Lesson Info
15. Final Q&A
Lessons
Class Introduction
06:50 2Product Overview
13:14 3Photography Basics
09:15 4Button Layout: Top Deck
44:43 5Button Layout: Back Side
20:37 6Button Layout: Other Sides
10:47 7Lenses
07:42 8General Q&A
09:31Lesson Info
Final Q&A
All right, let's, take some questions. Question from alicia post from the netherlands would you recommend using focus and recompose or choosing the focus point closer to the subject? That depends on the situation and so there's a couple of scenarios where one would be better than the other if I was going to quickly go around this room and I wanted to get a different picture of everyone here and so someone's going to be a horizontal summit's going vertical some you're gonna be on the left, someone the right, everyone a little different. I would use the center point in the middle and I would just focus, and then I would just recompose for that one shot, and then the next person I would do something different and so let's see if you were at a wedding and you're shooting the reception and you're just going around grabbing a bunch of quick shots, that's probably what I would choose, but if I said, you know, I really want to photograph you and let's, have you sit in this chair? And I have a ...
great idea for this photograph where you're off to one side and I'm going to take, like twenty or thirty pictures to kind of get the exact composition I want, it would get really tiring to focus and recompose in that situation. And so I could do two options number one is I could choose the left hand focus point so that I could just shoot and focus on you, and if I was moving forward and backwards, that would probably be the best technique is because that way I don't really have to change anything. Now, if our distance isn't changing, I would probably use the back button focusing where I would focus on you. Then I know that focuses set, and then I would just recompose and shoot however I wanted, and so there's a kind of three different systems there's focusing and re composing there's back button focusing and then there's using a different focusing point and each one works better in a slightly different situation. John billy h is wondering if you mentioned anything about the focusing screen option in the c f n menu I did can you go over that one more time for leisure? Uh, the camera has removable focusing screens that you can either add a grid screen or a screen that is more easy to manual focus with me if you change the screens out, you need to go into the menu system and tell it which screen you have put in the camera if you haven't changed the screen, don't go into that menu, okay question from sea samantha l asked if I'm shooting a wedding with speed lights do I need to turn the silent shoot to disable or is it ok to leave it in mode one they forgot if that was only going to affect her if she is using live view on the camera and so it only affects it when you were shooting in live you so in general she could leave it on mode one that would be fine I'm assuming that she's not using live you to shoot still pictures lisa flom sanders uh posted a question on twitter for you actually uh she says help when I pressed shutter half way I no longer see the focus points what did I set wrong pressing halfway she can't see the focusing points well uh those focusing points are etched into the focusing screen and so they can't be turned off so I don't know what's going on I would love to see that camera bring it to seattle and I'll check it out okay lisa do that take it to take it to your local camera star see you see if they can figure out what's going on uh question from chaos to kay how shallow oven f stop can you have before you lose focus when you re compos I always moved focus points can you just finish that up? Yeah if you have a super shallow depth of field and I would put it basically two lenses in that category, thank you. Throw three the fifty one point to the eighty five one point too, and maybe the one thirty five f to possibly some of the other fast lenses when you're focusing really close, you have to be a little bit careful about focusing and re composing on most lenses in most situations it's going to stay the same because the distance hasn't changed, but in some very extreme situations, that may be better to focus with an outside focusing bracket than to focus and recompose it's very rare that people have that problem, but it can't happen. Uh, of course, the internet would like to know what lens you have on that mark to right now. It's kind of interesting if we get the shot over my shoulder because one of the things that I've done is I have what's the opposite of bling, like de blinged, I have deep blinked my lens where I've actually just taken some electrical tape and covered up some of the red line on it just so that it looks a little less fancy. And if I was actually pulled my camera out here and I'm gonna switch back to my care so much better than the new cameras were just. And so if you look at my camera, I've blacked out the cannon logo the five demark too and the lens on it as well I kind of blacked out everything and so it just kind of looks like this generic black blob of a camera and it's just a little less interesting am I trying to fool knowledgeable people like yourself now it's the stupid thieves walking around and somebody's got the big old strap that says five d mark two that's like saying steal me in some ways, it's a nice trap I'm just giving you a hard time and so I just tried it sub d where I'm not trying to advertise and sell and until