is fired using C Fn III 6 as described below AF Assist with Flash Disabled You can still use the Autofocus Assist Beam function even when you don t want the flash to contribute to the exposure by disabling flash while enabling autofocus assist using one of the Flash Control options in the Shooting 1 menu Just follow these steps 1 Press the MENU button and navigate to the Shooting 1 menu 2 Use the cross keys to select the Flash Control entry 3 Select Flash Firing press SET and choose Disable That option disables both the built in flash and any external dedicated flash you may have attached However the AF assist beam will still fire as described earlier 4 Press the MENU button twice to exit Or just tap the shutter release button Chapter 11 m Working with Light 295 Enabling Disabling AF Assist Use C Fn III 06 described in Chapter 9 to choose whether the AF assi
491. ss type sensors can achieve sharp focus interpreting the alignment of horizontal lines they work with both horizontal and vertical lines better with vertical lines or diagonals 106 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography The value of cross type focus sensors in phase detection is that such sensors can line up edges and interpret image contrast in both horizontal and vertical directions as shown in Figure 5 5 The horizontal lines are still more difficult to interpret with the horizon tal arm of the cross but they stand out in sharp contrast in the vertical arms and allow the camera to align the edges and snap the image into focus easily as you can see at lower right In lower light levels with subjects that were moving or with subjects that have no pattern and less contrast to begin with the cross type sensor not only works faster but can focus subjects that a horizontal or vertical only sensor can t handle at all Note that the actual horizontal vertical and cross type sensors dont look like the illus trations were still in over simplification mode The location of the sensors in the viewfinder is shown in Figure 5 6 Contrast Detection Contrast detection is a slower mode and used by the Canon T3 with Live View and Live Face Detection modes because to allow live viewing of the sensor image the cameras mirror has to be flipped up out of the way so that the illumination from the lens can
492. ssign an action to the button during shooting CAUTION One thing to keep in mind when redefining the behavior of controls including other controls that can be modified within the Custom Functions menus is that any non stan dard customization you do will definitely be confusing to others who use your camera and may even confuse you if you ve forgotten that you ve changed a control from its default function m 0 Disabled This is the default during shooting no action is taken If you have used the T1i you know that this choice activated the Quick Control screen the T3 now has a Q Print button to perform the same function m 1 Image quality Pressing the SET button produces the Shooting 1 menu s Quality menu screen on the color LCD You can cycle among the various quality options with the up down and left right cross keys Press SET again to lock in your choice m 2 Flash exposure comp The SET button summons the flash exposure compen sation screen Use the left right cross keys to adjust flash exposure plus or minus two stops If you re using an external flash unit its internal flash exposure com pensation settings override those set from the camera Press SET to confirm your choice m 3 LCD monitor On Off Assigns to the SET button the same functions as the DISP button Because the SET button can be accessed with the thumb you may find it easier to use when turning the LCD monitor on or off 236 David Busch s Canon E
493. st beam is emit ted by the built in flash or the external Speedlite You can disable the feature activate it for both built in and external Speedlite specify only external flash assist or use only the infrared AF assist beam included with some Canon flash units such as the 580EX II That option eliminates the obtrusive visible flashes but still allows autofocus assis tance using IR signals Using FE Lock and Flash Exposure Compensation If you want to lock flash exposure for a subject that is not centered in the frame you can use the FE lock button to lock in a specific flash exposure Just depress and hold the shutter button halfway to lock in focus then center the viewfinder on the subject you want to correctly expose and press the button The pre flash fires and calculates exposure displaying the FEL flash exposure lock message in the viewfinder Then recompose your photo and press the shutter down the rest of the way to take the photo You can also manually add or subtract exposure to the flash exposure calculated by the T3 when using a Creative Zone mode Just press the Choose the Flash Control entry in the Shooting 1 menu then the Built in Flash function setting and choose Flash Exp Comp Then use the left right cross keys to enter flash exposure compensation plus or minus two f stops The exposure index scale on the LCD and in the viewfinder will indicate the change you ve made and a flash exposure compensation icon will ap
494. st often used to represent the optical correction used in a viewfinder to adjust for limitations of the photographer s eyesight and to describe the magnification of a close up lens attachment equivalent focal length A digital camera s focal length translated into the correspon ding values for a 35mm film camera This value can be calculated for lenses used with the Canon EOS T3 by multiplying by 1 6 Evaluative metering One system of exposure calculation used by the EOS T3 that looks at many different segments of an image to determine the brightest and darkest portions See also Center weighted metering and Partial metering exchangeable image file format Exif Developed to standardize the exchange of image data between hardware devices and software A variation on JPEG Exif is used by most digital cameras and includes information such as the date and time a photo was taken the camera settings resolution amount of compression and other data Exif See exchangeable image file format Exif exposure The amount of light allowed to reach the film or sensor determined by the intensity of the light the amount admitted by the iris of the lens the length of time determined by the shutter speed and the ISO sensitivity setting for the sensor exposure values EV EV settings are a way of adding or decreasing exposure without the need to reference f stops or shutter speeds For example if you tell your camera to add 1EV it will provide
495. st the viewfinder for your vision and insert a memory card Each of these steps is easy and if youve used any Canon EOS camera in the past you already know exactly what to do I m going to provide a little extra detail for those of you who are new to the Canon or digital SLR worlds Figure 1 2 A flashing status light not shown indicates Figure 1 3 Insert the battery in the camera it only fits that the battery is being charged one way Press the button to release the battery when you want to remove it 14 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Mounting the Lens As youll see my recommended lens mounting procedure emphasizes protecting your equipment from accidental damage and minimizing the intrusion of dust If your T3 has no lens attached select the lens you want to use and loosen but do not remove the rear lens cap I generally place the lens I am planning to mount vertically in a slot in my camera bag where it s protected from mishaps but ready to pick up quickly By loos ening the rear lens cap you ll be able to lift it off the back of the lens at the last instant so the rear element of the lens is covered until then After that remove the body cap by rotating the cap towards the shutter release button You should always mount the body cap when there is no lens on the camera because it helps keep dust out of the interior of the camera where it can settle on the mirror focus ing screen
496. stand language I ll give you the basics up front and even if I have to send you deeper into the book for a full discussion of a complex topic you ll have what you need to use a control right away Once you ve finished or skimmed through these three chapters you ll be ready for Part II which explains how to use the most important basic features such as the T3 s expo sure controls nifty new autofocus system and the related tools that put Live View and movie making tools at your fingertips Then you can visit Part III the advanced tools section which explains all the dozens of set up options that can be used to modify the capabilities you ve learned to use so far how to choose and use lenses and introduces the EOS Rebel T3 1100D s built in flash and external flash capabilities I ll wind up this book with Part IV which covers image software printing and transfer options and includes some troubleshooting that may help you when good cameras or film cards go bad This page intentionally left blank Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Thinking Outside of the Box Whether you subscribe to the my camera is just a tool theory or belong to the an exquisite camera adds new capabilities to my shooting arsenal camp picking up a new Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D is a special experience Those who simply wield tools will find this camera as comforting as an old friend a solid piece of fine machinery ready and able to do their bidding
497. stering A Creative DIY Guide to Portrait and Wedding Portraits Creative Movies with Corel Photography Digital SLR Photography Digital Video Lighting on Photography 1 4354 5824 9 34 99 VideoStudio Pro X4 Sixth Edition Third Edition Almost No Budget 1 4354 5884 2 34 99 1 4354 5726 9 e 29 99 1 4354 5920 2 44 99 1 4354 5832 X 39 99 1 4354 5863 X 44 99 The Linked Photographers Picture Yourself Fearless Photographer Photographs from Killer Photos Photo Restoration and Guide to Online Marketing Learning Corel PaintShop Weddings the Edge of Reality with Your iPhone Retouching Using Corel and Social Media Photo Pro X3 1 4354 5724 2 34 99 1 4354 5782 X 39 99 1 4354 5689 0 24 99 PaintShop Photo Pro Second Edition 1 4354 5508 8 29 99 1 4354 5674 2 29 99 1 4354 5680 7 39 99 To learn more about the author and our complete collection of David Busch products please visit www courseptr com davidbusch David Busch Your Complete Solution Died Brasch o COMPACT FIELD GUIDE CANON POWERSHOT SONY CANON G12 A SLT ASS A33 NIKON 9910 EOS 60D David Busch s Canon David Busch s Sony Q SLT David Busch s Nikon David Busch s David Busch s Canon EOS David Busch s PowerShot G12 Guide A55 A33 Guide to Digital D3100 Guide to Digital Compact Field Guide 60D Guide to Digital SLR Compact Field Guide to Digital Photography Photography SLR Photography for the Nikon D3100 Photography for the Canon EOS
498. sured was greater For that reason phase detection autofocus is more accurate with larger wider lens openings than with smaller lens openings and may not work at all when the f stop is smaller than f 5 6 Obviously the opposite edges of the lens opening are farther apart with a lens having an f 2 8 maximum aper ture than with one that has a smaller f 5 6 maximum f stop and the base line is much longer The T3 is able to perform these comparisons and then move the lens elements directly to the point of correct focus very quickly in milliseconds Unfortunately while the T3 s focus system finds it easy to measure degrees of apparent focus at each of the focus points in the viewfinder it doesn t really know with any cer tainty which object should be in sharpest focus Is it the closest object The subject in the center Something lurking behind the closest subject A person standing over at the Figure 5 2 In phase detection parts of an image are Figure 5 3 When the image is in focus the two halves split in two and compared of the image align as with a rangefinder Chapter 5 m Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus 105 side of the picture Many of the techniques for using autofocus effectively involve telling the EOS T3 exactly what it should be focusing on by choosing a focus zone or by allow ing the camera to choose a focus zone for you I ll address that topic shortly Cross Type Focus Points So far weve only looked a
