Photography by Jim Doty

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Canon 10D Camera Settings
(and other digital cameras)

Part Two - Custom Functions
Jim Doty, Jr.

Most of the custom functions on my 10D are at the default settings. I will comment mostly on the few that I change.

01 SET BUTTON. Default

02 SHUTTER RELEASE. Default, possible without flash card. This custom function can be set to prevent the equivalent of shooting without film in a film camera, something most of us have done at least once in our film shooting days. I always have REVIEW turned on (see Part One) so I can do a quick check of the composition and the histogram. If you shoot with review turned off, you might want to change this setting so the camera won't fire without a memory card.

03 FLASH SYNC. Default. I usually use flash in MANUAL mode so I control both aperture and shutter speed for the effect that I want.

04 SHUTTER BUTTON/AE LOCK BUTTON. Default.

05 AF ASSIST BEAM - FLASH. Usually default. If I am using flash in minimal light conditions, the pre-flash to focus is usually not a problem. If it is, I turn it off.

06 EXPOSURE LEVEL INCREMENTS. 1/2 stop.

07 AF POINT REGISTRATION. Default. I usually use the central focusing point and have the others turned off for most of my shooting.

08 RAW plus JPEG RECORD. 5. Raw plus large fine jpeg. This may seem redundant, but I want the largest jpeg setting along with my raw file.

09 BRACKET SEQUENCE, AUTO CANCEL.  Default. I prefer the 0, minus, plus sequence with auto cancel. If I know I will shoot several bracketed sequences, I set this function to 1 which gives me the same sequence order and doesn't turn off bracketing after one sequence. I usually bracket in MANUAL mode rather than using bracketing from the menu.

10 SUPERIMPOSED DISPLAY. On.

11 MENU BUTTON DISPLAY.  1 Previous. I want the same menu item to pop up as the last time, whether or not I turned off the camera.

12 MIRROR LOCKUP. For sports and people shooting this is set at default (disable). For a lot of landscape, nature and closeup work this is turned on. Mirror lockup is one of the most valuable features to have on a camera to prevent mirror vibration when using long lenses or doing macro work at slow shutter speeds.

13 ASSIST BUTTON. Default.

14 AUTO REDUCTION OF FILL FLASH. Default.

15 SHUTTER CURTAIN SYNC. For most flash work at flash sync shutter speeds, this is set at 1st curtain sync. For special effects at long shutter speeds, this is sometimes set to 2nd curtain sync.

16 SAFETY SHIFT in AV or TV. Default. I almost never choose Tv. In Av there is almost always a shutter speed available - but not always a good one depending on the situation. In that case I change the ISO. For the kind of shooting I do, I haven't needed the safely shift.

17 LENS AF STOP BUTTON. Default.
 

Part One - Menu Settings
Part Three - Top Deck Controls


March 1, 2005

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