Canon® EOS® 80D For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016943279
ISBN 978-1-119-29136-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-29138-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-29137-4 (ebk)
In 2003, Canon revolutionized the photography world by introducing the first digital SLR camera (dSLR) to sell for less than $1,000, the EOS Digital Rebel/300D. And even at that then-unheard-of price, the camera delivered exceptional performance and picture quality, earning it rave reviews and multiple industry awards. No wonder it quickly became a best seller.
That tradition of excellence and value lives on in the EOS 80D. Like its ancestors, this baby offers the range of advanced controls that experienced photographers demand plus an assortment of tools designed to help beginners be successful as well. Adding to the fun, this camera also offers the option to record full high-definition video, plus an articulating, touchscreen monitor that’s not only useful but also just plain cool.
The 80D is so feature-packed, in fact, that sorting out everything can be a challenge, especially if you’re new to digital photography or SLR photography, or both. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLR means, let alone have a clue about all the other terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, and ISO, for example. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode. That’s a shame because it’s sort of like buying a Porsche Turbo and never pushing it past 50 miles per hour.
Therein lies the point of Canon EOS 80D For Dummies. In this book, you can discover not only what each bell and whistle on your camera does but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of concepts, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.
In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Canon picture-taking powerhouse. Whether your interests lie in taking family photos, exploring nature and travel photography, or snapping product shots for your business, you’ll get the information you need to capture the images you envision.
This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, we also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore topics that interest you in any order you please.
Here's a quick look at what you can find in each part:
If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:
A Tip icon flags information that saves you time, effort, money, or another valuable resource, including your sanity.
When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if it’s ignored.
Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if we present a detail that’s useful mainly for impressing your geeky friends, we mark it with this icon.
This icon highlights information that’s especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by another pressing fact.
Additionally, we need to point out a few other details that will help you use this book:
To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Canon EOS 80D For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. The Cheat Sheet contains a quick-reference guide to all the buttons, dials, switches, and exposure modes on your camera. Log on, print it out, and tuck it in your camera bag for times when you don’t want to carry this book with you.
To wrap up this preamble, we want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff a little mind-boggling at first. Take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, every time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.
So without further ado, we invite you to grab your camera and a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read and then start exploring the rest of this book. Your EOS 80D is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and we thank you for allowing us, in this book, to serve as your tour guides.
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Get familiar with your camera’s buttons, displays, and menus.
Read about basic photo-taking settings and when to use each.
Take great pictures easily by using the fully automatic shooting modes.
Investigate Live View and movie recording.
Chapter 1
IN THIS CHAPTER
Using an SLR lens
Adjusting the viewfinder and monitor
Practicing touchscreen gestures
Working with camera memory cards
Getting acquainted with external camera controls
Checking and changing camera settings
Customizing basic camera operations
If you’re like us, shooting for the first time with a camera as sophisticated as the Canon EOS 80D produces a blend of excitement and anxiety. On one hand, you can’t wait to start using your new equipment, but on the other, you’re a little intimidated by all its buttons, dials, and menu options.
Well, fear not: This chapter provides the information you need to start getting comfortable with your 80D. Along with an introduction to the camera’s external controls, we offer details about working with lenses and memory cards, viewing and adjusting camera settings, and choosing basic setup options.
One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and a dSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera is the lens. With a dSLR, you can change lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from an extreme close-up lens to a super-long telephoto, for example. In addition, a dSLR lens has a focusing ring that gives you the option of focusing manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism.
We don’t have room in this book to go into detail about the science of lenses, nor do we think that an in-depth knowledge of the subject is terribly important to your photographic success. But the next few sections offer advice that may help when you’re shopping for lenses, figuring out whether the lenses you inherited from Uncle Ted or found on eBay will work with your 80D, and taking the steps involved in actually mounting and using a lens.
To decide which lens is the best partner for your camera, start by considering these factors:
Lens compatibility: Your camera accepts two categories of Canon lenses: those with an EF-S design and those with a plain old EF design.
