This page address the use of the Canon 70D camera. This is a pro-level single-lens reflex camera. The pdf manual is here.

Setting up the camera

The following settings should be attended to before you start shooting.

Insert the battery

When shooting videos. it is wise to carry a spare, fully charged, battery. Wise = necessary.

Remove the lens cap

Duh. Don't loose the lens cap!!!

Insert the memory card

The memory card (Figure 1) is what holds the data which the camera captures. The Canon 70D supports the UHS-I type SD card (though UHS-II also works but cannot achieve its maximum speed).

Cards differ in:

their capacity, which defines the amount of data they hold)
their write speed which defines how fast the captured data can be written onto the card. Generally, write speed is only an issue if you are shooting movies. Faster = better.

When shooting movies it is advised that the cards are of a fast write speed, and are of large capacity. If you don't follow this important advise, then your captured movies may be of low/rubbish quality.

For shooting videos, we have found that the best card is the SanDisk with a write speed of between 120 and 200 mb second. Also, for shooting videos it is wise to carry a spare card.

If you are working with a second-hand card it might be a good idea to re-format the card. This wipes all data from the card leaving you with an empty card.

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Figure 1. An SD memory hard of high capacity and high write speed

Power switch

Yes, the camera has an on/off switch (Figure 2). It is a big and heavy mechanical switch. It electronically switches off automatically after a period of inactivity. To turn it back on, simply switch it off then on again.

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Figure 2, The power switch

Menu button

The menu button (Figure 3) summons a menu through which the various preferences of the camera can be set. You will have to dive into the menu in order to save a RAW file with your capture.

Live View shooting switch

Turning the Live View switch on (Figure 3) on will enable a preview of your photo/video to appear on the LCD screen. You will hear a 'clunk' sound as you do so. This will be the sound of a mirror inside of the camera flipping up into place. Your lecturer will tell you what this mirror is for.

As well as helping to frame the shot, it gives a reasonable preview of what your captured image will look like in terms of focus and exposure.

Live View mode is essential for shooting video.

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Figure 3, The Live View shooting switch

Position the LCD monitor

The LCD monitor (Figure 4) displays the menus and also gives a view of what the camera sensor is seeing. Its gimbal mounting enables it to be positioned in any position. You will be surprised at how many students forget/ignore this useful fact.

NOTE: The screen can be navigated using the quick control dial or by touch.

NOTE: when shooting videos, it is very important to be able to quickly review what you have shot whilst on set. The LCD monitor is not ideally suited for this purpose, being way too small. If you are able to do so, set up a portable laptop viewing station. Ideally, this should be accompanied by a viewing hood (a dark cloth to exclude interference from light).

CAUTION: when not using the LCD, ensure that it is safely stowed. Remember: all damages to RMIT property must be paid for.

Figure 4. The LCD screen in action

RAW mode

The camera captures more data than a monitor can print. This data can be optionally stored in the form of a RAW file. A canon RAW file (file extension .CR2) is not a file format in the same way that a .jpg, .tif or .psd is. Rather it can be understood as a large collection of data which you can bring into a .psd file and edit as you please.

Most RMIT courses require that RAW data is captured along with the .jpg. The exception is movie files, for which there is no Canon equivalent of a RAW file.

Instructions on how to make this happen can be found on the Canon website here.

A sample CR2 file is here. It is large (22mb) because of all the data it is carrying. Drop this onto Photoshop and it will open in Photoshop's Camera RAW editor. Play with the exposure, highlights and shadow sliders to see how much data you can get from the image. Your lecturer will show you more about RAW files in class.

Mode dial

The mode dial (Figure 5) defines the mode the camera is operating in. Generally, the mode defines which of the many camera settings are set automatically, and which are set manually. In order to rotate the Mode Dial, the Mode Dial center (otherwise known as the mode dial lock release button) must be pressed simultaneously.

The following modes are the most commonly used by RMIT students:

M = Manual This disables all automatic settings.
AV = Aperture Priority This means that you only have control over the aperture, with the shutter speed being defined automatically
TV = Time Priority (i.e. Exposure Priority) This means that you only have control over the shutter speed, with the aperture being defined automatically

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Figure 5. Menu Dial and Menu Dial center

Lens rings

The school's Canon 70D comes with a lens that features two rings. One adjusts focal length, the other adjusts focus.

