Canon 40D - what default settings would you change for general photography?

The question would apply to many cameras, but I'm playing with my 40D
right now...

For general shooting, I suppose (possibly after a few weeks) most
would set the control dial to P.

You might shoot raw, or not, depending on how much space you have left
on the card.

What about the default contrast/sharpness settings?

Would you set a single focus point instead of 9?

What about the flash sync speed... it's pretty annoying to have the
shutter do a 1/2 sec exposure when you want a close-up of some object
that is in some shady location.

Other suggestions?

Ed

 

I did that with my 300D right out of the box.

I'll usually shoot highest-quality, largest JPG, for ease of processing
and workflow, and switch to RAW when the subject/desire/intent calls for
it, particularly for landscapes, high-contrast or low-light scenes, and
the like - places where I want to make use of the additional dynamic
range provided by the RAW format.

My rule of thumb is to leave all these settings at "0" or default -
these things are easy to tweak in software, and it's better to NOT have
the camera apply excessive processing first. Remember, it's much harder
to UNDO something the camera has done to the picture, than to simply do
it manually later.

That would depend entirely on what I'm shooting. I'll usually use all 7
of my 300D's focus points - the camera can often be aimed to "encourage"
a particular point to lock on, and holding focus-lock then allows me to
recompose. There are rare times I'll select a specific focus point, but
I find making the change usually consumes more time than it's worth, and
can screw me up later if I forget to set it back. In fact, I'm more
likely to simply switch to manual focus than to select one specific
focus point.

That, too, will vary with the situation. Sometimes you want a slow
shutter sync, to get particular effects. Sometimes you want it faster
to reduce or virtually eliminate the effect of ambient light.

Take a course - community college, online, or whatever suits you - in
basic photography. It doesn't need to be a digital-specific course,
just something that teaches the theory and application behind concepts
such as exposure, exposure compensation, depth-of-field, adjusting
shutter and aperture for different purposes, and so on. A good grasp on
the basics will make it easier to see and understand what's happening
when you choose various settings, and determine what settings to use to
achieve a particular outcome.

 

My suggestion would be to go to your local lending library and borrow a
couple of books on photography, study them and then go out and practice.

 

When I got my first SLR (actually a DSLR) I bought "Understanding Exposure"
by Bryan Peterson. Very helpful.

Warren

 

That's heresy!

Everyone on Usenet knows that the best way to improve your photography
is to buy more expensive equipment and use it in Program mode.

</irony>

 

I have the 30D, but the questions you asked apply to both...

Nope, I shoot Av most of the time.

I shoot raw 99% of the time.

Not necessary with raw.

I leave it on the center, and move it to one of the other points when
necessary.

When shooting flash indoors or shade, I put the camera in Manual and let the
flash expose automatically. In well-lit situations when I just want flash
for fill, I'm usually shooting in Av and I'll usually dial in a negative
flash exposure compensation.

Experiment - there's no film to waste, just your time Really, the best
way to learn is to play around with the settings to see what works. There
is no single setting that works in all situations.


Mark

 

Its a digital camera so experiment with the settings you like best.
There is no right or wrong answer. Me? I would leave the camera on the
default settings for most shots, and just adjust shutter and aperture as
needed, and also shoot in the highest resolution jpeg.

 

Irony it is, but it is just a bit unfair. As with everything
in photography, it depends on what you photograph. Being
blessed with young grandchildren, if I have my camera out I
have it set to "P" because I frequently want grab shots.
And because I'm frequently indoors I have the flash set to
automatic and the ISO to 200.

That way I don't lose shots due to fiddling while my subjects
exit the room at top speed.

If I am out and around just to photograph, I often chose aperature
priority and go from there. But again, it depends on the lens(es)
I'm using.

 

Yah, excellent advice, albeit idealistic... myself, I've already read
a couple of them, and shot a Rebel for 2 years before buying the 40D.

I find it puzzling that the 40D, a fairly advanced camera, is
seemingly designed for the point-and-shooter, with all those basic
settings on the control dial, and many presets in the creative
settings that again suggest a user who isn't going to do any
post-processing.

So, I'm getting control of the machine by setting it to my
preferences, but am hesitating in some cases, wondering if it is the
best way or wondering what I might be losing in order to gain
something else.

That's why I was asking what others do.

Back to your advice to read... how many people go to the library and
sit down to study a couple of photography books before using a
brand-new 40D?

And for that matter, how many of them would understand what they are
reading without having experience with the camera?

Ed

 

That suggests indoor shooting with an external flash, or situations
where DOF is important, plus you are not going to use the main dial.

Whether you shoot P, Tv or Av makes no difference to the picture you
end up taking, assuming you DO use the main dial, because all three
modes will give the same shutter and aperture settings.

Might not be an option if your CF card is nearing its capacity.

Good suggestions on using flash.

Yes, to a point. Properly done experiments are very time consuming.
I've taken hundreds of shots just testing the autofocus on a previous
camera. If you set out to experiment with such things as noise levels
at different ISOs, comparing in-camera sharpening with P-P sharpening,
diddling with exposure levels to improve dynamic range, and so on, you
will spend weeks on it. Smart people learn from what others have done
if the info is available. I would rather be taking pictures.

Ed

 

See below - indoors I typically shoot manual with external flash - I start
at 1/60, f/5.6, and ISO 400. I'll shoot lower ISO if possible, and adjust
the aperture and shutter speed if necessary.

Never been a problem with a pair of 2GB cards (along with a couple 1GB) and
a portable storage device, though I haven't had to dump to the psd too
often. On the 40D, I'd go with a pair of 4GB cards. Cards are too cheap
not to have enough.