The EF stands for electro focus; the S stands for short back focus. And that simply means the rear element of the lens is closer to the sensor than with an EF lens. And no, you don’t need to remember what the abbreviation stands for. Just make sure if you buy a Canon lens other than one of the two sold as a bundle with the camera, that it carries either the EF or EF-S specification. If you want to buy a non-Canon lens, check the lens manufacturer’s website to find out which lenses work with your camera.
Two other lens acronyms to note: First, the 18–55mm and 18–135mm lenses that you can buy as part of a 80D kit are IS lenses, which means that they offer image stabilization, a feature you can explore a few sections from here. Second, they also carry another designation: STM (for the 18-55mm lens) or USM (on the 18-135mm lens). The STM abbreviation refers to the fact that the autofocusing system uses stepping motor technology, which is designed to provide smoother, quieter autofocusing. USM stands for UltraSonic Motor, which offers fast, professional-grade autofocusing.
Finally, be aware that, unlike both of the kit lenses available with the 80D, some lenses can’t take full advantage of the Dual Pixel CMOS (see-moss) autofocusing system that’s used during Live View and Movie recording. Don’t worry about what the name means — the important point is that it produces faster, more accurate autofocusing. If you’re interested in learning more, go to the 80D product page at the Canon USA website (www.usa.canon.com), which has a link to a section that explains the technology and lists lenses that support it.
Focal length and the crop factor: The focal length of a lens, stated in millimeters, determines the angle of view that the camera can capture and the spatial relationship of objects in the frame. Focal length also affects depth of field, or the distance over which focus appears acceptably sharp.
You can loosely categorize lenses by focal length as follows:
Figure 1-1 offers an illustration of the difference that focal length makes, showing the same scene captured at 42mm (left image) and 112mm (right image). Of course, the illustration shows just two of countless possibilities, and the question of which focal length best captures a scene depends on your creative goals.
Note, however, that the focal lengths stated in this book are so-called 35mm equivalent focal lengths. Here’s the deal: When you put a standard lens on most dSLR cameras, including your 80D, the available frame area is reduced, as if you took a picture on a camera that uses 35mm film negatives and then cropped it.
This so-called crop factor varies depending on the camera, which is why the photo industry adopted the 35mm-equivalent measuring stick as a standard. With the 80D, the crop factor is roughly 1.6. So the 18–55mm kit lens, for example, captures the approximate area you would get from a 29–88mm lens on a 35mm film camera. (Multiply the crop factor by the lens focal length to get the actual angle of view.) In Figure 1-2, the red line indicates the image frame area that results from the 1.6 crop factor.
When shopping for a lens, remember this crop factor to make sure that you get the focal length designed for the type of pictures you want to take.
Prime versus zoom lenses: A prime lens is a single focal-length lens. With a zoom lens, you get a range of focal lengths in one unit. For example, the kit lens we feature in this book has a focal-length range of 18–55mm.
Why select a lens that offers a single focal length when a zoom lens offers a range of focal lengths? In a word, quality. Because of some lens science we won’t bore you with, you typically see some reduction in picture quality at certain points in the range of a zoom lens. On the flip side, a zoom lens is more convenient than carting around a bag of prime lenses, and many zoom lenses today offer very good image quality.
Aperture range: The aperture is an adjustable diaphragm in a lens. By adjusting the aperture size, you can control the amount of light that enters through the lens and strikes the image sensor, thereby controlling exposure. The aperture setting also affects depth of field: A wide-open aperture produces a short depth of field, so the subject is sharply focused but distant objects appear blurry; a narrow aperture produces a long depth of field so that both the subject and distant objects appear sharp.
Chapters 7 and 8 cover these issues in detail. For the purposes of lens shopping, you need to know just a few things.
FIGURE 1-1: Julie used a focal length of 42mm to capture the first image and then zoomed to a focal length of 112mm to capture the second one.
