Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D For Dummies

Julie Adair King has been covering digital cameras and photography for over a decade. Along with seven editions of Digital Photography For Dummies, she has written For Dummies guides on numerous Nikon and Canon cameras. Julie also teaches master workshops at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.

Introduction 1

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 1

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 2

Part II: Working with Picture Files 2

Part III: Taking Creative Control 2

Part IV: The Part of Tens 2

Icons and Other Stuff to Note 3

eCheat Sheet 4

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 4

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5

Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 7

Getting Comfortable with Your Lens 7

Attaching a lens 8

Removing a lens 9

Zooming in and out 10

Shifting from autofocus to manual focus (and back) 11

Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens 11

Getting Familiar with the Monitor 12

Adjusting the Monitor Position 13

Using the Touchscreen 15

Working with Memory Cards 18

Exploring External Camera Controls 20

Topside controls 21

Back-of-the-body controls 22

Front odds and ends 26

Connection ports 27

Viewing and Adjusting Camera Settings 29

Ordering from menus 29

Exploring the Shooting Settings display 33

Taking advantage of the Quick Control screen 35

Decoding viewfinder data 38

Checking the Camera Settings display 39

Reviewing Basic Setup Options 41

Setup Menu 1 41

Setup Menu 2 43

Setup Menu 3 45

Setup Menu 4 46

Chapter 2: Choosing Basic Picture Settings 49

Choosing an Exposure Mode 50

Changing the Drive Mode 51

Using the Flash 56

Using flash in the fully automatic modes 57

Using flash in Creative Auto mode 58

Enabling flash in the advanced exposure modes 59

Using Red-Eye Reduction flash 60

Controlling Picture Quality 61

Diagnosing quality problems62

Decoding the Image Quality options 64

Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 66

Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 70

JPEG: The imaging (and web) standard 71

Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 72

My take: Choose Fine or Raw 74

Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 75

As Easy As It Gets: Auto and Flash Off 76

Taking Advantage of Scene (Image Zone) Modes 80

Trying out the scene modes 81

Modifying scene mode results 93

Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 102

Chapter 4: Exploring Live View Shooting and Movie Making 107

Getting Started 108

Live View and Movie mode cautions 111

Customizing the display 113

Focusing in Live View and Movie Modes 116

Disabling continuous autofocusing 116

Choosing an AF (autofocus) mode 119

Manual focusing 127

Zooming in for a focus check 128

Shooting Pictures in Live View Mode 130

Setting the photo aspect ratio 130

Adjusting other Live View picture settings 131

Taking a shot in Live View mode 138

Using the touch shutter 139

Recording Your First Movie 140

Customizing Movie Recording Settings 142

Movie Menu 1 144

Movie Menu 2 145

Snapping a Photo During Movie Recording 149

Playing Movies 150

Part II: Working with Picture Files 153

Chapter 5: Picture Playback 155

Disabling and Adjusting Image Review 155

Exploring Playback Mode 156

Switching to Index (thumbnails) view 157

Using the Quick Control screen during playback 158

Jumping through images 159

Rotating pictures 162

Zooming in for a closer view 165

Viewing Picture Data 166

Basic Information display data 168

Shooting Information display mode 168

Understanding Histogram display mode 171

Deleting Photos 174

Erasing single images 174

Erasing all images 174

Erasing selected images 175

Protecting Photos 177

Protecting a single photo 177

Protecting (or unprotecting) multiple photos 178

Rating Photos 179

Viewing Your Photos on a Television 181

Chapter 6: Downloading, Printing, and Sharing Your Photos 185

Choosing the Right Photo Software 185

Four free photo programs 186

Four advanced photo-editing programs 188

Sending Pictures to the Computer 189

Connecting your camera and computer 190

Reviewing the transfer process 191

Downloading images with Canon ImageBrowser EX 192

Processing Raw (CR2) Files 197

Planning for Perfect Prints 200

Check the pixel count before you print 201

Allow for different print proportions 203

Get print and monitor colors in sync 203

Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 206

Part III: Taking Creative Control 209

Chapter 7: Getting Creative with Exposure 211

Kicking Your Camera into Advanced Gear 212

Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 213

Understanding exposure-setting side effects 215

Doing the exposure balancing act 220

Monitoring Exposure Settings 221

Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 224

Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 227

Controlling ISO 227

Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 229

Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 231

Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 231

Improving high-contrast shots with Highlight Tone Priority 235

Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimizer 237

Correcting vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 240

Dampening noise 242

Locking Autoexposure Settings 245

Bracketing Exposures Automatically 247

Turning auto bracketing on and off 249

Shooting a bracketed series 251

Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 252

Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 254

Using flash outdoors 257

Adjusting flash power with Flash Exposure Compensation 259

Locking the flash exposure 262

Exploring more flash options 263

Chapter 8: Manipulating Focus and Color 269

Reviewing Focus Basics 269

Adjusting Autofocus Performance 272

AF Selection Point: One focus point or many? 273

Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 274

Choosing the right autofocus combo 276

Manipulating Depth of Field 277

Controlling Color 284

Correcting colors with white balance 284

Changing the White Balance setting 287

Creating a custom White Balance setting 289

Fine-tuning White Balance settings 291

Bracketing shots with white balance 293

Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 298

Chapter 9: Putting It All Together 305

Recapping Basic Picture Settings 305

Setting Up for Specifi c Scenes 308

Shooting still portraits 308

Capturing action 314

Capturing scenic vistas 318

Capturing dynamic close-ups 321

Coping with Special Situations 323

Part IV: The Part of Tens 327

Chapter 10: Ten More Ways to Customize Your Camera 329

Changing the Function of the Set Button 329

Customizing the AE Lock and Shutter Button 330

Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 332

Silencing the Camera 333

Preventing Shutter Release without a Memory Card 334

Reducing the Number of Exposure Stops 335

Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 336

Creating Custom Folders 339

Turning Off the Shooting Settings Screen 340

Changing the Color Space from sRGB to Adobe RGB 341

Chapter 11: Ten Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 343

Enabling Mirror Lockup 343

Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 345

Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 347

Exploring Two Special Printing Options 350

Playing with the Creative Filters 351

Tagging Pictures for a Photo Book 355

Presenting a Slide Show 356

Creating Video Snapshots 359

Editing Movies 364

Getting Free Help and Creative Ideas 366

Appendix: Glossary of Digital Photography Terms 367

Index 379