499. t Refocusing after you ve begun capturing a movie clip can be a good thing or a bad thing so you want to be able to control when it happens If you select Enable then you can refocus dur ing capture by pressing the shutter button Refocusing will take place oz y when you press the shutter button the T3 is not able to refocus continually as you shoot AF mode Live mode AF w shutter button during e m Shutter AE lock button m Highlight tone priority Figure 6 6 The Movie 1 menu has four entries Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 127 Changing the focus during capture can be dangerous your image is likely to go out of focus for a fraction ofa second while the camera refocuses That might not be bad if you plan on editing your movie and can remove the out of focus part of the clip But refocusing during a shot can be disconcerting Note that even if you ve set the T3 to Quick Mode focus it will use phase detection only at the beginning of the clip subsequent refocusing will be performed using the Live mode Most of the time I set this parameter to Disable to avoid accidentally refocusing during a shot Shutter AE lock button Use this choice to specify what happens when you press the shutter release halfway or use the AE lock button Your options are shown in Table 6 1 m Movie recording Highlight Tone Priority Choose Enable to improve the detail in highlights in your movie clips say when shooting under high contr
500. t a time or the Main Dial to jump forward or back using the jump method you ve selected See the section below for more on jumping To quit playback press this button again The T3 also exits playback mode automati cally when you press the shutter button so you ll never be prevented from taking a picture on the spur of the moment because you happened to be viewing an image The next group of buttons allows you to change settings m AE FE Autoexposure Flash exposure lock Thumbnail Index Zoom Out but ton This button which has a label above it has several functions which differ depending on the AF point and metering mode In shooting mode it locks the exposure or flash exposure that the camera sets when you partially depress the shutter button In Evaluative exposure mode exposure is locked at the AF point that achieved focus In Partial Spot or Center weighted modes exposure is locked at the AF center point The exposure lock indication appears in the viewfinder and on the shooting settings display If you want to recal culate exposure with the shutter button still partially depressed press the button again The exposure will be unlocked when you release the shutter button or take the picture To retain the exposure lock for subsequent photos keep the button pressed while shooting When using flash pressing the button fires an extra pre flash that allows the unit to calculate and lock exposure prior to taking the pi
501. t allows the shutter to be triggered remotely with a two second delay Chapter 11 m Working with Light 309 Speedlite 270EX Il This 170 ultra compact unit is Canon s entry level Speedlite and suitable for T3 own ers who want a simple strobe for occasional use without sacrificing the ability to oper ate it as a wireless slave unit With a GN of 89 it provides a little extra pop for fill flash applications It has vertical bounce capabilities of up to 90 degrees and can be switched between Tele modes to Normal 28mm full frame coverage at a reduced guide num ber of 72 The 270EX II functions as a wireless slave unit triggered by any Canon EOS unit or flash such as the 580EX II with a Master function It also has the new flash release function with a two second delay that lets you reposition the flash There s a built in AF assist beam and this 5 5 ounce 2 6 x 2 6 x 3 inch unit is powered by just two AA size batteries Ring Lites Canon offers two ring lites the Macro Ring Lite MR 14EX and Macro Twin Lite Ring Lite flash MT 24EX As you might guess from their names ring lites are especially suit able for close up or macro photography because they provide a relatively shadowless illumination It s always tricky photographing small subjects up close because there often isnt room enough between the camera lens and the subject to position lights effec tively Ring lites especially those with their own modeling lamps to he
502. t be more practical The traditional studio flash is a multi part unit consisting of a flash head that mounts on your light stand and is tethered to an AC or sometimes battery power sup ply A single power supply can feed two or more flash heads at a time with separate con trol over the output of each head When they are operating off AC power studio flash don t have to be frugal with the juice and are often powerful enough to illuminate very large subjects or to supply lots and lots of light to smaller subjects The output of such units is measured in watt sec onds ws so you could purchase a 200ws 400ws or 800ws unit and a power pack to match Their advantages include greater power output much faster recycling built in model ing lamps multiple power levels and ruggedness that can stand up to transport because many photographers pack up these kits and tote them around as location lighting rigs Studio lighting kits can range in price from a few hundred dollars for a set of lights stands and reflectors to thousands for a high end lighting system complete with all the necessary accessories A more practical choice these days are monolights see Figure 11 22 which are all in one studio lights that sell for about 200 400 They have the flash tube modeling light and power supply built into a single unit that can be mounted on a light stand Monolights are available in AC only and battery pack versions although an extern
503. t focus sensors that calculate focus in a single direction Canon calls them AF points but I use the term sensors to avoid confusion because they arent really points at all Figures 5 2 and 5 3 illustrate a horizontally oriented focus sensor evaluating a subject that is made up predominantly of vertical lines But what does such a sensor do when it encounters a subject that isn t conveniently aligned at right angles to the sensor array You can see the problem in Figure 5 4 which pic tures the same weathered wood siding rotated 90 degrees The horizontal grain of the wood isn t divided as neatly by the split image so focusing using phase detection is more difficult In the past the solution was to include a sprinkling of vertically oriented AF sensors in with horizontally oriented sensors The vertical sensors could detect differences in horizontal lines while the horizontal sensors took care of the vertical lines Both types were equally adept at handling diagonal lines which crossed each type at a 45 degree angle Today however Canon s entry level digital SLRs use at least one multi function sensor in the center of the array that has a cross type arrangement In the T3 this sen sor operates with any lens having a maximum aperture of f 5 6 or larger and is espe cially sensitive when used with lenses having a maximum aperture of at least f 2 8 Figure 5 4 Horizontal focus sensors do a poor job of Figure 5 5 Cro
504. t the numbers Numbers are applied from 0001 to 9999 at which Format card All data will be lost 10 7MB used 7 74 GB V Low level format Cancel Figure 9 4 You must con firm the format step before the camera will erase a memory card Chapter 9 B Customizing with the Set up Menu and My Menu 223 time the camera creates a new folder on the card 100 101 102 and so forth so you can have 0001 to 9999 in folder 100 then numbering will start over in folder 101 The camera keeps track of the last number used in its internal memory That can lead to a few quirks you should be aware of For example if you insert a memory card that had been used with a different camera the T3 may start numbering with the next num ber after the highest number used by the previous camera I once had a brand new T3 start numbering files in the 8 000 range I ll explain how this can happen next On the surface the numbering system seems simple enough In the menu you can choose Continuous Automatic Reset or Manual Reset Here is how each works m Continuous If youre using a blank reformatted memory card the T3 will apply a number that is one greater than the number stored in the camera s internal mem ory If the card is not blank and contains images then the next number will be one greater than the highest number on the card orin internal memory In other words if you want to use continuous file numbering consistently you must al
505. t you want to use with the camera selecting the required shut ter speed automatically based on its light meter reading This setting is represented by the abbreviation Av on the T3 s Mode Dial See also Shutter value Shutter priority 368 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography artifact A type of noise in an image or an unintentional image component produced in error by a digital camera during processing usually caused by the JPEG compression process in digital cameras aspect ratio The proportions of an image as printed displayed on a monitor or cap tured by a digital camera autofocus A camera setting that allows the Canon EOS T3 to choose the correct focus distance for you based on the contrast of an image the image will be at maximum con trast when in sharp focus The camera can be set for One Shot generically known as single autofocus in which the lens is not focused until the shutter release is partially depressed AI Servo known as continuous autofocus in which the lens refocuses con stantly as you frame and reframe the image or AI AF which allows the camera to switch back and forth between One Shot and AI Servo based on subject movement You can choose the focus point or zone used to calculate autofocus or allow the camera to select the point for you backlighting A lighting effect produced when the main light source is located behind the subject Backlighting can be used to create
506. ter the shot is made Nor can you get a 100 percent accu rately exposed picture by using the T3 s Live View exposure simulation feature described in Chapter 6 Ambient light may make the LCD difficult to see and the brightness level you ve set can affect the appearance of the playback image Instead you can use a histogram which is a chart displayed on the Rebel T3 s LCD that shows the number of tones being captured at each brightness level You can use the infor mation to provide correction for the next shot you take The T3 offers two histogram variations one that shows overall brightness levels for an image and an alternate version that separates the red green and blue channels of your image into separate histograms Both types are charts that include a representation of up to 256 vertical lines on a hor izontal axis that show the number of pixels in the image at each brightness level from 0 black on the left side to 255 white on the right The 2 7 inch LCD doesn t have enough pixels to show each and every one of the 256 lines but instead provides a representation of the shape of the curve formed The more pixels at a given level the DISPLAYING HISTOGRAMS To view histograms on your screen press the DISP button to the left of the viewfinder window while an image is shown on the LCD Keep pressing the button until the his togram s are shown The display will cycle between several levels of information includ
507. textures that we see The distribution and proportions determine the contrast and tonal values whether the image is stark or high key or muted and low in contrast The colors of the light because even white light has a color balance that the sensor can detect and how much of those colors the subject reflects or absorbs paint the hues visible in the image 276 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography As a Rebel T3 photographer you must learn to be a painter and sculptor of light if you want to move from taking a picture to makinga photograph This chapter provides an introduction to using the two main types of illumination continuous lighting such as daylight incandescent or fluorescent sources and the brief but brilliant snippets of light we call electronic flash Continuous Illumination versus Electronic Flash Continuous lighting is exactly what you might think uninterrupted illumination that is available all the time during a shooting session Daylight moonlight and the artifi cial lighting encountered both indoors and outdoors count as continuous light sources although all of them can be interrupted by passing clouds solar eclipses a blown fuse or simply by switching off a lamp Indoor continuous illumination includes both the lights that are there already such as incandescent lamps or overhead fluorescent lights indoors and fixtures you supply yourself including photoflood lamps
508. the file at different exposure levels For example youd create one copy that s too dark so the shadows lose detail but the highlights are preserved Create another copy with the shadows intact and allow the highlights to wash out Then you can use Merge to HDR to combine the two and end up with a finished image that has the extended dynamic range youre looking for Dealing with Noise Visual image noise is that random grainy effect that some like to use as a special effect but which most of the time is objectionable because it robs your image of detail even as it adds that interesting texture Noise is caused by two different phenomena high ISO settings and long exposures High ISO noise commonly first appears when you raise your cameras sensitivity setting above ISO 800 With Canon cameras which are renown for their good ISO noise char acteristics noise may become visible at ISO 1600 and is usually fairly noticeable at ISO 3200 At the H setting ISO 6400 equivalent noise is usually quite bothersome This kind of noise appears as a result of the amplification needed to increase the sensitivity of the sensor While higher ISOs do pull details out of dark areas they also amplify non signal information randomly creating noise A similar noisy phenomenon occurs during long time exposures which allow more pho tons to reach the sensor increasing your ability to capture a picture under low light con ditions However the lon
