Skip to main content

Camera Operations

Lesson 14 from: Canon EOS M3 Fast Start

John Greengo

Camera Operations

Lesson 14 from: Canon EOS M3 Fast Start

John Greengo

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

14. Camera Operations

Lesson Info

Camera Operations

all right for the last section I want a new camera operations is how I would set the camera up in real life shooting situations and what you really need to pay attention with. So first off, what's my basic checklist for making sure that my camera is ready to go? Well, I charged the battery and it's in the camera, not on the charger. I've installed a memory card, probably formatted it, so I've got as much memory as possible. I have the image quality set to Raw or J. Peg or whatever I think is most important. And I've kind of making a quick perusal of the menu system to make sure I haven't said anything really unusual from my last shoot with the camera. And if I was going on a really big trip, I'd want to shoot a few test pictures of, say, a blank white wall to see if there's any dust on the sensor. It will show up as black spots where there was no black spot. In reality, you don't want to be dealing with a dirty sensor when you're traveling far away from a place that can help you out, s...

o your top 10 controls the 10 features that you really want to be familiar with and knowing how to change our listed right here on screen. Most of them are going to be dealing with the exposure like your shutter speeds your apertures in your eyes so they might also deal with focusing and some of these things you're gonna have to get to by hitting the Q menu and navigating throughout the cumin you to get to those focus areas and focus mode, as well as our white balance and our drive system. So these are 10 areas that you're really going to need to know to get the best operation out of this camera. So the way that I would set that up way I think about it is thes are 10 key settings on the camera. Most of these first ones are dealing with exposure. We have some focusing options and a couple of others, So let's get our cameras set up for what I call super simple photography, and this is just where you're not doing anything in particular. You just want the camera as automated and is easy to use as possible. We could use the a plus seen intelligent mode. But I think the program mode will give you just a little bit more leeway. If you do want to jump in to make some changes in this mode, the camera will be selecting shutter speeds and apertures. You will need to select an I S O. And if you want the simplest one, you could just let the camera figure things out. By sending the auto. I s o make sure the exposure compensation dial on the top of the camera is at zero. As I mentioned before, the evaluative metering system is a very good multipurpose system that is gonna be good under a wide variety of conditions. The auto white balance system tends to do a very good job from time to time. If you are getting color that you think is a little bit off, you can switch the white balance. But it auto is a good place to start The focusing mode. A simple system is the one shot mode where focuses on one subject and then stops. And as far as the focus area, the face tracking is looking at the entire area of the cameras pointed at and we'll try to figure out what's best to focus now as a little bit more experienced photographer, I personally prefer a little bit more manual control. But for a super simple operation, this does make sense. And for the drive mode, you're probably just wanting to be shooting one photo at a time, which means when you press down on the shutter release, you just get one shot. It doesn't just keep firing photos. So a couple of common scenarios that you might want to take photos. One would be a landscape type photo where you have a lot in focus. You're likely to be using a wider angle lands. You have no real subjects that are moving around in your frame. But what you want is lots of depth of field, lots of things in focus. Now, if you have the time, manual exposure would be the way that I go. Another option would be aperture value, setting a fairly deep depth of field, and so I would want to have a low I eso around 100 cause that's the best quality setting on the camera. I want a lot of depth of field, so f 8 11 16 Something in that range you're gonna end up with a slower shutter speed kind of depends on how much light you have. This is why a lot of landscape photographers use tripods. Next up for metering will leave that at evaluative and for white balance will leave that at auto for focusing. Our subject is not moving, so we want the one shot mode focusing area. We want to be a little bit more discerning where we focus. And so the one point autofocus will allow us to be very particular about what is in focus and for the drive mode. We probably don't need to shoot a whole bunch of shots real quickly, So this is a single on the drive mode. And so this is how the landscape set up would work for me. And there's a few other little tweaks on this you could make, as I say, aperture value. Choosing a similar aperture, the camera will figure out the shutter speed for you. Another type of scenario that you might encounter is a portrait. So if you want to take a portrait of a person or an animal or anything else that you want here you might be wanting shallower depth of field, but you're also a little bit concerned about shutter speeds as well. If I have the time, I prefer using manual. If I'm a little bit quicker and more of a rush, I'll probably use aperture value in this