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

This book takes the same approach to page references as the Canon instruction manual: Shooting Menu 1 refers to page one of the Shooting menu, Shooting Menu 2 to page two, and so on. How many pages appear for each menu depends, again, on the exposure mode and whether the camera is set to still photography or Movie mode.

      The highlighted menu icon marks the active menu; options on that menu appear automatically on the main part of the screen. In Figure 1-13, Shooting Menu 1 is active, for example.

      ❯❯ Selecting a menu or menu page: You have these options:

      ● Touchscreen: Tap the menu icon to select that menu; tap a page number to display that page.

      ● Cross keys or Main dial: Press the right or left cross keys or rotate the Main dial to scroll through the menu icons. If you use this technique, you have to scroll through all pages of a menu to get to the neighboring menu.

       As you scroll through the menus, notice the color coding: red for the Shooting menu, blue for the Playback menu, orangey-yellow (ochre?) for the Setup menu, teal for Display Level, and green for My Menu.

      ❯❯ Select and adjust a menu setting: Again, you have a choice of techniques:

      ● Touchscreen: Tap the menu item to display options for that setting. The current setting is highlighted; tap another setting to select it. On some screens, you see a Set icon; if it appears, tap that icon to lock in your selection and exit the settings screen.

      ● Cross keys and Set button: Press the up or down cross key to highlight the menu setting and then press the Set button to display the available options for that setting. Use the cross keys to highlight your preferred setting and press the Set button again.

       You can mix and match techniques, by the way. For example, even if you access a menu option via the control keys, you can use the touchscreen techniques to select a setting.

       FIGURE 1-13: You can access all menus only when the Mode dial is set to P, Tv, Av, or M.

      Instructions from this point forward assume you don’t need to be told the specifics of how to select menus and menu options at every turn. So instead of stepping you through each button press or touchscreen tap required to adjust a setting, instructions simply say something like “Choose Image Quality from Shooting Menu 1.” If choosing a menu option involves any special steps, however, instructions offer guidance.

Navigating Custom Functions

      Custom Functions are a group of advanced settings available only in the P, Tv, Av, and M exposure modes. (Remember: You set the exposure mode via the Mode dial on top of the camera.)

To explore Custom Functions, choose that item from Setup Menu 4, as shown on the left in Figure 1-14. You then see the options screen for a specific Custom Function, as shown on the right in the figure. Here’s a guide to using the Custom Function screens, which work a little differently than other menu screens:

      ❯❯ Interpreting the screens: The Custom Functions screens are a little intimidating until you know what’s what:

      ● Custom Functions are grouped into four categories: Exposure, Image, Autofocus/Drive, and Operation/Others. The category number and name appear in the upper-left corner of the screen. In the right screen in Figure 1-14, for example, the label indicates that you’re looking at a screen from the Autofocus/Drive category. (C.Fn III refers to Custom Functions group three.)

      ● The number of the selected function appears in the upper-right corner. Custom Function 9 is shown in Figure 1-14.

      ● Settings for the current function appear in the middle of the screen. Blue text indicates the current setting. The default setting is represented by the number 0. So in Figure 1-14, Auto is selected and is the default setting.

      ● Numbers at the bottom of the screen show you the current setting for all Custom Functions. The top row of numbers represents the Custom Functions, with the currently selected function indicated with a tiny horizontal bar over the number (9, in the figure). The lower row shows the number of the current setting for each Custom Function; again, 0 represents the default.

      For Custom Function 11, you instead see a dash, which is Canon’s way of letting you know that this menu option controls more than one camera setting (thus there isn’t one single default setting).

      ❯❯ Scrolling from one Custom Function to the next: Press the left or right cross keys or tap the left or right scroll arrows at the top of the screen. You can see the arrows in the right screen in Figure 1-14.

❯❯ Changing the setting: You first must activate the menu by pressing the Set button or tapping one of the available setting options. The screen then changes to look similar to the one shown on the left in Figure 1-15, with the currently selected option highlighted. To select a different option, highlight it by tapping it or pressing the up or down cross keys.

      If you see up/down arrows on the right side of the screen, you need to scroll the menu screen to view all the available setting options. To do so, tap those arrows or press the up/down cross keys.

      To lock in your setting and deactivate the settings screen, tap the Set icon or press the Set button. The screen returns to its inactive state, as shown on the right in Figure 1-15. The setting you selected appears in blue and the row of digits at the bottom of the screen reflects the number for that setting. A blue number indicates that you chose a setting other than the default.

      ❯❯ Exiting the Custom Functions submenu: Tap the Menu icon in the lower-right corner of the screen or press the Menu button. Press Menu again to exit the menu system entirely and return to shooting.

       FIGURE 1-14: Choose Custom Functions from Setup Menu 4 to access additional customization options.

       FIGURE 1-15: After you select a setting (left), the initial menu screen updates to reflect your choice (right).

      Customizing the Touchscreen

      Your camera’s touchscreen works much like the ones found on smartphones and other touch-based devices. When the touchscreen is enabled, as it is by default, you can simply touch the monitor to choose menu commands, change picture settings, scroll through your pictures, and more.

      How you touch the screen depends on the task at hand. Here’s a rundown of the names assigned to various touchscreen moves, or gestures:

      ❯❯ Tap: Tap a finger on the monitor. (Figures and instructions throughout the book indicate exactly where to tap.)

      ❯❯ Drag: Using light pressure, drag your finger across the screen. On some menu screens, for example, you can drag up or down to scroll through a list of options.

      ❯❯ Swipe: Drag one or two fingers quickly across the screen. You use this gesture, known in some circles as a flick, to scroll through your pictures in playback mode, just as you do when showing off your photos on a smartphone.

      ❯❯ Pinch in/pinch out: To pinch