General use of Canon EOS 700D

[MIKEYTAKER]

Good evening fellow snappers, I just wanted any advice with taking pictures with a 700D.

I have only really used an iPhone until I bit the bullet and bought a 700D. I have a general understanding of certain types of pictures and effects but there a lot of features on the 700D that I'm curious about.

I currently own a 700D with a EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens, an external microphone and tripod. I will be using the camera for outdoors mainly carp fishing (day and night).

I'll start with a few general questions :)

1) Is auto setting the best setting for all round photos? I'm assuming it adjusts itself accordingly to the amount of light/surroundings? If I were to manually select a setting i.e Landscape or Sports would I need to adjust any settings within that setting to get the best picture quality? I'm a bit concerned that I'll touch a setting that will mess up the picture (if thats possible) as I don't know what I'm doing!

2) I will be doing a lot of videos outdoors including landscape pictures, close up plants, water shots, moving fish etc and have noticed there are 2 video qualities 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720. Is there a dramatic difference in quality? I understand the frame rate differs as different countries have different TV formats which won't really affect me outdoors.

3) Scenario - I have a decent sized fish and struggle to take a picture within the 10 seconds auto timer (I have an air switch to help me take a picture but follow the scenario :)), can I record myself and the fish via video then save a frame of the video as a photo or will I get a much higher quality picture via the auto setting?

4) How do I focus on the background (initially out of focus) after focusing on the object closer in (initially in focus) during a video?

5) Will the 18-55 mm lens be sufficient enough for what I intend to use the camera for? I'm assuming the bigger the lens the better quality long range photos will be?

6) Are there any other camera accessories that could improve my photos?

Im certain that after I have used the camera for a while I will get my head around the settings and should of probably trawled through the manual before asking this questions but the manual is a bit of the long side :)

Thank you for any advice given,

Mike

:)

[the black fox]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

I think to start with you need to RTFM ,then practise a bit digital is free so experiment a lot with settings ,till the effects you want become second nature .it looks like you will be just shooting in jpeg so there's not much needed in the way of computer processing advise ..you have a broad spectrum of wants with the camera so it's really hard to advise ,but basically a better lens will give better pics but you have to know the intended use before laying out a lot of money .
Buy some books and magazines read a lot till you have a clearer idea of of your intended use .sounds like you will learn quickly .just take the time to learn what we are talking about with settings terminology and it will all fall into place .remember the camera will only work within limitations but you still have to control it to set those limits

[MIKEYTAKER]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Thank you for the reply black fox.

Im certain the camera I own is already way advanced for my skills.

Im looking forward to giving in a run tomorrow, I'll post some pictures up tomorrow for you to see.

Mike

:)

[Richard W]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

If you want to learn the basics of the 700D you could do worse than invest £7.95 in the ebook by Nina Bailey, from the EOS Magazine store :

http://www.eos-magazine.com/ebooks/es/master-EOS-700D.html

Don't be in a hurry to change the lens, the 18 - 55 STM is much better than most people give it credit for. My favourite test site Photozone.de says :
"Most readers will probably look at the MTF/resolution charts in disbelief - and honestly so did we. The results are great and that's throughout the focal length range and at all relevant aperture settings." These charts essentially measure the sharpness of image you can get from a lens, again don't be convinced by people who have very expensive lenses that you must have them to get decent images, you don't.

The only thing I'd say is that you might not get much advice about video use here as most of us only take still images.

[Swanny48]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

If you want to learn the basics of the 700D you could do worse than invest £7.95 in the ebook by Nina Bailey, from the EOS Magazine store :
http://www.eos-magazine.com/ebooks/e...-EOS-700D.html

Agree, the videos from the same shop are pretty good too.

John

[Daisy M]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Mike like you I have 1/ a 700D. 2/ Am an angler & 3/ fairly new to this. My advice is to just get out with the camera, experiment with as many settings as you can, read loads & come on this great forum for as much advice as you want, somebody will always be able to help you. Dave

[MIKEYTAKER]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Hi daisy, thank you for the advice. Thank you also to swanny/Richard. I'm sure once I'm out on the bank having a play around I'll get settled. My tripod arrived today so need to pick it up. It's raining in sunny stevenage today so I won't be adventuring outside after all

[Jock]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

I have a 700D which I've had for a few years now. I have a selection of lenses taking me from 14mm right out to 400mm. Recently, I started to use the 18-55 again and you know what? It's a great little lens! It sounds like for what you're doing it'll be ideal, but then I've never done any angling photos and very little in the way of video.

I'd second The Black Fox's advice though - get out there and practice, read the manual and practice, then read the manual again. Practice using manual focus with the tripod and remember to turn IS off when you're on the tripod!

[MIKEYTAKER]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Thanks jock for the input.

What is IS?

Is there a great difference between manual and auto focus? Is auto focus used if you are struggling to hold the camera steady and are not in a fixed position i.e. On a tripod?

[collywobbles]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Image Stablisation. There's a switch on the lens body. This helps when taking photos at slower shutter speeds (to some extent)Just remember to switch it back on when hand holding!
It may be useful to use auto while you're learning but some of the semi-auto modes are far more useful when you have a little more experience.
i e aperture priority (AV) or shutter speed priority (TV)

[Richard W]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Your questions suggest that you really don't know anything about the camera, they are so basic. IS and autofocus are about the first things you would find out about.To be frank, unless you work your way through at least the first part of the manual, or get some sort of instruction guide, you will struggle to make any progress at all. Learning to use a DSLR takes a bit of work and study even for the basics.

[MIKEYTAKER]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Thanks a lot pal! I'm off fishing tomorrow for the day. Will hopefully have some snaps to show you.

Mike

[malgpz900]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

RTFM

One to remember for the future.
Malcolm

[Jock]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Just curious Mike - how did it go? (I don't want pictures of the one that got away! :-)

[the black fox]

Re: General use of Canon EOS 700D

Yep love to see something fishy