case. And so I wanted generally choose a wide open aperture. So if I have a lens that goes all the way down to 1.4, I'm likely to use it. Three. Kit lens that comes with a camera has a range of around 4 to 5.6. So that's just where you had said it the best you can with the lens that you have here. You're gonna want to make sure that you're getting a shutter speed around 125th of a second or faster to stop your motion holding the camera or the subject that you're photographing. Preferable to have the lowest I e isso possible will keep evaluative. Metering will keep auto white balance unless they specifically need to be changed. If our subject is stationary, we're gonna keep it in the one shot mode. This is where face tracking could work. You can also use the one point A F. I think it would be, Ah, work just as well for the well intentioned photographer who had good control of their focusing point. But for an average photographer, the face tracking mode will walk onto that face. So long as there is in too many faces and other distractions going on and for the drive mode, you can probably just get a single shot at a time. And if you want to take more, just release up and press down again on the shutter release. Next up, let's do a little action photography, and before I go into the settings on this, I will just have a little side note. This camera is not the best camera on the market for shooting action. And so if you are gonna be shooting lots of sporting events, this camera is on the performance level. It's on the lower end of the performance level, but you can still shoot action with it. So if you were going to be doing that once again, I prefer to be in manual so that you have specific control. But I think possibly time value might be another good mode for using this setting a faster shutter speed, And so, in this case, we're gonna need a faster shutter speed. It depends on what we're shooting, but there's a good chance we're going to need 5/100 of a second or faster. This is where it really pays off to have one of those faster lenses that goes down to 2.8. And with the ISOS, it's nice to have the lowest. I also possible, but chances are you're going to need something a little bit higher. Probably in the 400 up range will keep evaluative. Metering will keep auto white balance, and the big change that we're making here is in the focus mode. This needs to be in servo so that the camera can constantly adjust. Focus for the changing distance to your subject that's moving around, and the camera is probably going to be best in the face and tracking mode here, especially if you're photographing people moving around in a sporting type event and the drive mode. We're also probably want to make a change here to the continuous mode, so that when we pressed down on the shutter release, it takes as many pictures as it can. I believe it's at 4.2 frames per second, so you can really real off a lot of shots. All right, let's get your camera set up here. The last one is in basic photography. And so this is where you don't know what the next photo is going to be. You want your camera ready for whatever you might encounter. And so this is where I prefer aperture priority. The aperture value setting. Setting a reasonably fast aperture like 5.6 varies a little bit with what lens you have. The camera will figure out the shutter speed. I'm gonna give it an I S O of 100 but maybe 200. Just because the lenses tend to be a little bit slower on this particular camera will give me a little bit faster Shutter speed. Make sure the dial on the top of the camera is said it. Zero. Unless you were specifically trying to make your picture lighter or darker, going to stick with evaluative metering, going to stick with auto white balance. And unless I'm shooting action, I'm gonna leave this in the one shot mode where focuses on a subject and then stops. And I prefer the one point autofocus. That way I can choose where in the frame I'm focusing, and it's not trying to just focus on anything that it looks at. I am really giving it some direction on where it's going to focus, and I'm gonna leave it in single shot. So I'm just taking one shot at a time, and I'm not really enough unnecessary numbers of shocks. And so, folks, if you've been following along from the beginning, Aiken, tell you congratulations. You are now an expert in the canon Eos m three So thanks a lot for tuning in, and hopefully this really give you some good hip hips. Helps, help and tips all combined in one. Ah, and working your camera. So thank you very much for following along.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Canon M3 Recommended Settings

Ratings and Reviews

Sue Baylis
 

I am a complete beginner with photography, I've only used my phone until now. I bought my camera about 3 weeks ago and I've really struggled, as, for example, the manual says turn the dial to select, not which dial, or how to get to the correct place, setting or menu, so that the dial will then work. I'm only up to the 5th lesson and I feel that I understand my camera so much more. I wish I had bought this on the first day. I'm not connected to this company, author or anything else, I was just frustrated, and feeling like giving up as I couldn't get an unblurred photo on my new camera. Thank you so much for this wonderful, easy to understand and follow guide.

Bryan Sarty
 

I wasn't too impressed by the M3 until I found this course. It changed my whole outlook. John gives a great delivery and fully explains in plain English.

a Creativelive Student
 

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES