Do you need to freeze high-speed action with a fast shutter speed and flash? The Canon Speedlite 580EX, 580EXII and 430EX flashguns can synchronise with EOS-1 series cameras up to a top shutter speed of 1/8000sec. Go to back panel of the flash and press the button with the lightning bolt and H beside it. In the viewfinder the lighting bolt and H are shown to confirm the setting. In standard mode, the flash emits a single pulse of light at the sync speed or below. In high-speed mode a series of very small pulses of flash are emitted, effectively illuminating the subject the whole time the shutter is open. Consequently the flash power is reduced substantially, so keep an eye on the green exposure confirmation light.

If you’re shooting a lot under tungsten or strip lights flash is useful to fill-in, or even to provide additional light, but the discrepancy in colour temperatures can be a problem. Do you shoot with white balance set for tungsten/fluorescent or flash? Ponder the question no longer. Set the white balance for the ambient light and gel your flashes to match - the process is cheap and straightforward. All good camera stores will sell sheets of lighting gels designed for studio flash. Major brands are Lee and Rosco. Simply buy the appropriate gel and cut sections off to fit to the front of the Speedlite 580EX flashgun. Secure with tape, elastic bands or if you are feeling smart, fix velcro on camera and gels.

The Canon Speedlite 580EX and 580EXII are very powerful and versatile flashgun units. One the most useful functions is the ability to be able to remotely trigger and fire one unit with another in master/slave configurations or with the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2. Combine the ST-E2 with a couple of 580EXIIs and you have a completely portable studio that fits into a tiny bag. Expand the versatility with a couple of lighting stands, white umbrellas and brackets from any good photo store and you can leave the mains flash in the studio.

Sidelight, backlight, bounced light: flash is a versatile and portable light source. The only problem is that results do not always look great when the flash is mounted on the camera. One of the quickest ways to improve your flash pictures is to take the flash off the camera and move it around the subject. The cheapest and easiest way to do this is to buy the Canon Off Camera Shoe Cord OC-E3. This cable fixes to the hotshoe on the camera and the base of the flash – it preserves all flash functionality at up to 0.6m from the camera. Flat looking pictures are a thing of the past.

Have you ever noticed the FEL button on your EOS-1? Situated just behind and to the left of the main shutter release, the FEL (flash exposure lock button) is unknown by most users, yet provides the perfect flash accuracy. If you don’t have an FEL button, don’t despair; on the lower EOS models, the FEL function is combined with the Exposure Lock button (*) on the back of the camera. Using FEL is straightforward: Think of it for spot metering for flash; put the active focus point over the subject you wish to expose accurately and press the FEL button. A small pre-flash is emitted to measure exposure. Recompose the picture and fire the shutter. The FEL value is held for 16 seconds, or as long as the shutter button is depressed halfway. If the key subject is a pale face, exposure will need to be set for +2/3 before using FEL. For a dark face, work on -2 .If you are metering flash from a white wedding dress, it should be +2. Practice before using it on a live shoot. FEL provides a quick and accurate way to perfect flash metering and works perfectly with multi-flash set-ups.

Canon’s Speedlite 580EX II and 430EX flashguns can help to ensure accurate autofocusing in low light shooting situations by deploying AF–assist beams. If low light levels mean autofocus cannot be achieved by the EOS camera alone the external EOS–dedicated Speedlite’s AF assist beam will be emitted automatically. The beam projects onto the subject, which is recognised by the camera’s AF system, and an image can then be shot. On the EOS–1Ds Mark III and EOS–1D Mark III the AF–assist beam is available as custom function C.Fn III – 14 – this allows the photographer to enable or disable the EOS—dedicated Speedlite flashgun’s AF—assist beam.

All of the EOS–1 series cameras and the EOS 40D and 5D offer flash exposure compensation. Flash exposure compensation adjusts the level of illumination provided by the flash so that you can fine tune the balance between foreground and background or compensate for extremely dark or bright tones on the subject. The EOS–1 series cameras offer+/–3 stops of flash exposure compensation in 1/3–stop increments while the 40D and 5D offer +/–2 stops in 1/3–stop increments. On the EOS–1 series cameras and the 5D models flash exposure is instigated by pressing the metering mode button and turning the quick control dial to select the required exposure compensation setting. On the 40D access it via the ISO/flash metering button and adjust via the quick control dial.

The Canon Macro Twin Lite MT–24EX flash unit can be used as a master to control slave Canon Speedlites like the 430EX. By default, the MT–24EX will only allow you to trigger slave Speedlites if they are set to Group C, where you can use flash exposure compensation to adjust the power. This is great if you want to use a slave Speedlite for backlighting, but for more complex lighting arrangements, you will need more flexibility. If you set the MT–24EX custom function 5 to option 1, you will be able to trigger slave Speedlites as group A, B or C and have full ratio control between groups A and B, and use flash exposure compensation to set the power of group C.

