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.
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❯❯ 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.
❯❯ Display-off sensor: This handy gizmo senses when you bring your eye up to the viewfinder and turns the LCD monitor off so that the glare from the display doesn’t bother you. When you pull your eye back, the LCD monitor comes back on.
❯❯ Info button: In Live View, Movie, and Playback modes, pressing this button changes the picture-display style.
During viewfinder photography, you can press the Info button to toggle the display off or cycle between the Quick Control screen and electronic level. (These displays are explained later in this chapter.)
❯❯ Menu button: Press this button to display camera menus; press a second time to exit the menus. See the upcoming section “Ordering from Camera Menus” for help navigating menus.
The remaining external features of note are shown in Figure 1-8 and described in the following list.
FIGURE 1-8: Other important controls reside on the front and left side of the camera.
❯❯ Wireless remote-control sensor: This sensor can pick up the signal from the optional Canon wireless remote-control unit. The part number is Canon RC-6, and sells for about $20.
You also have two other wireless remote-control options: If you have a smartphone or tablet that can run the Canon Connect app, you can use that device as a wireless remote. The appendix provides more information. Alternatively, you can buy the Canon Wireless Remote Control BR-E1 (about $50), which connects to your camera via Bluetooth, also detailed in the appendix. We bring them up now because unlike the RC-6 unit, these two tools don’t need to be aimed at the camera’s remote-control sensor to work.
❯❯ Lens-release button: Press this button to disengage the lens from the lens mount so that you can remove it from the camera. While pressing the button, rotate the lens toward the shutter-button side of the camera to dismount the lens.
❯❯ Flash button: Press this button to raise the built-in flash in the advanced exposure modes (P, Tv, Av, and M).
❯❯ Microphone: You can record movie audio via the built-in microphone, which picks up sound from the two clusters of holes, one of which is labeled Microphone in Figure 1-8.
❯❯ Depth-of-Field Preview button: When you press this button, the image in the viewfinder (or, in Live View mode, on the monitor) offers an approximation of the depth of field that will result from your selected aperture setting, or f-stop. Depth of field refers to the distance over which the scene appears to be in focus. Chapter 5 provides details.
❯❯ Speaker: When you play a movie that contains audio, the sound comes wafting through these little holes.
❯❯ Connection ports: Hidden under two covers on the left side of the camera, you find inputs for connecting the camera to various devices. Open the smaller cover to access the connections for a wired remote control or external microphone. Under the larger door, you find a digital terminal for connecting the camera to your computer via USB and an HDMI out port that sends the signal from your camera to an HDMI TV. To use either feature, you need to purchase a cable to make the connection. For USB downloading, check the Canon website for the cables that will do the trick. For HDMI output, you can use any HD cable that has a Type-C connection on one end (the end that goes into the camera).
See Chapter 8 for help with displaying images on an HD television; Chapter 9 explains how to connect the camera via USB in order to download pictures to your computer. (Spoiler alert: Downloading via USB is probably not your cheapest or easiest option; instead, consider using a memory-card reader or taking advantage of wireless transfer.)
If you turn the camera over, you find a tripod socket, which enables you to mount the camera on a tripod that uses a ¼-inch screw, plus the chamber that holds the battery, as well as a connection port for attaching a Canon power adapter. See the camera manual for specifics on running the camera on AC power.
Changing from Standard to Guided Display Mode
By default, your camera is set to Standard Display Mode. Alternatively, you can set the camera to provide information to you in a Guided Display Mode. In this mode, designed for novices, camera screens are simplified and offer explanations and feedback when you adjust certain settings.
For example, the left side of Figure 1-9 shows the display when Tv exposure mode (shutter-priority auto-exposure) is selected. Likewise, the right side shows the guided menu with the Shooting settings menu selected.
