Lowrie - Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

Charlotte K. Lowrie

Canon EOS 7D Digital Field Guide

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Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-52129-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Charlotte K. Lowrie is a professional photographer and award-winning writer based in the Seattle, Wash., area. She has more than 25 years of photography experience ranging from photojournalism and editorial photography to stock and wedding shooting. Her images have appeared in national magazines, newspapers, and on a variety of Web sites including MSN.com, www.takegreatpictures.com, and the Canon Digital Learning Center.

Charlotte currently divides her time among maintaining an active photography business, teaching photography, and writing books and magazine articles. Charlotte is the author of 13 books including the bestselling Canon EOS 50D Digital Field Guide and eight other Digital Field Guides, and she co-wrote Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers. In addition, she teaches monthly online photography courses at BetterPhoto.com. Visit her Web site at wordsandphotos.org.

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This book is dedicated in loving memory to my Dad, who taught me to pursue excellence, and it is dedicated to God, an unfailing source of inspiration and insight.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my long-time group of photographer friends, especially Ellen, Peter, Jon, and Rob. Our ongoing discussions of images, ideas, and insights is invaluable. And, of course, thanks to my family for their unfailing support.

Introduction

If youre reading this introduction in a bookstore as you try to decide which of many books on the Canon EOS 7D to buy, or if you bought the book sight unseen, this is the place to learn what to expect in this Digital Field Guide.

This book assumes that you already own the Canon EOS 7D digital SLR. And if youve used the 7D for any amount of time, then you know that the camera offers superb image quality and speedy performance at 8 frames per second. With the addition of high-resolution 1080i video, the 7D truly becomes a multimedia story-telling tool that opens new doors to creative expression. Under the hood of the 7D, you get the latest iteration of Canons venerable DIGIC processor with 14-bit processing for smooth tonal gradations, rich color, an expanded ISO range up to 6400 or expanded to 12800, Live View shooting, and loads of handy customization options.

In the Canon DSLR lineup, the 7D provides an ideal segue for serious photographers who want to advance their work photographers who also expect a full complement of creative controls and high resolution in a light-weight, easy-to-use camera all of which the 7D offers. For professional photographers, the 7D is a fine second camera body or even primary camera that is versatile enough to shoot even the most demanding assignments.

The challenge for new 7D photographers is putting to use all that the camera has to offer in everyday shooting. Thats what this book is designed to do to be your go-to resource. Here youll learn not only what the camera features and options are, but also get suggestions on when and how to use them all without needing to refer back to the camera manual.

You probably have a good sense of the power of the EOS 7D by now, but you may be using only a few of the individual features. This book offers practical suggestions for setting up the camera for specific subjects and scenes so that you use a full set of features in combination. You can use the suggestions as described, or you can use them as jumping-off points for your specific shooting needs. Either way, putting the cameras full power to work for you makes your shooting more efficient so that you can concentrate on the creative work of exploring subjects, lighting, and composition.

Any photography book that you buy should have staying power; in other words, it should be useful to you now and months or years from now. So with that in mind, the book includes both basic and advanced shooting techniques so that both get started quickly and explore the bevy of advanced features as you have time.