New and Eager T2i owner

T

TheOpusFuller

Member
I'm an old member of these forums but a brand new T2i owner and I'm seeking some assistance.

I'm in the process of sorting everything out for my next SCI-FI feature film and I will be shooting everything on the T2i.

Now, I'm not a camera guy. I've never owned a camera of this level so I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to handling this thing technically.

This is my first snippet of footage I shot with my T2i just to test it out. I used the Stock lens and that's about it. http://vimeo.com/13255803

Now for a couple of questions.
I recently purchased the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. Friends have been telling me this lens is great for its price. I got a decent deal on one so I figured why not.

I was playing around with it in my apartment today. One thing I noticed about this camera. Pointing it at a window where it was bright and then pointing it to something inside the apartment where it was less bright made the camera auto adjust to the light. Brightness control or whatever. Is this normal? Meaning, is this always set to auto?

Secondly I was messing around with the setting wheel. Turned the wheel to "M" where I was going to take a single picture. I snapped the a picture and it seemed to take about 5 seconds to snap the picture. Why is this? Is it in the settings? It only seemed to happen on the "M" wheel setting.

These are my two biggest wonders and I would be very grateful if someone could fill me and better explain.

Also, if someone could suggest some documentation on this camera. Any books out there that you highly recommend? I'd be grateful on that as well.

Thanks guys!

Best,

M@
 
I agree. But I honestly have no idea what I am looking for to learn why this is happening or what this is a case of. Looking for some direction to get me started...
 
Brightness control or whatever. Is this normal? Meaning, is this always set to auto?
Click to expand...

The t2i has manual exposure control. You just need to enable it. I haven't used the camera, so I can't tell you how... Your manual would be a good place for that info though :)

Secondly I was messing around with the setting wheel. Turned the wheel to "M" where I was going to take a single picture. I snapped the a picture and it seemed to take about 5 seconds to snap the picture. Why is this? Is it in the settings? It only seemed to happen on the "M" wheel setting.
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Ok... if you aren't joking... I would gander that "M" would be the "Manual" mode on your wheel... probably there was a really long shutter set by default, or by you tinkering with buttons and that is why you got the long exposure while in "M" a.k.a. Manual mode when taking stills.

Definitely read the manual if you haven't...

And, start learning the basic syntax... exposure, shutter speed, etc and understand what each one does...

This is my first snippet of footage I shot with my T2i just to test it out. I used the Stock lens and that's about it. http://vimeo.com/13255803
Click to expand...

The good news is you've got a good eye and are obviously creative... Now, you just need to learn about exposure, shutter speeds, etc... both how they work on your camera, and what they do for you as a creative tool. well, not "just"... careful you don't catch the bug :)

Late,r
Jason
 
Go into video mode, then press the menu button, go right once on the menu there is an option called 'movie exposure' by default it's set to auto, turn it to manual.

Then you need to control your iso manually and your aperture and shutter speed to darken or brighten the image.

As a (very) quick guide. Keep the shutter speed double your frame rate for normal shooting and keep the ISO as low as possible, 100 for outdoors and as low as possible for indoors to avoid noise.

Hope that helps a little :)
 
here's the pdf version

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/9/0300003169/01/eosrt2i-eos550d-im-en.pdf

it'll be easier to search than paper.

i highly suggest you read about photography and cinematography. and get a tripod.

here are a few links that might help you learn:

http://photography.about.com/od/takingpictures/u/BasicsPath.htm#s1

http://www.tutorial9.net/photography/photography-basics/

http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/18891/2364

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-exposure-basics/

http://www.videomaker.com/article/12981/

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~lipkin/pathscinematography/index.htm

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-elements-of-composition-in-photography

http://photoinf.com/

http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html

http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-composition-tips

http://photo.net/learn/making-photographs/exposure

http://www.photonhead.com/exposure/exposure.php

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_exposure.html

http://photography.about.com/od/takingpictures/a/UndrstndExposur.htm




i highly recommend that you shoot, shoot, and shoot some more! you'll only get better by practicing A LOT.
 
You might want to check out Blue Crane Digital's instructional DVDs. They have one specifically for operating the T2i and then another that's generally about shooting video with a Canon DSLR. If you don't know what you're doing that's probably a great place to start and will probably be easier to grasp visually (with sample pictures/footage) than reading a manual.

http://www.bluecranedigital.com/
 
Wow thanks for all those links Fahad.

