I’ve found brilliant video clips about the Canon 40d on how to use key features on this digital SLR. Take a look at the Canon 40d movies here.
About LIVE VIEW on the Canon 40d
Whilst in Live View you can change the aperture, shutter speed, etc, (most key factors) in the same way you would normally. Metering is evaluative, and you normally have to focus manually in Live View, but you can enable autofocus. The video shows you how to use a focus preview tool, adjust settings and preview the exposure levels.
Live View features quiet and silent shooting
Great for nature photographers! You get a quieter shutter sound when you’re using Live View. Plus there is a Custom Function on the Canon 40d where you can select Silent Shooting to be Mode 1 or Mode 2 – which makes almost no sound until you’re letting go of the shutter button.
The written instructions are boring – I can’t easily absorb the section about Live View. However, this short movie by Canon is brilliant:
“Live View? My phone can do that!”
Live View capability is one of the newer technologies for SLR digital cameras. Yes, compact digital cameras have had live viewing way before makers integrated this tech into SLRs! Why didn’t manufacterers do this many years ago? Several reasons, including the constraints of cost, processing capacity within the camera, and perhaps most importantly, the essence of what an SLR is all about.
Single Lens Reflex cameras enable you to see the shot through the lens. You literally look through the camera and whichever lens your SLR is wearing, and you can see things much more clearly and in truly real time compared to an LCD screen. So a live screen view was not much use to the photographer who was intent on creative effects, and having full control over getting the focus exactly right, wherever in the picture you like (not where the camera thinks you want it).
Looking through the lens means you use a mirror inside the SLR, and when you open the shutter to take a shot, the camera has to swing the mirror out of the way. A live LCD picture has to use the digital sensor chip (CCD or CMOS?) inside the camera body which means the mirror and the shutter have to be lifted. The mirror blocks the optical viewfinder and exposes the sensor to much more light than it was originally designed for, over a long period. So there was the challenge of redesigning the big (8MP-plus) sensors and adapting the way that the camera’s internal computer works, etc.
Clarity of on the LCD screen was nowhere near as good as the lens on older digital SLRs anyway. Lately these screens have got bigger, cheaper and much sharper. The Canon 40d and other SLRs in this range have a big, high quality screen on the back and therefore it’s now worth using it for the Live View.
Canon product tour videos
Want to watch the movie in your own time? You can download the LIVE VIEW video guide as a MPEG4 file from the Canon UK product tour website – just look for the little link on the top of the video frame. Play it with Quicktime7 – a FREE and easy player.
More ‘how to’ videos…
Find more excellent movies on the Canon Profesional Network. I’d love to know of other good photography videos online. Please post me links at the foot of this article. Thanks!
© Jason Ball
Brilliant, thanx for the tips.