509. the T3 s deadliest killer features full HD video shooting Indeed the opening montages of Saturday Night Live were all shot using Canon cameras like the 7D and 5D Mark II so you can see that movie shoot ing with your camera has a lot of potential You can now buy fancy harnesses rigs and Steadycam setups for Canon digital cameras turning the more ambitious among us into one person motion picture studios ready and able to shoot everything from family vaca tion movies suitable for broadcasting on PBS during pledge week to full length feature films It s mind boggling to see how far movie shooting dSLRs have progressed in the past several years Of course Live View is in fact tightly integrated with movie shooting we ll start with that Working with Live View Live View is one of those features that despite increasing evidence to the contrary expe rienced SLR users especially those dating from the film era sometimes think they dont need until they try it But Live View is a permanent fixture even for latecomers to the party Indeed many point and shoot models don t even have optical viewfinders 116 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography engendering a whole generation of amateur photographers who think the only way to frame and compose an image is to hold the camera out at arm s length so the back panel LCD can be viewed more easily While dSLR veterans didn t really miss what we v
510. the depth of field or use a faster shutter speed The need for more less DOF and slower faster shutter speed are the primary reasons youd want to use Program Shift I ll explain Program mode exposure shifting options in more detail later in this chapter In Aperture priority Av and Shutter priority Tv modes you can change to an equiv alent exposure using a different combination of shutter speed and aperture but only by either adjusting the aperture in Aperture priority mode the camera then chooses the shutter speed or shutter speed in Shutter priority mode the camera then selects the aperture I ll cover all these exposure modes and their differences later in the chapter How the Rebel T3 Calculates Exposure Your Canon T3 calculates exposure by measuring the light that passes through the lens and is bounced up by the mirror to sensors located near the focusing surface using a pattern you can select more on that later and based on the assumption that each area being measured reflects about the same amount of light as a neutral gray card that reflects a middle gray of about 12 to 18 percent reflectance The photographic gray Figure 4 4 When exposure is calculated based on the middle gray cat in the center the black and white cats are rendered accu rately too Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 69 cards you buy at a camera store have an 18 percent gray tone your camera is calibrated to interpret a somew
511. the longer telephoto range cou pled with the built in image stabilization which allows you to shoot rock solid 248 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography photos at shutter speeds that are at least two or three notches slower than you d need normally say 1 8th second instead of 1 30th or 1 60th second as long as your subject isn t moving It also has a quiet fast reliable ultrasonic motor more on that later too This is another lens designed for the 1 6X crop factor all but one of the remaining lenses in this list can also be used on full frame cameras Tl tell you why later in this chapter This lens is shown in Figure 10 3 m Canon EF S 18 200mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Autofocus lens This one priced at about 600 has been wildly popular as a basic lens for the T3 because it s light compact and covers a full range from true wide angle to long telephoto Image stabilization keeps your pictures sharp at the long end of the zoom range allowing the longer shutter speeds that the f 5 6 maximum aperture demands at 200mm Automatic panning detection turns the IS feature off when panning in both horizontal and TTE nmi BESEHEEFI 4404 INO CEAI MAB Figure 10 2 The Canon EF S 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Figure 10 3 The Canon EF S 17 85mm f 4 5 6 IS Autofocus lens ships as a basic kit lens for entry level USM Autofocus lens is another popular starter lens for Canon cameras you can also purchase it for the T
512. the odds that one will be exactly right Automatic exposure bracketing is also an excellent way of creating the base exposures you ll need when you want to combine several shots to create a high dynamic range HDR image You ll find a discussion of HDR photography one of the latest rages in Chapter 4 too To activate automatic exposure bracketing select this menu choice then rotate the Main Dial to spread or contract the three dots beneath the scale until you ve defined the range you want the bracket to cover shown as full stop jumps in Figure 8 14 Then use the cross keys to move the brackets right or left biasing the bracketing towards underex posure rotate left or overexposure rotate right When AEB is activated the three bracketed shots will be exposed in this sequence metered exposure decreased exposure increased exposure You ll find more informa tion about exposure bracketing in Chapter 4 Auto Lighting Optimizer The Auto Lighting Optimizer provides a partial fix for images that are too dark or flat Such photos typically have low contrast and the Auto Lighting Optimizer improves them as you shoot by increasing both the brightness and contrast as required The feature can be activated in Program Aperture priority and Shutter priority modes but not Manual mode You can select from four settings Standard the default value which is always selected when using Full Auto and Creative Auto modes and used for Figur
513. the one shown in Figure 11 25 or make your own Some lengths of friction fit plastic pipe and a lot of muslin cut and sewed just so may be all that you need Light Stands Both electronic flash and incandescent lamps can benefit from light stands These are lightweight tripod like devices but without a swiveling or tilting head that can be set on the floor tabletops or other elevated surfaces and positioned as needed Light stands should be strong enough to support an external lighting unit up to and including a rel atively heavy flash with soft box or umbrella reflectors You want the supports to be capable of raising the lights high enough to be effective Look for light stands capable of extending six to seven feet high The nine foot units usually have larger steadier bases and extend high enough that you can use them as background supports You ll be using these stands for a lifetime so invest in good ones Figure 11 25 Soft boxes pro vide an even diffuse light source Figure 11 26 Barn doors allow you to modulate the light from a flash or lamp and they are especially use ful for hair lights and background lights Chapter 11 m Working with Light 317 Backgrounds Backgrounds can be backdrops of cloth sheets of muslin you ve painted yourself using a sponge dipped in paint rolls of seamless paper or any other suitable surface your mind can dream up Backgrounds provide a complementary and non distracting a
514. the password or a subscription for the WiFi networks the card accesses it can grab the location information directly without the need to log in You don t need to set up or control the Eye Fi card from your camera Software on your com puter manages all the parameters See Figure 7 12 If you frequently travel outside the range of your home or business WiFi network an optional service called Hotspot Access is available allowing you to connect to any AT amp T WiFi hotspot in the USA In addition you can use your own WiFi accounts from commercial network providers your city even organizations you belong to such as your university 156 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 7 11 Connection info The EOS T3 has built in support for Eye Fi cards Connection M Connected MAC address 00 18 56 40 03 c5 Eye Fi firmware Ver 3 0301 Feb 16 2010 10 57 14 MENUS Tl eR Cete egg Figure 7 12 File About Account Help Functions of the Eye Fi card can be con trolled from your computer Login Password Preferences RSS Feeds Delete Preferences Pagination Settings 24 uploads per page O 48 uploads per page 96 uploads per page O ALL uploads on one page Application Preferences V1 Display Helpful Tips on application startup Display a warning dialog when Iz Removing an Online Sharing Site profile I Changing the computer to which I want Eye Fi to uplo
515. this has the possibility of blurring areas of your image that you didn t intend to soften 360 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Sensor Cleaning Those new to the concept of sensor dust actually hesitate before deciding to clean their camera themselves Isn t it a better idea to pack up your T3 and send it to a Canon serv ice center so their crack technical staff can do the job for you Or at the very least shouldn t you let the friendly folks at your local camera store do it Of course if you choose to let someone else clean your sensor they will be using meth ods that are more or less identical to the techniques you would use yourself None of these techniques are difficult and the only difference between their cleaning and your cleaning is that they might have done it dozens or hundreds of times If you re careful you can do just as good a job Of course vendors like Canon wont tell you this but it s not because they don t trust you It s not that difficult for a real goofball to mess up his camera by hurrying or tak ing a shortcut Perhaps the person uses the Bulb method of holding the shutter open and a finger slips allowing the shutter curtain to close on top of a sensor cleaning brush Or someone tries to clean the sensor using masking tape and ends up with goo all over its surface If Canon recommended any method that s mildly risky someone would do it wrong and then the compa
516. tically To set the focus mode you must first have set the lens to the AF position instead of the manual focus MF position Then press the AF button it s the right cross key on the back of the camera repeatedly until the focus mode you want is selected see Figure 2 5 Finally press SET to confirm your focus mode The three choices available in Creative Zone modes are as follows m One Shot This mode sometimes called single autofocus locks in a focus point when the shutter button is pressed down halfway and the focus confirmation light glows at the bottom right of the viewfinder The focus will remain locked until you release the button or take the picture If the camera is unable to achieve sharp focus the focus confirmation light will blink This mode is best when your subject is relatively motionless Portrait Night Portrait and Landscape Basic Zone modes use this focus method exclusively AF mode One Shot AF AI FOCUS Al SERVO 28 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m AI Servo This mode sometimes called continuous autofocus sets focus when you partially depress the shutter button but continues to monitor the frame and refo cuses if the camera or subject is moved This is a useful mode for photographing sports and moving subjects The Sports Basic Zone mode uses this focus method exclusively m AI Focus In this mode the T3 switches between One Shot and AI Servo as appro priate
517. tificially sharpened to make it easier for you to see the contrast changes and simplify focusing When zoomed in press the shutter release halfway and the current shutter speed and aperture are shown in orange If no information at all appears press the DISP button 4 Focus manually Use the focus ring on the lens to focus the image When you re satisfied you can zoom back out by pressing the Zoom Out button Using Exposure Simulation When Exp Sim is displayed in the Live View screen it indicates that the LCD screen image brightness is an approximation of the brightness of the captioned image If the Exp Sim display is blinking it shows that the screen image does not represent the appearance of the final image When using flash or bulb exposure the Exp Sim indi cator is dimmed out to show you that the LCD image is not being adjusted to account for the actual exposure The T3 applies any active Picture Style settings to the LCD image so you can have a rough representation of the image as it will appear when modified Sharpness contrast color saturation and color tone will all be applied In addition the camera applies the following parameters to the Live View image shown m White balance white balance correction m Shoot by ambience lighting scene choices m Auto lighting optimization m Peripheral illumination correction m Highlight Tone Priority m Aspect ratio m Depth of field when DOF button is pressed Quick Contro
