Canon EOS 77D For Dummies. King Julie Adair

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: 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.

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       Focal plane indicator: Should you need to know the exact distance between your subject and the camera, the focal plane indicator. 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.

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 you should press.

      Starting at the top-right corner of the camera back and working westward (well, assuming that 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 (see Chapter 5). In Playback mode (see 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 (see 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.

      ❯❯ AF-ON button: Just like pressing the shutter button halfway, pressing this button initiates autofocus. See Chapter 5 for more information on focusing.

      ❯❯ 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.)

      ❯❯ 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. See the appendix for an explanation of Wi-Fi operations.

      ❯❯ Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera into picture-review mode.

      ❯❯ Memory card access light: 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.

      ❯❯ Set button and Quick Control keys: The Set button and the four-way directional pad with buttons, known as Quick Control keys, team up to perform several functions, including choosing options from the camera menus. You use the Quick Control keys to navigate through menus and then press the Set button to select a specific menu setting.

       In this book, the instruction “Press the left Quick Control key” means to press the one to the left of the Set button; “press the right Quick Control key” means to press the one to the right of the Set button, and so on.

      During viewfinder photography – that is, when you’re using the viewfinder and not the monitor to frame your shots – the Quick Control keys also have individual responsibilities, which are indicated by their labels:

      ● Press the up key to change the White Balance setting. The White Balance control, explained in Chapter 6, enables you to ensure that colors are rendered accurately.

      ● Press the right key to adjust the AF Operation mode. This option controls one aspect of the camera’s autofocus behavior, as outlined in Chapter 5.

      ● Press the left key to change the Drive mode. The Drive mode settings enable you to switch the camera from single-frame shooting to continuous capture or any of the other drive modes, including remote shooting. See Chapter 2 for details.

      ● Press the down key to change the Picture Style. Chapter 6 explains Picture Styles, which you can use to adjust the color, contrast, and sharpness of your pictures.

      For Live View and Movie shooting, the Quick Control keys perform different actions. See Chapter 5 for help.

      ❯❯ Quick Control dial: The Quick Control dial surrounds the Set button and the Quick Control keys. Rotating the dial offers a handy way to quickly scroll through options and settings. It’s a timesaver, so we point out when to use it as we provide instructions throughout the book.

      ❯❯ Erase button: Sporting a trash can icon, the universal symbol for delete, this button lets you erase pictures from your memory card during playback. Chapter 9 has specifics.

      ❯❯ Multi Function Lock switch: You can rotate this switch up, in the direction of the arrow, to lock the Quick Control dial so that you don’t accidentally move the dial and change a camera setting that you aren’t intending to modify. If you want an even larger safety net, you can set things up so that the switch also locks the Main dial and the touch screen (when shooting). The section “Setup Menu 4,” toward the end of this chapter, has details.

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