FIGURE 1-2: The 1.6 crop factor produces the angle of view indicated by the red outline.
After studying these issues and narrowing down your choices, finding the right lens in the category you want is just a matter of doing some homework. Study lens reviews in photography magazines and online photography sites to find the best performing lens in your price range.
Whatever lens you choose, follow these steps to attach it to the camera body:
Locate the proper lens mounting index on the camera body.
A mounting index is a mark that tells you where to align the lens with the camera body when connecting the two. Your camera has two of these marks, one red and one white, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Which marker you use to align your lens depends on the lens type:
With a non-Canon lens, check the lens manual for help with this step.
Align the mounting index on the lens with the one on the camera.
The lens also has a mounting index. Figure 1-3 shows the one that appears on the 18–55mm EF-S kit lens.
Turn the lens clockwise until it clicks into place.
In other words, turn the lens toward the lens-release button, labeled in Figure 1-3.
FIGURE 1-3: Place the lens in the lens mount with the mounting indexes aligned.
To remove a lens, turn the camera off, press the lens-release button, grip the rear collar of the lens, and turn the lens toward the shutter button side of the camera. When you feel the lens release from the mount, lift the lens off the camera. Place the rear protective cap onto the back of the lens, and if you aren’t putting another lens on the camera, cover the lens mount with its protective cap, too.
Always switch lenses in a clean environment to reduce the risk of getting dust and dirt inside the camera or lens. For added safety, point the camera slightly down when performing this maneuver to help prevent flotsam in the air from being drawn into the camera by gravity.
If you bought a zoom lens, it sports a zoom ring. Figure 1-4 shows you the location of the zoom ring on the 18–55mm kit lens; for other lenses, see your lens user guide. With the kit lens, rotate the zoom ring to zoom in and out. A few zoom lenses use a push-pull motion to zoom instead.
FIGURE 1-4: Here’s a look at the 18–55mm kit lens.
The numbers around the edge of the zoom ring, by the way, represent focal lengths. The number that’s aligned with the white focal-length indicator, labeled in Figure 1-4, represents the current focal length.
Some lenses, including the alternate 18–135mm kit lens, also have a zoom ring lock switch. When the lens is set to the 18mm position, you can use the switch to lock the lens at that focal length. That way, when the camera is pointing downward, gravity can’t cause the lens to extend to a longer focal length (a problem known as lens creep).
Both kit lenses sold with the 80D offer image stabilization, indicated by the initials IS in the lens name. Image stabilization attempts to compensate for small amounts of camera shake that are common when photographers handhold their cameras and use a slow shutter speed, a lens with a long focal length, or both. Camera shake can result in blurry images, even when your focus is dead-on. Although image stabilization can’t work miracles, it enables most people to capture sharp handheld shots in many situations that they otherwise couldn’t. The feature works regardless of whether you use autofocusing or manual focusing, and it works for both still photography and movie shooting.
However, when you use a tripod, the system may try to adjust for movement that isn’t actually occurring. Although this problem shouldn't be an issue with most Canon IS lenses, if you do see blurry images while using a tripod, try setting the Image Stabilizer (IS) switch (shown in Figure 1-4) to Off. You also can save battery power by turning off image stabilization when you use a tripod. If you use a monopod, leave image stabilization turned on so it can help compensate for any accidental movement of the monopod. If you shoot in the B (Bulb) mode, Canon recommends that you disable stabilization.
On non-Canon lenses, image stabilization may go by another name: anti-shake, vibration compensation, and so on. In some cases, the manufacturers recommend that you leave the system turned on or select a special setting when you use a tripod, so check the lens manual for information.
Whatever lens you use, image stabilization isn’t meant to eliminate the blur that can occur when your subject moves during the exposure. That problem is related to shutter speed, a topic you can explore in Chapter 7.