518. ting your photographs I ll provide quick introductions to the software bundled with your camera and describe some of the other applications available to convert RAW files and fine tune images The chapter is not a software how to this book is virtually 100 percent devoted to photo graphic shooting techniques I want to help you avoid having to patch up your pic tures in Photoshop where possible by capturing them correctly in the camera Chapter 13 tells you everything you need to know about upgrading your camera s firmware protecting your LCD and memory card data and cleaning your sensor manually 12 Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images Taking the picture is only half the work and in some cases only half the fun After you ve captured some great images and have them safely stored on your Canon EOS T3 s memory card you ll need to transfer them from your camera and memory card to your computer where they can be organized fine tuned in an image editor and pre pared for web display printing or some other final destination Fortunately there are lots of software utilities and applications to help you do all these things This chapter will introduce you to a few of them Printing You can print your images directly from some of the software applications and utilities described later in this chapter but your EOS T3 can also be used to print from the cam era and to set up print orders These next sections
519. to press MENU and scroll to Firmware Ver x x x in the Set up 3 menu see Figure 13 1 and press the SET button Vn You ll see the current firmware version and an option to update as shown in Figure 13 2 This is a fictional update Choose OK and press the SET button to begin loading the update program 6 A confirmation screen will appear see Figure 13 3 Select OK and press SET to continue As the Firmware Update Program loads you ll see the screen shown in Figure 13 4 ei Custom Functions C Fn Copyright information Clear settings Firmware Ver 1 0 0 Firmware update Current version is 1 0 0 Update Figure 13 1 Determine the current version number Figure 13 2 Chapter 13 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention 347 Firmware update Firmware update program Current version is 1 0 0 Loading Continue updating the firmware Cancel Figure 13 3 Figure 13 4 7 Next you ll get the opportunity to confirm that the version you re upgrading to is the one you want as you can see in Figure 13 5 You can press the MENU button to cancel Yes I know there are a lot of confirmation screens Canon wants to make sure you don t upgrade your firmware by accident or possibly intentionally 8 Finally the very last confirmation screen see Figure 13 6 Select OK and press SET and I promise the actual firmware update will really begin 9 While the firmware updates you ll be warned not to tur
520. to make the display visible Press the Q button and then use the cross keys to navigate to the setting youd like to adjust The available adjust ments change depending on what Basic Zone or Creative Zone exposure mode you re using See Figure 2 2 for a typical Creative Zone shooting settings display with the camera set to Manual exposure TWEAKING SETTINGS WITH CREATIVE AUTO Ambience is a new Picture Style like feature available to let you tweak settings when using Basic Zone modes including Creative Auto Pll explain all the options in Chapter 4 but you can begin using ambience now If you ve set the Mode Dial to CA when you press the Q button a screen like the one shown in Figure 2 3 appears One of nine ambience options can be selected by pressing the left right up down cross keys Your choices are Vivid Soft Warm Intense Cool Brighter Darker or Monochrome plus Standard Setting Once your ambience is selected the up down cross keys let you highlight an intensity for that kind of ambience for example more vivid or less vivid plus background foreground blur and drive flash settings Choose the parameter you want to modify and press the left right buttons to make the change Choosing a Metering Mode You might want to select a particular metering mode for your first shots although the default Evaluative metering which is set automatically when you choose a Basic Zone mode is probably the best choice as
521. to use your T3 The rationales can go both ways If you have multiple smaller cards you do increase your chances of something happening to one of them so arguably you might be boosting the odds of losing some pictures If all your images are important the fact that you ve lost 100 rather than 200 pictures isn t very comforting Also consider that the eggs basket scenario assumes that the cards that are lost or dam aged are always full It s actually likely that your 16GB card might suffer a mishap when it s less than half full indeed it s more likely that a large card won t be completely filled before it s offloaded to a computer so you really might not lose any more shots with a single 16GB card than with multiple 8GB cards If you shoot photojournalist type pictures you probably change memory cards when they re less than completely full in order to avoid the need to do so at a crucial moment When I shoot sports my cards rarely reach 80 to 90 percent of capacity before I change them Using multiple smaller cards means you have to change them that more often which can be a real pain when you re taking a lot of photos As an example if you use tiny 2GB memory cards with an EOS T3 and shoot RAW JPEG FINE you may get only 68 pictures on the card That s not even twice the capacity of a 36 exposure roll of film remember those In my book I prefer keeping all my eggs in one basket and then making very sure that nothing happens to
522. to we want to produce You ll often need to make choices about which details are important and which are not so that you can grab the tones that truly matter in your image That s part of the creativity you bring to bear in realizing your photographic vision For example look at two bracketed exposures presented in Figure 4 1 For the image at the top the highlights chiefly the clouds at upper left and the top left edge of the sky scraper are well exposed but everything else in the shot is seriously underexposed The version at the bottom taken an instant later with the tripod mounted camera shows detail in the shadow areas of the buildings but the highlights are completely washed out The camera s sensor simply can t capture detail in both dark areas and bright areas in a single shot With digital camera sensors it s tricky to capture detail in both highlights and shadows in a single image because the number of tones the dynamic range of the sensor is lim ited The solution in this particular case was to resort to a technique called High Dynamic Range HDR photography in which the two exposures from Figure 4 1 were combined in an image editor such as Photoshop or a specialized HDR tool like Photomatix about 100 from www hdrsoft com The resulting shot is shown in Figure 4 2 Tll explain more about HDR photography later in this chapter For now though I m going to concentrate on showing you how to get the best exposures
523. tomizing the way your Canon Rebel T3 renders its photos It carries the ambience idea of tweaking images as they are shot to a new level Picture Styles are a type of fine tuning you can apply to your photos to change certain characteristics of each image taken using a par ticular Picture Style setting The parameters you can specify for full color images include the amount of sharpness degree of contrast the richness of the color and the hue of skin tones For black and white images you can tweak the sharpness and contrast but the two color adjustments meaningless in a monochrome image are replaced by con trols for filter effects which I ll explain shortly and sepia blue purple or green tone overlays The Canon Rebel T3 has five preset color Picture Styles for Standard Portrait Landscape Neutral and Faithful pictures and three user definable settings called User Def 1 User Def 2 and User Def 3 which you can define to apply to any sort of shooting situation you want such as sports architecture or baby pictures There is also a sixth Monochrome Picture Style that allows you to adjust filter effects or add color toning to your black and white images See Figure 8 20 for the main Picture Style menu 223 P Portrait s 2L Landscape ENNIO 2 2 F Faithful sM Monochrome Detail set 192 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography As with the Color Space menu entry the full r
524. tself but rather on a protective fil ter a very tiny distance above the sensor subjecting it to the phenomenon of depth of focus Depth of focus is the distance the focal plane can be moved and still render an object in sharp focus At f 2 8 to f 5 6 or even smaller sensor dust particularly if small is likely to be outside the range of depth of focus and blur into an unnoticeable dot However if youre shooting at f 16 to f 22 or smaller those dust motes suddenly pop into focus Forget about trying to spot them by peering directly at your sensor with the shutter open and the lens removed The period at the end of this sentence about 33mm in diameter could block a group of pixels measuring 40 x 40 pixels 160 pixels in all Dust spots that are even smaller than that can easily show up in your images if you re shooting large empty areas that are light colored Dust motes are most likely to show up in the sky as in Figure 13 11 or in white backgrounds of your seamless product shots and are less likely to be a problem in images that contain lots of dark areas and detail 358 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography To see if you have dust on your sensor take a few test shots of a plain blank surface such as a piece of paper or a cloudless sky at small f stops such as f 22 and a few wide open Open Photoshop copy several shots into a single document in separate layers then flip back and forth betw
525. tter speed and aperture Automatic Depth of Field A DEP Program P Shutter priority Tv Aperture priority Av and Manual M To select one of these modes just spin the Mode Dial located at the top right side of the camera to choose the method you want to use You can also select from the Basic Zone exposure methods which provide much less control Your choice of which exposure method is best for a given shooting situation will depend on things like your need for lots of or less depth of field a desire to freeze action or allow motion blur Each of the Rebel T3 s exposure methods emphasizes one of those aspects of image capture or another This section introduces you to all of them Basic Zone Exposure Methods When using Basic Zone modes you have little control over exposure In any of these modes the T3 sets Evaluative metering for you and chooses the shutter speed and aper ture automatically Indeed when using Scene modes you can t change any of the other shooting settings other than image quality In Full Auto mode the T3 selects an appropriate ISO sensitivity setting color white balance Picture Style color space noise reduction features and use of the Auto Lighting Optimizer Use the Full Auto exposure mode when you hand your camera to a friend to take a picture say of you standing in front of the Eiffel Tower and want to be sure they wont accidentally change any settings In Creative Auto mode the T3 ma
526. tter speeds Here are a few ideas to get you started m Take revealing images Fast shutter speeds can help you reveal the real subject behind the facade by freezing constant motion to capture an enlightening moment in time Legendary fashion portrait photographer Philippe Halsman used leaping photos of famous people such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor Richard Nixon and Salvador Dali to illuminate their real selves Halsman said When you ask a person to jump his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears Try some high speed portraits of people you know in motion to see how they appear when concentrating on something other than the portrait m Create unreal images High speed photography can also produce photographs that show your subjects in ways that are quite unreal A helicopter in mid air with its rotors frozen makes for an unusual picture Figure 7 2 shows a pair of pictures 146 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography At top a shutter speed of 1 1000th second virtually stopped the rotation of the chopper s rotors while the bottom image shot at 1 200th second provides a more realistic view of the blurry blades as they appeared to the eye m Capture unseen perspectives Some things are never seen in real life except when viewed in a stop action photograph Edgerton s balloon bursts were only a starting point Freeze
