topic Re: New Rebel t3i in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

New Rebel t3i

Elleck — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:04:18 GMT

I just purchased a Rebel t3i from amazon and it will be here around the end of the month. I was wondering if there was anything I need to know about the camera or dSLR's in general, because this is my first digital camera since a point-and-shoot Kodak in 2007.

Re: New Rebel t3i

cicopo — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:22:21 GMT

O YES! to start with you'll no longer be holding it at arm's reach & looking at the LCD to take a photo. You will need to use the view finder, hold it against your face, & learn the proper stance to get the best out of it. Tomorrow I'll add the suggestions I made for my daughter & her husband when I gave them my 20D years ago. The document is on a different computer but I think it's very relevant for any new DSLR buyer.

Re: New Rebel t3i

jfo — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 23:02:57 GMT

I'm excited to see what your suggestions are, cicopo!

Elleck, since you will no longer have control of the photo hidden from you by a point and shoot, its crucial to learn what factors create what image you will be capturing. Here's two websites that each explain these essentials/basics:

http://www.exposureguide.com/exposure.htm

http://www.makethephoto.com/articles/how-to-make-the-jump-from-automatic-shooting-to-manual-shooting

Re: New Rebel t3i

BrickR — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 20:53:53 GMT

Put the camera in AV mode or Tv mode as soon as possible. Use the green box mode when you first use it to get used to using it, but going to one of the modes that give you more control is essential to learning.

Understand the exposure triangle (Ap, shutter(Tv), ISO) and what they effect as well as the benefit and drawback of each setting. There are a ton of tutorials/videos on YouTube that will help you learn too.

Realize that it may be confusing or even intimidating at first, but you didn't get a DSLR for a quick fix, you got it to take control of your images instead of the camera doing it. So you don't need to rush your learning process or get immensely frustrated.

Do a 365 project!! I had my first DSLR for about 2 months and still wasn't very clear on its functions until I saw a video that said to do a project. So I picked my camera up every day, put it in Av, Tv, or M and took a picture of something (usually my cat) and tried to figure out why the picture looked like it did and what I did wrong (the true power of learning in M mode 😉 ). Around day 60 I was curious about off camera flash because I was completely comfortable with the camera and understanding exposure.

HAVE FUN!

Re: New Rebel t3i

cicopo — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 21:38:05 GMT

Your manual is your friend & because this was wrote a few years ago some may not apply in the same way due to control differences. I have no idea whethor or not my daughter took the time to learn it all but she gets GREAT images with it still, and amaxingly the original batteries still give good service.

Camera Instruction summary.

These are in order of importance, once you have one so that you can usually do it without thinking or having the manual close by, then start on the next one.

DON’T USE “Auto” mode, it makes poor choices in camera settings, USE THE “P” mode (program) until you have learned the next few things.

You need to learn how to run through the menu system, but not that often, but it isn’t that difficult.

First setting to learn is “exposure compensation” which you use to change how over or under exposed you want a picture to look after taking it at the base setting you started with. Once you take a photo look at the LCD, (or better yet the Histogram on the LCD) which you can set to always display after each shot. If it’s overexposed (washed out, too bright etc) then you need to reduce the exposure & shoot another shot. If it’s too dark, then you need to set the exposure for a brighter image. The needle moves to the left for less exposure, & to the right for a brighter exposure.

Next “Flash Exposure Compensation” which is the same as above but needed when using the flash. Generally that camera ALWAYS needs some extra help with a setting to the right of about 1 or higher.

Auto Focus point selection. I generally prefer to use just the centre point, focus, and then reframe rather than all of the points possible, but it’s good to learn how to change it & decide what you like.

ONE SHOT / AI SERVO. You can change how the AF works, in ONE SHOT it assumes that you are shooting a stationary target, and once the AF locks onto the target it doesn’t change if the target moves. You see the little red light which indicated focus lock & where.
AI SERVO is for things which keep moving, and the AF tracks the movement, but you will not see the red dot light up. YOU CAN USE THIS ALL THE TIME, but it isn’t as useful for reframing as the focus point may not work as well as the ONE SHOT mode.

