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C H A P T E R

I

f you have any experience 

in photography, then you 

may already know that the 

better you know your cam-

era, the greater the chance 

that you’ll be able to react 

quickly and confi dently  to 

photographic opportunities 

without missing a shot. If 

you’re new to digital SLR 

cameras, then the T2i/550 

may seem intimidating, but, 

as you’ll see, the camera is 

both easy and fun to master. 

This chapter is designed to 

help you learn the EOS 

Rebel T2i/550 so you know 

what control to use and 

when to use it. 

In addition, this chapter 

helps you set up the Rebel to 

best suit your shooting pref-

erences and to get the best 

image quality. You’ll also 

learn different ways to review 

images and protect them 

from accidental deletion.

1

Setting Up the EOS 
Rebel T2i/550D

Backlighting as well as front lighting created the sense 
of this fl ower being lit from within. Exposure: ISO 100, 
f/16, 1/125 second.

04_648636-ch01.indd   1

04_648636-ch01.indd   1

4/12/10   1:41 PM

4/12/10   1:41 PM

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

Summary of Contents for EOS Rebel T2i/550D

Page 1: ...easy and fun to master This chapter is designed to help you learn the EOS Rebel T2i 550 so you know what control to use and when to use it In addition this chapter helps you set up the Rebel to best suit your shooting pref erences and to get the best image quality You ll also learn different ways to review images and protect them from accidental deletion 1 Setting Up the EOS Rebel T2i 550D Backlig...

Page 2: ...hout the book You can refer back to these fig ures as you read the book to locate the controls you need Front camera controls On the front of the camera the controls that you ll use most often are the Lens Release button and the Depth of Field Preview button And of course you ll use the lens mount each time you change lenses Built in microphone Red eye reduction Self timer lamp Built in flash EF S l...

Page 3: ...hese contacts provide communication between the lens and the camera X Lens Release button Press this button to release the lens from the lens mount and then turn the lens to remove it X Depth of Field Preview button Press this button to stop down or adjust the lens diaphragm to the current aperture f stop so that you can preview the depth of field in the viewfinder The larger the area of darkness in...

Page 4: ...right hand to control common adjustments quickly Here is a look at the top of the camera X Focal plane mark This is the point from which the lens minimum focusing distance is measured X Hot shoe You can mount an accessory Speedlite flash unit here to provide com munication between the flash and the Rebel X Mode dial Turning this dial changes the shooting mode Just line up the shoot ing mode you want...

Page 5: ...n Enlarge button and to set the aperture f stop in Av mode the shutter speed in Tv and Manual mode and to shift the exposure program in P mode Additionally you can use the Main dial to scroll among the camera menus X Shutter button Pressing the Shutter button halfway sets the focus at the active AF point Simultaneously the camera determines the aperture f stop and or shutter speed based on the cur...

Page 6: ...oss keys on the back of the camera The cross keys are the keys surrounding the Set button X Display button Press this button to turn the LCD display and the current cam era settings off and on If you are playing back images pressing this button one or more times changes the display to show more or less shooting information and to display one or more histograms displayed next to the image preview X...

Page 7: ... mode button AF mode button Erase button Access lamp Quick Control Direct print button LCD monitor 1 3 Rebel T2i 550D rear camera controls X Live View Movie shooting button Pressing this button enables you to begin shooting in Live View mode or to shoot movies when the Mode dial is set to Movie shooting mode X Aperture Exposure Compensation button Press and hold this button and turn the Main dial ...

Page 8: ... when this lamp is lit X Erase button During image playback press this button to delete the currently displayed image Or you can press the left or right cross key to move to another picture to delete X Playback button Press this button to display the last image captured on the LCD In single image Playback the display includes an overlay of shooting infor mation on the preview image Pressing the In...

