Rear of camera controls

As previously mentioned the new three inch LCD monitor has forced the control buttons from their old position down the left edge of the screen to a row of five below and the menu button above. The 'new addition' (apart from AF-ON which we've already covered) is the new dedicated Picture Style button which is used to display the Picture Style selection / adjustment screen. Lastly let's not forget to mention the least useful button, direct print, which is still not customizable.

Shooting mode

Button
Operation
Enter / Leave the Menu

The camera menu is described on the following pages of this review. [clip]
Information

Displays current camera settings / information (two styles are available). [clip]
Picture Style

Displays the Picture Style selection / adjustment screen. [clip]
Multi-selector

By default the multi-selector has no function on its own, however you can customize it to provide direct selection of AF point via C.Fn III-3.
Quick Control Dial

With the power switch in the third position (one step past ON) the Quick Control Dial can be used to change exposure compensation (steps depend on C.Fn I-1).
SET button

If Live View is enabled pressing SET enters or leaves live view mode otherwise this button by default has no function in shooting mode, however it can be configured to one of four different functions via C.Fn IV-3.

Play mode

Button
Operation
Enter / Leave the Menu

The camera menu is described on the following pages of this review. [clip]

Information

Press to change the type and level of information shown along with the image:

 • Large image + status line (shutter speed, aperture, comp, filename, card)
 • Large image + status line + image size & quality + image number
 • Small image + status line + lum histogram + detailed shooting info
 • Small image + status line + lum histogram + RGB histogram + detailed shooting info

Jump mode

Image browsing on the EOS 40D is slightly different to the EOS 30D, the quick control dial (rear) browses images one at a time, the main dial (top) jumps using the chosen jump mode. Pressing the JUMP button allows you to change jump mode:

 • Jump 1 image
 • Jump 10 images
 • Jump 100 images
 • Screen
 • Date

Play

Displays the last image taken (or the last image on the card). The EOS 40D is a shooting priority camera, which means that no matter what is displayed on the rear LCD this will be canceled if any of the camera's photographic functions (example half-pressing the shutter release or AF-ON) are accessed.
Erase

Press to erase the current image, displays an OK / Cancel dialog.
Quick Control Dial

Turn the Quick Control Dial to browse through images (the main dial can be used to jump images).

Lens mount controls

On the side of the lens mount are the final set of camera controls. First is the flash open button, a press of this (in the correct mode) will pop-up the onboard flash. Next down is the lens release button and below this the depth of field preview button which stops the lens down to the indicated / selected aperture to give a preview of DOF in the viewfinder.