Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

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Canon®EOS

70 Pigilaf fiefd Guide

Canon®EOS

70 Pigilaf fiefd Guide

Charlotte K. Lowrie

@ WILEY

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Canon® EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-52129-8

Manufactured in the United States of America 1098765432 1

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@ WILEY

About the Author Charlotte K. Lowrie is a professional photographer and award-winning writer based in the Seattle. Wash .. area. She has more than 25 years of photography experience ranging from photojournalism and editorial photography to stock and wedding shooting. Her images have appeared in national magazines. newspapers, and on a variety of Web sites including MSN .com, www.takegreatpictures .com. and the Canon Digital Learning Center. Charlotte currently divides her time among maintaining an active photography business, teaching photography, and writing books and magazine articles. Charlotte is the author of 13 books including the bestselling Canon EOS 500 Digital Field Guide and eight other Digital Field Guides, and she co-wrote Exposure and Lighting for Digital

Photographers. In addition, she teaches monthly online photography courses at BetterPhoto.com. Visit her Web site at wordsandphotos.org.

Credits Acquisitions Editor Courtney Allen

Project Coordinator Lynsey Stanford

Project Editor Chris Wolfgang

Graphics and Production Specialists Ana Carrillo Nikki Gately Jennifer Henry Andrea Hornberger

Technical Editor John Smith

Jennifer Mayberry

Copy Editor Marylouise Wiack Editorial Director Robyn Siesky Editorial Manager Cricket Krengel Business Manager Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Barry Pruett

Quality Control Technician Laura Albert Proofreading and Indexing Susan Hobbs Valerie Haynes Perry

This book is dedicated in loving memory to my Dad, who taught me to pursue excellence, and it is dedicated to God, an unfailing source of inspiration and insight.

Acknowledgments Thanks to my long-time group of photographer friends, especially Ellen, Peter, Jon, and Rob. Our ongoing discussions of images, ideas, and insights is invaluable. And, of course, t hanks to my fa mily for their unfailing support.

Contents xx

Introduction CHAPTER 1

Roadmap to the 7D

1

Camera Controls Overview .

2

Front of the camera.

. .. 3

5

Top of the camera ..... ...... .. .

Back of the camera .......... . .... .... 8 Side of the camera ............ . . . .

12

Bottom of the camera.

13

Lens Controls Overview . . . . . . . . . . .

14

Viewfinder display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

Camera menus . ..... . ...... . . ... .

17

CHAPTER 2

Camera Setup and Image Playback

23

Choosing Image Format and Quality.

24

J PEG format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

RAW capture

25

The best of both worlds: shooting RAW and JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28

Working with Folders and File Numbering .. 30 Creating and selecting folders ...... ... 31 Choosing a file numbering option .... ... 32 Continuous file numbering . .. . ... ... 32 Auto reset ...................... 33

. ...... .... .... 35 Miscellaneous Setup Options . . . ... 35 Manual reset .

General setup options . ...... ... . .. ... 36 Adding copyright information

. ..... 39

Image Playback Options ................ 40 Searching for images and moving ...... 42 through multiple images Displaying images on a TV . Protecting and Erasing Images .

. . ... 43 . . ... 44

Protecting images ............ .. ..... 44 Erasing images ..................... 45

CHAPTER 3

Controlling Exposure and Focus

47

Working with Exposure .. ...... ..... .... 48 Defining exposure goals ..... ..... .... 48 Practical exposure considerations .. .... 48 Choosing a Shooting Mode.

51

Semiautomatic, Manual, and Bulb shooting modes.

51

Program AE IP) shooting mode.

52

Shutter-priority AE lTv) mode.

54

Aperture-priority AE IAv) mode .

58

Manual 1M) mode ................. 60 Bu lb. . .... 62 C modes ... ...... ..... .... , . .... 62 Automatic shooting modes .

. .... 62

Full Auto mode ............ , , , .... 63 Creative Auto mode ......... . ..... 63 Setting the ISO Sensitivity ..... ...... .... 65 Metering Light and Modifying Exposure .... 68 Using metering modes ...... ..... .... 69 Evaluating exposures ...... . , . , . , .

71

Brightness histogram .... , . , . , .

72

RGB histogram.

73

Modifying and bracketing exposures .

75

Auto Lighting Optimizer.

75

Highlight Tone Priority. . . . . . . . . . Safety Shift ...... ..... .. . . , .

76 77

Auto Exposure Lock ..... ... , , , .

78

Exposure Compensation .

79

Auto Exposure Bracketing .

. .... 81

Using the 7D Autofocus System.

. .. 84

Choosing an autofocus mode.

. .... 84

Choosing an AF area .. ..... .... , , .... 86 Selecting a Drive Mode ....... , . ,

..... 91

CHAPTER 4

Getting Great Color Choosing a Color Space.