Page 9: ...al shooting modes you can choose Standard Portrait Landscape Neutral Faithful or Monochrome Picture styles and you can customize up to three user defined styles X White Balance button Press this button to display the White Balance screen where you can choose among seven preset White Balance options or choose Custom white balance X Drive mode button Press this button to set the Drive mode You can ch...

Page 10: ...s you are using the number and type of controls offered vary For example if you are using an Image Stabilized lens the lens barrel has a switch to turn on Image Stabilization that helps counteract the motion of your hands as you hold the camera and lens Some lenses offer a switch from autofocus to manual focusing Zoom setting Distance scale Zoom ring Zoom ring Focusing ring Focus mode switch Filte...

Page 11: ... have a focusing mode switch the lens focusing ring can be used at any time regardless of focusing mode by switching to MF on the side of the lens and then turning this ring to focus X Distance scale and infinity compensation mark This shows the lens s mini mum focusing distance to infinity The infinity compensation mark compensates for shifting the infinity focus point resulting from changes in tempe...

Page 12: ...sec Single shooting C Eye Fi transmission status White balance Quick control icon Battery check Spot metering Center weighted Average metering One Shot AF AF mode AI Focus AF AI Servo AF Manual Focusing ONE SHOT AI FOCUS AI SERVO MF Tungsten light White flourescent light Flash Custom White balance correction White balance bracketing WB Image recording quality Large Fine Large Normal Medium Fine Med...

Page 13: ... Aperture Card full warning FuLL Card error warning Err No card warning Card Exposure level indicator Exposure compensation amount AEB range Red eye reduction lamp on indicator Highlight tone priority ISO speed Monochrome shooting Max burst Focus confirmation light ISO speed White balance correction AE lock AEB in progress Focusing screen Spot metering circle AF points 2 1 1 2 ISO D WB B W AF point...

Page 14: ...tings press the up or down cross key to select Clear all camera settings and then press the Set button The Clear all camera settings confirmation screen appears 4 Press the right cross key to select OK About Media Cards The Rebel T2i 550D accepts SD and SDHC or Secure Digital High Capacity SDXC and Eye Fi SD media cards Not all media cards are created equal and the type and speed of media that you ...

Page 15: ...ly when the size of the movie file reaches 4GB For still and video shooting an 8GB card is a good size to consider When you buy a new memory card always format it in the camera and never on your computer But first off load all images to the computer because formatting erases images even if you ve set protection on them Also be sure to format cards that you ve used in other cameras when you begin usi...

Page 16: ...y of these actions can result in losing images and damage to the media card There is an audible warning to let you know that images are being written to the card but make it a habit to watch for the access light anyway to know not to open the media card slot cover or turn off the camera Avoid Losing Images Choosing the File Format and Quality The file format either JPEG or RAW and the JPEG quality ...

Page 17: ...aller the file size and the more images that you can store on the media card and vice versa As the compression level increases to make the file size smaller more of the original image data is discarded and the image quality degrades Compression also introduces defects referred to as artifacts which can create a blocky jagged look blurring and diminished color fidelity in the image At low compression ...

Page 18: ...a program that supports the T2i 550D s RAW file format and then save them as a TIFF or JPEG file You can use Canon s Digital Photo Professional program or a third party RAW conversion program to convert RAW images With all these caveats you may wonder why you d choose RAW shooting The answer is simple and compelling RAW files offer the highest image quality and the ultimate flexibility in correcting a...

Page 19: ...a JPG extension To set the image quality follow these steps 1 Press the Menu button and then turn the Main dial to select the Shooting 1 menu 2 Press the down or up cross key to select Quality 3 Press the Set button The Quality screen appears with the currently selected quality setting displayed along with the image dimensions in pixels and the approx imate number of images you can store on the cu...

Page 20: ...he next image provided that the number is higher than the highest image number stored in the camera s memory Stated another way the camera uses the highest number that is either on the media card or that is stored in the camera s internal memory Then the camera uses that number to continue file numbering If it is important to you that files be numbered consecutively then be sure to insert formatted ...

Page 21: ...ers can be created automatically by the camera with up to 9 999 images stored in each folder If you reach these capacities a mes sage appears telling you to change the media card even if there is room remaining on it Until you change the media card you can t continue shooting To change the file numbering method on the T2i 550D follow these steps 1 Press the Menu button and then turn the Main dial t...

Page 22: ...the option In other instances the options are detailed in later chapters of this book To change these options press the Menu button and then follow the instructions in the subheadings in Table 1 1 Table 1 1 Additional Setup Options Turn the Main dial to choose this Menu tab Press a cross key to select this Menu option Press the Set button to display these Menu Sub options on screen Press a cross k...

Page 23: ...ff option the LCD turns off automati cally after 30 minutes Auto rotate On the LCD and computer On for the computer only or Off Two On options let you choose to automatically rotate vertical images to the correct orientation on the LCD and computer monitors or only on the computer monitor If you choose the first option the LCD preview image is displayed at a reduced size Or choose Off for no rotati...

Page 24: ... Clean manually locks up the mirror and shutter so that you can clean the sensor yourself Setup 3 Clear Settings Clear all camera settings Clear all Custom Func C Fn Cancel Choose the Clear all camera settings option to reset the camera settings back to the manufacturer s default settings Choose Clear all Custom Func C Fn to reset all Custom Function settings to manufacturer s original settings Fi...

Page 25: ...t details or the author name which ever you didn t choose in Step 3 You can cancel entering text by pressing the Display button To display the copyright repeat Steps 1 and 2 above and in Step 3 choose Display copyright info TIP If you need to delete the copyright information choose Delete copyright infor mation on the Copyright information screen on the Setup 3 menu Viewing and Finding Images On t...

Page 26: ...Shooting 1 menu and then press the down cross key to select Image review 3 Press the Set button The image review time options appear 4 Press the down cross key to select Off 2 4 8 sec or Hold The numbers indicate the number of seconds that the image displays Off disables image dis play while Hold displays the image until you dismiss it by lightly pressing the Shutter button 5 Press the Set button ...

Page 27: ...yback You can start a slide show by following these steps 1 Press the Menu button and then turn the Main dial to select the Playback 1 menu 2 Press the down or up cross key to select Slide show and then press the Set button The Slide show screen appears 3 Press the up or down cross key to select All images and then press the Set button Up and down arrow controls appear to the right of the All imag...

Page 28: ...100 images at a time or find images by date movies or still images Here is how to choose the jump method to move through images 1 Press the Menu button and then turn the Main dial to select the Playback 2 menu 2 Press the up or down cross key to highlight Image jump w Main dial and then press the Set button The Image jump with Main dial screen appears You can choose 1 10 100 images or Date Movies S...

Page 29: ...u want to view images on an HD TV you need to buy an HDMI Cable HTC 100 Before connecting the camera to the TV you need to set the video system format using the Setup 2 menu on the camera The following instructions are for both HD Hi Definition and non HD TVs 1 Press the Menu button and then turn the Main dial to select the Set up 2 menu 2 Press the down key to select Video system and then press th...

Page 30: ...options on the T2i 550D that enable you to delete images you don t want and to protect images you do want from accidental deletion The following sec tions detail how to erase one or multiple images and how to protect images Erasing images Erasing images is useful provided that you are certain that you don t want the image From experience I know that some images that appear to be mediocre on the LC...

Page 31: ... the Erase button on the back of the camera The Erase images screen appears with a confirmation message asking if you want to erase the selected images 7 Press the right cross key to select OK and then press the Set button All check marked images are erased Protecting images To ensure that important images are not accidentally deleted you can protect them Setting protection means that no one can er...

Page 32: ...ail display and to the left of the image number 4 Press the left or right cross key to scroll to other images that you want to protect and then press the Set button to add protection to the images If you want to remove protection scroll to a protected image and then press the Set button Protection is removed and is indicated by the protection icon being removed ...

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