Canon EOS 40D: Creative Zone

Series Summary

Introduced in 1987, the Canon EOS (Electro-Optical-System) is a popular system of interchangeable camera bodies, lenses and flashes. By 2007, more than 40 EOS camera models had been released. The main competition for this series is the Nikon F series, though the EOS models are more affordable, as well as more popular in most countries. The 40D is a midrange digital SLR camera with professional features, perfect for the advanced photographer who can't quite afford or justify spending the money for a pro model. The digital camera presents photographers with new tools, and new challenges for taking great photos. And part of becoming a great photographer is mastering the features and capabilities of your camera of choice.

In this series of free camera lessons, you will learn to use the advanced auto features of the Canon EOS 40D, such as shutter and aperture priority auto focus. Our expert will also demonstrate professional techniques such as exposure bracketing and bulb exposures. If all of the automated modes seem overwhelming, there is also a manual mode.

Video Transcript

"Alright we're talking about the Canon 40D again, and we're moving from the basic modes to the more advanced operation modes of the camera. Canon kind of has separated most of the modes into two areas. One is the basic zone which is on the lower half of this dial here. Most of these basic zones have an icon that is, looks very different from the creative zone modes. The creative zone is indicated by letters for the most part. The creative zone includes a program mode which automatically sets your exposure settings with ISO speed, aperture and shutter speed, but a lot of other options that weren't available, available to you in the basic zone are now available to you in the program mode. The next mode is the shutter priority mode and it's indicated by a T, upper case T and a lower case V. The shutter priority mode is, just gives you the option to set the shutter speed manually and then the aperture is set automatically based on what the camera thinks would be a good exposure, and then the next mode is the aperture priority, or A, lower case B. This mode gives you the control to manually set the aperture and then the exposure for the shutter speed will automatically be set, and the final mode is. There are two more modes. The next mode here is the manual mode, and this mode allows you to set both the aperture and the shutter, shutter speed according to your needs. The very last mode here that we have in the creative zone is the automatic depth of field mode, and that mode will look at all of the objects on the focusing points in your finder sensor and set the exposure settings in order to give you the optimum depth of field for all of those subjects to be in focus. One thing you'll need to do before operating in these creative modes is make sure that you set your on/off switch all the way up to activate this quick control dial. Once you flip that all the way up there's a little line pointing up to your quick control dial. Once the quick control switch is flipped all the way up to make that quick control dial active, you'll have control over all of the settings that you, that you would want to have control over in these creative zones."