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We can’t overstate the popularity of Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel XT—it has enough owners to populate a small country. Its responsive performance and ability to turn out high-quality photos make it the consumer DSLR of choice for hordes of serious amateur photographers.
Relative to its competition, the XT offers a modest array of settings, fine-tuning tools, and effects. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to the XT than first meets the eye. We’ve taken a fine-toothed comb to it, teasing out essentials and esoterica that you won’t find in the manual or even by thoroughly searching the menu system.
Although we were able to find some hidden tricks, Canon provides rich documentation. The manual is clearly written, well organized, and printed in a book compact enough for a camera bag or a big pocket. The software manual, on a CD, is equally thorough and concise. Both the camera and software manuals relegate some important points to boxes at the bottom of the page, so don’t skip the footnotes. If you lose your manual, you can find the text in the Support section of Canon’s web site (www.canonusa.com), along with other related material.
Here are 10 tips for getting a whole lot more out of your XT:
1. Focus without fumbling
Instead of missing your shot while cycling through autofocus points with the command dial, you can set the four-way controller to select them directly. Go to Custom Function 1 in the menu system, and select Option 4. Use your right thumb to locate the four-way controller arrow keys and center Set button as you shoot. That way, you don’t have to look away from the viewfinder to pick a new autofocus point. The AF points flash red as you push the buttons.
Still want to use the four-way arrow keys to access camera settings as usual? Hold an arrow key (the Jump key and a few other buttons will work, too) until the viewfinder information display goes dark, then hit an arrow.
To set AF points automatically, press the AF-point selection button. You can also use Custom Function 1 to program the Set button for access to playback and Quality and Parameter settings.
2. Do the time lapse again
Time-lapse photography holds all sorts of creative possibilities, from assembling a high-resolution movie to capturing the changes in an opening flower or a busy street corner. You won’t find any interval shooting option on the XT itself, but you can connect the camera to a computer and set up the initial delay and intervals between shots in the included EOS Capture software. To access, select Remote Capture in the software, and click on the Tool pulldown menu in the window that controls your camera settings. You can delay the first shot for up to 99 minutes, 59 seconds, and set intervals between shots of 5 seconds to 99 minutes, 59 seconds.
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