You may wonder why the flash heads on Canon’s Speedlite 580EX, 430EX and 580EX II flashguns can rotate so that they point behind you. The simple answer is bounce flash. If you’re taking a photograph with your back to a white wall and there’s no ceiling to bounce the flash from, you can turn the flash head around so it’s firing over your head at the wall to create softer light than using direct flash. Varying your distance from the wall will vary the softness of the light as it is spread over a larger or smaller area. Avoid bouncing light from surfaces with a strong colour as this will affect the colour balance of your images.

When using an EX Speedlite it can be useful to get an idea of where the light will fall and therefore where you will have shadows. This is especially true when using wireless multiple flash set–ups. Whether you are using an ST–E2 Speedlite transmitter or a Master Speedlite on camera, pressing the depth–of–field preview button on the front of the camera will cause the flashguns to emit a series of strobe flashes so you can see where the light is falling. Don’t press it repeatedly for too long − it can eventually damage the flash tubes and it will use up battery power.

To preserve the extra waterproofing of the 580EX II Speedlite, the Master/Slave switch as found on the 550EX and 580EX has been removed. To access the Master/Slaves settings on the new Speedlite, press the Zoom button for a couple of seconds and use the command dial to set the option. If you are shooting with an EOS 40D, EOS–1D Mark III or EOS–1Ds Mark III with the 580EX II Speedlite, the Master/Slave settings can also be accessed from the Flash Settings menu on the camera.

Normally the auto sensor cleaning option on the EOS-1Ds Mark III, EOS-1D Mark III and EOS 40D cameras should be enough to eliminate any dust visible on captured images. In addition to this you can add Dust Delete Data to images to later erase dust spots. To do this select Dust Delete Data from under the ‘Shooting 2’ tab and press SET. Turn the main control dial to select OK, then press SET. After auto sensor cleaning, the message ‘Press the shutter button completely, when ready for shooting’ will appear. Then fill the viewfinder with a solid white object and shoot it at a distance of between 20-30cm. The picture will be taken in aperture priority mode at an aperture of f/22 and when a message appears saying ‘data obtained’ select OK. This data will then be appended to all future JPEG, RAW and sRAW images taken. You can then batch process these images in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software to remove any dust spots. This will only work with the Canon software as it is the only software that knows how to read Dust Delete Data information and automatically remove dust related artefacts from your images.

On the EOS-1Ds Mark III, EOS-1D Mark III and EOS 40D DSLRs you can customise Picture Styles to alter sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tones. To do this, first press the Picture Style setting button, then select a Picture Style, such as Portrait, and press the INFO button. Turn the main control dial to select a parameter such as Contrast and press the SET button. Then turn the main control dial to move along the Contrast parameter settings – they run from -4 (low contrast) to +4 (high contrast) and press SET when you are at the setting you want. Then press the MENU button to save the adjusted parameter. The Picture Style selection screen will reappear and any setting that’s different from the default will be in blue. The parameters for Sharpness run from 0 (less sharp outline) to +7 (sharp outline); the parameters for Saturation are from -4 (low saturation) to +4 (high saturation); and the parameters for Colour tones are -4 (reddish skin tone) to +4 (yellowish skin tone).

Are your images lacking that sparkle? Not quite getting the colours that you see? Out of the box, digital SLRs always have white balance set to Auto or AWB (auto white balance). This means that the camera is always trying to normalise the colour temperature, correcting warm orange (sunsets) or cool blue light towards more neutral tones. Set the white balance to sun symbol (daylight) and all of your natural light pictures will match what you are seeing.

Do you show your clients images on the rear LCD of your EOS DSLR? If you do, you will know that it’s often necessary to warn them that images will look more bright and saturated in reality. Assuming that you are shooting RAW, there is a very simple way around this. Any EOS DSLR set to shoot in sRGB has a richer, more saturated image on the rear LCD by comparison with a camera set for Adobe RGB. By shooting in RAW, just the preview is changed and the image is not affected, nor is the amount of colour information in the file restricted. Go into the menu and select Colour Space > sRGB. Press the set button and check the difference on the rear LCD.

High speed shooting means capturing multiple frames per second. Depending on your EOS camera model, this can be up to 10fps on the EOS-1D Mark IIIs, 5fps on the EOS-1Ds Mark III and 6.5fps on the EOS 40D. Need a little less performance? All cameras offer a drive option for High-Speed Continuous Shooting or Low-Speed Continuous shooting at around half the frame rate. On the EOS-1 series cameras, custom functions enable the frame rate to be adjusted to suit user needs in C. Fn III -16.

