Posted May 29th, 2009
by Fred Gagnon
by Fred Gagnon
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR is equipped with 10.1 Megapixel Canon CMOS sensor and DIGIC II Image processor. It has large 2.5-inch LCD monitor with approximately 230,000 pixels, and new user interface and wide viewing angle. The startup time only takes 0.2 second and it can shoot up to 3 frames per second, 27 frames in burst. It has the high-precision 9-point AF system and features Picture Style settings for a broad range of control over color, contrast and sharpening.
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR camera has a strong, lightweight body that is newly refined with better ergonomics and an improved grip. It also has the Integrated Cleaning System, with both hardware and software solutions to reduce dust that destroys image quality. It is the very first digital EOS SLR camera to feature this important technology. This camera was designed to deliver clean images by ensuring the sensor is free of dust and debris.
The Integrated Cleaning System cleans your camera in two ways, through Self Cleaning Sensor Unit and Dust Delete Data Detection. With the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit that uses ultrasonic vibration, dust is automatically removed. The Dust Delete Data Detection is a software that allows you to erase dust spots. It is included in the Digital Photo Professional (DPP) Version 2.2.
You can use Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR camera with over 60 EF and EF-S Lenses. These lenses have advanced features that help the camera deliver exceptional photographic performance. The L Series lenses feature Aspherical optics and fluorite elements. There are select lenses that feature Canon’s Image Stabilizer technology to minimize the effect of camera shake.
The E-TTL II flash metering system, which provides reliable flash output through several exposures, is also featured in the camera. Canon’s Speedlite 430EX, which suits the camera perfectly, enables high output flash. It includes a maximum guide number of 141 ft./43m at ISO 100. Sending color temperature information, the AF-assist Beam provides more accurate white balance.
Aside from the EF lenses and Speedlite flashes, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR camera is also compatible with other accessories. Among these accessories is the Battery Grip BG-E3 as well as the Semi Hard Case EH18-L. The battery grip adds a vertical shutter release, and can hold two NB-2LH Battery Packs. Canon’s Semi Hard Case EH18-L can accommodate the camera and a small zoom lens.
Canon EOS Digital Solution Disk (Version 13.0), which is included in the package, contains powerful system programs. These powerful system programs were added to perfect captured images and streamline the digital workflow. One is the Digital Photo Professional (Version 2.2), which is an image processing program for easy image layout and printing. With this program, processing of RAWS images is faster RAW image processing and previewing.
With Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR camera, you can experience remote controlled shooting, files transfer and linking using a computer. With the help of EOS Utility (Version 1.1) you can connect your camera to a computer via USB connection. Viewing and editing of JPEG and even RAW image files is easy with the ZoomBrowser EX (Version 5.7) for Windows and ImageBrowser (Version 5.7) for Mac OS X. The applications also offer a variety of options for printing.
Tags: camera, Cameras, canon camera, Canon digital camera, Canon EOS digital camera, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital SLR camera, digital camera, Digital Photography, digital slr camera, digital technology, DSLR, Photography, slr camera, technology Posted in Cameras
Posted April 15th, 2009
by Fred Gagnon
by Fred Gagnon
Canon Rebel XSi Digital SLR Camera is a 12.2-megapixel camera that belongs to Canons Electro-Optical System (EOS) line of digital SLR cameras. It has a fast power up time and the ability to shoot up to 3.5 frames per second. It comes with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens and a 3-inch 230,000-pixel TFT LCD monitor.
It features exposure control using 35-zone TTL full-aperture metering with four metering modes. These modes include spot, partial, center-weighted average, and evaluative metering. This function was built to analyze light, which enables you to choose the right exposure for your image.
It has EOS Integrated Cleaning System that removes dusts on the sensor by using ultrasonic vibration. This sensor is automatically activated whenever you turn the camera on or off. You can also manually activate this system by a special collar positioned around the sensor. Dusts can also be erased through Canon Digital Photo Professional version 3.3 or later software.
Canon Rebel XSi allows you to use a wide range of Canon lenses and accessories. Canon lenses can deliver unprecedented performance using the advanced optical expertise and micron-precision engineering. Canon accessories, such as the Canon Speedlite 430EX, can also be used with this camera. Canon Speedlite 450EX, with its tilting and swiveling head, can produce bounce flash.
To extend your Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR camera experience, Canon developed applications to aid you with your image problems. These applications are contained in a disc, which is included in the EOS package.
The disc includes Canons Zoom Browser EX for Windows (Version 6.1), which is also compatible with the new Windows Vista. Like the Image Browser for Macintosh OS X (Version 6.1), this software is used for viewing and editing JPEG and RAW image files. These applications are used to search image files and to rename single images or batches of files. Both offer options for printing, which rids you of having to use a separate image-editing program.