they start paying me to shoot for them, I'm not going to advertise for them. Question from mary on photo from guatemala uh, what happens when you hold the shutter halfway to keep doing I server? How do you do it on back button focus well, it works the same way. The difference, though, is that with the shutter release on the main shutter release it's a two stage button see press halfway down and you press all the way down the button on the back it's all the way down now one of the things that I don't I like back button focusing, but I don't like it in the sports world it happens to quick sometimes where you're just picking up a camera and now you have to press one button to focus in the other button to take a picture and so sometimes in sports photography I'll turn that back button focusing off so all I have to do is press this button to focus because I'm not focusing and re composing as someone is running at me at twenty miles an hour all right? It's just not something that you do that often in sports photography and so it depends a little bit on the type of photography you do for general work, especially portrait work I think back button works very well for sports work I'm not as big a fan of it some people still use it for sport, so different folks, different strokes, you know, I have time for one more question. Yeah, I think so okay, daniel byrd says only just managed to join now from australia and he said you mentioned an additional six focus points in addition to the standard nine points, how do you access them? Would you mind explaining that? Well, you're gonna have to watch the re watch or by the download of the class because there are six invisible focusing points and if you don't know this, you will never take good pictures you have to know about the six invisible focusing points and I talk about them when we go into the focusing screen on the camera, we're ready to wrap it up. I think we have any other questions in class we won't ask john okay, go for with those invisible focusing points uh, what if you're taking something that's a lot more detailed of a shot like, is that going to mess you up or help you in any way or that something israel? Ben if something to keep in mind about those is that those air on lee on when you're in the servo mo so when you're in focus, tracking mode is the only time they're turned on so it's, not when you're choosing just a single point. And so the main idea is that when you are tracking something and it happens to fall between the gaps, there's less gaps. So, susan, I want to know what you learned. You d'oh, what you learned about your menu setting did you learn anything new today? Absolutely. And I went in and changed. I was changing like jon, I thought I already had a hold of my camera, but no yeah, I learned a lot about the menu settings and there was a couple really valuable things in there, including the secret focusing points, the fact that the prongs in the card we both looked at each other and said hey, we should change our car. E I I saw the two of you looking at that things were jamming the cars and our cameras don't know. Great class. Thank you. Thank you and there's. A really cool quotes from the internet coming in for you. So I would loe to share them with you. Steffes trembler says yea for the info button showing the rial number of images on a sea of card left who knew creative lie with john gringo john equals genius. Thanks. Thank you. Uh, sorry, ana photography. Um, sorry. I did that one. Uh, the fel oh ninety one. Thank you so much for the great class, mr gringo and creative life. I always learn. Leave the site knowing something new always feel strange being addressed us, mr green. You know, I don't know. I've never grown out of that mr at this place. It's a feeling that's. My dad's name. Yeah, exactly. Go well, john, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of another amazing camera here with all of us on creative live and from the internet. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Mike Swartz
Having used an XTi I was familiar with the basic Canon layout, but when I bought my 5D MKii used from my wedding photographer who updated to the MKiii, I knew there would be a ton of features I'd never really understood. This video series is fantastic. I've learned so much about my camera, many tips on best practices when planning shots and I've seen an increase in the quality of all my photos as a whole vs. just taking a ton of pics to try and capture one or two that turn out nice. I'm excited to try out so many new things I learned from watching these videos. I'd recommend these videos be the required guide to anyone who owns a 5D MKii.
Mia Linguia
Amazing class, I walk away feeling like I've made this machine my own. Like getting a new car and adjusting all the seating and mirrors and radio stations to your comfort, then giving it a name because its officially yours. My camera now feels more comfortable to use and I can't wait to use it again with these new found tweaks. Thanks John, always a great class!
Nelson
Excellent instruction. The instructor is very knowledgeable and a very effective communicator. Great photo examples and "SLIDES for that". Creative Live and John should both be commended for providing in depth and pertinent information. The Canon 5D MkII is a great camera however without a body of knowledge to fully utilize it you might as well have a low end point and shoot. I would recommend this class to anyone who has a 5D MkII, no matter your skill level. Great job!
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