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The Free CD That Ships With Your Digital Camera

Canon digital cameras include a CD offering free software, such as EOS Utility, Digital Photo Professional, Picture Style Editor, and Zoombrowser EX. The chance are endless with this software – copy pictures onto your desktop, sort your images, edit your pictures. If you can’t find your CD, you can replace the software using this guide. it ain’t equally nice as having the full suite of Adobe’s image manipulation and sorting software, but it also ain’t above a thousand bucks. Free is great.

EOS Capture Utility. This software enables you to connect your camera to your PC and control it remotely. You can use your machine to see a live preview from your camera. Any of the camera’s specs can be changed with the click of a mouse. You can snap pics, and have the files stored on the desktop in lieu of or in addition to the SD card. There are many great things to do if you download Canon EOS Utility.

Digital Photo Professional. Digital Photo Professional (DPP) allows you to process RAW images and alter photos. Everything that you could do with Lightroom or Photoshop – i.e. curves, color balance, etc – can be accomplished with DPP. It ain’t as powerful as either Lightroom or Photoshop, but if you’re not ready to dump hundreds of dollars into the Adobe suite you can begin with this free Canon software. Lightroom is a big investment to begin with, and Photoshop is even more. Install Digital Photo Professional and get started with that.

Picture Style Editor. If you have to work with RAW photo files, then Picture Style Editor is an alternative way to play with the development settings of RAW photos. It’s great for batch developing RAW images. Install PSE yourself and work with it to see all that it can do.

Zoombrowser EX. You can get your digital photo portfolio well sorted with Canon’s Zoombrowser EX. It allows you to copy your pictures from your SD card and save them on the computer. You can order and view images, and you can also do some uncomplicated editing stuff. Download and install Zoombrowser EX to witness all that it can do for you.

These tools can be very productive, especially if you haven’t invested in professional level applications. Use the free stuff you can, and if you instinctively tossed your Canon utilities CD read this article to help you download and install every one of the software for free.

Weighing the Canon EOS Rebel t1i, t2i, and t3i Output Resolution

So you’re shopping for a digital SLR. You’re considering a Canon t1i, a Canon t2i, or a Canon t3i. Which one sis the best for you? One definining specification you should consider is the digital camera’s resolution. Which of these options has the largest camera resolution?

The Canon t2i and t3i collectively hold a tiny edge when looking at resolution. They boast a 18 megapixel resolution, while the Canon t1i has just 15 megapixels.

Does this push you one way or the other? I don’t think so. Usually, approximately eight megapixels is plenty. Everything else is simply too much.

An average 4×6 image, produced at 300 ppi, needs about 1200 x 1800 pixels. That’s a little over 2 megapixels. A bigger, 8×10 photo makes use of 2400 x 3000 pixels. That’s about 7.2 megapixels. Unless you’re going to be creating largepooster prints, you’ll never going to make us of all the info saved in those extra pixels.

There are some other justifications for why you would want to move up from the Canon t1i to a better camera – like a Canon t3i, or a Canon 60D or 7D. Still, pixelage ain’t really a legitimate reason. The step up here is negligible.

Surprisingly enough, the lot of these devices (the t2i/550D, the t3i/600D, the 60D, and the 7D) all use the same chip, yielding precisely the same resolution and image quality.

If you require a more complete look at all the cameras, check out this in depth review of the Canon t2i vs t3i. Digest that for a breakdown of how the three devices are the same and different. If you’re shopping for a camera, you might likely be interested in this other complete review about evolution of the entire Canon EOS Rebel line.

Choosing Between Canon Cameras Based on Over the Air Flash Uses

If you plan on doing any amount of portrait photography, then ultimatley you will have to learn the way to use off-camera light. Some times, available light is ok, but you will be able to produce much better photos by using a couple speedlites, a few light modifiers, and designing the light in your picture.

Does this raise any problems to weigh? You’re going to need to drop some cash on speedlites, to start with. This  highlights the the necessity for a trick for triggering those speedlights wirelessly. In my eyes, that is the most obtuse part, initially, about doing strobist style photography.

In the past, this wasn’t a normal feature on Canon digital SLR cameras. You were required to invest in some equipment – either the OEM Canon infrared transmitter, an expensive as hell pair of pocket wizards, or a few cheap third party triggers. I needed to invest in a set of wireless triggers when I first got into using flashes with my Canon t1i 500D. It didn’t have a on camera commander flash.

A pop up commander flash is now a standard feature on most Canon dSLR cameras, and I hope this trend continues. So which Canon digital SLR cameras come with the power to set off speedlites?

The pop up commander flash is a offering on all of the newest Canon dSLR cameras. This means that the Canon EOS  t3i 600D, the Caon 60D, and the Canon EOS 7D will all work. On each of these cameras, the pop up flash can be set as a commander flash, and it will by infrared set off the main flashes in the group. The on camera flash goes off to transmit this infrared light, but the power level of this first flash is so low that it won’t affect the brightness of your photo (unless of course you plan for it to and you raise the strength).

Past models, like the Canon Rebel t2i 550D and the Canon EOS 50D, don’t come with this ability. The higher end Canon digital SLR cameras, meaning the Canon 5D and the Canon 1D Mark IV, don’t come with on camera flashes at all, though. So those cameras don’t sport that capability either. But honestly, if you’re dropping upwards of $2,000 on a digital camera, it ain’t a giant problem to pay a couple hundred dollars on a Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter.

If you’re confused comparing the t2i vs t3i, then this is a legitimate reason to choose the updated camera. If, though, you’re stuck choosing between the Canon 60D vs 7D, this isn’t going to be much help. They both come with the same features for flashes.