Digital Photo Professional (Version 3.3) is an image processing program that features Dust Delete Data Detection, an image cleaning tool. It has support for the different RGB color spaces and enables RAW image processing. It also enables high-speed previewing for real-time image adjustment.
Canon designed the EOS Utility (Version 2.3) for you to be able to connect your camera to a computer through USB. This application allows you to download file from the camera to the computer and vice versa. It also allows remote controlled shooting from the computer. You can also use it with Canons Zoom Browser/Image Browser or to Digital Photo Professional.
The disc also contains Raw Image Task (Version 2.8), which is compatible with Windows and Macintosh operating systems. It is an application that enables you to process RAW images. It has the same characteristics as Canons in-camera JPEG processing. Also included in the disc are the Picture Style editor (Version 1.0), Photo Stitch and PTP Twain Driver.
About the Author:
About the Author: Fred Gagnon is an expert on digital cameras. He has been a digital camera user for more than 40 years and has worked with many Canon Digital Camera aficionados. To learn more about Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR cameras go to
Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR Camera.
Tags: canon camera, Canon EOS 450D, Canon EOS Kiss X2, Canon Rebel XSi, Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR camera, digital camera, Digital Photography, Digital SLR, digital slr camera, digital technology, Photography, slr camera, technology, Travel Photography Posted in Photography
Posted April 10th, 2009
by Fred Gagnon
by Fred Gagnon
Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera is a digital SLR camera that bridges the gap between an entry-level camera and a professional-level camera. This digital single lens reflex camera employs high-speed with quality. It is a 15.1-megapixel camera with an APS-C size CMOS image sensor. It uses a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor with 920,000 (dots/VGA) pixels and 160 degrees wide angle viewing.
It is considered as one of the fastest cameras today as it can shoot up to 6.3 frames per second. Also it has fast start-up time and minimal shutter release time lag. It has Live View function to help you with subject focusing and the advanced DIGIC 4 image processor to provide you with images of finer details and more natural color reproduction.
It features 9-point high-precision Auto Focus, which uses cross-type points at f-stops of f/5.6 or faster. This Auto Focus features One-Shot AF, AI Focus AF, AI Servo AF and a lot more focus modes. In addition, a diagonally mounted cross-type sensor was incorporated. With this function, the camera can focus faster and more accurate, even under difficult lighting situations.
Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera has self cleaning sensor unit that minimizes dust and prevents it from accumulating in front of the image sensor. Using the low-pass filter, dusts are shaken off automatically by ultrasonic vibrations. Also, it has a protective coating that resists dusts from sticking to the sensor.
Another great feature is the Dust Delete Data Detection, which detects dust in the image file and analyzes its location and size. To erase the dusts in the image, you can use this software which is included in Digital Photo Professional (DPP) Version 3.3 or later software.
Featuring a new Creative Auto mode and an easy screen interface, you do not have to be a professional photographer to use it. However, Canon wants to give you the freedom of choosing your preferred reference. That is why the camera was designed with easy access options and includes a reference guide.
You can display your images on your TV with the HDMI or High Definition Multimedia Interface with Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera. The images are displayed in full high-resolution and in a full-frame 3:2 ratio on a High Definition TV with HDMI ports. Resolution is also automatically adjusted to match the TV to which the camera is connected.
The camera features a very reliable flash output because of its E-TTL II. The E-TTL II is a flash metering system that enables this camera to shoot even in bad lighting situations. You can also use it with other accessories such as the Canon Speedlite 430EX II flash. For additional software features, you can use the included Canon EOS Digital Solution Disk Version 17.0.
You can use the Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera with Canons EF and EF-S lenses. These lenses, which range from ultra-wide angle to super telephoto lenses, are designed with advanced technologies. These are made to give you unprecedented performance to maximize the quality of the camera.
About the Author:
About the Author: Fred Gagnon specializes in providing information on digital cameras. He has been a digital camera aficionado for more than 40 years and has worked with Canon Digital SLR Cameras. For more information on Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera visit
Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Camera.
Tags: canon camera, Canon digital SLR camera, Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera, Digital Photography, Digital SLR, digital slr camera, digital technology, DSLR, EOS 50D, hobbies: photography, Photography, slr camera, technology Posted in Photography
Posted December 10th, 2008
by Tim Harris
by Tim Harris
The purchase of a new Canon Camera can at times be trying as there are many technical terms which are foreign to a layperson. For a person to be able to make an informed choice, they will need to learn some of the terms that are commonly used. Terms like Pixels, DPI, PPI and white balance all are used to describe some of the qualities of a camera. This guide will seek to explain to you what a pixel is all about and how this term is used for rating a camera quality.
