Canon 50D settings for HDR Photography

In previous posts (My Canon 50D settings and My Custom Function settings on the Canon 50D) I mentioned my Canon 50D settings for general photography.
For HDR photography I use many of the same settings. There are a few exceptions which I want to explain here.

Light metering
For HDR photography consider using spot metering to measure the total dynamic range of your image.
Determine the exposure needed for the darkest and lightest spots while maintaining a constant aperture. The lowest and highest shutter speed are the lower and upper bounds of the dynamic range to be captured.

Focusing Mode
I use the following settings:

• AF mode One Shot or AI Focus
• Custom Function IV-1:2 Metering start/Meter+AF Start
• Custom Function IV-2:1 AF-ON/AE lock button switch

‘Custom Function 'IV-1:2 Metering start/Meter+AF Start’ configures the Canon 50D to start focusing when a button on the back of the body is pressed (AF-On or the ‘star’ button) and not when the shutter button is half pressed. This way multiple photos can be made, while the focus is not altered.
‘Custom Function IV-2:1 AF-ON/AE lock button switch’ sets the ‘star’ button as the ‘start focusing’ button. I am using this configuration this because my previous Canon 350D body used the same button.

Live View
Consider using Live View while shooting the HDR sequence. This has several advantages:

• The mirror does not slap up and down. This minimizes camera shake which is especially handy during long exposures
• In Live View You can display a live histogram (press the FUNC button). This gives you an indication if you have exposed enough for the shadow detail.

Shooting Mode

Shooting the multiple photos can be done in several ways. 

When only three are needed, you can use auto exposure bracketing in conjunction with high speed continuous shooting. 

Manual shooting

In manual mode, I start shooting with the fastest shutter speed necessary.  

High Speed Continuous Shooting
I use high speed continuous shooting when I am shooting 3 pictures with automatic exposure bracketing (AEB).

Quick Mirror Lock-up Tip for Canon 50D

A quick tip on how to minimize camera shake during long exposures. The Canon 50D mirror lock-up function is buried somewhere in the menus. When you want to flip your mirror quickly just do this: use the Live View mode! Live View has also the advantage that you can see the image on your LCD screen. And of course you are using a cable release or the self-timer.

The only downside is that your battery will run down faster because Live View uses more current.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens Review

The Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens is an ultra wide angle lens for the Canon EF-S camera body range. It gives a framing equivalent to a 16-35 mm on a full body.

My lens came with the following accessories:

• Canon 77mm lens cap
• Canon lens case LR1319

In the photo you can see the following accessories, which I have bought separately:

• JJC lens hood LH-83E
• B+W 77 010 UV MRC 77mm filter

Lens with lens hood attached

The weight of this lens is 385 grams, which is much lighter than my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM lens (645 grams).  The lens does not extend during zooming, which is different than the Canon 17-55mm lens. I don’t mind the maximum aperture of f/3.5-4.5 because I will be shooting at smaller apertures for a maximum depth of field. The front of the lens does not rotate while zooming or focusing. This is useful when you are using a polarizing or ND grad filter.

To my surprise this lens came with a lens case. Only Canon L lenses are supplied with a lens case, or a lens hood for that matter. The Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens also fits in this case.

I am using the JJC lens hood for lens protection. It uses a bayonet mount to attach to the lens. You can also attach it backwards when you store the lens. it screws on rather stiff at the moment. Perhaps this will change in the future.

The B+W 77 010 UV MRC 77mm filter is used to seal off the lens at the front, and to protect the front element from rain, dust and scratches. I choose the MRC coating because it is easy to clean. When I use another filter (like my polarizing filter), the UV filter is removed from the lens. Filter stacking is a bad idea, and you run the risk that you cannot unscrew the filters from each other.

This lens is really wide! It is useful for architecture or for creative photos:

You have to be careful not to photograph unwanted objects in the edges of your shots. This lens is so wide that it picks up everything! For instance when I am adjusting my polarizing filter on this lens and take a picture at 10mm, I have to remember not to touch the filter ends with my fingers. If I don’t move my fingers they end up in the edges of the shot. This does not happen with other lenses like the Canon 17-55mm, 50mm or 85mm.

Until now, I have rarely seen lens flare while taking photos without the lens hood, with the UV filter attached. That is a good thing. Since this lens is so wide, you are bound to get the sun or some other light source directly into your photo. Your mileage may vary of course. The MRC coating plays a part in suppressing lens flare. So make sure you use a good filter!

I also used the hood, but the hood is rather awkward (wide) when you want to store the lens in your bag. So I made more photos without the hood than with the hood. Sometimes the lens hood is not enough, and you have to use your hand or something else anyway to block the light source. Again, make sure your ‘gobo’ does not appear in the edges of the photo!

The lens is a joy to use. Photos need little post processing since the distortion of the lens is very low. I am pleased with it because I can now easily take photos of very large rooms with one shot. See the Dubai Mall post for examples. Many of the photos were made with this lens. I have used the Canon 10-22mm lens with the B+W 77mm MRC Slim Circular Polarizer Filter and have no problems with any kind of vignetting (besides my own fingers as described earlier). See the photos of the Tesla Motor Roadster for examples of shots with the polarizing filter.

