Canon 60D Issues

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I've just bought a 60D and it seems a good bit of kit, but I had a few issues with it last night;

1) It would not take a shot at night using the rear screen, I had to flick to the view finder to get the shot, which meant the picture was poorly framed because it was a photo of myself. In daylight it seemed to work ok. Does anyone know why this is?

2) Also when I'm looking at the pictures back the shots don't rotate when I turn the camera 90°s from landscape to portrate, should the 60D do this? Most other cameras seem to.
 
I can't say i meet any of these problems try reading the book or wait for another member to help you.

1) It would not take a shot at night using the rear screen, I had to flick to the view finder to get the shot. Why did you use a tripod to take the picture of yourself? can you explain more about the rear screen please.
 
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The autofocus issue is almost certainly down to the kind of AF used. In live view, the default AF mode is contrast detect (or called 'Live AF' on the Canon I think). This isn't as accurate or powerful as phase detect AF (called 'Quick AF' I think). Your camera will use phase detect all the time when shooting through the viewfinder, but during live view it requires that the mirror be flipped up and the screen go black while the AF sensors are exposed, before taking the picture. This is why contrast detect AF is used by standard in live view, which allows the image to stay on the screen while focusing is taking place. To change to phase detect, press the AF button by the top screen and select 'Quick AF' rather than 'Live AF'. This will give you quicker, more accurate focusing with the slight downside that the screen goes black for a moment while focusing.

As far as your other problem is concerned - do you mean that images shot in portrait are sideways when viewing them rather than being turned the right way up? This is a simple menu setting, go to the first yellow (spanner no.1) section in the menu where you should see the option 'Auto Rotate'. This gives you three choices - auto rotate off, auto rotate on camera review but original orientation when transferred to your computer, or auto rotate for both camera review and when transferred to your computer. I have it set to the third as it's the most convenient for me.
 
Can you not adjust the exposure till it looks good on the screen ie upp the iso?
 
The autofocus issue is almost certainly down to the kind of AF used. In live view, the default AF mode is contrast detect (or called 'Live AF' on the Canon I think). This isn't as accurate or powerful as phase detect AF (called 'Quick AF' I think). Your camera will use phase detect all the time when shooting through the viewfinder, but during live view it requires that the mirror be flipped up and the screen go black while the AF sensors are exposed, before taking the picture. This is why contrast detect AF is used by standard in live view, which allows the image to stay on the screen while focusing is taking place. To change to phase detect, press the AF button by the top screen and select 'Quick AF' rather than 'Live AF'. This will give you quicker, more accurate focusing with the slight downside that the screen goes black for a moment while focusing.

As far as your other problem is concerned - do you mean that images shot in portrait are sideways when viewing them rather than being turned the right way up? This is a simple menu setting, go to the first yellow (spanner no.1) section in the menu where you should see the option 'Auto Rotate'. This gives you three choices - auto rotate off, auto rotate on camera review but original orientation when transferred to your computer, or auto rotate for both camera review and when transferred to your computer. I have it set to the third as it's the most convenient for me.

Thanks that explains the first part exactly, cheers.

I have played with the rotate settings, but it will only rotate when I flip the screen. It won't change automatically from landscape to portrate, ie. if I take a shot in potrate it will only display it in landscape with black blocks on each side and when I turn the camera 90°s it remains the same and doesn't rotate round. If that makes sense?
 
I probably should have explained that I'm an angler, so when I catch a big fish at night when no one is about I have to take shots of me and the fish using the tripod. On my old camera I could frame the picture with the flip round screen before I take it, but using the view finder leads to guess work and I don't have time to mess about with a fish out of water.
 
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