Beginner Canon cheat Sheets

vids76

vids76

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Hi,
I'm new to this site and am trying to work my Canon 600D camera out.
Does anyone know where I can find the cheat sheets for the camera?

Thanks in advance.
 
Cheat sheets?
 
vids76 said:
Sorry I am after cheat sheets for my C Camera.
Click to expand...

What is a cheat sheet for the camera?

Did your camera come with a Manual? It's a great start.

It might also have had a 'pocket guide'
 
IMG_4403.JPG Phil,
It would look something like the attached picture.
I just need help learning with my camera
 
vids76 said:
View attachment 94887 Phil,
It would look something like the attached picture.
I just need help learning with my camera
Click to expand...
That sheet isn't model specific, so it does the job, the picture of the control dial may look slightly different, but nothing that changes the rest of the info.
 
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Sorry that was a bad example by me.
There are canon specs that'll help you with setting for certain situations.
Idiot proof.
 
vids76 said:
Sorry that was a bad example by me.
There are canon specs that'll help you with setting for certain situations.
Idiot proof.
Click to expand...
There aren't any 'specs that'll help you with setting for certain situations.'. Photography doesn't work like that.

The vague guidance on that sheet is as close as you'll get.

Think of learning photography like learning to play a musical instrument. You can either lean on technical perfection with little artistry, or go for artistry with only a small amount of technical prowess, but ATEOTD you'll need a bit of both to do anything interesting.
 
Thanks Paul W.H
I have seen that website before but never known anyone who used it.
I have just ordered a copy for my camera.

Even Thomas Heaton uses cheat sheets.
 
Thanks Phil,
I think I just need a nudge at times and not be lazy with the settings.
I can spot a good composition for the picture it's just the settings.
 
Phil V is talking sense. I'm not sure that you will learn much about photography from a "cheat sheet". If you are serious about the subject you need to gain an in depth knowledge of why you set up your camera in a certain way for your subject, conditions and intended shot. To merely use settings by rote is going to produce nothing of technical or artistic merit.
 
I understand that yellowbelly,
It's just to get a feel of what to do and why we do it.
I'm trying to work out settings and thought I'd got one right until I went out last week and my screen was totally white after taking a photo.
 
vids76 said:
I understand that yellowbelly,
It's just to get a feel of what to do and why we do it.
I'm trying to work out settings and thought I'd got one right until I went out last week and my screen was totally white after taking a photo.
Click to expand...

Again, nothing to do with the brand of your camera.

Just learn what to press or twist to change the shutterspeed, aperture, and ISO and don't worry about the rest. That's all you need on any camera to take any photo you want.
 
Paul W. H said:
For me it not so much learning but remembering. I am rapidly heading for 70 and I am a Blue Badge Holder and my brain does not always work the way I want it to, and sometimes it drives me nuts. Having a Cheat Sheet handy helps a lot.
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I fully understand. I'm only a few years behind you and I am shedding brain cells at an alarming rate. I have to write down a shopping list of three items these days!
 
vids76 said:
I understand that yellowbelly,
It's just to get a feel of what to do and why we do it.
I'm trying to work out settings and thought I'd got one right until I went out last week and my screen was totally white after taking a photo.
Click to expand...

Before you press the shutter, you can see your exposure setting on the scale at the bottom of the viewfinder.

Can I ask, were you shooting M by accident? Or maybe even on purpose because you wanted to be 'in control'?
 
I was shooting M Mode and changed F Stop, Shunter & ISO as I thought I could have got a better sky / water but ended up with a white screen.
 
vids76 said:
I was shooting M Mode and changed F Stop, Shunter & ISO as I thought I could have got a better sky / water but ended up with a white screen.
Click to expand...
Let's see if I can say it before @Phil V does: That's not what M mode is for.

Your camera has an enormously sophisticated metering system that will get the exposure right far more often than you can. If it's not quite right, mostly it's only out by a little bit, and that's what the exposure compensation controls are for. The time to use M mode is in circumstances when you think it will have got it totally wrong - but that requires you to understand the meter's strengths and weaknesses.
 
Thanks Stewart.
I have a lot to learn, I followed a YouTube clip and it turned out wrong.
 
I remember doing similar things when I was starting and getting very frustrated. What exactly were you trying to achieve? It sounds like you were trying to get water to blur, or am i reading that wrong?

There are modes that let you take control of certain things like the shutter speed or aperture, but then adjust the other settings to compensate for the proper exposure so that you won't end up with any more white images.
 
That's exactly what I was trying to do Craigus
but like I said got it horribly wrong.
 