Long exposure noise reduction is set in the custom functions (C.Fn) II on the EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 40D and C.Fn 2 on the EOS 5D. There are three settings - 0: Off, 1: Auto and 2: On. Ideally, set the camera to 1: Auto and leave it there. Noise reduction will be automatically activated when noise is detected in any exposure over one second. Noise reduction is subtractive, so after the initial exposure, a second exposure of identical length is made with the shutter closed. Noise from the second exposure is subtracted from the first image leaving a pristine, noise-free image. The only downside is the exposure takes twice as long. Setting 2 may give a slightly cleaner image by removing noise that is not detected by the auto setting. It can extend long exposures made using Live View, so setting 1 is the best option.

On all of the EOS–1 series SLRs, plus the 40D and 5D cameras one of the options in white balance settings is colour temperature adjustment (signified by the letter ‘K’ in the LCD panel). This is particularly useful when you wish to adjust colour temperature for an artificial lighting situation, such as tungsten, to ensure accurate colour reproductions.To set the colour temperature on the EOS–1Ds Mark II use the WB (white balance button), on the 5D use the AF WB button, on the 40D use the Shooting 2 menu setting, whilst on the EOS–1Ds Mark III and EOS–D Mark III the colour temperature adjustment is available via the FUNC (function) button. To set the colour temperature reading from a colour temperature meter, take test shots and adjust the setting to compensate for the difference between the colour temperature meter’s reading and the camera’s colour temperature reading.

The ‘S’ option on the EOS–1Ds Mark III and EOS–1D Mark III cameras stands for silent shooting. In normal ‘N’ mode they deliver a loud clunk when firing the shutter but using the S setting means the sounds of shutter and mirror are spread out – the mirror only falls back after exposure when you take you finger off the shutter release button. This is a useful mode for candids, sports and event photography when you want to keep camera shutter noise to a minimum. S mode is selected via the AF DRIVE button on the top plate and turning the main control dial through the AF drive options to get to silent mode.

In addition to their 10–second self–timer options the EOS–1 series and 40D cameras offer a two–second self–timer option (the EOS 5D has a 10–second self–timer). This is great for shooting landscapes avoiding camera shake, for example when you want to catch fast moving clouds. On the EOS–1 SLRs the two second self–timer option is selected by depressing the mode and metering buttons simultaneously and turning the control dial to choose the 10–second or two–second self–timer option and let go of the buttons. You then look into the viewfinder and depress the shutter button halfway to check the focus confirmation light is on and exposure setting is displayed; then press the shutter completely to take the picture. The EOS 40D’s self–timer options are accessed via the AF DRIVE button on its top plate and then via its large control dial on the camera’s back.

If you shoot with one of the EOS–1 series cameras, there is a little known function you can use – multi–spot metering. The cameras have the four common metering modes – Evaluative, Partial, Spot and Centre–weighed, but a fifth, Multi–spot, gives you more control of your exposures. If you set the camera to spot metering, you can use the FEL button to register up to 8 spot metering points from within the scene. The camera will adjust the exposure based on these spot meter readings and provide a balanced exposure. It requires practice to make the most of this setting, but can provide exposure metering in situations where other methods may not be as accurate.

The EOS 40D, 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III all feature a custom function for high ISO noise reduction. This can be used on images shot at high ISO speeds to help reduce the appearance of noise in the final image. If the custom function is turned on, some noise reduction will be applied at all speeds, but it will be most effective at higher ISO settings. If you do set high ISO noise speed reduction, you will notice that the burst rate is dramatically reduced due to the extra processing required in the camera. In the EOS 40D, the maximum burst will only be 8 shots regardless of the file size recorded.

The EOS 40D incorporates a new feature to the EOS SLR range, Auto ISO. This is enabled in the creative zone modes, P, Tv, Av, M and A–DEP, and allows the camera to select the ISO speed appropriate to the lighting conditions. To turn on Auto ISO, press the ISO button and rotate the main control dial all the way to the left. The ISOs set will be between 100 and 800 depending on the shooting mode and light conditions, with the default setting being ISO 400. This setting is especially useful in M mode when you want a particular combination of shutter speed and aperture to achieve a specific result.

Not quite sure which white balance setting you want to use? With the cameras that feature Live View you can change the white balance setting while in Live View mode to get a view of exactly what that setting will look like. Combined with the Live View exposure simulation setting, you can make sure the image is as close to perfect as possible before pressing the shutter button.

