Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

• From menu screens to composition, this book provides no-fail techniques for getting the most out of your Canon EOS 7D digital camera
• Covers the camera's new features, including the 19-point autofocus, new metering system, integrated Speedlight Transmitter, 8-frames-per-second shooting ratio, and improved HD video capturing
• Helps you take your photography skills to another level with photography tips and tricks from professional photographer and author Charlotte Lowrie
• Teaches you photography essentials such as composition, exposure, perspective, and more
• Includes a grey and color card checker and full instructions with the book

Take memorable photographs with your new Canon EOS 7D and the Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide!

Top Ten Canon 7D Photography Tips
Amazon-exclusive content from author Charlotte Lowrie

With an array of great new features, it can take awhile to discover some of the shortcuts to using the Canon EOS 7D. Here are some tips and some of the accessories that I use with the 7D.

1. Save time by setting up AF point orientation so that the 7D automatically switches to the AF point you most often use in horizontal and both vertical (grip at the top and grip at the bottom) shooting orientations. The 7D also remembers the AF-Area selection mode that you’ve selected for each position.
2. Need to ensure a level horizon? Press the INFO. button until the electronic level appears in the viewfinder to help you align the line of the horizon. This is a great tool to use with Tilt & Shift lenses because it also shows pitch and roll to help square up vertical lines.
3. If you haven’t gotten the hang of pressing the new M-Fn button to change the Area selection mode for focusing, then press the Q button to display the Quick Control Screen. Tilt the Multi-controller to highlight the Area selection mode item (third row, left-most item), and then turn the Quick Control dial to change the mode.
4. As a portrait photographer, one of my first moves was to enable the Spot AF Area selection for ultra-precise focusing on the subject’s eye. Spot AF isn’t one of the default Area selection modes, but you can add it by using Custom Function III-6. And to use Spot AF, you have to manually select the AF point.
5. Entering your personal copyright information is easy. Just go to the Set-up 3 menu, select Copyright information, and then select Enter copyright details to add your information.
6. For a series of High-Dynamic Range (HDR) images, try combining the 5 stops of exposure compensation with 3 stops of bracketing to get an 8-stops of exposure variance. Be sure to bracket by shutter speed rather than by aperture for HDR images.
7. To get quick access to Mirror Lockup function (Custom Function III-13), just add it to My Menu.
8. If you’re like me, I most often manually select a single AF point for focusing. I’ve found the fastest method is to press the AF-point selection/Enlarge button, and then tilt the Multi-controller to select the AF point. This method is easier than using the Quick Control and Main dials to move side to side and up and down.
9. For lens calibration using Custom Function III-5, the LensAlign Focus Calibration system from Michael Tapes makes the calibration process precise and repeatable.
10. When the 7D is combined with the new Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens, the results are exceptional sharpness especially at f/2.8 through f/11. The addition of Image Stabilization gives you approximately 1 stop of additional stability at close focusing distances and approximately 4 stops at longer distances.

Photos from Author Charlotte Lowrie

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Lowrie The Canon 7D and the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens is a winning combination with superb sharpness and snappy contrast. For this shot, I used a white seamless background with two Photogenic studio strobes lighting the background, one strobe provided some backlighting for the outside rose petals, one strobe was placed in front of the rose, and a large silver reflector to the right filled shadows. The slight backlighting effect provides a halo of light petals around the darker center area of the rose. To maintain good detail through the bloom, I used a narrow f/22 aperture. Exposure: f/22, 1/125 sec., ISO 100, Manual shooting mode with Evaluative metering.

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Lowrie With the integrated flash transmitter, it is easy to control and fire multiple Speedlites using the 7D’s built-in flash and the Flash Control menu. For this image, I used a Canon 580EXII and a 580EX Speedlite. The 580EX lit a white poster board background and the 580EXII lit the apple and the water. Both flash units were set up as slaves and fired in TTL mode at full power. I had the 7D set to Manual shooting mode with a bit of overexposure to brighten the background and water. The trick is to catch the apple at a mid point in the water while showing its bubbly path through the water. I learned to drop the apple, wait a split second, and then fire the shutter. I used High Speed Continuous drive mode, but with an approximately 3-second flash recycle time, the only usable picture in a burst was the first image when the flashes fired at full power. For images like this, keys include: having a lot of patience, shooting many images, using a sparkling, scratch-free container, keeping the container full of water, and having a good supply of towels to mop up water. I was happy to learn that Canon’s Speedlites are apparently impervious to water splashes. Exposure: f/2.8, 1/250 sec., ISO 200 with Highlight Tone Priority enabled, using the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens with Evaluative metering.

Photo courtesy of Charlotte Lowrie The 7D combined with a good lens is a great tool for making portraits. Since part of my business is pet portraits, I appreciate the quick response of the 7D and the fast and accurate autofocus performance since pets seldom stay still for very long. For this shot of a 10-month-old white miniature Schnauzer, I used the new EF 100mm, f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens. This was a one-light portrait with a Photogenic strobe placed above the puppy and a large silver reflector to camera right. Exposure: f/2, 1/125 sec., ISO 200 with Highlight Tone Priority enabled, using the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM lens.