Your camera offers an excellent autofocusing system. With some subjects, however, autofocusing can be slow or impossible, which is why your camera also offers manual focusing. Chapter 8 fully explains automatic and manual focusing for viewfinder photography, and Chapter 4 explains how things work when you’re using the monitor to compose images (Live View mode) or are shooting movies. But here’s a primer to get you started:
Choosing the focusing method: You set the focusing method via the AF/MF (autofocus/manual focus) switch on the lens. But be careful: If you’re in Live View or Movie mode, exit the live preview and return to viewfinder shooting before moving the lens switch from the AF to MF position. This step is needed to avoid damage that can occur if you switch to manual focusing while the continuous autofocusing system that's available for Movie and Live View modes engaged. (Chapter 4 explains this system and everything else about Live View and movie shooting.)
Two final Focusing 101 tips:
Near the upper right of the rubber eyepiece that surrounds the viewfinder is a dial (see Figure 1-5) that enables you to adjust the viewfinder focus to match your eyesight. The dial is officially known as the diopter adjustment control.
FIGURE 1-5: Rotate this dial to adjust the viewfinder focus to your eyesight.
If you don’t take this step, scenes that appear out of focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa. Here’s how to make the necessary adjustment:
Remove the lens cap, look through the viewfinder, and press the shutter button halfway to display picture data at the bottom of the viewfinder.
In Scene Intelligent Auto mode (represented by the green A+ on the camera’s Mode dial), Creative Auto (CA), as well as in some of the SCN (Scene) and Creative Filter modes, the built-in flash may pop up; ignore it for now and close the unit after you finish adjusting the viewfinder.
If your eyesight is such that you can’t get the display to appear sharp by using the dioptric adjustment knob, you can buy an additional eyepiece adapter. Prices range from about $15–$30 depending on the magnification you need. Look for an E-series dioptric adjustment lens adapter.
One of the many cool features of the 80D is its articulating monitor. When you first take the camera out of its box, the monitor is positioned with the screen facing the back of the body, as shown on the left in Figure 1-6, protecting the screen from scratches and smudges. (It’s a good idea to place the monitor in this position when you’re not using the camera.) When you’re ready to start shooting or reviewing your photos, you can place the monitor in the traditional position on the camera back, as shown on the right in Figure 1-6. Or for more flexibility, you can swing the monitor out and away from the camera body and then rotate it to find the best viewing angle, as shown in Figure 1-7.
FIGURE 1-6: Here you see two possible monitor positions.
FIGURE 1-7: You also can unlock the monitor from the body and then rotate the screen to get the best view of things.
Because playing with the monitor is no doubt one of the first things you did after unpacking your camera, we won’t waste space walking you through the process of adjusting the screen. (If you need help, the camera manual shows you what to do.) But we want to offer a few monitor-related tips:
Just as cool as the monitor’s flexibility is its touchscreen interface. You can choose menu options, change picture settings, and scroll through your pictures by touching one or two fingers to the screen, just as you can with a tablet, smartphone, or other touchscreen device.
Throughout the book, we tell you exactly where and how to touch the screen to accomplish specific actions. For now, get acquainted with the terminology used to indicate these touchscreen moves, called gestures by those who feel the need to assign names to things such as this.
Tap: Tap your finger on a screen item to select it. Give it a try: First, press the Menu button to display the menu screen on the monitor, as shown on the left in Figure 1-8. Along the top of the screen, you see one highlighted icon, representing the current menu, and a row of dimmed icons representing other menu categories. On the left side of Figure 1-8, Shooting Menu 1 is the current menu. To switch to another menu, tap its icon. For example, tap the icon for the Playback menu, labeled on the left in the figure, and that menu appears, as shown on the right. Beneath the top row of icons are numbered menus (also called secondary tabs or submenus), which allow options to be grouped under their main tab. Tap a number to switch to that numbered menu.