Pixel is the short for the term PIicture-Element. All Canon Digital Camera takes pictures and format them as small squares. A digital image might look seamlessly like a normal photograph but if you magnify it to a close range, it actually comprises of a mosaic of millions of small and different colored squares stitched together. Each pixel is further defined by 3 numbers from the range of 0 to 255 from the red, green and blue color channels. For example, a pixel can be defined by 35 red channel, 70 green channel and 255 blue channel. By using this coding system, there are 16 million possible combinations of color coding. In computer terminology, pixel colors are referred by an 8 bit (bytes) number. Therefore a computer will recognize the color of a pixel by 3 eight bytes numbers, a number for each of the 3 color channel.
Beside from using pixel counts for the display of digital images, nowadays, Digital Camera manufacturers also uses pixel counts to grade the capabilities of their digital cameras. Canon has digital cameras which range from 5 to 10 million pixels. They are normally classified as megapixels cameras because one mega pixels is equivalent to one million pixels. When we say a camera can take 5 megapixels pictures, this mean the digital image which the camera takes have 5 million pixels in it. The numbers of pixel a digital camera has is not important when the image is used displayed on a monitor. However when you need to print these images, the pixels do matter as the higher the picture count, the sharper and crisper the prints will be.
When taking into account pixel counts, it is also important to differentiate between “Total Pixels” or “Effective Pixels”. Total Pixels takes in consideration every pixel in an image. However, normally in the final image, the edge pixels are not used at all. Thus Effective Pixels refers to the numbers of pixels used after the edge pixels of the image are discarded.
Depending on the size of the pictures that you wanted to print, a 5 megapixels Canon camera, makes very good quality 5″ X 7″ printouts and decent 8″ X 10″ printouts. But if you are going to make 8″ X 10″ printouts most of the time, then a 8 megapixels or 10 megapixels Canon camera will be more ideal choice to purchase.
Tags: arts, Cameras, canon, canon camera, digital camera, entertainment, Photography, shopping Posted in Photography
Posted December 9th, 2008
by Tim Harris
by Tim Harris
When Harold Edgerton invented the modern electronic flash in 1931, the world of photography was revolutionized. The principle behind the electronic flash is that when you charged up a capacitor or condenser and release the energy through a flash light bulb (A glass bulb containing inert gases), a split second burst of light will occur. This output of light occurs instantly when you send power to the flash light bulb. Therefore you can control this output of light through regulating the duration of electrical pulses to be sent to the flash light bulb. Before the advert of modern electronics, the duration of electrical pulses used to be controlled by a component called the thvristor. Today, modern electrical circuitry has taken over the function of this component.
On the whole there are two ways to control the amount of light which enter the camera. By adjusting the shutter speed you can determine how long the exposure time is. The other way is to adjust the aperture of the lens. By doing so you will how much light will get to enter the camera. However Flash photography is different from normal photography. This is because of the speed of a burst of the flash light. The time taken for a burst of light takes only micro seconds. This time frame is so short that the speed of a mechanical shutter is no longer a relevant factor in determining the amount of light entering a camera except when the camera is programmed under the FP mode.
The speed of the camera’s shutter is only important when the ambient light is a continuous source. But the duration of a flash pulse is too brief for the camera mechanical shutter to even react to the change of light. Therefore the way to control the quantity of a flash pulse entering the camera is by:
Changing the lens aperture size. The aperture is the physical diaphragm of the camera lens and this control the quantity of light which enters the lens.
Adjust the distance between the subject and flash unit. This method is an application of the laws of physics. The further an object is from a light source, the less illuminated the object is.
You can also regulate the amount of light from a flash unit to a subject by using a diffuser. Of course, you have to consider the trouble of lugging around all these items on location.
By regulating the duration of electrical energy to be sent to the flash unit. By control the energy pulse, you control the duration of the flash burst. This allows you to determine how much light will be emitted to enter the camera. Nowadays, this is the principal way to control the electronic flash output.
In conclusion, this is the main principle of flash metering. The precise measure of flash metering is difficult and it requires years of experience before anyone can accurately judge the right duration for the electrical pulse to be sent to the flash unit. Nowadays, we are fortunate as camera like the Canon EOS digital camera fulfill this function automatically with modern electronics.
Tags: arts, Cameras, canon, canon camera, digital camera, entertainment, Photography, shopping Posted in Cameras
Posted December 6th, 2008
by Tim Harris
by Tim Harris
This guide will seek to provide you with an explanation of the various concepts and terms which are used which respect to Canon EOS flash photography.
Flash and Strobe
The main differences between a strobe and a flash are the use of terminology according to UK or US English. In the US, a strobe is a flash unit whereas in UK a strobe refers to anything emitting blinking lights. Another confusion in terms is the between “Speedlight” and “Speedlite”. Both are trade names of Nikon and Canon respectively used for their series of flash units.
