Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi Review: 7. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls

Controls on the top of the EOS 400D are all found on the right side within reach of your index finger or thumb. At the top of this shot we can see the shutter release button (soft half-press, click full-press), main dial, exposure mode dial, power switch and two 'under your thumb buttons'; AE lock and AF point select. (This is exactly the same control layout as the EOS 350D).

Basic zone exposure modes

Full Auto and the six scene exposure modes are collectively referred to as the 'Basic Zone', in this 'Zone' certain settings are either fixed, limited or unavailable, as shown in this table. Variable settings are detailed in the second table. In the basic zone the camera will indicate that blur may occur because of slow shutter speeds, it does so by blinking the shutter speed on the LCD and viewfinder status bar.

Fixed settings	Fixed or limited settings	Unavailable settings
Metering mode (Evaluative)	AF mode	Custom functions
Color space (sRGB)	Drive mode	AE lock
Flash compensation (0 EV)	Flash mode	Bracketing
Exposure compensation (0 EV)	Picture Style	RAW image format
ISO sensitivity (Auto)
White balance (Auto)
Focus point selection (Auto)

Limited variable settings in Basic zone

Basic zone mode	AF mode	Drive mode	Flash mode	Picture Style
Fully Automatic Exposure Camera has complete control over exposure, point-and-shoot operation.	AI Focus	• Single • Self-Timer	• Auto • Red-eye	Standard
Portrait Apertures are kept as large as possible (small F number) to produce a shallow Depth of Field (blurred background).	One Shot	• Continuous • Self-Timer	• Auto • Red-eye	Portrait
Landscape Apertures as small as possible (large F numbers) for the largest depth of field.	One Shot	• Single • Self-Timer	• Off	Landscape
Close-up (Macro) Aperture is kept to a medium setting to ensure the subject DOF is deep enough but the background is blurred.	One Shot	• Single • Self-Timer	• Auto • Red-eye	Standard
Sports Shutter speed is kept as high as possible to ensure capture of fast moving objects.	AI Servo	• Continuous • Self-Timer	• Off	Standard
Night Scene Allows for slow shutter speeds combined with flash to illuminate foreground and background.	One Shot	• Single • Self-Timer	• Auto • Red-eye	Standard
Flash off Disables internal and external flash for taking automatic slow exposures.	AI Focus	• Single • Self-Timer	• Off	Standard

Creative zone exposure modes

The five exposure modes will be more familiar to (and preferred) by most prosumer / professionals. All menu functions and camera settings are available in these modes and can be used in any combination.

Icon	Description
	Program Auto Exposure (Flexible) Very similar to AUTO exposure but you have access to all the normal manual controls, can set the ISO, exposure compensation, use AE lock, bracketing etc. The Program AE is flexible which means that you can select one of a variety of equal exposures by turning the main dial. Example: • 1/30 F2.8 (metered) • 1/20 F3.2 (turn left one click) • 1/15 F4.0 (turn left two clicks) etc.
	Shutter Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will calculate the correct aperture for the exposure (depending on metered value; metering mode, ISO). Shutter speed is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the LCD panel, turn the main dial to select different shutter speeds. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the aperture, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the aperture will blink. Available shutter speeds below in 1/3 stop increments, 1/2 stop increments can be selected via custom function 6. 1/4000, 1/3200, 1/2500, 1/2000, 1/1600, 1/1250, 1/1000, 1/800, 1/640, 1/500, 1/400, 1/320, 1/250, 1/200, 1/160, 1/125, 1/100, 1/80, 1/60, 1/50, 1/40, 1/30, 1/25, 1/20, 1/15, 1/13, 1/10, 1/8, 1/6, 1/5, 1/4, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.3, 1.6, 2, 2.5, 3.2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 20, 25, 30 sec
	Aperture Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will calculate the correct shutter speed for the exposure (depending on metered value; metering mode, ISO). Aperture is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the LCD panel, turn the main dial to select different apertures. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the shutter speed, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will blink. Available apertures depend on the lens used, the list below represent 1/3 stop increments, 1/2 stop increments can be selected via custom function 6. F1.0, F1.1, F1.2, F1.4, F1.6, F1.8, F2.0, F2.2, F2.5, F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, F4.0, F4.5, F5.0, F5.6, F6.3, F7.1, F8.0, F9.0, F10, F11, F13, F14, F16, F18, F20, F22, F25, F29, F32, F36, F40, F45, F51, F57, F64, F72, F81, F91
	Full Manual Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above (plus BULB for shutter speed, apertures limited by the lens used). Turn the main dial to select shutter speed, hold the Av/exposure compensation button and turn the main dial to select aperture. If you change the exposure the meter graphic on the viewfinder status bar and LCD will reflect the exposure level compared to the metered exposure, if it's outside of +/- 2EV the indicator bar will blink either + or -.
	Automatic Depth-Of-Field AE This mode, seen before on other Canon EOS cameras automatically controls the depth of field to ensure that all the subjects covered by the focusing points, from those close to the camera to those far away from the camera remain sharply defined (are within the depth of field). Note that AF mode is always 'One-Shot' and AF point selection 'Auto'.

Shooting mode buttons

Button	Operation
	AE / FE Lock Press to trigger automatic exposure and lock the exposure for the next shot. Hold the button to lock the exposure for more than one shot. The exact function of this button can be set via custom function 4 (see below).
	AF point selection button Press to choose change AF point selection, press the SET button to switch between automatic or manual point selection, use the cursor buttons or main dial to select the point in manual mode. [clip]

Play mode buttons

Button	Operation
	Thumbnail index / reduce magnification If in single view play mode, pressing this button will switch to a 3 x 3 thumbnail index. If already magnified it will step back in magnification levels once.
	Magnify Press to magnify the current image, there are fifteen steps up to a maximum magnification of 10x. Use the cursor buttons to scroll around the image while magnified. It is possible to browse images while maintaining magnification by simply turning the main dial.

Shutter button / AE lock button (custom function 4)

Sports photographers prefer to use setting 1 or 3 where you can control when the camera AF executes, a simple press of your thumb will start AF, then you can fire off as many shots as you like (more quickly obviously) without the camera refocusing, plus you can manual focus once the AF has completed.

Custom Function 4
Setting	Shutter button half-press	AE Lock button
0	AE, AF	AE lock
1	AE lock (shutter release priority)	AE, AF
2	AE, AF	AF lock (no AE lock)
3	AE (shutter release priority)	AE, AF (no AE lock)

Bookmark:	Digg	del.icio.us	Reddit	Google

Actions:	< Previous	Next >	Print page

Please wait, fetching latest prices.