527. tune your images retouch them change color balance composite several images together and per form other tasks we know as image editing with a program like Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements or Corel Photo Paint You might want to play with the settings in RAW files too as you import them from their CR2 state into an image editor There are specialized tools expressly for tweaking RAW files ranging from Canon s own Digital Photo Professional to Adobe Camera Raw and PhaseOne s Capture One Pro C1 Pro A third type of manipulation is the 334 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography specialized task of noise reduction which can be performed within Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw or tools like Bibble Professional There are also specialized tools just for noise reduction such as Noise Ninja also included with Bibble and Neat Image Each of these utilities and applications deserves a chapter of its own so I m simply going to enumerate some of the most popular image editing and RAW conversion programs here and tell you a little about what they do Image Editors Image editors are general purpose photo editing applications that can do color correc tion tonal modifications retouching combining of several images into one and usu ally include tools for working with RAW files and reducing noise So you ll find programs like those listed here good for all around image manipulation The leading p
528. ture of such lamps can be precisely calculated and used for photography without concerns about color variation at least until the very end of the lamp s life Fluorescent Light Other Light Sources Fluorescent light has some advantages in terms of illumination but some disadvantages from a photographic standpoint especially when it comes to CFLs as I outlined ear lier This type of lamp generates light through an electro chemical reaction that emits most of its energy as visible light rather than heat which is why the bulbs dont get as hot The type of light produced varies depending on the phosphor coatings and type of gas in the tube So the illumination fluorescent bulbs produce can vary widely in its characteristics Thats not great news for photographers Different types of lamps have different color temperatures that cant be precisely measured in degrees Kelvin because the light isnt produced by heating Worse fluorescent lamps have a discontinuous spectrum of light that can have some colors missing entirely producing that substandard Color Rendering Index I mentioned A particular type of tube can lack certain shades of red or other col ors see Figure 11 5 which is why fluorescent lamps and other alternative technologies such as sodium vapor illumination can produce ghastly looking human skin tones Their spectra can lack the reddish tones we associate with healthy skin and emphasize the blues and greens popular in horror m
529. u In A DED or any of the Basic Zone shooting modes the focus point is always selected automatically by the camera In the other Creative Zone modes you can allow the camera to select the focus point automatically or you can specify which focus point should be used To review there are several methods to set the focus point manually You can press the AF point selection button on the back of the camera at the upper right edge of the 114 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography back look through the viewfinder and use the cross keys to move the focus point to the zone you want to use It is not necessary to old the AF point selection button down Just press it once and the cross keys become active for about four seconds or until you stop moving the focus point around For example press the cross keys straight up or down and the top or bottom focus points are selected To the left or right and the side points are selected Press the SET button and the center focus point becomes active Press the SET button twice and automatic focus is selected with all focus points active You can also choose a focus point by pressing the AF point selection button and then rotating the Main Dial The focus point will cycle among the edge points counter clockwise if you turn the Main Dial to the left or clockwise if you spin the Main Dial to the right At each end of the cycle the center focus point and then all nine
530. u a positive recommendation so if you have problems please don t blame me The EOS T3 is still too new to have generated any reports of users acciden tally damaging the anti dust coating on the sensor filter using this method Tape cleaning works by applying a layer of Scotch Brand Magic Tape to the sensor This is a minimally sticky tape that some of the tape cleaning proponents claim contains no adhesive I did check this out with 3M and can say that Magic Tape certainly does con tain an adhesive The question is whether the adhesive comes off when you peel back the tape taking any dust spots on your sensor with it The folks who love this method claim there is no residue There have been reports from those who dont like the method that residue is left behind This is all anecdotal evidence so you re pretty much on your own in making the decision whether to try out the tape cleaning method Figure 13 19 An illuminated magnifier like this Carson MiniBrite PO 25 can be used as a scope to view your Sensor Glossary Here are some terms you might encounter while reading this book or working with your Canon EOS T3 1100D additive primary colors The red green and blue hues that are used alone or in com binations to create all other colors that you capture with a digital camera view on a computer monitor or work with in an image editing program such as Photoshop See also CMYK color model Adobe RGB One of two color space ch
531. u tabs see Figure 8 1 Some menu Selected menu Inactive menus RAW ey NM Enable Release shutter without card Image review 2 Sec Peripheral illumin correct Red eye reduc Flash control DIRIS Figure 8 1 The Rebel T3 s menus are arranged ina series of ten tabs Selected menu item Current setting Other menu choices Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 165 items have been moved around and or renamed With the current system just press the MENU button spin the Main Dial to highlight the menu tab you want to access and then scroll up and down within a menu with the cross keys What could be easier Tapping the MENU button brings up a typical menu like the one shown in the figure If the camera goes to sleep while you re reviewing a menu you may need to wake it up again by tapping the shutter release button When you re using any Mode Dial option other than Full Auto and Creative Auto there are 10 menu tabs Shooting 1 Shooting 2 Shooting 3 Shooting 4 Playback 1 Playback 2 Set up 1 Set up 2 Set up 3 and My Menu In Full Auto and Creative Auto the Shooting 3 Shooting 4 Set up 3 Set up 4 and My Menu choices are not available and the options within the menus are slightly dif ferent When the Mode Dial is set to Movie mode there are three Movie menus one Shooting menu two Playback menus and two Set up menus In this chapter I m going to explain all the tabs
532. uctions on how to type in text for this screen and the Copyright Details screen m Enter copyright details Produces the same text entry screen allowing you to enter copyright details Oddly enough no copyright symbol is available although the sign is provided so you can type in your e mail address Just use the parentheses and a lowercase c c m Delete copyright information Removes the current copyright information both author and copyright data Once you delete the data or if you haven t entered it yet this option and the Display Copyright Info option are grayed out and unavailable Entering Text Entering text into the Author s Name or Copyright Details screens is done in the same way using a screen like the one shown in Figure 9 11 Just use these instructions m Choose areas Either the text area at top left or available characters area bottom half of the screen will be highlighted with a blue outline Switch between them by pressing the Q button on the right side of the back of the camera Display copyright info Enter author s name Enter copyright details Delete copyright information MENUS 238 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 9 11 Select the alphanumeric characters for 14 63 your text entry Gc hit David D Busch _ 3 lt gt 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 8 f DISP ROEI MENU
533. ue C Fn 00 Distance indicator display Meters Feet C Fn 01 Auto power off Enabled Disabled C Fn 02 Modeling flash Enabled DOF preview button Enabled test firing but ton Enabled both buttons Disabled C Fn 03 FEB Flash exposure bracketing auto cancel Enabled Disabled C Fn 04 FEB Flash Exposure Bracketing Sequence Metered gt Decreased gt Increased Exposure Decreased gt Metered gt Increased Exposure C Fn 05 Flash metering mode E TTL II E TTL TTL External metering Auto External metering Manual C Fn 06 Quickflash with continuous shot Disabled Enabled C Fn 07 Test firing with autoflash 1 32 Full power 308 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography C Fn 08 AF assist beam firing Enabled Disabled C Fn 09 Auto zoom adjusted for image sensor size Enabled Disabled C Fn 10 Slave auto power off timer 60 minutes 10 minutes C Fn 11 Cancellation of slave unit auto power off by master unit Within 8 Hours Within 1 Hour C Fn 12 Flash recycling on external power Use internal and external power Use only external power C Fn 13 Flash exposure metering setting button Speedlite button and dial Speedlite dial only Speedlite 430EX II This less pricey electronic flash available for less than 300 has a GN of 141 with automatic and manual zoom coverage from 24mm to 105mm and the same wide angle pullout panel found on the 580EX II that covers the area of a 14mm lens on a full
534. ues of surrounding pixels Devices such as scanners and digital cameras can use interpolation to create pixels in addition to those actually captured thereby increasing the apparent resolution or color information in an image ISO See International Organization for Standardization ISO jaggies Staircasing effect of lines most easily seen at large magnifications that are not perfectly horizontal or vertical caused by pixels that are too large to represent the line accurately See also anti alias JPEG Short for Joint Photographic Experts Group A file lossy format that supports 24 bit color and reduces file sizes by selectively discarding image data Digital cameras generally use JPEG compression to pack more images onto memory cards You can select how much compression is used and therefore how much information is thrown away by selecting from among the Standard Fine Super Fine or other quality settings offered by your camera See also RAW Kelvin K A unit of measure based on the absolute temperature scale in which absolute zero is zero it s used to describe the color of continuous spectrum light sources and applied when setting white balance For example daylight has a color temperature of about 5 500K and a tungsten lamp has a temperature of about 3 400K lag time The interval between when the shutter is pressed and when the picture is actu ally taken During that span the camera may be automatically focusing and calcu
535. ulate depth of field manually Aperture Priority In Av mode you specify the lens opening used and the T3 selects the shutter speed Aperture priority is especially good when you want to use a particular lens opening to achieve a desired effect Perhaps youd like to use the smallest f stop possible to maxi mize depth of field in a close up picture Or you might want to use a large f stop to throw everything except your main subject out of focus as in Figure 4 15 Maybe youd just like to lock in a particular f stop because it s the sharpest available aperture with that lens Or you might prefer to use say f 2 8 on a lens with a maximum aperture of f 1 4 because you want the best compromise between speed and sharpness Aperture priority can even be used to specify a range of shutter speeds you want to use under varying lighting conditions which seems almost contradictory But think about it You re shooting a soccer game outdoors with a telephoto lens and want a relatively high shutter speed but you dont care if the speed changes a little should the sun duck behind a cloud Set your T3 to Av and adjust the aperture until a shutter speed of say 1 1 000th second is selected at your current ISO setting In bright sunlight at ISO 400 that aperture is likely to be around f 11 Then go ahead and shoot knowing that your T3 will maintain that f 11 aperture for sufficient DOF as the soccer players move about the field but will drop down to 1