I can attest to the blue crane series. The t2i is my first DSLR, or camera really other then a Cann vixia camcorder I got started with 6 months ago. However, my learning has really taken off after reading and learning more about photography, which is great because it applies so much to video as well as learning all about cameras.

I got the blue crane "introduction to the t2i" video, which covers things from basic layout and interface(mode dial explanation, where shutter and other settings are displayed), to photography principles (moderatly in depth, but simple) and in depth use of the camera (mostly for stills, but like I said is very helpful to understanding the camera and applying that to taking video). I also got blue crane "shoot great video with canon dslr", another instructional video that has lots of video with DSLR's (they use 7d and 5d in it, will also apply to the t2i).

When in "M" you may have never changed any of the settings from when you first turned it on in that mode, and if the shutter was set to a high value (for some reason?) it wuold have taken a long time. For 5 seconds, it would have to be quite a high number. Try lowering the shutter to 1/10 and turn off live view.

One tip from me: When shooting stills in the creative modes pressing the Q button accesses the quick menu and allows for fast navigation and changing to available settings until you are comfortable with looking through the view finder and adjusting the numbers there. It also helpful in movie mode to quickly select resolution/fps, white balance, picture style (dont overlook this setting), etc.
 
you're welcome.

a year or two ago i wanted to get a video camera (canon hv20/30), but i was never completely satisfied with the performance of 35mm lens adapters (in my budget). video slr's were still in their infancy, and expensive (there was the nikon d90, and the canon 5d mark ii, both without manual controls and slightly above my finances).

so i figure: 1) they're going to get cheaper/better, and 2) might as well learn photography in the mean time.

i am VERY happy that i learned photography before the delve into video. it helped me a lot. so working with video slr's was just a natural adjustment.

as i said, learn as much as you can about photography/cinematography and practice a lot.

as for technical considerations, you'll quickly find that you'll need faster lenses (i.e. lenses with bigger apertures).

the kit lens that came with your camera can only open up to f/3.5 on the wide end, and f/5.6 on the long end. a bigger f number means a smaller hole, means less light coming in. more expensive zoom lenses are 2.8, which is nice. but if you really want 'speed', then you'll have to give up zooms all together (best for 'planned' shoots). the alternative is 'prime lenses', meaning their focal lengths doesn't change. there are lenses that open up to f/2, f/1.8, f/1.4, and even f/1.2.

so lenses with 'wider apertures' means lenses with more light-gathering ability. but keep in mind the aesthetic considerations when shooting 'wide-open': it will create a very shallow depth of field, which is fine for some shots, not for others. which is why you'll eventually get a light kit (depending on what kind of work you want to do, and how serious you are about it).

a note about zoom lenses with varying apertures (like the kit lens): the lens is '18-55mm f/3.5-5.6'. what the 3.5-5.6 means, that as you are shooting at 18mm at 3.5 then zoom in while still shooting to 55mm, the aperture will contract and thus give you varying exposure while zooming. and i have also noticed that even if you're shooting with an aperture of, say, f/7 at 18mm, then zoom in, it'll also change the exposure (something about how the lens it designed to give you a sharp zoom range on the cheap).
 
Fahad said:
so lenses with 'wider apertures' means lenses with more light-gathering ability. but keep in mind the aesthetic considerations when shooting 'wide-open': it will create a very shallow depth of field, which is fine for some shots, not for others. which is why you'll eventually get a light kit (depending on what kind of work you want to do, and how serious you are about it).
Click to expand...

Quick question.

If out doors in bright sunlight, and shooting video with the kit 18-55mm lens, shooting on the wide end (18-25mm) do you have any suggestions for an aperture to obtain deep focus of near to semi-distant fast moving subjects.
 
Tylers86 said:
Quick question.

If out doors in bright sunlight, and shooting video with the kit 18-55mm lens, shooting on the wide end (18-25mm) do you have any suggestions for an aperture to obtain deep focus of near to semi-distant fast moving subjects.
Click to expand...

you just close the aperture as much as you can/need.

on the other hand, if you want shallow depth of field in sunlight, then you open up the aperture and use something called a neutral density (ND) filter on the lens. the ND filter acts as a light-blocking filter.
 
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