Okay, I know this may seem like a lot of reading and may seem complex, but have a read of this. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm

If you can grasp the principles set out in there then you will know all you ever really need to know. Yes, there are a lot of other things that come into it later, but like I said, if you can grasp the concept of the exposure triangle you will understand exactly why your images look a certain way and can then correct your settings accordingly.
 
Ah the days of learning on an old manual film camera with just a needle to indicate exposure. A great lesson in the holy trinity of shutter speed, Aperture and ISO

How about having a play with a camera simulator to help you understand the combined effects of the three
http://camerasim.com/
 
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vids76 said:
That's exactly what I was trying to do Craigus
but like I said got it horribly wrong.
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If you were trying to blur water in reasonable light, you'd need an ND filter to cut the amount of light entering the lens.

Lots to learn but remember to nail the basics. Like anything else, a solid understanding of the basics helps with the advanced stuff.
 
If you are trying to get water to blur, you're going to need a long exposure, 10-30seconds or more, but to do that in daytime, you either need a very very dull day or you need a strong ND filter. Without that the long exposure will allow too much light into the camera and hence give you a white screen.

So what it sounds like you want is not so much a "cheat sheet" as above, but some idea of starting point settings for a particular type of image.
A guide like this might help for that specific type of image: https://photography.tutsplus.com/tu...de-to-shooting-long-exposure-water--cms-24556

As with lots of things, you might start with some basic settings (eg ISO100, f8, 15sec) but use the meter in the camera to judge if it's going to be too bright or too dark and adjust till the exposure is right. The advantage of digital is that after waiting 20seconds to take the photo, you can at least see if it worked and adjust settings.
The first time I tried this sort of photography I didn't have a strong enough ND filter, so I bought a stronger one, what's known as a "10-stop" because it allows you to slow your shutter speed down by 10 stops.
 
Sounds like you were going for a long exposure to give that smooth, milky water look. I sure the settings were correct to do that, but those settings don't take into account of how bright the day was. You have (not the camera) completely over exposed the shot. In the viewfinder at the bottom is the exposure scale, the pointer moves to the left or right depending on your settings. The further to the left the more under exposed and the further to the right the more over exposed a shot will be.
I'm not sure a cheat sheet would have helped you here. You needed a long exposure, but without a nd filter on the lens, you will just let in too much light.
 
Thanks,
There's a lot of info been put on here to read.
I will read it later.

How come it took me so long to find this site? Haha
 
vids76 said:
Even Thomas Heaton uses cheat sheets.
Click to expand...

Really? I suspect you are referring to the little card that comes with the little and big stopper which helps calculate the additional exposure time required when using the filter.

I have a lot to learn, I followed a YouTube clip and it turned out wrong.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why cheat sheets are not a good idea (even if they do exist). Somebody elses camera settings will rarely work for your photo and is why Thomas Heaton very rarely talks about his settings when capturing an image.
 
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vids76 said:
Thanks,
There's a lot of info been put on here to read.
I will read it later.

How come it took me so long to find this site? Haha
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Well you are here now

7 or 70 we all start somewhere the same - the beginning.

Loads of great people on here. I picked up a camera atbthe age pf 7 in 1962.

I am not ashamed to say that I learn something new or challenging on this forum every day that feeds into my photograhy.

Keep at it


Steve
 
The link craigus has posted is a good one and exactly what I was thinking of. Camera settings start to become obvious once you understand the relationships between shutter/aperture/ISO and the effect it will have on the final image. Also don't get too hung up on using Manual, ignore anyone who tells you that 'real' photographers use manual. I tend to use either Av or Tv dependant on what I want to control.

Av - To control depth of field (how much is in focus), think about those portraits with the nice blurred backgrounds or landscapes where everything is in focus. Nb. Keep an eye on the shutter speed to ensure you don't get camera shake.

Tv - to control the pace of action, either freeze a bird in flight or blur flowing water, capture the movement of a car (motion blur when panning).

You can then tweak with exposure compensation if it is still a little under/over exposed (I typically have about +2/3 compensation set on my 5d3, but this is personal taste). The only time I use manual is with Off Camera Flash but this is a whole chapter in itself.

Ultimately the best way to learn is to take lots and lots of photos and trying different settings until you can adjust settings to get the desired outcome without having to think about it. Remember digital photos cost nothing to throw away.
 
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You don't need cheat sheets, you need to learn exposure, that way you would understand why you have a white photo and know how not to do it again.

The link above (the Cambridge in colour one) is very good, start there.
 
John & Mortimerhill,
Thomas Heaton is a young great photographer.
He has a YouTube channel and takes some great pictures.

Nawty,
I have the cheat sheets and they are just a reminder of what your camera does rather then showing any real cheats. I've read the Cambridge in colour and it makes sense though will have to read it a few more times to sink in.

Stryvya,
Thank you, I will definitely check out that course.
 
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