www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/tricks/digital-rebel-tricks.html
Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel Tips and Tricks While a solid camera out of the box, the Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel user experience can be enhanced with a few simple, money-saving tricks. In fact, I roughly estimate that these tips and tricks can save you over $500 I know that claiming a savings of over $500 might seem far fetched, but I will show you below that it is possible. Disclaimer: Most, if not all of these tips and tricks could violate your Camera's warranty. Any use of these tips is at your will and not the fault of this website or the author. Most of this information is gleaned from various forums, so the information to the best of my ability, is as accurate as possible, though I do not guarantee the results or accuracy of the claims below.
New in this release: - ISO 3200 - Mirror Lock up Changes: - 'Left' button selects the autofocus mode: PA-1 - ONEShot PA-2 - AIservo (dosn't work right now) PA-3 - AIfocusAF - FEC is moved to JUMP button - 'Right' button has no function assigned - the default button in delete prompt was changed from 'Cancel' to 'OK'. Now if you want to delete an image, press DEL button and then SET one.
Thanks Michael and Joey for the tip 4/9/2004 - Multilingual support Sorry about the delay on this one. This fixes non-english support for menus in the firmware All of the enhancements below are included. This is known as the "M" version, presumably for multilingual.
This update includes the revisions noted in the other releases this week: 4/5/2004 - Yet another firmware from Wasia Due to overwhelming requests to preserve the function of the WB button for what it's intended for, Wasia has updated his firmware to use the SET button to enable FEC.
FIR 000CE6AB: 52 B7 000CE6AC: F2 48 00150EE1: 34 38 00181FF5: B9 D5 Besides unlocking Custom Functions menu, it REPLACES WB button with FEC button. BigMike from DPReview's Forum explains: Easy to install, and works as advertized. For new users that don't know what FEC is, it stands for flash exposure compensation. In short, it allows you to adjust the strength of the flash higher, or lower. You can have your "set" button work the FEC, or have it bring up the normal "quality setting" menu. Just thought I would mention it for those who were interested. PureVector on DPReview advises: 1) Reset all the CF to the original 300D settings. Note: you cannot use the Reset option in the menu, it does not affect the CF's. If it is still blinking, you have not set all of the CF properly. What IS the Russian Firmware Hack Its been widely known that the Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel and the Canon EOS 10D DSLR's are similar beasts.
Side-by-side comparisons you can see that most of the features that vary are catagorized as "Customizable". The 10D has a menu item called "Custom Functions" which allows these settings to be adjusted. Well, a fellow in Russia found that in the latest firmware, by switching a single byte in the firmware image, he was able to enable most of these 10D "Custom Functions" in the Digital Rebel. Now, some features, such as more frames in rapid shooting, are hardware-limitations but some features lacking such as Flash Exposure Compensation and embedded JPEG quality are found to be working in the 300D. This is not the 10D firmware, it is the 300D firmware with some of the dormant 10D features enabled. The developers probably shared the codebase between the two models. Now, be aware that this Modified firmware will violate your warranty!
The Pringles lid may tend toward the blue, but many swear by 1 or 2 coffee filters. Use the instructions for setting custom white balance in your manual. Savings: $80 price of ExpoDisc Nokia Hands-free Remote Control as a Remote Shutter Release Spend $1 at a Dollar Store and get a functional shutter release cord for your Canon Digital Rebel! Apparently someone has found that a cheap Nokia hands free cord kit works as a shutter release cord for the Digital Rebel. The Mute button on the cord works as the shutter release. This particular unit was discovered at a local dollar store. its very handy, small and retractable, so it will come in very handy." Also, says Antonion Cotto:" Any cell phone hands free with a button on it will work as a remote trigger. I had one already for my cell phone (so it did not cost me anything). All you have to do is cut the wire that goes to the ear piece. When you press the button, it focuses, gets a lock, and fires the shutter. Once the camera has a focus lock, you can keep hitting the shutter for quick shots. For bulb, switch camera to manual, set shutter to bulb, and press button. This will again get focus lock first, open the shutter, and remain open open until you let the button go."
This hack will allow you to emulate this missing functionality from the 300D. Black Hat Trick Without a remote shutter cord, how does one take shake-free long timed exposures? This one isn't a new trick, its actually a very old astrophotography trick. Cover the end of the lens, without touching it, with a dark-lined object (such as a hat). Open the shutter with your hand count to three to allow any tripod vibration to dampen out, then quickly remove the hat/cover from the lens. Be sure that no lights around you reflect off of you or the hat object when you remove or replace it over the lens. Savings: $25 RS-60 remote cord or wireless remote Extending your RS-60 remote Ever find the release cord for the Digital Rebel too short and don't want to resort to the cost of the IR remote?
Savings: $25 over wireless remote Save on a Canon tripod collar ring While not a Digital Rebel-specific money saver, a few people may find this little secret handy. This part is identical to the white version (targeted at L lenses) but is painted black. A do-it-yourself remote control A little more polished than the previous remote work-arounds, this one take a little elbow grease (very little) but yields a little more polished of a remote control.
Savings: 25% over Canon remote Free IR remote control Joe Luis posted this on DP Review: If you have a Philips Pronto universal remote or a PDA with a compatible IR Remote control software: Those applications use a universal configuration file that mimics each IR remote control you can find. Unfortunately, no matter where I looked I could not find the configuration file for the canon RC-1 control. Today, with the help of Rong Zhou, I was finally able to create my owh CCF file by programming my Pocket PC to learn the two commands produced by the RC-1 (immediate trigger and 2 s delay trigger).
Savings: $25 over Canon IR Remote Handy, powerful blower Posted by John Telleria on DP review's forums: I searched the forums here and saw that many have had success with the Giotto Rocket Air blower. I called a local photographic equipment store in town to see if they carried the Rocket Air. The sales guy I spoke to said they did but were out of stock and didn't expect to receive any for a couple weeks. But he suggested that I go to either Walgreens or Walmart and get what's called an ear syringe. An ear syringe is nothing but a plastic blower with a LARGE bulb, comparable to the bulb size of the Rocket Air. I was FINALLY able to get rid of that pesky dust particle. And saved me the trouble of sending my camera to Canon for a cleaning.
Savings: $5 over Rocket Air Johnson & Johnson Flash Diffuser This tip comes via e-mail from Brian Hindley: My wife threw out an empty Johnson and Johnson 15oz (425g) white plastic Talcum powder jar this morning. On a hunch, I cut it about 2 1/2" from the bottom of the jar, made a couple of slices with my sizzors on the corners and found that it fits very nicely on my 550ex. It actually looks pretty professional except for the blue wording "Johnson and Johnson" and bar code printing which resides on top and bottom of the "defuser", which nobody would normally see and which could be removed. It isn't the quality of my Stoffen Omibounce, but so far the pictures seem to be just as good. I haven't tested this extensively yet and I am not sure just how to test it or what to test (although someone suggested to check the white balance carefully). The point is, if you want to try a defuser...
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