536. und recording Auto Metering timer 16 sec Grid display ei m Metering timer 4 sec to 30 min This option allows you to specify how long the EOS T3 s metering system will remain active before switching off m Grid display You can select Off Grid 1 or Grid 2 Movie 3 menu not pictured has five entries that have the same functions as their coun terparts in the still photography Shooting menus and are explained in Chapter 8 Those entries are Exposure Compensation Auto Lighting Optimizer Picture Style White Balance and Custom White Balance I wont duplicate those descriptions here Refer to Chapter 8 for information on how to use those options Capturing Video Sound To shoot movies with your camera just follow these steps 1 Change to Movie mode Rotate the Mode Dial to the Movie setting 2 Focus Use the autofocus or manual focus techniques described in the preceding sections to achieve focus on your subject 3 Begin filming Press the Start Stop button to begin shooting A red dot appears in the upper right corner of the screen to show that video sound are being captured The access lamp also flashes during shooting Chapter 6 m Live View and Movies 129 4 Changing shooting functions As with Live View you can change settings or review images normally when shooting video 5 Lock exposure You can lock in exposure by pressing the Thumbnail Zoom Out button on top of the T3 located just aft of the Main Dia
537. unit s own Custom Functions this set ting will not override that m 3 IR AF assist beam only Canon dedicated Speedlites with an infrared assist beam can be set to use only the IR assist burst That will keep other flash bursts from trig gering the AF assist beam C Fn IV 07 What Happens When You Partially Depress the Shutter Release Press the AE Lock Button Shutter button AE lock button This setting controls the behavior of the shutter release and the AE lock button when you are using Creative Zone exposure modes With Basic Zone modes the Rebel T3 always behaves as if it has been set to Option 0 described below Options 1 2 and 3 are designed to work with AI Servo mode which locks focus as it is activated but refocuses if the subject begins to move The options allow you to control exactly when focus and exposure are locked when using AI Servo mode In the option list the first action in the pair represents what happens when you press the shutter release the second action says what happens when the AE lock button is pressed m 0 AF AE lock With this option pressing the shutter release halfway locks in focus pressing the button locks exposure Use this when you want to control each of these actions separately m 1 AE lock AF Pressing the shutter release halfway locks exposure pressing the button locks autofocus This setting swaps the action of the two buttons compared to the default 0 option m 2 AF AF
538. uous light The right exposure isn t sim ply a function of how far away your subject is which the T3 can figure out based on the autofocus distance that s locked in just prior to taking the picture Various objects reflect more or less light at the same distance so obviously the camera needs to meas ure the amount of light reflected back and through the lens Yet as the flash itself isnt available for measuring until it s triggered the T3 has nothing to measure The solution is to fire the flash twice The initial shot is a pre flash that can be analyzed then followed by a main flash that s given exactly the calculated intensity needed to pro vide a correct exposure As a result the primary flash may be longer for distant objects Chapter 11 m Working with Light 291 and shorter for closer subjects depending on the required intensity for exposure This through the lens evaluative flash exposure system is called E TTL II and it operates whenever the pop up internal flash is used or you have attached a Canon dedicated flash unit to the T3 Guide Numbers Guide numbers usually abbreviated GN are a way of specifying the power of an elec tronic flash in a way that can be used to determine the right f stop to use at a particu lar shooting distance and ISO setting In fact before automatic flash units became prevalent the GN was actually used to do just that A GN is usually given as a pair of numbers for both feet and meters that
539. ure 4 31 Quick Control screen in other Basic Zone modes Chapter 4 m Understanding Exposure 99 m Press the down cross key to highlight Drive mode Self timer In this screen you can press the left right cross keys or rotate the Main Dial to switch between the available drive mode either Single shot or Continuous shooting depending on the Basic Zone mode selected and 10 Second Self timer Remote Find your desired ambience in Table 4 2 Table 4 2 Selecting Ambience Ambience Setting Effect Standard This is the customized set of parameters for each Basic Zone mode each tailored specifically for Portrait Landscape Close Up Sports or other mode Produces a look that is slightly sharper and with richer col ors for the relevant Basic Zone mode Reduced sharpness for adult portraits flowers children and pets Warmer soft tones An alternative setting for portraits and other subjects that you want to appear both soft and warm Intense Darker tones with increased contrast to emphasize your subject This setting is great for portraits of men Cool Darker cooler tones Use with care on human subjects which aren t always flattered by the icier look this setting can produce Brighter Overall lighter image with less contrast Darker Produces a darker image Monochrome Choose from black and white sepia or blue cyanotype toning PREVIEW AMBIENCE If you set ambience in Live View mode the T3 will provide a pr
540. uring audio for movies 128 129 natural sounds using 139 tips for 139 author s name entering 236 238 Auto ISO in Basic Zone modes 84 ranges for 207 Shooting menu options 207 Auto Lighting Optimizer EV exposure compensation with 295 in Full Auto mode 75 in Live View information display 120 Shooting menu options 182 184 shooting settings display 57 Auto power off camera functions display 58 Set up menu options 220 221 Auto Rotate options Set up menu 220 222 AutoExFlash 180 299 autofocus AF See AF autofocus automatic reset file numbering 223 Autumn Hues Picture Style 205 Av Aperture priority button 47 48 Av Aperture priority mode 23 Auto ISO in 207 built in flash in 32 292 equivalent exposures in 68 exposure choices in 77 79 high speed sync and 304 sync speed Custom Function for setting 230 231 back view of camera 45 51 backgrounds 317 light stands supporting 316 backlighting 63 barn doors 317 barrel distortion 265 266 Basic Zone modes 6 21 22 AF assist lamp in 294 ambience settings in 98 100 Auto ISO in 207 built in flash in 32 291 292 Default Settings highlighting 98 exposure in 75 76 95 96 focus points in 28 113 ISO sensitivity in 84 Quick Control screen with 96 100 sRGB color space in 189 Index 381 batteries See also Live View charging 13 compartment door for 53 extra batteries 10 12 for firmware upgrades 345 initial set up for 11
541. us with 119 120 123 124 quick control options 124 125 in Quick mode 122 123 208 Scene modes in 124 Shooting menu settings 208 shooting modes in 118 120 working with 115 125 Live View button 47 long exposure noise 90 Custom Function for reducing 231 232 long exposures See also long exposure noise bulb exposures 148 time exposures 148 timed exposures 147 148 working with 148 152 longitudinal axial chromatic aberration 265 low diffraction index glass for lenses 260 265 low level formatting 17 low light capabilities 5 M M Manual mode 23 Auto ISO in 207 built in flash in 33 293 choices for exposure in 81 82 ISO settings adjusting 83 macro lenses 255 257 272 macro photography focus stacking for 157 159 ring lites for 309 Macro Ring Lite MR 143EX 309 Macro Twin Lite Ring Lite MT 24EX 309 Magic Tape for cleaning sensors 366 magnifiers for LCD 350 for sensor cleaning 365 366 Main Dial 41 52 focus points selecting 114 Jump method options Playback menu 214 215 Mamiya 645ZD cameras 245 ManEx flash 180 for external flash 299 manual flash for external flash 299 manual mode See M Manual mode manual reset file numbering 223 maximum aperture defined 253 254 of first lens 246 of prime lenses 260 of zoom lenses 260 maximum burst in viewfinder information display 59 60 MediaRecover 352 medium shots in movies 135 memory card access door 53
542. use 1st curtain sync the default setting or 2nd curtain sync an optional setting can make a significant differ ence to your photograph if the ambient light in your scene also contributes to the image You can set either of these sync modes in the Shooting 1 menu under Flash Control and the Built in Flash Func setting and External Flash Func setting options At faster shutter speeds particularly 1 200th second there isn t much time for the ambi ent light to register unless it is very bright It s likely that the electronic flash will pro vide almost all the illumination so 1st curtain sync or 2nd curtain sync isn t very important However at slower shutter speeds or with very bright ambient light levels there is a significant difference particularly if your subject is moving or the camera isnt steady In any of those situations the ambient light will register as a second image accompa nying the flash exposure and if there is movement camera or subject that additional image will not be in the same place as the flash exposure It will show as a ghost image and if the movement is significant enough as a blurred ghost image trailing in front of or behind your subject in the direction of the movement As I noted when youre using 1st curtain sync the flash s main burst goes off the instant the shutter opens fully a pre flash used to measure exposure in auto flash modes fires 288 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guid
543. ust focus Both variations allow a feature called Full Time Manual FTM focus which lets you make manual adjust ments to the lens s focus even when the autofocus mechanism is engaged With elec tronic focus ring USM manual focus is possible only when the lens is mounted on the camera and the camera is turned on the focus ring of lenses with ring USM can be turned at any time 256 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Your Second and Third Lens There are really only two advantages to owning just a single lens One of them is cre ative Keeping one set of optics mounted on your T3 all the time forces you to be espe cially imaginative in your approach to your subjects I once visited Europe with only a single camera body and a 35mm f 2 lens The experience was actually quite exciting because I had to use a variety of techniques to allow that one lens to serve for landscapes available light photos action close ups portraits and other kinds of images Canon makes an excellent 35mm f 2 lens which focuses down to 9 6 inches that s perfect for that kind of experiment although today my personal choice would be the sublime and expensive Canon Wide Angle EF 35mm f 1 4L USM Autofocus lens I also own the Canon EF 50mm f 1 8 II lens which I favor as a very compact and light walka round short telephoto portrait lens especially indoors It makes a great close up macro lens too and at 10
544. ust sharpness luminance smoothing and apply color noise reduc tion The HSL Grayscale tab offers controls for adjusting hue saturation and lightness and converting an image to black and white Split Toning helps you colorize an image with sepia or cyanotype blue shades The Lens Corrections tab has sliders to adjust for chromatic aberrations and vignetting The Camera Calibration tab provides a way for calibrating the color corrections made in the Camera Raw plug in Chapter 12 m Downloading Editing and Printing Your Images 341 Amount CNN d o Radus no Qe Saturation o Detal fes Reds za Masking o Oranges 0 O Yelows o PORE mV m pos CNN a m aw anm e gvmce Contrast Blues o Color fs Purples io Color Detal jo Magentas o Figure 12 16 More controls are available within the additional tabbed dialog boxes in Adobe Camera Raw This page intentionally left blank 13 Canon EOS Rebel T3 Troubleshooting and Prevention One of the nice things about modern electronic cameras like the Canon EOS T3 is that they have fewer mechanical moving parts to fail so they are less likely to wear out No film transport mechanism no wind lever or motor drive no complicated mechan ical linkages from camera to lens to physically stop down the lens aperture Instead tiny reliable motors are built into each lens and you lose the use of only that lens should som
