Guide To using A Canon 600D and 500D (Unit 30)

Basics


The basics for operating a Canon are usually fairly straight forward, you can see on the image to the left here, the on/off switch located at the bottom right corner of the image. The main dial, adjacent to the on/off switch operates the main settings (portrait,landscape,nighttime,shake settings etc).
The small silver plate you can see on the top is where you would fix attachment such as flash/flash triggers.
It is somewhat difficult to see from this image, but on the top of the lens, there is a small slide switch, with AF/MF on. The change the focus to Manual/Automatic.

On the back of the camera, you can see the LCD screen in which you will see the image, if you would prefer to look through the viewfinder as opposed to seeing the image on screen, you can switch this setting simply by pressing the small round black button next to the viewfinder on the back.
The LCD screen is also where any setting you wish to change (more detail below) in combination with the small scroller on the top that you can see in the above image, and the arrows that you can see to the left of the LCD screen on this image.
The top small black button to the right of the LCD screen, with the red dot next to it, is the button that will make the camera record as opposed to simply taking a still image. The setting must also be change on the dial on the top of the camera to the moving image setting.



Lens Guide

SLR cameras often come with several different lens sizes, this is no different for the Canon 600/500D. This maximises the quality of the image and allows for a variety of shots at different lengths. For example, Macro lenses allow for very close up images.
Lens also come in Zoom and Prime (or fixed). Zoom allows the photographer to vary the focal length within a pre-defined range without the need to change lenses, increasing the shot variety and flexibility.

Lens Lengths

• 16/20mm - an ultra wide lens, this emphasises the foreground

(these 2 would be considered Extreme Wide Angle Lenses - often used in architectural photography)

• 24/28/35mm

(Considered to be Wide Angle Lenses - used for landscape photography)

• 50/70mm - This lens is considered the standard size for moving image

('Normal' Length Lens - Perfect for street/documentary)

• 85/135 mm - sometimes known as the 'beauty lens'

(The Medium Telephoto Lens - Great for portraiture)

• 200+mm 

(The Telephoto Lens - good for when shooting images of movement i.e. sports/wildlife)

Zoom Lens


This is a Canon zoon lens. It is easy to see on this lens the AF/MF switch i mention here (at the bottom right side of the image)
The large corrugated section, in the centre of the image, is the 'zoom' part of the lens, this will make the image appear closer than it is. the number on the silver ring next to it indicate how zoomed in you are in mm.
Finally, the very small corrugated section, right at the tip of the lens (to the left of the image) adjust the focus, when on manual focus, both the zoom and the focus will need to be altered in order to created the perfect image. This can be tricky when shooting moving image as both need to be altered accurately in time with each other otherwise your image will go out of focus.




Formal Qualities (aperture/ISO/shutter speed)

Please see related blog post on 'camera/lighting techniques' page.