93 . 94

Setting the White Balance ...... ..... .... 97 Setting a specific color temperature

103

Fine-tuning white balance.

104

Using White Balance Auto Bracketing .

104

Using White Balance Correction.

106

Working with Picture Styles ..... . _. _

107

Choosing and customizing Picture Styles ______ ..... ___ _

109

Registering a new Picture Style.

113

Using the Picture Style Editor.

114

CHAPTER 5

Customizing the 7D

119

Exploring Custom Functions .

120

Custom Function groupings .

120

Custom Functions specifics .

122

C.Fn I: Exposure. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

122

C.Fn II: Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

125

C.Fn III: Autofocus/Drive .

127

C.Fn IV: Operation/Others .

134

Setting Custom Functions .... .. . Registering Camera User Settings Customizing My Menu _

139 140 142

CHAPTER 6

Shooting in Live View and Tethered

145

About Live View Shooting _...... __ _

146

Live View features and functions _

147

Live View focus ............ .

147

Exposure simulation and metering. Silent shooting modes .... ___ _ Using a flash ______ ..... ___ _

149

Setting up for Live View Shooting .

149 150 150

Working with Live View ........ .

151

Shooting in Live View _

152

Shooting Tethered or with a Wireless Connection ... ______ ...... ___ _

154

CHAPTER 7

Using Movie Mode About Video Video standards ............... . Video on the 7D .............. .

159 160 160 161

Recording and Playing Back Videos

163

Setting up for movie recording .

164

Recording movies ............. .

165

Playing back videos ............. .

167

CHAPTER 8

Working with Flash and Studio Lights

169

Flash Technology and the 7D .

170

Shooting with the Built-in Flash . .

171

Working with the built-in flash.

173

Red-eye Reduction . .

173

Modifying Flash Exposure

173

Flash Exposure Compensation

173

Flash Exposure Lock.

175

Setting Flash Control Options.

176

Using the flash autofocus assist beam without firing the flash.

178

Wireless Flash and Studio Lighting . Using multiple Speedlites wirelessly .

180 180

Setting up wireless flashes.

181

Exploring flash techniques ...... . .

183

Bounce flash.

183

Adding catch lights to the eyes.

183

CHAPTER 9

Lenses and Accessories Evaluating Lens Choices for the 7D

185 186

Building a lens system.

186

Understanding the focal-length multiplier .

187

Types of Lenses . ...... ..... .

188

About zoom lenses

189

About prime lenses

190

Working with Different Types of Lenses. Using wide-angle lenses

191 191

Using telephoto lenses

193

Using normal lenses

195

Using macro lenses ......... . . . . Using tilt-and-shift lenses

196 197

Using Image Stabilized lenses.

197

Calibrating and Fine-Tuning Lenses

199

Calibrating lenses for focus accuracy.

199

Setting lens peripheral correction

201

Doing More with Lens Accessories Lens extenders

203 203

Extension tubes and close-up lenses .. . 204 Learning Lens Lingo and Technology.

204

CHAPTER 10

Event and Action Photography

207

Event and Action Photography ... . . ... .. 208 Packing the gear bag .. ...... ..... .. 208 Setting up the 7D for event and action shooting .... ...... ..... ...... .. 210 Shooting Events and Actions.

. .... 212

Exposure approaches and shooting techniques ..................... 212 Tips for capturing the moment.

. . 217

CHAPTER 11

Nature and Landscape Photography

219

Nature and Landscape Photography .... .. 220 In the camera bag ..... ...... ..... .. 221 Setting up the 7D for outdoor shooting .... ...... ..... ...... .. 223 Approaches to Exposure ............... 227 Basic exposure technique .... .. . . .. .. 229 Advanced exposure approach .

. . .. 232

Exposing nonaverage scenes .

. . .. 234

Shooting Landscape and Nature Images . ....... ..... ...... .. . .. .. 237

CHAPTER 12

People Photography

241

People Photography .................. 242 Selecting gear . ...... ...... . . ... .. 243 Setting up the 7D for portrait shooting . .. 244 Making Natural-light Portraits .... ..... .. 247 Outdoor portraits ............. . .... 247 Window light portraits ....... ... .... 249 Exposure approaches

.. .. 250

Making Studio Portraits ... ...... .. . .. .. 251 Keep It Simple ..... ..... ...... . . . .. .. 253

APPENDIX A Exploring RAW Capture

255

Learning about RAW Capture ... ..... ... 255 Canon's RAW Conversion Program .... ... 258 Sample RAW Image Conversion . ..... ... 258

APPENDIX B How to Use the Gray Card and Color Checker

261

The Gray Card ... ...... ...... . .

. ... 26 1

The Color Checker.

. ... 262

Glossary

263

Index

272