Focal length ring

The ring closest to the camera body is the focal length ring (Figure 6). Some lens do not have adjustable focal length. Such lenses are known as 'prime'. The default lens for the school's canon 70D has an adjustable focal length of between 18 to 35mm lens.

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Figure 6. The focal length and focus settings on the lens

Focal length defines the field of view. The field of view defines the wideness of the angle which the camera can capture. Changing this will also change the perspective of the scene. This page address field of view. Figure 7 shows the impact of a change of focal length of perspective.

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Figure 7. The impact of a change of focal length of perspective.

Focus

The ring furthest away from the camera body is the focus ring (Figure 6). You all know what focus is, don't you? So no need to explain.

Caution! It is very easy to rush the focus and there is no way to fix a poorly focused image once it has been captured.

Lens focus mode switch

The lens focus mode defines whether or not the focus is set automatically. AF = auto focus, MF = manual focus. It is recommended that this is set to MF. This is especially the case for shooting video as the auto focus of the Canon 70D is super slow.

Shooting photos

Having set up your camera, you are now ready to adjust the ISO, shutter speed and aperture. These three values constitute the three sides of the exposure triangle. All three values impact the brightness (i.e. exposure) of the photograph but at the cost of other properties. It is strongly advised that you first read-up on these value before you proceed. In brief:

The ISO is a property of the camera sensor and defines how fast the sensor responds to light. A higher ISO results in a brighter image, but too high an ISO will result in a noisy image. A high ISO would be appropriate for a dark environment, however high ISOs also introduce noise into the photo. It is recommended that for most circumstances this is kept around 100 to 200 unless you are shooting in a dark environment.
A camera is (essentially) a black box with a hole at the front and sensor at the back. The hole serves to restrict the amount of light falling onto the sensor. The shutter speed defines how long this hole is open for. The longer it is left open, the more light allowed onto the sensor. A slow shutter speed will create more motion blur. If you are not using a tripod, then the natural shaking of your hand may introduce motion blur if your shutter speed is too slow.
The aperture (sometimes called the f-stop) defines how wide this hole is. The wider the hole, the more light allowed onto the sensor. The aperture also impacts upon the depth of field (i.e. how much of the captured scene is in focus).

The ISO, shutter speed and aperture are displayed on the LCD panel on the top of the camera (Figure 1).

Figure 8. The ISO, shutter speed and aperture displayed on the LCD panel

There are a bunch of buttons on top of the camera, but only two which are truly vital for a newbie (Figure 9).

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Figure 9. The buttons on top of the camera

ISO

In practice, you would normally set this first. To change ISO, press the ISO button (Figure 9) once, and move the main dial. To avoid noisy images, try to keep the ISO fairly low (below 800 at least).

Shutter speed and aperture

With ISO set, you will then have to change the shutter speed and aperture. These are likely to change slightly between shots.

In Manual mode (M) you will be changing shutter speed and aperture.
In Aperture Priority (AP) mode you will be changing only the aperture
In Time Priority/Exposure Priority mode (TV) you will be changing only the shutter speed

Shutter speed

To adjust the shutter speed, rotate the main dial (Figure 9). To activate the exposure level indicator, lightly press the shutter button.

Figure 10. Setting the shutter speed and also using the exposure level indicator

Aperture

To adjust the aperture, rotate the quick control dial (Figure 11).

Figure 11. The quick control dial

Shooting videos

To shoot a video, set Live Mode to 'On' and press the start/stop button in the middle of the Live Mode dial.

Key settings

ISO: Keep ISO under 800, preferably even lower. We don't want noisy movies!
Shutter speed should be 1/50
Ensure that your white balance has been set correctly. We don't want yellow or blue color cast on your neutrals! See p134 of the manual.

Settings specific to capturing movies (from p137 of the manual):

Frame Rate: 25 fps (fps = frames per second)
Image Size: 1920 x 1080 (this is known as HD which stands for High Definition)
Compression Method: the best compression method for capturing movies is ALL-I (I only)