Guide Number
The guide number is the maximum range of a flash unit when it gives out its flash pulse at its maximum setting. However, if you are using automatic flash metering, the number is not relevant. This number only becomes important when you are involved in manual flash settings.
EV (Exposure Value)
EV or Exposure value is the value used for deciding the sensitivity of the AF (Auto Focus) system or exposure metering which respect to film types or lenses. You need to combine the aperture and shutter speed together to get this value. For example, 1/125 and F2 is equal to EV9 which is also equivalent to F4 and 1/30.
Dedicated or Non dedicated flash units
Camera Manufacturers like Canon manufacture their own line of flash units to cater for their own range of cameras. The Canon line of flash units is known as the Speedlite series. These flash units are able to communicate with camera system thus allowing the photographers to enjoy more precision photography. They are called dedicated flash units. Non dedicated flash units are those flash units which are manufactured by third party manufacturers. They are usually generic and are not able to communicate with the camera system.
Shoe Mount
The rectangular slide-in socket which is usually located on top of the mirror or prism housing is known as the shoe mount. This mount is usually used for affixing the external flash unit to the camera. Sometimes it is called a Hot Shoe Mount as it has an electrical trigger to initiate the flash unit once the external flash is fixed to the camera. The Canon EOS Cameras have 4 additional contact points in the shoe mount which helps to transmit flash data from the trigger.
The Redeye Effect
When the light from a flash unit is reflected back into the camera off the walls of the retina, this will produce the Redeye effect which we always see in pictures taken in low ambient light conditions. This due to the fact that the low ambient light condition causes the pupils of the eyes to dilate bigger and the color red is because the retina walls are lined with red blood vessels.
Redeye Reduction
To overcome the problems of Redeye effects, you can increase the distance between the flash and the lens of the camera. Or you can also reflect the flash light off the walls instead of direct illumination on the subject. An alternative way is to get the subject to look at a bright light just before taking their picture. What this does is to cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate smaller resulting in less reflection from the retina.
Tags: arts, Cameras, canon, canon camera, digital camera, entertainment, Photography, shopping Posted in Cameras
Posted December 4th, 2008
by Tim Harris
by Tim Harris
Confusion always results when users of Canon EOS camera tries to use the various modes available without trying to understand how they work. This is because the Canon EOS Camera has different modes like AV (Aperture Priority), TV (Shutter Priority), Program (P) and Manual (M) mode to handle its operations. The differences in they way they handle flash illumination is more obvious especially when the ambient light is low. This guide will give you a brief rundown on the various modes so that you will have a better understanding. We are also assuming that the FP mode of the camera is not turn on.
The P (Program) Mode
Under the P mode, when the ambient light is low, the camera will be set to a high shutter speed to enable you to use the camera without a tripod stand. This is to enable you to avoid “motion blur” even though you are holding the camera with your hand. The P mode will work when the ambient light is low or high. When the ambient light is high, the camera makes the assumption that you will flash fill the foreground. Thus the flash will be low powered. If the ambient light is low, the camera will under the P mode will set the flash and the shutter speed appropriately to give the best possible result. Having said so, pictures taken under this condition will normally have a dark background.
The TV (Shutter Priority) Mode
With this mode, the Camera lets you decide the shutter speed instead. It will decide on the aperture priority settings to suit the shutter speed that you have chosen to make sure that the exposure level is correct. The flash pulse duration will be decided by the flash metering system. In essence the Camera will always function under fill flash mode when in TV mode. This is the opposite of the “P” mode. The Canon EOS system will also indicate to you if the background is too dark. You will see this warning when the Maximum aperture settings begin to blink in the viewfinder. If this happens, you have to reduce the shutter speed and use a tripod stand to hold the camera to avoid motion blurring.
AV (Aperture Priority) Mode
With this mode, you can fix the depth of field (DOF) by adjusting the lens aperture. The camera will determine the correct shutter speed for exposing the background to the correct level. The metering system will decide also how long the flash pulse should be. You have to note that if the shutter speed is low, you will need a tripod stand to prop up the camera instead of using your hands to hold the camera. This is because at low shutter speed, your pictures will end up having motion blur. Just like the TV mode, the camera operates fill flash mode. There are several cameras which have the exception to this mode. The canon EOS10/10s and the Canon Elan II/ EOS 50 models has a unique function will lets you lock the X-Sync speed to the Shutter Speed.
M (Manual ) Mode
Under this mode, you will specify both the shutter and aperture speed of the camera. You will also determine the exposure setting of the camera. The camera will, through the flash metering system, calculate the flash output to illuminate the fore-ground.
Tags: arts, Cameras, canon, canon camera, digital camera, entertainment, Photography, shopping Posted in Photography
