Setting Custom Functions – to do this, select the camera icon in the menu, use the dial to select Custom Function 1 (C.Fn 1: Exposure), then press <set>.  Change your settings by turning the dial, then press <set>.  At the bottom of the screen, the current Custom Function settings are indicated below the respective function numbers.  Press <MENU> to exit the settings.  You can do the same for Custom Function 2 (C.Fn 2: Image), Custom Function 2 (C.Fn 2: Image), Custom Function 3 (C.Fn 3: Autofocus Drive) and Custom Function 4 (C.Fn 4: Operation/Others).

Custom Function 1 (C.Fn 1: Exposure) – you can adjust the following:

• Exposure level increments – sets 1/2 stop increments to shutter, aperture, exposure compensation, AEB, flash exposure compensation, etc.  Effective when you prefer to control the exposure in less fine increments than 1/3 stop increments.
• ISO speed setting increments
• ISO expansion – enables “L” (ISO 50), “H1″ (ISO 12800) and “H2″ (ISO 15600)
• Bracketing auto cancel if “ON”, the AEB and WB-BKT settings will be cancelled if you set the power to off.  If “Off”, the settings will be retained even if the power is turned off.
• Bracketing sequence – the AEB shooting sequence and white balance bracketing can be changed.
• Safety shift – this works in Tv and Av. When the correct exposure cannot be obtained, the camera will change the exposure automatically.
• Flash sync speed in AV mode – this prevents a slow flash-sync speed from being used.  Good for low-light conditions.

Custom Function 2 (C.Fn 2: Image) – you can adjust the following:

• Long exposure noise reduction – with settings 1 and 2, the noise reduction process is performed.
• High ISO speed noise reduction – reduces the noise generated in the image. Effective in high ISO speeds.
• Highlight tone priority – Improves the highlight detail.
• Auto lighting optimizer – If the images comes out dark or the contrast is low, the brightness and contrast are corrected automatically.

Custom Function 3 (C.Fn 3: Autofocus Drive) – you can adjust the following:

• Lens drive when AF impossible – If the focus cannot be achieved, the camera can either keep trying to focus or stop.
• Lens AF stop button function – for super telephoto IS lenses.
• AF Point selection method – you can set the desired AF points.
• Superimposed display – recommended when it is bothersome to see it light up.
• AF – assist beam firing – enables or disables the EOS dedicated speedlight’s AF assist beam.
• Mirror lockup – prevents camera vibrations.
• AF point area expansion – When you select Al Servo AF and the center AF point, the six assist AF points will also function.
• AF Micro adjustment – do this adjustment only if necessary because using this may prevent correct focusing.

Custom Function 4 (C.Fn 4: Operation/Others) – you can adjust the following:

• Shutter button/AF-ON button
• AF-ON/AE lock button switch
• Assign SET button – you can assign a frequently used function to set.
• Dial direction during Tv/Av – the dial’s turning direction for setting the shutter speed and aperture can be reversed.
• Focusing screen – if you change the focusing screen, change the setting to match the focusing screen type.  This is to obtain correct exposure.
• Add original decision data – data for verifying whether the image is original or not is appended to the image automatically.

You can register up to six menus and custom functions whose settings you change frequently.  To do this, select [My Menu settings].  Under the star tab, select [My Menu settings] and then press <set>.  Turn the dial to select [Register].   Turn the dial again to select the item, then press <set>. When the confirmation dialog appears and you select [OK] and press <set>, the menu will be registered.  You can change the order of the registered menu items by selecting [Sort].

To use <C1>, <C2> and <C3>, under the tools tab, select [Camera user setting], then press <set>.  Select [Register], then press <set>.  Turn the dial to select the mode dial position where the camera settings are to be registered, then press <set>.  When the confirmation dialog appears, select [OK] and press <set>.  The current camera setting will be registered under the mode Dial’s “C” position.

In this chapter it talks about how you can print directly from your camera using the usb connector.  First turn off your camera, connect the printer, then turn your camera back on.  A printer icon will appear in the camera’s LCD.  That’s it.  It is that simple.  You can even set the printer style, layout and type.  You could also trim the image.  As soon as the printer is connected, all these additional features shows up in the menu.  With this test, I connected my HP printer and it worked.