Go to manual exposure, and bump the ISO to 400 - higher if necessary.

I do a bit of both.


Good luck,
Mark

 

The DSLR beginner is well advised to avoid these settings, in order to
learn the basics of manual control. Once that's been done, he is then
in a position to start learning how to be able to take proper
advantage of those "basic" settings. Hopefully by that time he has
gained enough technical confidence not to be embarrassed by being seen
to use a camera setting that a P&S user would use

 

[What settings to use]

My "default" settings: (20D)
- RAW only
- AWB (not too important, since I use RAW anyway, seldom
changed)
- AI Focus
- continous shooting
- Matrix metering
- Flash 1/3rd stop underexposure
- no exposure compensation
- AF field: Center only (changed for flash shooting since E-TTL(2)
considers the active AF field as important, so focus&recompose
is a bad idea there)
- ISO 400 (changed as needed to 1600, or in rare cases to
100/200)
- Tv preset to 1/80s (I might change that to higher speeds
some day)
- Av preset to f/5.6
- M preset to 1/250s f/5.6 (for flash use, mostly, or when
unchanged light conditions are expected and overexposure due
to small area reflections might be a problem --- eg polished
metal under clear sky.)
- P on the dial --- for these quick-quick shots, otherwise I may
as likely use Av or Tv, though I have learned that P usually
strikes a good balance between aperture and exposure --- usually
going earlier to fast exposures than I do, and, it turns out,
rightly so.
- SET button to "change parameters" => PA-1 -> all default
(0 == middle) --- very rarely used
- Long Exposure noise reduction (dark frame substraction) ON
- Flash sync speed in Av: AUTO (I use M if I want something
else)
- Shutter halfpressed activates AE-lock, not AF + AE-lock;
AE-lock button activates AF, not AE-lock
- AF-assist: external flash only (no ugly AF-flashes from
internal flash unit)
- Exposure in 1/3rd stops
- Flash fires (I change that if I use the flash for AF-assist
only)
- ISO expansion (H/3200): OFF (my ISO 3200 is ISO 1600 + 1 stop
underexposure + 1 stop push in postprocessing, which gives the
same image (the camera also just pushes 1 stop for ISO 3200),
but keeps an extra stop for highlights.
- Bracketing: 0, -, +, no auto cancel (used with AEB set to
somewhere between +/-1 and +/-2 stops for HDR, if needed)
- Superimposed display ON (lights relevant AF field(s) in
viewfinder)
- Menu: previous entry (so I can jump back and there again)
- Mirror lockup disabled (I enable it sometimes for tripod
exposures)
- AF selection NORMAL (no quick selection shortcut)
- E-TTL II evaluative (not average), so that reflections can
be ignored
- Shutter: 2nd curtain (but with flashes that can set that
themselves (e.g. 550EX) you need to tell the flash or it
will be ignored!
Doesn't work with Canon's Master-Slave (IR) multi-flash
system --- probably due to good technical reasons (you'd
need an accurate clock in the slaves --- and it still
wouldn't work correctly work with "bulb"!)
- Safety shift on Av and Tv ON (i.e. if I set 1/1000s, and
it's too dark (or too bright) to compensate with the
aperture, even wide open, the camera reduces my time preset
as a last resort)
- Lens AF stop button function: Default AF stop (since I
don't have such a lens, it doesn't matter to me).
- Add original decision data: ON
(This is a fingerprint of the image + EXIF (MD5), encrypted
(SHA1) with a camera key. The "data verification kit" contains
a smart card[1] that also can do these steps, so it can prove the
originality of the data --- and the handful bytes is completely
invisible in the MBs of image. Since it costs me practically
nothing and may one day be very important ...)
- 50mm f/1.4 with lenshood in normal position, lenscap on (I
very often change that often to whatever lens I want to use,
but this combination fits best into my camera bag and it's
my low-light lens (and I do lots of available light shots),
so I think it a good compromise.
- battery grip attached with 2 LiIon batteries (always there)
- neckstrap attached to camera (left) and battry grip (right).


I take care to reset the camera to these settings (mostly ISO,
M/Av/Tv presets, set to P), so I can kind-of use the camera blind
and know what the camera is set to when I pull it from the bag).

-Wolfgang

[1] the implementation in hardware makes the secret camera key(s)
extremely harder to 'steal' compared to a software program that
can easily be inspected and observed, especially when it runs.

 

Thanks! Pls see comments within.

OK, AI focus changes automatically to AI Servo when the subject starts
moving... but AI Servo isn't going to change focus if the subject is
stationary, and also changes only if the subject moves... so it seems
AI Focus and AI Servo are really the same... or can that be? What's
the diff?

I presume this is when using flash for fill.

Probably would make it a *good* idea...

Some of the points below I have to think about some more.

 

["Followup-To:" header set to rec.photo.digital.slr-systems.]

AI Servo does not do AF-assist and is exposure priority (i.e.
shutter goes off even while the AF is still working) and more
things like "tracking" and "predictive AF" (where should the AF
focus to, based on the observed motion of the subject?)-

AI Focus is basically an "intelligent" switching between One Shot
(default) and AI Servo. Though I'll set AI Servo for sports
rather than rely on AI Focus for each shot.

Nope, for that I'd use -2 stops (or rely on the flash automatic,
depending on brightness). I just feel that my flash
sometimes flashes a bit stronger than I want it.

f&r does *not* work well with E-TTL, unless you use flash
exposure lock.

-Wolfgang