New boy in town

[cliveanne]

I have recently purchased a new camera, Good Friday 18th April, EOS600D. I am confused by the term "Rebel T3i",The box my camera came in has no mention of the  "Rebel T3i" neither does the handbook. The camera was brought as a 'bundle' EOS600D body, Canon zoom lens EF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 III  58mm and  Canon zoom lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III 58mm.

I see there is an update for the firmware, how do I go about doing this please, or will it not be needed?

I have used a bridge over the past years, and I felt it was time to expand my interest in photgraphy. I have recently brought two UV filters as protection for the lenses and will be collecting my lens hoods on Tuesday. So far, I have found the camera faily easy to get on with, I am still climbing the learning curve, and have quite a long way to go. Once I am feeling compitent with the camera, I shall be looking into taking RAW and editing the same. My editing skills are what could be considered as quite basic. I use two programs, Photoshop Elements 10, and Serif  PhotoPlus X6. I sometimes use a specific program to perform a task, then switch to the second progrm to finish the job. I find that one program can make certain tasks easier than the other. RAW on the other had is a diferent kettle of fish

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

If you intend on shooting RAW, which is a good idea, if you are after the best results the camera can produce.

I recommend you use Photoshop Elements exclusively at least until you unterstand exactly what is involved in the editing process.  Don't complicate it by using three different programs.

However, you need to understand your end goal.  What are you planning to do with your photos.  Some uses, RAW will not be better or even help.

For instance snap shots for grandma or posts on Facebook.  In these examples nix the RAW.  You want nice prints, maybe 8x10's or larger from a custom printer, by all means shoot RAW.

Knowing what you are doing is great as well as knowing how you are going to use is great, also.

[RobertTheFat]

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@cliveanne wrote:

I have recently purchased a new camera, Good Friday 18th April, EOS600D. I am confused by the term "Rebel T3i",The box my camera came in has no mention of the  "Rebel T3i" neither does the handbook. The camera was brought as a 'bundle' EOS600D body, Canon zoom lens EF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 III  58mm and  Canon zoom lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III 58mm.

For reasons known only to Canon's marketing department, Rebels are called by different names in different parts of the world. If you lived in the U.S., your camera would be called a T3i, and you'd see little or no mention of the "600D".

I see there is an update for the firmware, how do I go about doing this please, or will it not be needed?

You do it by copying the update file to a memory card and following the directions from there. Installing the update directly from a computer is (or was the last time I tried it) a confusing and error-prone process. I once had to send a Rebel to the Canon shop because I inadvertently failed to do the steps in exactly the right order. They fixed it under warranty and didn't charge me, but I may have just been lucky. Updating from a card is much more straightforward.

Whether the update will be needed or I not, I can't say. But it's usually a good idea to try to stay up to date.

I have used a bridge over the past years, and I felt it was time to expand my interest in photgraphy. I have recently brought two UV filters as protection for the lenses and will be collecting my lens hoods on Tuesday. So far, I have found the camera faily easy to get on with, I am still climbing the learning curve, and have quite a long way to go. Once I am feeling compitent with the camera, I shall be looking into taking RAW and editing the same. My editing skills are what could be considered as quite basic. I use two programs, Photoshop Elements 10, and Serif  PhotoPlus X6. I sometimes use a specific program to perform a task, then switch to the second progrm to finish the job. I find that one program can make certain tasks easier than the other. RAW on the other had is a diferent kettle of fish

Editing RAW is a different kettle of fish, but it isn't necessarily harder. At least with the editor I use (Digital Photo Pro), most edits are simpler and more effective when made on a RAW file. As long as you're willing to do the conversion to JPEG at the end, I suggest you start shooting RAW sooner rather than later.

Bob

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[cliveanne]

Thanks for the reply, useful reading.

Regarding the update I tried one many years ago on my Kodak 3600 (that's going back some) the update totally failed.

I think I would be using the program that came with the camera I will start using RAW as per your suggestion, I have to take the plunge sometime.

Once again thank you.

C.

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

If you intend on shooting RAW, which is a good idea, if you are after the best results the camera can produce.

I recommend you use Photoshop Elements exclusively at least until you unterstand exactly what is involved in the editing process.  Don't complicate it by using three different programs.

However, you need to understand your end goal.  What are you planning to do with your photos.  Some uses, RAW will not be better or even help.

For instance snap shots for grandma or posts on Facebook.  In these examples nix the RAW.  You want nice prints, maybe 8x10's or larger from a custom printer, by all means shoot RAW.

Knowing what you are doing is great as well as knowing how you are going to use is great, also.

[cliveanne]

I was not aware that Elements did RAW, certainly worth a look, I have a CD that came with the camera, I think I will be giving the provided program a go. I will also take both RAW & JPEG as a single shot to compare. Later, Elemnts will come into it. It is a program I use most. I will not be mixing progams whilst in the RAW mode.

I seldom print my work these days, unless I get something that looks to be worth it. I used to print, but the photo group I was with folded, so I saw no need. I keep my images to look back on to see if I have made any improvements over time.

Thank you for your advice which I have taken on board.

C.

[Skirball]

I would recommend just spending the money and getting Lightroom.  The price is so low now that every digital photographer should use it (or equivilent).  Photoshop is a great program, but it's simply not designed to manage photos coming out of your camera.  It's used to selectively edit specific photos.  Even with ACR and Bridge, it's just not anywhere near as efficient asan organization tool like Lightroom.  There's a small learning curve, but LR is very intuitive, and it really simplifies using RAW.  Once you get the hang of it you won't even notice your files are in RAW.  Just edit away.

[cliveanne]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into Lightroom, but my income is a fixed pension, so every penny has to work twice as hard.

Cheers 

C.

[jrhoffman75]

You get a free RAW editing program with your camera called Canon Digital Photo Professional. It's on the CD and you can download updates from the Canon support site.

[cliveanne]

Thank you. I missed your input somehow

[Skirball]

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@cliveanne wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into Lightroom, but my income is a fixed pension, so every penny has to work twice as hard.

Cheers 

C.

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I understand that. I'm usually the last person on this site pushing people to upgrade, but I only bring it up because the price is rather afffordable now and is a very valuable program.  There's no rush, Photoshop elements and ACR can do everything you need it to do, it's just not as efficient at it.  Just something to keep in mind for down the road.  I know when I finally moved from Photoshop/Bridge to LR I wondered why I waited so long.