Tap gently — you don’t have to use force. To avoid damaging the screen, use the fleshy part of your fingertip, not the nail or any other sharp object, and be sure that your fingers are dry because the screen may not respond if it gets wet. Canon also advises against putting a protective cover over the monitor; doing so can reduce the monitor’s responsiveness to your touch.
Drag: Drag your finger up, down, right, or left across the screen, according to our instruction. To try this gesture, first display Setup Menu 2 and tap LCD Brightness, shown on the left in Figure 1-9, to display the screen shown on the right. Now drag your finger across the scale at the bottom of the screen to adjust the screen brightness. Reset the marker to the middle of the bar after you’re done playing around — that setting gives you the most accurate indication of picture brightness.
On this particular screen, you also see icons at either end of the scale. You can tap those icons to raise or lower the value represented on the scale. Either way, tap the Set icon to implement the setting and return to the menu.
FIGURE 1-8: Tap a menu icon to display its menu.
FIGURE 1-9: Tap the LCD Brightness item (left) and then drag left or right across a scale to adjust the setting (right).
You can control two aspects of touchscreen behavior:
Disable: Select this setting to disable the touchscreen function.
To restore the touch function, press the Menu button to bring up the menu screens and then rotate the Main dial — that’s the one just behind the shutter button — to select Setup Menu 3. Then rotate the Quick Control dial (the big wheel on the back of the camera) to highlight Touch Control. Press the Set button, rotate the Quick Control dial to highlight Standard or Sensitive, and press the Set button again.
FIGURE 1-10: Control the touchscreen response through this menu item.
FIGURE 1-11: Set the Beep option to Touch to Silence to prevent the camera from making a sound when you tap a touch-controlled item.
One final point about the touchscreen: If you connect the camera to a TV or monitor, the touchscreen has limited functionality when you are playing back photos and movies (scrolling and zooming). Otherwise, it is no longer is available, regardless of the Touch Control option. Don’t fret; you just have to use the old-fashioned button-push method of selecting menu options. See “Ordering from Camera Menus,” later in this chapter, if you need help.
Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Your camera uses a specific type of memory card — an SD card (for Secure Digital), shown in Figures 1-12 and 1-13.
Most SD cards carry the designation SDHC (for High Capacity) or SDXC (for eXtended Capacity), depending on how many gigabytes (GB) of data they hold. SDHC cards hold from 4GB to 32GB of data; the SDXC moniker indicates a capacity greater than 32GB. Cards are also assigned a speed rating from 2 to 10, with a higher number indicating a faster data-transfer rate. The memory-card industry added a new category of speed rating — Ultra High Speed (UHS). UHS cards are organized into two bus interface classes (I and II) that support different bus speeds and two speed classes (U1 and U3) which have different data writing speeds. The 80D is compatible with UHS-I cards. These cards currently are the fastest the planet has to offer. Of course, a faster card means a more expensive card. But to maximize your camera's performance, we recommend that you make the investment in Class 10 or UHS-I U3 cards. Especially for video recording, a faster card translates to smoother recording and playback. A faster card also can improve performance when you’re shooting a burst of images using the camera's continuous capture feature.
In addition to using regular SD cards, your camera accepts Eye-Fi memory cards, which are special cards that enable you to transmit images from the camera to the computer over a wireless network. It’s a cool option, but the cards are more expensive than regular cards and require some configuring that we don’t have room to cover in this book. Additionally, Canon doesn’t guarantee that everything will work smoothly with Eye-Fi cards and directs you to the Eye-Fi support team if you have trouble. All that said, if an Eye-Fi card is installed in the camera, Setup Menu 1 offers an Eye-Fi Settings option that offers options related to the card. For more details, visit www.eye.fi. (See Chapters 6 and 10 for details about using the camera’s own wireless connectivity features.)
Whatever cards you choose, safeguarding them — and the images on them — requires a few precautions:
FIGURE 1-12: Insert the card with the label facing the camera back.
FIGURE 1-13: Avoid touching the gold contacts on the card.