I got a Canon Rebel XTi (400D) several months back and I'm immensely enjoying expanding my knowledge and horizons. I moved to the XTi from my 3.3MP Sony Mavica MVC-CD300 workhorse point and shoot camera. Despite being quite comfortable with the Sony (and its limitations) I have frequently said that I felt like a complete beginner again when staring through the viewfinder of my Canon.
I was contemplating all the different settings on the XTi that can be chosen for each shot the other day and I decided to toss them in a table:
| Setting | | Options |
|---|
| Modes | | 12 (P, A, S, M, Auto, Creative) |
| Shutter Speed | | 55 (54 increments (1/4000 - 30sec in 0.3EV increments) + Bulb) |
| Aperture | | 40 stops (f1 to f91 in 0.3EV increments (depends on lens)) |
| Image Size | | 8 (S/Normal, M/N, L/N, S/Fine, M/F, L/F, JPEG+RAW, RAW) |
| Picture Style | | 9 (6 preset + 3 custom) |
| Custom Picture Style | | 4,096 options |
| Mono Picture Style | | 26 options |
| Auto Focus | | 2 (Auto/Manual) |
| Auto Focus Mode | | 3 (One Shot, AI Focus, AI Server) |
| Focal Point | | 10 (9 points + full auto) |
| Metering | | 3 (Evaluative, Partial, Center-weighted) |
| ISO | | 6 (Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600) |
| White Balance | | 9 (8 presets + Auto) |
| White Balance Correction | | 361 options |
| Color Space | | 2 (sRGB or Adobe RGB) |
| Flash | | 2 (on + off) |
| Flash Exposure Adjust | | 17 (-2EV to +2EV in 0.5EV or 0.3EV increments) |
| Flash Exposure Lock | | 2 (on + off) |
| Auto Exposure Lock | | 2 (on + off) |
| Auto Exposure Bracketing | | 17 (-2EV to +2EV in 0.5EV or 0.3EV increments) |
| Exposure Compensation | | 17 (-2EV to +2EV in 0.5EV or 0.3EV increments) |
| Red Eye Reduction | | 2 (on + off) |
| Drive Modes | | 3 (Single, Continuous, Remote/Timer) |
| Remote Trigger Modes | | 2 (no delay/2 second delay) |
| Auto Rotation | | 2 (on + off) |
| Custom Functions | | 46,080 combinations |
A little math reveals: 61,749,528,383,550,522,560,348,160,000 combinations! That's 61.8 octillion (a thousand quadrillion or a billion billion billion (those outside the US refer to this to a quadrilliard))! Another way to look at this is 6x10^27, estimates of the number of atoms in the observable universe range in the 10^77 to 10^79 range. Those are some big, big numbers! No wonder I feel like a beginner again. Not all the settings will make a viable or desirable image, but there is the big picture math on the issue.
A typical photographer (me) usually only changes a couple of these at a time and usually through a limited range of the settings for each option, so it's not as impossibly complex as it looks. As with all technology, I look forward to seeing where this technology goes in my lifetime. The Canon Rebel XSi is out next month with even more options...
Tags: photography options dslr canon aperture camera settings shutter exposure configuration