545. utofocus 101 How FOCUS Works sra sx dee pa R Bees RDS we ON DENRA UAH ORE Row bars 101 Phase Detection ad 0x a lt 4 OE esane tida E Oe RC CR OR 102 Cross Type Focus Points 105 Contrast Detection ceses us Phe ab ek ERA a oe baa EU 106 Focus NOUS Lam Nas C ie aaa a Deb Sa Ae le dde 108 Adding Circles of Confusion ea ER eR 4s 4 He Wee ERE a ees 108 Making Sense of SensofS ic idasue a9 edaaedereebecve eee ian 111 Your Autofocus Mode Options 0000eccesccesccescess 111 Setting AF Point suus a ER EROR a EE RE OE ADR wan 113 Chapter 6 Live View and Movies 115 Working with Live View lt 0i6 ics wade bad cared indeed ET RC AEN 115 Live View Essentials oss cdne soe ceec sees Ra PRAG p iR bezis 116 Enabling Live Views Sad RE SESFPSPrqRS oe ned wees ean kes 117 Activating Live VIEN zx xed Rab EC RACAORR eakas ESE GC ACER wR 119 Focusing in Live View oeckk lr ge rw T US shoes 119 Using Exposure 5imulgtlol cues pk Rer RIEN ERR EN RR 124 Quick Control eda eso au ea petis ducta OE b DER ord 124 Shooting MOVIBU S cr d EIER ER EC E EXER RERO PERIERE Ea were ed 125 Movie Settings 2 Roa erd E RU REC ad awe dads 126 Capturing Video Sound e lt x se edad mede ea Red Eee Rad pae 128 Playback and Editing css duae sae P 6S SER SSR aR REE Re wes 129 Tips for Shooting Better Movies A vu i 9 lt s ceed ons oR See oe FEE PER 131 Make a Shooting Scripts Lvenes Sucker REP EeS RA TOP USER 132 Use SIO BOSEdS ee rore RES RE E X ad 132 St
546. utput levels will deplete the available energy in your flash unit and your shutter speed m Flash count This setting determines the number of flashes in a given burst and can be set from 1 to 50 flashes These factors work together to determine the maximum number of flashes you can string together in a single shot The exact number will vary depending on your settings You can produce multiple images in one shot like the image seen in Figure 11 15 Figure 11 15 MULTI flash can be specified when an exter nal flash is attached Chapter 11 m Working with Light 303 High Speed Sync High speed sync is a special mode that allows you to synchronize an external flash at all shutter speeds rather than just 1 200th second and slower The entire frame is illuminated by a series of continuous bursts as the shutter opening moves across the sensor plane so you do vot end up with a horizontal black band as shown earlier in Figure 11 9 HSS is especially useful in three situations all related to problems associated with high ambient light levels m Eliminate ghosts with moving images When shooting with flash the primary source of illumination may be the flash itself However if there is enough available light a secondary image may be recorded by that light as described under Ghost Images earlier in this chapter If your main subject is not moving the secondary image may be acceptable or even desirable Indeed the T3
547. ve the tonal rendition while possibly losing detail in the shadows or highlights m Saturation This parameter adjustable from 4 low saturation to 4 high satu ration controls the richness of the color making say a red tone appear to be deeper and fuller when you increase saturation and tend more towards lighter pinkish hues when you decrease saturation of the reds Boosting the saturation too much can mean that detail may be lost in one or more of the color channels producing what is called clipping You can detect this phenomenon when using the RGB histograms as described in Chapter 4 Si Less S ted More Se ted Yellow Tone Reddebione Figure 8 21 These sets of photos represent the main color image Picture Styles parameters sharpness upper left pair contrast upper right pair saturation lower left pair and color tone lower right pair 194 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Color tone This adjustment has the most effect on skin tones making them either redder 0 to 4 or yellower 0 to 4 m Filter effect Monochrome only Filter effects do not add any color to a black and white image Instead they change the rendition of gray tones as if the picture were taken through a color filter T ll explain this distinction more completely in the sidebar Filters vs Toning later in this section m Toning effect Monochrome only Using toning effects preserves th
548. ver the light source rather than the lens you don t need to use high quality filter material Roscoe or Lee lighting gels which may be too flimsy to use in front of the lens can be mounted or taped in front of your flash with ease Continuous Lighting Basics While continuous lighting and its effects are generally much easier to visualize and use than electronic flash there are some factors you need to take into account particularly the color temperature of the light Color temperature concerns arent exclusive to con tinuous light sources of course but the variations tend to be more extreme and less pre dictable than those of electronic flash Color temperature in practical terms is how bluish or how reddish the light appears to be to the digital camera s sensor Indoor illumination is quite warm comparatively and appears reddish to the sensor Daylight in contrast seems much bluer to the sen sor Our eyes our brains actually are quite adaptable to these variations so white objects don t appear to have an orange tinge when viewed indoors nor do they seem excessively blue outdoors in full daylight Yet these color temperature variations are real and the sensor is not fooled To capture the most accurate colors we need to take the color temperature into account in setting the color balance or white balance of the T3 either automatically using the camera s smarts or manually using our own knowl edge and expe
549. version can be purchased at www copperhillimages com You need a 16mm version like the one shown in Figure 13 15 that can be stroked across the short dimension of your T3 s sensor 364 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Ordinary artist s brushes are much too coarse and stiff and have fibers that are tangled or can come loose and settle on your sensor A good sensor brush s fibers are resilient and described as thinner than a human hair Moreover the brush has a wooden han dle that reduces the risk of static sparks Brush cleaning is done with a dry brush by gently swiping the surface of the sensor fil ter with the tip The dust particles are attracted to the brush particles and cling to them You should clean the brush with compressed air before and after each use and store it in an appropriate air tight container between applications to keep it clean and dust free Although these special brushes are expensive one should last you a long time Liquid Cleaning Unfortunately you ll often encounter really stubborn dust spots that can t be removed with a blast of air or flick of a brush These spots may be combined with some grease or a liquid that causes them to stick to the sensor filter s surface In such cases liquid cleaning with a swab may be necessary During my first clumsy attempts to clean my own sensor I accidentally got my blower bulb tip too close to the sensor and s
550. view window ox e ee Fite Linked Sotware I Destnaton Foiser File Name Downioad Images Remote Shootng bas Destination Folder File Name Download images Remote Smootog i n Setings tor he Starts to download images duton Sotware to line A E Sanngto commisaces mages puatal Photo Professional Register lave 230 on he camera s menory card an images Rotate image mtn commara oparabees Stan Live View Figure 12 8 The EOS Utility s six tabs worth of preferences for modifying how it behaves The Accessories panel includes modules for working with the optional WFT E3 E3A B C D wireless communications link for saving your pictures directly to exter nal media over a WiFi network If you re using the OSK E3 Data Security Kit you can access the Original Data Security ODS Administrator tool and Utility which are used to register and manage OS card verification information for image encryption and decryption management of authorized users and cameras verified card duplication and other functions There is also a link to the Picture Style Editor Check the docu mentation that came with your WFT wireless unit and data security kit for instructions on how to use them Digital Photo Professional While far from a Photoshop replacement Digital Photo Professional is a useful image editing program that helps you organize trim correct and print
551. w style to your Canon Rebel T3 into one of your three User Def slots in the Picture Style array Just follow these steps 1 Link your camera for upload Connect your camera to your computer using the USB cable turn the T3 on launch the EOS Utility and click the Camera Settings Remote Shooting choice in the splash screen Choose the Shooting menu It s marked with an icon of a white camera on a red background from the menu bar located about midway in the control panel that appears on your computer display See at left in Figure 8 29 Select Register User Defined Style Click on the box outlined in red in the figure to produce the Register Picture Style dialog box shown at upper right in Figure 8 29 Choose a User Def tab Click on one of the three tabs labeled User Def 1 User Def 2 or User Def 3 as shown at upper right in Figure 8 29 Each tab will include the name of the current Picture Style active in that tab Landscape is shown in the figure Figure 8 29 Upload your new style to your Rebel T3 using the EOS Utility Chapter 8 m Customizing with the Shooting and Playback Menus 203 User Det 1 UserDef 2 UserDet 3 Delete OK Cancel Gort Drive C C Misc Picture Styles 4 Search Picture Style rJ Organize v New folder 640 de Travel Name E Date modified LU glamour pf2 01 15 2011 5 4 _ sports indcors pf2 01 15 2011 52 m xtravivid pf2 01 15 2011 5
552. ways use a card that is blank or freshly formatted Here are some examples m Youve taken 4 235 shots with the camera and you insert a blank reformatted memory card The next number assigned will be 4 236 based on the value stored in internal memory m Youve taken 4 235 shots with the camera and you insert a memory card with a picture numbered 2 728 The next picture will be numbered 4 236 m Youve taken 4 235 shots with the camera and you insert a memory card with a picture numbered 8 281 The next picture will be numbered 8 282 and that value will be stored in the cameras menu as the high shot number and will be applied when you next insert a blank card m Automatic reset If youre using a blank reformatted memory card the next photo taken will be numbered 0001 If you use a card that is not blank the next number will be one greater than the highest number found on the memory card Each time you insert a memory card the next number will either be 0001 or one higher than the highest already on the card m Manual reset The T3 creates a new folder numbered one higher than the last folder created and restarts the file numbers at 0001 Then the camera uses the number ing scheme that was previously set either Continuous or Automatic Reset each time you subsequently insert a blank or non blank memory card Select Folder Choose this menu option to create a folder where the images you capture will be stored on your memory ca
553. wide angle lenses 262 DOF depth of field with 262 264 problems avoiding 265 266 working with 262 264 wide zoom lenses See wide angle lenses WiFi See also Eye Fi cards working with 154 157 WiFi Positioning System WPS 155 window light 310 311 for movies 137 wipes in movies 135 X X Rite s Colormunki 190 Y Yellow filter effects 198 200 YouTube 155 Z Zoom In button 47 49 zoom lenses 259 261 lens hoods with 271 Zoom Out button 47 48 zoom range of lens 246 zoom ring on lens 54 zoom scale on lens 54 ZoomBrowser EX EOS Utility downloading images from 326 working with 330 zooming in out with Adobe Camera Raw 338 with external flash 181 302 on reviewing images 35 Index 405 This page intentionally left blank cv T COURSE TEGHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Professional e Technical Reference Like the Book Let us know on Facebook or Twitter f facebook com courseptr twitter com courseptr Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to learn about upcoming books promotions contests events and more WE VE GOT YOUR SHOT COVERED y A Shot I in s M l ng Citat h are Dank tFashion y 4 eo MASTERING Flair e bel Digital SLR L 5 d Photography Portrait m amd Weine y Photography POT diss eee A Shot in the Dark Fashion Flair for Fearless Photographer Picture Yourself Making Complete Digital David Busch s Ma
554. will explain your options Direct Printing from the Camera You can print photos stored on your cameras memory card directly to a PictBridge compatible printer using the cable supplied with the T3 Just follow these steps to get started 1 Set up your printer Follow the instructions for your PictBridge compatible printer to load it with paper and prepare it for printing 322 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography 2 Connect the camera to the printer With the T3 and printer both powered down open the port cover on the left side of the camera closest to the back of the cam era when it s held in shooting position and plug the Interface Cable IFC 200U into the A V Out Digital port Connect the other end to the USB input port of your printer 3 Turn printer and camera on Flip the switch on the T3 and power up your printer using its power switch Press the Playback button on the camera Navigate to the image on your mem ory card that you want to print using the cross keys Vn Select options The image overlaid with the current status for options like those shown in Figure 12 1 will appear when the camera and printer are connected with a cable The options will vary depending on what printer you have I ll describe the options next The EOS T3 offers a surprising number of options when direct printing from your cam era You can choose effects print date and time on your hardcopi