YOU can learn this but don’t worry about it for now, just get an idea of what I am talking about.
Tv mode = Time Value, or SHUTTER SPEED, important for fast moving things, a fast shutter speed freezes what otherwise would have motion blur. Needs good light to work properly, the brighter the better.
Av mode = Apetrure value, which is a lens setting that is hard to explain in simple terms but has the following effect. Apertures are measured in “stops” and the reference to lenses is that a “fast” lens will have a lower F stop number. F2.8 is faster than F 4.0 etc.
This becomes important for 2 reasons, low light, or to control Depth Of Field (DOF) which is an important thing in certain uses. The DOF at F 2.8 is about half of what it would be at F 4.0, therefore things that are a bit closer & a bit farther than where you lock the focus on will be out of focus, and as they get closer or further from the focal point they become just a blur. This is VERY useful where you only want the main object in the photo to be what draws your attention, leaving most everything else out of focus. This type of FAST refers to the fact that you can use a fast shutter speed, the lens is letting lots of light
Flash photos usually force a camera to use a wide open aperture, so indoor shots have a shallow DOF, but you might not notice it at print size, but blown up on a computer screen it shows.

The original camera language will always refer to “stops” which is a ratio thing, and when a camera has a P mode it uses a pre wrote internal program to pick both the Tv & Av.
Stops work like this Every lens has a F value which relates to how much light can pass through it at the widest F stop (faster lenses cost big bucks, hard to build, require top quality lens glass & are larger in diameter). If you close a lens by 1 stop you must select a slower shutter speed to make up for there being exactly ½ the light. An example (numbers only to help understand it)
If a lens was at F2.8 and according to the cameras light meter you need a shutter speed of 1/500 second then a change to F 4.0 requires 1/250 second.

WHY DOES IT MATTER???? The rule of photography is to always keep shutter speed higher than lens length when hand holding to eliminate blur caused by our motion of pressing the shutter, jitters etc. The 20D is known as a “CROP” body, and that means that lens length in it’s case is 1.6 times longer than the numbers (mm) so the 18-200 lens acts like a 28-320 mm lens, so the slowest shutter speed should exceed 1/320 sec when zoomed to the max.

CAMERA CONTROLS The ON / OFF switch can be left on all the time, it has a setting to put it into sleep mode that you can change using the menu, but it should be OK the way I have it set. A simple touch of the shutter button wakes it up instantly & it’s ready to shoot immediately.
IF at some time you can’t change a setting such as Exposure Compensation etc MAKE SURE the On / Off switch is fully on, It can still take photos with it a bit less than in the fully on position, but won’t allow changes. I HAVE RUN INTO THIS MORE THAN ONCE, AND WAS TOTALLY BAFFLED for a while, even the second & third time due to how seldom it happens. .

Re: New Rebel t3i

Elleck — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:11:08 GMT

My goodness, you guys are so great. I am saving this page to my favorites to revisit any time I need any help, I really appreciate the overwhelming amount of help. The links are really useful as well. I am most definately going to try to become more active on this forum now haha.

Re: New Rebel t3i

WaltA — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:47:16 GMT

If you want to do some practicing with all those settings (aperture, shutter speed, M, Av, Tv etc) you can do it all from the comfort of your computer by going to this site.

http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator/

Re: New Rebel t3i

Y0GI — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:11:56 GMT

Before you do anything else, go to this website and download a copy of the owner's manual: EOS T3i Owner's Manual

Read the manual and become familiar with your camera and its controls and menus.

Next, as previously recommended, do NOT use the "Green Square Full Automatic" Mode. Use "P" (Program) Mode instead to start out with. The main problem with the Fully Automatic mode is that the camera decides where to focus by focusing on the nearist object with sufficient contrast. This may or may not be the intended subject of your photo! Which leads me to my next tip:

Learn how to "Focus and Recompose". Read in the Owners Manual how to select a focus point. When starting out, it is most convenient to select the CENTER auto-focus point. Place the center AF point on your desired subject and press the shutter button half way down. This half-press locks in the focus for the photo. Keep the shutter button half pressed while you RECOMPOSE the photo to your desired framing. Usually, it is not a good idea to have your subject dead center in the frame, so recompose to get the best framing possible, then fully depress the shutter button to take the picture. Eventually, you should learn how to use all 9 AF points but for starting out, focus and recompose while using the center AF point is the easiest to learn.

