Canon EOS Rebel T7i/800D For Dummies. King Julie Adair

to many camera functions, from scrolling through menus to changing certain shooting and playback settings.

       On some camera screens, you see a symbol that resembles the top half of a dial with notches around the edge. That’s designed to remind you that you use the Main dial to adjust the setting. Similarly, on some screens, a pair of curved arrows is perched above a picture-taking setting. Those arrows also indicate that you can rotate the dial to adjust the setting.

      ❯❯ Red-Eye Reduction/Self-Timer Lamp: When you set your flash to Red-Eye Reduction mode, this little lamp emits a brief burst of light prior to the real flash – the idea being that your subjects’ pupils will constrict in response to the light, thus lessening the chances of red-eye. If you use the camera’s self-timer feature, the lamp lights during the countdown period before the shutter is released. See Chapter 2 for more details about Red-Eye Reduction flash mode and the self-timer function.

      ❯❯ AF Area Selection button: Press this button to access the AF Area Selection setting, which is related to autofocusing. Chapter 5 explains.

      ❯❯ ISO button: True to its name, this button displays a screen where you can adjust the ISO setting, which determines how sensitive the camera is to light. Chapter 4 details this critical setting.

      ❯❯ DISP button: This button affects the Quick Control screen, which displays shooting information when you’re taking still pictures. (Check out “Displaying the Quick Control screen, later in this chapter, for a look.) Normally, the screen appears automatically when you turn the camera on or press the shutter button halfway and release it and then turns off after a period of inactivity. But you take control over the display by pressing the button, which toggles the Quick Control screen on and off.

      ❯❯ Shutter button: You no doubt already understand the function of this button, but you may not realize that when you use autofocus and autoexposure, you need to use a two-stage process when taking a picture: Press the shutter button halfway, pause to let the camera set focus and exposure, and then press down the rest of the way to capture the image. You’d be surprised how many people mess up their pictures because they press that button with one quick jab, denying the camera the time it needs to set focus and exposure.

      ❯❯ Flash hot shoe: Labeled in Figure 1-6, this is the connection for attaching an external flash and other accessories such as flash adapters, bubble levels, flash brackets, off-camera flash cords, and the GP-E2 GPS Receiver.

      ❯❯ Focal plane indicator: Should you need to know the exact distance between your subject and the camera, the focal plane indicator labeled in Figure 1-6 is key. This mark indicates the plane at which light coming through the lens is focused onto the camera’s image sensor. Basing your measurement on this mark produces a more accurate camera-to-subject distance than using the end of the lens or some other point on the camera body as your reference point.

      ❯❯ Microphone: You can record movie audio via the built-in microphone, which picks up sound from the two clusters of holes labeled “Microphone” in Figure 1-6.

      ❯❯ Wi-Fi lamp: The Wi-Fi lamp turns on to show that you’re connected, and blinks at various rates to show that it is waiting, transferring data, or has a connection error. For more information on Wi-Fi, turn to the appendix.

Back-of-the-body controls

Traveling over the top of the camera to its back, you encounter the smorgasbord of controls shown in Figure 1-7.

       FIGURE 1-7: Having lots of external buttons makes accessing the camera’s functions easier.

       Some buttons have multiple “official” names because they serve multiple purposes depending on whether you’re taking pictures, reviewing images, recording a movie, or performing some other function. This book refers to these buttons by the first label you see in the following list (and in Figure 1-7) to simplify things. Again, though, the margin icons show you exactly which button to press.

      Starting at the top-right corner of the camera back and working westward (well, assuming your lens is pointing north, anyway), here’s an introduction to the buttons and other controls on this side of the camera:

      ❯❯ AF Point Selection/Magnify button: In certain shooting modes, you press this button to specify which autofocus points or zones you want the camera to use when establishing focus. You can also use it in Live View or Movie mode to magnify the display to check focus. (Chapter 5 tells you about focusing features.) In Playback mode, covered in Chapter 9, you use this button to magnify the image display (thus the plus sign in the button’s magnifying glass icon).

      ❯❯ AE Lock/FE Lock/Index/Reduce button: During shooting, press this button to lock autoexposure (AE) settings, as covered in Chapter 4, and to lock flash exposure (FE), a feature detailed in Chapter 2.

      This button also serves two image-viewing functions: It switches the display to Index mode, enabling you to see multiple image thumbnails at once. And if you magnify a photo, pressing the button reduces the magnification level.

      ❯❯ Live View/Movie button: Press this button to shift to Live View mode, which enables you to compose your pictures using the monitor instead of the viewfinder. When shooting movies, press the button to start and stop recording. (You must first set the On/Off/Movie switch to the Movie position.)

      ❯❯ Aperture/Exposure Compensation button: When you shoot in the M (manual) exposure mode, press and hold this button, then rotate the Main dial to choose the aperture setting, also known as the f-stop. In the other advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, and Av), you instead use the button and dial to apply Exposure Compensation, a feature that enables you to adjust the exposure. Chapter 4 discusses both issues.

      ❯❯ Q (Quick Control) button: Press this button to shift to Quick Control mode, which enables you to adjust major shooting settings quickly. See “Using Quick Control Mode,” later in this chapter, for help.

      ❯❯ Wi-Fi button: Pressing this button enables certain wireless communication features; again, see the appendix for an explanation of Wi-Fi operations.

      ❯❯ Memory-card access light: Labeled in Figure 1-7, this light glows while the camera is recording data to the memory card. Don’t power off the camera while the light is lit, or you may damage the card or camera.

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