555. witch autofocus modes or shift into manual and prefocus on a spot where you anticipate the action will be such as a goal line or soccer net At night football games for example when I am shooting with a telephoto lens almost wide open I often focus manually on one of the referees who happens to be standing where I expect the action to be taking place say a half back run or a pass reception When I am less sure about what is going to happen I may switch to AI Servo autofocus and let the camera decide Your Autofocus Mode Options Choosing the right autofocus mode and the way in which focus points are selected is your key to success Using the wrong mode for a particular type of photography can lead to a series of pictures that are all sharply focused on the wrong subject When I first started shooting sports with an autofocus SLR back in the film camera days I covered one game alternating between shots of base runners and outfielders with pic tures of a promising young pitcher all from a position next to the third base dugout The base runner and outfielder photos were great because their backgrounds didn t dis tract the autofocus mechanism But all my photos of the pitcher had the focus tightly zeroed in on the fans in the stands behind him Because I was shooting film instead of a digital camera I didn t know about my gaffe until the film was developed A simple change such as locking in focus or focus zone manually or even manua
556. witches between the two as appropriate I ll explain all of these in more detail later in this section But first some confusion MANUAL FOCUS With manual focus activated by sliding the AF MF switch on the lens your T3 lets you set the focus yourself There are some advantages and disadvantages to this approach While your batteries will last longer in manual focus mode it will take you longer to focus the camera for each photo a process that can be difficult Modern digital cameras even dSLRs depend so much on autofocus that the viewfinders of models that have less than full frame sized sensors are no longer designed for optimum manual focus Pick up any film camera and you ll see a bigger brighter viewfinder with a focusing screen that s a joy to focus on manually Adding Circles of Confusion You know that increased depth of field brings more of your subject into focus But more depth of field also makes autofocusing or manual focusing more difficult because the contrast is lower between objects at different distances This is an added factor beyond the rangefinder aspects of lens opening size in phase detection An image that s dimmer is more difficult to focus with any type of focus system phase detection contrast detec tion or manual focus So focus with a 200mm lens or zoom setting may be easier in some respects than at a 28mm focal length or zoom setting because the longer lens has less apparent depth of field
557. with long exposures 149 150 stroboscopes 143 stuck pixels 356 studio flash connecting 306 with multiple light sources 313 314 sync speed problems with 290 Studio Portrait Picture Style 205 subjects See also Portraits wide angle lenses super sized subjects with 263 super telephoto lenses 262 swabs for sensor cleaning 364 365 Sylvania color rendering index CRI 284 sync speed 286 290 See also first curtain sync high speed sync second curtain sync Av Aperture priority mode Custom Function for setting sync speed in 230 231 for built in flash 180 298 299 for external flash 181 300 ghost images and 287 288 303 problems avoiding 288 290 slow sync and ghost images 303 T taking pictures 33 Tamron macro lenses 272 tape cleaning sensors 361 366 tele zoom lenses See telephoto lenses telephoto extenders 271 272 telephoto lenses 262 and bokeh 269 270 lens hoods with 271 problems avoiding 268 269 working with 267 268 television See also HDMI Ctrl over HDMI options Playback menu 217 Live View for previewing on 116 text entering 237 238 third party lenses 250 251 three point lighting for movies 138 three shots in movies 136 Thumbnail Index button 47 48 thumbnails See also Jump feature navigating through 35 36 viewing 35 TIFF formats 336 Bibble Professional with 337 tilt shift lenses 259 time exposures 148 time lapse interval photography 153 154 times
558. wn in Figure 3 20 will appear with key camera function settings arrayed Figure 3 19 Exposure level Exposure Shooting set compensation amount Automatic Shutter Lens ISO tings display exposure bracketing range speed aperture setting M 1 250 F8 0 IE91600 ER 00 N O Auto Lighting Optimizer Picture control AWB Fes 5 Og ee White balance subs e ONE SHOT C 0 4 L ZZ 328 Access Quick Battery Drive Metering Image Shots remaining Control level mode mode quality Shots remaining during screen WB bracketing Self timer countdown Bulb exposure time 58 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 20 F rees pace Camera func tions display Color space Remaining memory card WB SHIFT BKT capacity i Color space Live View shoot White balance zZ correction c 4 min Live View shooting Red eye reduction Auto rotate 08 18 2011 12 22 44 Tg Beeper Auto power off Current date time Looking Inside the Viewfinder Much of the important shooting status information is shown inside the viewfinder of the Rebel T3 As with the displays shown on the color LCD not all of this information will be shown at any one time Figure 3 21 shows what you can expect to see I ll explain all of these readouts later in this book with those pertaining to exposure in Chapter 4 and those relating to flash in Chapter 11 These readouts include m Autofocus zones Shows the nine a
559. xposures is that objects that move rapidly enough wont register at all in a photograph while the subjects that remain stationary are portrayed in the normal way That makes it easy to pro duce people free landscape photos and architectural photos at night or even in full daylight if you use a neutral density filter or two or three to allow an exposure of at least a few seconds At ISO 100 f 22 and a pair of 8X three stop neutral den sity filters you can use exposures of nearly two seconds overcast days and or more neutral density filtration would work even better if daylight people vanishing is your goal They ll have to be walking very briskly and across the field of view rather than directly toward the camera for this to work At night it s much easier to achieve this effect with the 20 to 30 second exposures that are possible as you can see in Figures 7 4 and 7 5 Create streaks If you arent shooting for total invisibility long exposures with the camera on a tripod or monopod can produce some interesting streaky effects as you can see in Figure 7 6 I had the tripod collar of the lens attached to a mono pod and rotated the camera in four rapid twists during the 1 8th second exposure producing four separate streaky images in one shot You don t need to limit your self to indoor photography however Even a single 8X ND filter will let you shoot at f 22 and 1 6th second in full daylight at ISO 100 Figure 7 4 This alleyway
560. y If you press the shutter release down all the way while the system is refining focus the camera will go ahead and take a picture even if the image is slightly out of focus You ll find that AI Servo AF produces the least amount of shutter lag of any autofocus mode press the button and the camera fires It also uses the most battery power because the autofocus system operates as long as the shutter release button is partially depressed AI Servo AF uses a technology called predictive AF which allows the T3 to calculate the correct focus if the subject is moving toward or away from the camera at a constant rate It uses either the automatically selected AF point or the point you select manually to set focus Al Focus AF This setting is actually a combination of the first two When selected the camera focuses using One Shot AF and locks in the focus setting But if the subject begins moving it will switch automatically to AI Servo AF and change the focus to keep the subject sharp AI Focus AF is a good choice when you re shooting a mixture of action pictures and less dynamic shots and want to use One Shot AF when possible The camera will default to that mode yet switch automatically to AI Servo AF when it would be useful for sub jects that might begin moving unexpectedly Setting AF Point You can change which of the nine focus points the Canon EOS Rebel T3 uses to cal culate correct focus or allow the camera to select the point for yo
561. y exposures timed exposures bulb expo sures and time exposures The EOS T3 offers only the first two but once you understand all three you ll see why Canon made the choices it did Because of the length of the exposure all of the following techniques should be used with a tripod to hold the cam era steady m Timed exposures These are long exposures from 1 second to 30 seconds measured by the camera itself To take a picture in this range simply use Manual or Tv modes and use the Main Dial to set the shutter speed to the length of time you want choos ing from preset speeds of 1 0 1 5 2 0 3 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 10 0 15 0 20 0 or 30 0 seconds if you ve specified 1 2 stop increments for exposure adjustments or 1 0 1 3 1 6 2 0 2 5 3 2 4 0 5 0 6 0 8 0 10 0 13 0 15 0 20 0 25 0 and 30 0 sec onds if youre using 1 3 stop increments The advantage of timed exposures is that the camera does all the calculating for you There s no need for a stop watch If you review your image on the LCD and decide to try again with the exposure doubled or halved you can dial in the correct exposure with precision The disadvantage of timed exposures is that you cant take a photo for longer than 30 seconds 148 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography WATCH OUT FOR AMP NOISE When exposures extend past 30 seconds into the realm of several minutes or more all digital cameras are theoretically susceptible t
562. you get to know your camera There are two ways to change the metering system when using a Creative Zone mode 1 Press the MENU button and rotate the Main Dial until the Shooting 2 menu is highlighted It s represented by a camera icon with two dots next to it 2 Press the down cross key to highlight Metering mode and press SET A screen pops up see Figure 2 4 on the LCD offering three choices 3 Use the left right cross keys to highlight the choice you want Then press the SET button to confirm your selection Figure 2 2 Some settings can be made quickly when the shooting settings display is visible Figure 2 3 You can tweak the settings of the Creative Auto mode using this screen of options Chapter 2 m Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Quick Start 25 E M 1 125 F80 100 3 2 1 9 1 2 GA 0 AS Fe 7 UP Al FOCUS a E M 4 L ISO speed Standard Setting oF Shoot by ambience selection 26 David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3 1100D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Or Tap the shutter release button or press the DISP button and then press the Q but ton to produce the Quick Control screen shown earlier in Figure 2 2 2 Use the cross keys to navigate to the Metering Mode choice located in the bottom row of the screen second from the right 3 When the Metering Mode icon is highlighted you can either rotate the Main Dial to change to one of the other modes then press the Q
563. z P OriveE E E D Drive F F D Drive G G D Drive H preview itm DRIVE N NE available xm ORIVE O 0 D Drive P P KE Busch iPod Gi Canon EOS 600 amp Network 4 m Filename glamour pf2 Picture Style File pf2 Rc mE 5 Click the Open File button I ve highlighted it with a green box at upper right in the figure 6 Choose the Picture Style file to load The Picture Styles you ve saved or down loaded from another source will appear with a PF2 extension Click on the one you want to use and then click the Open button in the Open dialog box shown at lower right in Figure 8 29 7 Upload Picture Style to the camera The Register Picture Style File dialog box will return Click OK and the Picture Style will be uploaded to the camera in the User Def slot represented by the tab you ve chosen The name of the Picture Style will appear in the T3 s menu in place of User Def 1 or User Def 2 User Def 3 Changing a Picture Style s Settings from the EOS Utility You can modify the settings of a Picture Style that s already loaded into your camera from the EOS Utility when your camera is linked to your computer Just follow these steps 1 Link your camera to the computer Connect your camera to your computer using the USB cable turn the T3 on launch the EOS Utility and click the Camera Settings Remote Shooting choice in the splash screen 204 Nn David Busch s Canon EOS Rebel T3

Canon EOS Rebel T3/1100D

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