I will add to this post as time permits, but for now, get the manual and start reading!

Good luck!

Yogi

Re: New Rebel t3i

fraternaltwin57 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:21:19 GMT

Oh my goodness! THANK YOU so much for links to basics for using the Rebel T3.

Looking for anyone having difficulty with the shutter button locking or "freezing" when trying to take pictures. Happens haphazardly, no clear pattern in the two weeks I've been using the camera.

Re: New Rebel t3i

cicopo — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:22:40 GMT

Your problem may be that the AF hasn't locked onto something in the scene. That can happen due to many things because it needs to see a contrast betwwen things in the scence to establish how far it is from the camera. Check your manual to see if your camera has an AF confirmation light that shows up in the viewfinder (green dot on my cameras). If the light isn't on the AF hasn't locked onto your subject & the camera won't take the photo.

Re: New Rebel t3i

WaltA — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:35:00 GMT

The reason for this may depend on what mode you're shooting in (Av, Tv, M, P etc). If your in one of the semi-auto modes (Av, Tv) where the camera is making some of the decisions for you, it could be that you've chosen a setting that requires an extremely long exposure - 1 second or more - giving you the feeling that its locked up.

In low light situations this may happen often - and you'll need to adjust one of the three settings (shutter speed, aperture or ISO) to get a proper exposure.

Again, depending on what mode your using, both the problem and the solution may be different.

Walt

Re: New Rebel t3i

philgrow — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 05:41:57 GMT

Is it possible that you are getting a blink redlight beside the number 6 when this happens?

Re: New Rebel t3i

ScottyP — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 19:06:56 GMT

1.) Learning sources:

"Read the manual" is good advice, but I found that when I was getting started the manual didn't really help much. It is aimed at telling people who already know how to use a DSLR where to find the particular buttons on the particular camera. If you don't know what the buttons are or what they do, it is of limited value to know where they are.

You can buy a guide book for the T3i, such as "T3i for Dummies", or several others out there. That helps a LOT.

Or even better might be instructional videos. You can buy video guides to the T3i also. Something about watching someone do something is (for me anyway) much easier to comprehend than a written page. Google for it. You can also get a million FREE amateur tutorials on the T3i on Google Videos. Just enter a search like "Canon T3i tips tutorial" and you will see plenty of little 3 to 5 minute videos made by regular folks. Some are better than others, of course.

2.) Theory:

Just learn and understand the "exposure triangle". That simple diagram is the framework on which you will hang every other thing you ever learn about photography. Photography actually means "recording light" (basically) and the "triangle" is about the 3 things you can influence about how much light gets onto your sensor and what it looks like when it gets there.

Duration, Intensity, and Sensitivity. That's it.

Duration = how long the camera is open to allow in light = shutter speed (Tv).

Intensity = how wide open or narrowly open is the camera = aperature (Av).

Sensitivity = how sensitive to light (amplified) is your sensor setting = ISO

Everything is a compromise though. You generally cannot choose the best of all 3 in one shot. Have you ever seen a sign at someone's business that says "You can have it Fast, or you can have it done Right, or you can have it done at a low Price. PICK ANY 2." It is like that.

Re: New Rebel t3i

davepjr71 — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:46:26 GMT

Learn how to shoot in M, TV & AV mode. Why get a camera like that and shoot in the generic modes? Here is a link to a great book that is written specifically for this camera. The guy goes through all of the options and recommended settings and even gives you things to do for practice.

Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D: From Snapshots to Great Photos by Jeff Revell

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032177664X/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Re: New Rebel t3i

gah80 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 22:56:22 GMT

Here's some info:

http://www.photographyblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Exposure.jpg

We filmed 2 videos using a Canon t3i with Magic Lantern firmware and were able to get some stunning results!

The first video was filmed in the souk of Beirut:

http://youtu.be/EZ5m1Q3oNHk

The second is a stop-motion shot at night with at least 4 seconds of open exposure and heavy laser play:

http://youtu.be/OuY_rjMwhSs