Canon EOS 70D For Dummies

Julie Adair King has been covering digital cameras and photography for over a decade. Along with the perennially popular Digital Photography For Dummies, she has written For Dummies guides on a wide variety of Canon and Nikon dSLR cameras. She also teaches at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.

• Introduction 1A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 1Icons and Other Stuff to Note 2eCheat Sheet 3Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 3Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 7Looking at Lenses 7Choosing a lens 8Attaching and removing a lens 11Zooming in and out 12Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens 13Getting acquainted with focusing 14Adjusting the Viewfinder 15Adjusting the Monitor Position 16Using the Touchscreen 17Working with Memory Cards 20Exploring External Camera Features 22Topside controls 22Back-of-the-body controls 24Front odds and ends 27Connection ports 28Ordering from Camera Menus 30Navigating the Custom Functions Menu 32Monitoring Critical Camera Settings 34The Info button: Choosing what the screen shows 34Checking the Camera Settings display 35Viewing the Shooting Settings display 36Decoding viewfinder data 38Reading the LCD panel 40Changing Settings via the Quick Control Screen 40Getting Help from Your Camera 42Reviewing Basic Setup Options 42Cruising the Setup menus 43Setting up the Lock switch 49Taking two final setup steps 50Chapter 2: Choosing Basic Picture Settings 51Choosing an Exposure Mode 52Changing the Drive Mode 54Getting Familiar with the Built-in Flash 56Using flash in the fully automatic modes 57Enabling flash in advanced exposure modes 59Using Red-Eye Reduction flash 60Controlling Picture Quality 60Diagnosing quality problems 61Decoding the Image Quality options 63Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 65Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 68JPEG: The imaging (and web) standard 68Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 70My take: Choose Fine or Raw 72Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 73As Easy As It Gets: Auto and Flash Off 74Taking Advantage of Scene (SCN) Modes 77Modifying scene mode results 88Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 94Chapter 4: Exploring Live View Shooting and Movie Making 99Getting Started 100Reviewing Live View and Movie mode cautions 102Customizing the display 103Focusing in Live View and Movie Modes 106Disabling continuous autofocusing 106Choosing an AF (autofocus) mode 109Manual focusing 118Zooming in for a focus check 118Exploring Other Live View Options 119Setting the photo aspect ratio 120Adjusting other Live View picture settings 120Using the touch shutter 127Recording Your First Movie 128Customizing Movie Recording Settings 131Movie Menu 1 133Movie Menu 2 134Using Movie Digital Zoom 139Snapping a Photo During Recording 140Playing Movies 141Part II: Working with Picture Files 145Chapter 5: Picture Playback 147Disabling and Adjusting Image Review 147Exploring Playback Mode 148Switching to Index (thumbnails) view 149Using the Quick Control screen during playback 150Jumping through images 151Rotating pictures 154Zooming in for a closer view 156Viewing Picture Data 157Basic Information display data 159Shooting Information display mode 160Understanding Histogram display mode 162Enabling a few display extras 165Deleting Photos 166Erasing single images 166Erasing all images on the memory card 167Erasing selected images 167Protecting Photos 169Protecting (or unprotecting) a single photo 169Protecting multiple photos 170Rating Photos 172Viewing Your Photos on a Television 174Chapter 6: Downloading, Printing, and Sharing Your Photos 177Installing the Canon Software 178Sending Pictures to the Computer 180Connecting camera and computer via USB 180Connecting to the computer via Wi-Fi 181Downloading from the camera 185Downloading from a card reader 187Processing Raw (CR2) Files 189Processing Raw images in the camera 189Converting Raw images in Digital Photo Professional 192Planning for Perfect Prints 196Check the pixel count before you print 196Allow for different print proportions 198Calibrate your monitor 200Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 201Part III: Taking Creative Control 205Chapter 7: Getting Creative with Exposure 207Kicking Your Camera into High Gear 207Introducing Exposure Basics: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 209Understanding exposure-setting side effects 211Doing the exposure balancing act 215Monitoring Exposure Settings 216Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 219Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 222Controlling ISO 222Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 225Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 227Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 227Improving high-contrast shots 231Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimizer 236Correcting vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 239Dampening noise 242Locking Autoexposure Settings 244Bracketing Exposures Automatically 246Setting up for automatic bracketing 247Shooting a bracketed series 250Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 250Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 251Using flash outdoors 255Adjusting flash power with FlashExposure Compensation 256Locking the flash exposure 259Exploring more flash options 260Chapter 8: Manipulating Focus and Color 265Reviewing Focus Basics 265Introducing the AF-ON button 267Adjusting Autofocus Performance 268AF Area mode: One focus point or many? 269Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 271Choosing the right autofocus combo 273Manipulating Depth of Field 274Controlling Color 279Correcting colors with white balance 279Changing the White Balance setting 281Creating a custom White Balance setting 283Fine-tuning White Balance settings 285Bracketing shots with white balance 288Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 293Chapter 9: Putting It All Together 299Recapping Basic Picture Settings 299Setting Up for Specifi c Scenes 302Shooting still portraits 302Capturing action 307Capturing scenic vistas 311Capturing dynamic close-ups 314Part IV: The Part of Tens 317Chapter 10: Ten Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 319Enabling Mirror Lockup Shooting 320Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 320Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 321Exploring Wi-Fi Functions 322Experimenting with Creative Filters 324Shooting in Multiple Exposure Mode 328Investigating Two More Printing Options 329Presenting a Slide Show 329Editing Movies 330Creating Video Snapshots 331Chapter 11: Ten More Ways to Customize Your Camera 333Creating Your Own Exposure Mode 333Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 335Creating Custom Folders 337Changing the Color Space from sRGB to Adobe RGB 338Changing the Direction of the Dials 339Changing All the Furniture Around 339Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 341Controlling the Lens Focus Drive 342Making the Flashing Red AF Points Go Away 343Considering a Few Other Autofocusing Tweaks 343Appendix: Glossary of Digital Photography Terms 347Index 359