UPDATE: On my Canon 50D I have enabled peripheral illumination correction. It could be that this feature corrects the vignetting.

The zoom range of the Canon 10-22mm lens nicely complements my existing Canon 17-55mm lens. I have bought the lens to shoot primarily at 10mm. The 22mm end is useful to shoot reasonably wide shots without the ultra wide distortion. Having 22mm to do this is nice, it saves me some lens swapping when I want to do an ultra wide shot and a normal wide shot. With this in mind you can use the Canon 10-22mm as a sort of ‘walk-around’ lens for cities or architecture.

So, if you consider one, go get one, read Ken Rockwell’s review of this lens and his article on ultra wide angle lenses and start taking photos!

Taxi Stand at Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai

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D-Town TV: Now Also for Canon Shooters

D-Town TV is a weekly show for DSLR users. Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski give tips on how to get the most out of your DSLR. The first two seasons were mainly Nikon oriented – meaning that some of the tips were demonstrated with Nikon equipment or were only relevant for Nikon bodies (how to reset the bodies, check the setting of your auto-focus switch, etc). They would say that it is different on a Canon body, but rarely show one. I still have watched most of the episodes because their tips and advice are great (and you can work out for yourself how it works on a Canon body).

Scott has recently visited The Netherlands for a conference. One of the attendees told him that he does not watch D-Town TV because he is a Canon shooter. I think more people have complained, because Scott told him that this season will not be Nikon-0nly and will also include Canon gear and other brands.

So, check out the shows at http://www.kelbytv.com/dtowntv. My favorites are:

• Episode 10 on how to properly attach your camera strap
• Episodes 16-19 on lenses. Click here to see all the episodes on one page
• Bonus Tutorial HDR
• Episode 33 on how to carry your Hoodman Loupe without getting it in the way

Which episode do you like?

Canon Power (Coffee) Shot Lens

I saw this on the Internet. It is a mug which looks like a Canon 70-200 f4 USM zoom lens. It looks cool! Can anyone tell me how I can get one? Leave me a comment!

Also, look at this video made by Chris Wilkinson:


You can see some photos here.

Installing Canon Digital Photo Professional without the CD

Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software updates can be downloaded for free from the Canon web site. However, they only update an existing software installation. But what if there is no DPP installed on your machine, you cannot find your CD and you have to reinstall the software?

Here are some tricks you can try.

For Windows XP:  create the following registry key entries.  You can do it by hand, or use this registry patch.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\DPP]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOS Capture]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\EOSViewerUtility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Canon\PhotoStitch]

• Download a Canon Digital Photo Professional software update from the Canon web site.
• Install the software by double clicking on the software update.

Alternatives:

• Download an old version of DPP like http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/sdl/data/dpp100-e.exe
  Then update the software.
• Windows 7:
  DPP seems to run in 32-bit mode so the registry keys look a little bit different:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOS Utility]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\DPP]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\ZoomBrowser EX]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\PhotoStitch
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOS Capture]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Canon\EOSViewerUtility]

Mac users:

• Try installing http://web.canon.jp/imaging/sdl/data/dpp100-e.hqx first, and then try to update.

Canon EOS DSLR Shutter Count

Have you ever asked yourself how many times you have activated the shutter on your Canon DSLR? If you have a DIGIC III/IV DSLR (except the 1D* series) you can use the utility EOSInfo (Windows and Mac version available) to retrieve the shutter count. This utility does not work on a D*, 5D, 10D, 20D, 30D, 300D, 350D, or 400D body.

Canon 50D Auto Exposure Bracketing

In the Canon 50D the auto exposure bracketing and exposure compensation have been combined. Instead of the usual –x, 0, +x exposures (where x is between 0 and 2) you can offset the exposures so it is possible to shoot different combinations like +4, +2 and 0.

When combined with high speed continuous shooting you can take a lot of different exposures in a short time which are handy for HDR photography. Jeff Lynch has written a blog post on how to use this creatively.

Canon 50D Info

This blog post will contain all interesting links I find on the Canon 50D

• Canon Digital Learning Center – EOS 50D: What’s New
• Canon Digital Learning Center – EOS 50D
• Canon 50D White Paper
• Canon 50D Masterclass (with scenes shot in Amsterdam!)
• Learn SLR Canon 50D Guide

More Canon Flash tutorials

Canon USA has an entire section on flash photography with Speedlites. Very interesting articles can be found here.  For example go retro and learn how to take flash photos with the external automatic flash exposure sensor on the Speedlite 580 EX II. Just like my old Braun flash!

Canon SLR for snow storms

With the recent snow storms in Holland I am sure you are looking for a SLR which keeps on working in a snow storm. The Canon 7D makes a good candidate. Read in Canon Field Reviews how the Canon 7D keeps up. I am afraid my Canon 50D is not built for these extreme conditions.

The Canon Flash Bible

One of the topics in the photo course will be taking a photo with (automatic) flash. A must read for Canon photographers is what I call the Canon Flash Bible.

When you have read all the material on automatic flash, proceed to Strobist to learn all about non-automatic flash!