DPOF – Digital Print Order Format lets you set the print type, data imprinting, and the file no. imprinting.

The sensor cleaning is automatic but you can turn this off. Why would you do this?  Everytime you turn the camera on or off, the sensor starts so if this bugs you, you can turn it off and do it manually or disable this feature altogether.

Pressing the <INFO> button gives you 4 different display formats.  Single Image Display, Single Image Display plus Image Recording Quality, Histogram Display and Shooting Information Display.  This last one shows you everthing.  From the ISO you used to the aperture, shutter, metering mode, histogram, etc.

To search for images quickly, you can use the FE Lock button to divide the screen up to 9 images on the screen.  Then use the magnifying glass button to view the selected image.

You can rotate your images in the camera settings.  Although I prefer to do this in photoshop, this feature could be helpful when showing your photos to friends.  To do this, go to the menu and select rotate (blue tab).  You could however automatically rotate your images by turning the “Auto Rotate” to “on”.  This is in the brown tab of the menu.

You can playback the images in a slideshow by also using the menu (blue tab).  You can set the duration, time, loop, etc.

The other feature that I like which is available in most cameras is the ability to connect your camera to a TV and computer.  For the 5D, you have the capability to connect it to HDTV using the HDMI cable.  On Wednesday, Steve Jobs announced the iPad.  Looking at the specs, I was disappointed that there is no USB connection.  What I liked though was that you could connect your camera to it. Have to wait two months for it to be available.

Here’s my second attempt at filming using my 5D Camera and editing using Final Cut Express.

You can shoot movies in all types of shooting modes.  While shooting, you can also take a still photo.  But first, you have to do the following:

1. Select “Live View/Movie function set”
2. Enable movie shooting.  You can select Fully automatic or P/Tv/Av/M/B Modes.  Id fully automatic, select “Movie Recording” and set it to “enable”.  If the other modes, select “LV function”, then select “Stills + Movie” and select “Movie Display.
3. Set the movie recording size – full HD is 1920 x 1080.  Standard is 640 x 480.
4. Display the “Live View Image” by pressing the “Live View” button.
5. Start shooting the movie by pressing the “set” button.

For this topic, I used the full HD size.  It is still not done.  I still have to do some more editing and add music.  I used Final Cut Express to edit it – first time.  I watched the video tutorial at the site and it was very helpful.  It looks very amateurish since it is my first so give me some slack here.  I converted it to m4v which will make it available to watch in my iPhone and it also has the smallest file size.  So here’s a video of us getting ready to get a another dog.  Her name is Luna.

Updated January 17 – I finally added the titles using Live Type.  Had to learn that software too.  This video editing was fun but took me awhile to finish it.  I finally decided that this is it….. I also converted to Broadband movie to make the file size from 24 MB to 8MB.  I noticed the quality detriorated a bit.

You can use the camera’s menu to set the speedlights flash function settings and custom functions.  First you have to attach the flash.  On the menu, select “External Speedlight Control”, then select “Flash Function Settings”.  Use the dial to select a flash function.  Then select the exposure compensation up to +2 or -2.  If you press the <INFO> button,  this will revert the setting to the default.  Make sure to press the button in the dial to set your settings.

ETTL II – For normal flash exposure, set it to [Evaluative].  If [Average] is set, flash exposure will be average for the entire metered scene.  You will have to use flash exposure compensation.

Aside from using the <INFO> button, you can also use the [Clear All Speedlight C.Fn's] to clear all the spedlights custom functions.

For this photo, I used a EOS Speedlight 430EX flash and I set the flash exposure compensation to +1 and the ETTL II to Average.

ISO 100 f/4.0 1/6 sec

Since it was night time and there were no fireworks around, the only activity I could take a photo of was the television screen.  In this photo, there was a trailer of a movie with Harrison Ford and the actor from George of the Jungle.  I held down the shutter and one scene overlap over the other and this photo was the result.  You can see Harrison Fords profile.  I thought this was really cool.

ISO 160 f/8.0 1.0 sec

In this photo, I locked the exposure on the background light and focused on my laptop.  This gave the photo more light.  Not sure if this is what this is meant for but I liked the effect.

ISO 500 f/11 1/6 sec