Introduction 1
A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 1
Icons and Other Stuff to Note 2
eCheat Sheet 3
Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 3
Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5
Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 7
Looking at Lenses 7
Choosing a lens 8
Attaching and removing a lens 11
Zooming in and out 12
Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens 13
Getting acquainted with focusing 14
Adjusting the Viewfinder 15
Adjusting the Monitor Position 16
Using the Touchscreen 17
Working with Memory Cards 20
Exploring External Camera Features 22
Topside controls 22
Back-of-the-body controls 24
Front odds and ends 27
Connection ports 28
Ordering from Camera Menus 30
Navigating the Custom Functions Menu 32
Monitoring Critical Camera Settings 34
The Info button: Choosing what the screen shows 34
Checking the Camera Settings display 35
Viewing the Shooting Settings display 36
Decoding viewfinder data 38
Reading the LCD panel 40
Changing Settings via the Quick Control Screen 40
Getting Help from Your Camera 42
Reviewing Basic Setup Options 42
Cruising the Setup menus 43
Setting up the Lock switch 49
Taking two final setup steps 50
Chapter 2: Choosing Basic Picture Settings 51
Choosing an Exposure Mode 52
Changing the Drive Mode 54
Getting Familiar with the Built-in Flash 56
Using flash in the fully automatic modes 57
Enabling flash in advanced exposure modes 59
Using Red-Eye Reduction flash 60
Controlling Picture Quality 60
Diagnosing quality problems 61
Decoding the Image Quality options 63
Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 65
Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 68
JPEG: The imaging (and web) standard 68
Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 70
My take: Choose Fine or Raw 72
Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 73
As Easy As It Gets: Auto and Flash Off 74
Taking Advantage of Scene (SCN) Modes 77
Modifying scene mode results 88
Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 94
Chapter 4: Exploring Live View Shooting and Movie Making 99
Getting Started 100
Reviewing Live View and Movie mode cautions 102
Customizing the display 103
Focusing in Live View and Movie Modes 106
Disabling continuous autofocusing 106
Choosing an AF (autofocus) mode 109
Manual focusing 118
Zooming in for a focus check 118
Exploring Other Live View Options 119
Setting the photo aspect ratio 120
Adjusting other Live View picture settings 120
Using the touch shutter 127
Recording Your First Movie 128
Customizing Movie Recording Settings 131
Movie Menu 1 133
Movie Menu 2 134
Using Movie Digital Zoom 139
Snapping a Photo During Recording 140
Playing Movies 141
Part II: Working with Picture Files 145
Chapter 5: Picture Playback 147
Disabling and Adjusting Image Review 147
Exploring Playback Mode 148
Switching to Index (thumbnails) view 149
Using the Quick Control screen during playback 150
Jumping through images 151
Rotating pictures 154
Zooming in for a closer view 156
Viewing Picture Data 157
Basic Information display data 159
Shooting Information display mode 160
Understanding Histogram display mode 162
Enabling a few display extras 165
Deleting Photos 166
Erasing single images 166
Erasing all images on the memory card 167
Erasing selected images 167
Protecting Photos 169
Protecting (or unprotecting) a single photo 169
Protecting multiple photos 170
Rating Photos 172
Viewing Your Photos on a Television 174
Chapter 6: Downloading, Printing, and Sharing Your Photos 177
Installing the Canon Software 178
Sending Pictures to the Computer 180
Connecting camera and computer via USB 180
Connecting to the computer via Wi-Fi 181
Downloading from the camera 185
Downloading from a card reader 187
Processing Raw (CR2) Files 189
Processing Raw images in the camera 189
Converting Raw images in Digital Photo Professional 192
Planning for Perfect Prints 196
Check the pixel count before you print 196
Allow for different print proportions 198
Calibrate your monitor 200
Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 201
Part III: Taking Creative Control 205
Chapter 7: Getting Creative with Exposure 207
Kicking Your Camera into High Gear 207
Introducing Exposure Basics: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 209
Understanding exposure-setting side effects 211
Doing the exposure balancing act 215
Monitoring Exposure Settings 216
Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 219
Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 222
Controlling ISO 222
Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 225
Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 227
Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 227
Improving high-contrast shots 231
Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimizer 236
Correcting vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 239
Dampening noise 242
Locking Autoexposure Settings 244
Bracketing Exposures Automatically 246
Setting up for automatic bracketing 247
Shooting a bracketed series 250
Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 250
Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 251
Using flash outdoors 255
Adjusting flash power with Flash
Exposure Compensation 256
Locking the flash exposure 259
Exploring more flash options 260
Chapter 8: Manipulating Focus and Color 265
Reviewing Focus Basics 265
Introducing the AF-ON button 267
Adjusting Autofocus Performance 268
AF Area mode: One focus point or many? 269
Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 271
Choosing the right autofocus combo 273
Manipulating Depth of Field 274
Controlling Color 279
Correcting colors with white balance 279
Changing the White Balance setting 281
Creating a custom White Balance setting 283
Fine-tuning White Balance settings 285
Bracketing shots with white balance 288
Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 293
Chapter 9: Putting It All Together 299
Recapping Basic Picture Settings 299
Setting Up for Specifi c Scenes 302
Shooting still portraits 302
Capturing action 307
Capturing scenic vistas 311
Capturing dynamic close-ups 314
Part IV: The Part of Tens 317
Chapter 10: Ten Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 319
Enabling Mirror Lockup Shooting 320
Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 320
Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 321
Exploring Wi-Fi Functions 322
Experimenting with Creative Filters 324
Shooting in Multiple Exposure Mode 328
Investigating Two More Printing Options 329
Presenting a Slide Show 329
Editing Movies 330
Creating Video Snapshots 331
Chapter 11: Ten More Ways to Customize Your Camera 333
Creating Your Own Exposure Mode 333
Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 335
Creating Custom Folders 337
Changing the Color Space from sRGB to Adobe RGB 338
Changing the Direction of the Dials 339
Changing All the Furniture Around 339
Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 341
Controlling the Lens Focus Drive 342
Making the Flashing Red AF Points Go Away 343
Considering a Few Other Autofocusing Tweaks 343
Appendix: Glossary of Digital Photography Terms 347
Index 359
