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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Charlotte K. Lowrie Brand: Wiley Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2009-12-21 ISBN: 0470521295 Number of pages: 304 Publisher: Wiley Product features: - 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
Book Reviews of Canon EOS 7D Digital Field GuideBook Review: Excellent book on functions of Canon 7D Summary: 4 Stars
I've been reading through the Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide by Charlotte Lowrie and have to say that I'm impressed with the book. I've never bought a book like this before having always relied on the manual that came with the camera and other online guides. While I still like the camera manual and love scouring the interwebs for new information, this book provides a great deal of value to a photographer with a Canon 7D...especially when you're out in the field shooting.
When you pick up a book like this, you know what you're in for...a walk-through of all the settings of the camera and how to use those settings. But more than that, the author provides a great deal of insight into how she users her camera in different situations...which is extremely interesting for me. These types of personal touches allow me to see how other photographers think and use their gear.
The book is split into twelve chapters with a ton of information in each chapter. The chapters are:
* Ch 1 - Roadmap to the 7D
* Ch 2 - Camera Setup and Image Playback
* Ch 3 - Controlling Exposure and Focus
* Ch 4 - Getting Great Color
* Ch 5 - Customizing the 7D
* Ch 6 - Shooting Live View and Tethered
* Ch 7 - Using Movie Mode
* Ch 8 - Working with Flash and Studio Lights
* Ch 9 - Lenses and Accessories
* Ch 10 - Event and Action Photography
* Ch 11 - Nature and Landscape Photography
* Ch 12 - People Photography
The titles of the chapters are pretty self-explanatory.
Chapter's 1 through 7 provided the most value for me as they explored camera functionality and usage. I spent the majority of my time with this book in these first seven chapters. Chapters 8 through 12 provide general information about photographing in particular situations and how to setup the Canon 7D for those situations...good chapters but not as 'meaty' as the first seven.
The real strength of this book is the ability to communicate camera settings and functions clearly and quickly. The manual that comes with the 7D is good, but is a technical manual...this book provides a bit more for the reader to soak in.
If you have a Canon 7D and can't (or don't want) to decipher the camera manual, this book is for you.
Summary of Canon EOS 7D Digital Field GuideNo-fail formulas for getting great digital photos with the Canon EOS 7DIf you want to polish your photography skills, keep your camera bag stocked with the best equipment, like Canon's new EOS 7D camera and this practical, full-color Canon EOS 7DDigital Field Guide. Portable and packed with information, this handy guide helps you get the very most out of the EOS 7D's powerful new features. Discover professional shooting tricks, helpful composition advice, and invaluable tips on exposure, perspective, and more. The book also includes a grey and color checker card, so you can tweak your captured photos for optimal colorization. - 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! If you want to polish your photography skills, keep your camera bag stocked with the best equipment, like Canon's new EOS 7D camera and this practical, full-color Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide. Portable and packed with information, this handy guide helps you get the very most out of the EOS 7D's powerful new features. Discover professional shooting tricks, helpful composition advice, and invaluable tips on exposure, perspective, and more. The book also includes a grey and color checker card, so you can tweak your captured photos for optimal colorization. - 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. - 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- To get quick access to Mirror Lockup function (Custom Function III-13), just add it to My Menu.
- 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.
- For lens calibration using Custom Function III-5, the LensAlign Focus Calibration system from Michael Tapes makes the calibration process precise and repeatable.
- 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. |
Digital Photography Books
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