Basic Camera Controls

March 2010
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When the first Digital SLR was released for under a thousand dollars consumers ran out and jumped into the digital photography ages. Some of these users were film SLR users wanting to take advantage of the control and improved workflow of digital age. Initially many of the features they had grown accustom to were not always available, but still offered the creativity not available on a point and shoot camera.
Other users were already familiar with digital point and shoot cameras but wanted to step up to the next level of photography. However, many soon discovered the wide selection of options available to them was overwhelming and somewhat confusing. Many were told just to put the mode dial on the little green box and the camera would do all the work for you. While this is true, it in essence turns a powerful tool for creative photography into a glorified point and shoot.
The following section will cover many of the buttons, dials, cross keys and functions of DSLRs. All samples will be based on Canon Digital Cameras.

Shutter button

It should be obvious to anyone owning a camera where the shutter button is and its primary function. What is not so obvious is how the two sage button work since many people tend to “punch” the button.
Two Stage button: Pressing or squeezing it half way down will start the auto focus and exposure functions. The camera will not shoot if the lens is not in focus unless you turn off the auto focus on the lens.
You should never simple “punch” this button to take a picture. Instead, squeeze it carefully half way down until you get focus. Then time your shot. Press it fully to take the picture.
In Single Shot you will need to release the button and repeat this process to get the focus. In Continuous drive you can take a series of consecutive shots but the focus will not change. You must release the button and repeat the process to establish a new focus.

Main Dial
	The main dial is located behind the shutter button for easy access. It controls a variety of functions such as navigation, focus point selection and exposure compensation.

Quick Control Dial
	Like the main dial, the quick control dial helps in navigation and make other adjustments. This dial is locked or unusable in the “on” position. You must place to on/off switch to the line just above the “on” position for it to operate. The most common use for this dial is for exposure compensation.

Cross Keys
	On some cameras there is not Quick Control Dial. In those cases you may find “Cross Keys” which server as navigation keys as well as a quick direct way to jump into the most common menu items such as ISO, Metering, White Balance and Auto Focus.

Review or Playback Button
	The set button is used to register your choices when using a menu item and in some cases can be programmed to jump to other menu options. The set button is found in the middle of the “Quick Control Dial” or in the center of the “Cross Keys”.The review / Payback button allows you to review the pictures you have taken. Once you are in the review mode you can navigate through your images.

INFO or DISPLAY Button

The INFO or DISPLAY button will display or change the display information depending on what mode you are in.
During shooting it will display information about your current settings. In some cases, such as the 40D a second touch of the button will display the information from the top control panel showing your shooting information.
Press the info button once.
Press the INFO button a second time in the default mode
Canon 40D shooting information screen Canon 40D top panel information.
In the playback mode the INFO / DISPLAY button will cycle through the current photo from pictureonly to little information and then to more information including histogram.

Full screen playback
Full picture with no information overlaid

Small amount of information added

Most information and histogram

Some cameras support duel luminance and RGB histograms

Zoom Button

You can zoom in and out of a viewed image in playback mode.
The right button will zoom in for closer viewing
The left button zooms back out Once at the images full size, one more press of the Zoom out will take you into Index mode were you can scroll through multiple images (usually 9 at a time)

Menus and common settings

Quality settings

The quality settings actually change the size of the resolution. This will effect the size of the file as well as the size you can print.

LargeThe best setting if you think you will ever print a large print of do any cropping. When shooting in JPEG I recommend always shooting in Large.
MediumMedium will allow you to save space on both your card and hard drive. The drawback it that you have less flexibility to print large prints or do cropping. For people who rarely print larger the a 4X6 inch photo this is an option.
SmallSmall format allows for a greater number of pictures to be taken on your card but really limits your ability to print larger then a 4X6 picture and do any cropping. It is a good choice however when shooting photos for a website or you are selling something on ebay.

Compression

Compression is the simplifying of color information in a file. More compression can be applied to files with few details and large areas of similar colors the images with a lot of details. Compression reduces the size of the file but also sacrifices some detail in the process.

Below you can see two of the drawbacks to a lot of compression. One is a blocky look from compression colors together and the other is banding of smooth gradient colors such as the blue background.

All JPEG pictures are compress to some degree.

Low compression image

High compression image
Note the banding in the blue

You can choose how much or how little compression you want to apply.
Fine compression
Fine compression does the least amount of compression for the finest quality JPEG file. It is also the largest file size.
Normal compression
Normal Compression is more aggressive and balances out the file size with image quality to a point where most will not notice the JPEG artifacts unless printed very large..
Note the blocks and banding in the high compressed version to the right.One final word on Resolution and compression.
If you find you need to save room on your card and create smaller files, it is better to use more compression and keep the large resolution. This gives you your best file if you find you need a large print size.

Formatting the CF Card

There are two common ways to delete files from your card; erase and format.

Format
When you format a card you are doing more then just erasing all the files. You also eliminate any folders. But it goes even deeper then that.
Each card has a “road map” embedded on it that helps in writing and locating files on the card. Without this road map it would be difficult to locate pictures quickly. When you delete an individual files it removes it from the map and makes that space available to a new file.
Formatting actually refreshes that mapping for you and in the process removes all the file information as well. This leaves you with a very clean and fresh card to start shooting with. Formatting every few weeks would be a good practice to get into.

Erase and Erase All
Erasing can be done in one of two ways; erasing one file at a time or all files. When you do this you do not effect the mapping of the card as you do with formatting. This mapping can become weak after a while and should be refreshed from time to time. The folders are also left intact so you could end up with empty folders on your disk after you have deleted all the files.
The advantage here is you can choose what files will be deleted should you decide not to delete all of them.
Deleting one file at a time is common when you are shooting and just took a bad picture. You can review it, choose to delete it at that time. You can also review and delete pictures you are not interested in keeping in order to free up some space on your card.
Delete all will delete all files without affecting the card structure or the folders. One big advantage of this is if you have a lot of pictures and only wanted to keep a few. You can review your files, lock the ones you want to keep and then erase all. All files except the locked files will be erased. So if you have a few good pictures you wanted to save but discovered the kids got hold of your camera and played with it to the tune of a few hundred pictures, you are not stuck with deleting one at a time. Simply lock in the few you want to keep and delete all.

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