When shooting with the EOS 40D, you can of course look at the top LCD panel to check the camera settings, however, this can be difficult in some situations. If you’d rather look at the larger LCD panel on the back of the camera, select INFO button in the first yellow settings menu and set it to ‘Shoot. func.’ Pressing the INFO button when shooting will now display the camera shooting settings on the rear LCD, including shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed, drive speed, white balance, metering mode and file settings among others.

When using the in–built self cleaning sensor unit, the camera can be set to perform a sensor clean whenever the power is turned on or off. If you find that while shooting some dust appears on your images, you can either turn the camera off and on again, or execute a ‘Clean Now’ cleaning cycle. A ‘Clean Now’ cycle takes around 2 or 3 seconds. During that time, the shutter will make three sounds but will not actually take any images. To ensure the best results with the self–cleaning sensor, place the camera base on a table or other surface that enables the camera to stand up. This will help the unit shake dust off onto the sticky pads below the sensor.

Making notes on the subjects you are shooting can be time consuming and impractical in fast–moving environments. The EOS 1 series cameras offer a sound recording facility by simply pressing and holding the Protect/Record button for two seconds and then speaking into the microphone while continuing to hold the button down. When you want to finish the recording simply release the button. To play back the sound, view the images in ZoomBrowser or ImageBrowser. A musical note will be displayed next to each image with a sound file attached.

The EOS–1D Mark III, EOS–1Ds Mark III and EOS 40D offer a new feature for EOS cameras – customisable ‘My Menu’ settings. These settings, stored in the final screen in the menu system, allow you to register a selection of menu settings that are used regularly, thus avoiding the need to hunt through the menu system to find them. For example, if you regularly switch between Highlight Tone Priority on and off, you may wish to save that as a My Menu setting to save time accessing the custom functions screen.

C.Fn II–9 gives you access to two options that affect the way the INFO button functions in shooting mode on the EOS–1D Mark III and EOS–1Ds Mark III. Setting C.Fn II–9–0 displays the camera settings on the rear LCD screen – things like the Picture Style, colour space, white balance and AF Microadjustment. For most users, this information is not essential. Setting C.Fn II–9–1 displays the shooting functions on the rear LCD screen. It replicates the top panel LCD showing settings like shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed and shooting mode. For most people this is a more useful setting and saves looking to the top panel as often. Pressing the focus point selection button means you can select a focus point on the screen.

Is using the small rear LCD screen to set file size and white balance too slow in fast–paced environments? Set C.Fn IV–8–1 on your EOS–1D Mark III or EOS–1Ds Mark III, pressing the FUNC button on the back of the camera will now toggle through file size, white balance and folder settings on the main read LCD screen. It is larger and easier to read and saves having to enter the menu first to make changes to these settings.

If you use Highlight Tone Priority on the EOS–1D Mark III (C.Fn II–3) then you will find that even with ISO expansion set to allow ISO speeds of 50–6400, your ISO speed will actually be limited to 200–3200. A quick way to check if you have Highlight Tone Priority set is to look at the ISO setting on the top LCD panel. If Highlight Tone Priority is turned off, the ISO speeds will use numbers that are all the same size: 100, 200, 400, 1600 etc. If Highlight Tone Priority is activated, the zeroes will be small: 2oo, 4oo, 16oo etc.

On the consumer cameras with a JUMP button (EOS 400D, 40D, 5D) pressing the Jump button while in the Menu, will move you between menu sections as indicated by the menu tabs or coloured borders. It is quicker than scrolling to the top of each menu section and then moving across.

To shoot black and white images with the EOS–1Ds Mark III, EOS–1D Mark III, EOS 40D and EOS 5D cameras you can simply select the Monochrome option from the Picture Style menu – this will set the contrast for you. Alternatively you could select a Picture Style with lower contrast and more detail such as Faithful or Neutral. You can always boost contrast and throw away detail later but you can’t reduce contrast and add detail that isn’t in the original mage. Additionally if you turn your ISO up as high as you need it you will gain the flexibility to shoot with as fast a shutter speed as you like.

To avoid accidentally losing images for all EOS–1 series cameras you can choose to protect a single image or protect all the images in a folder or on a memory card. On the EOS–1Ds Mark III and EOS–1D Mark III to protect a single image you use playback and press the ‘key’ icon button below the LCD panel on the back of the cameras. Once protected, an image cannot be erased unless the protection status is cancelled manually. To protect all images in a folder or on a card use the MENU button on the back of the camera to reach the Protected images setting options of ‘All images in folder’ or ‘All images on card’. To cancel protection select ‘Clear all images in folder’ or ‘Clear all images on card’.

With Canon digital SLRs you can control the colours shot by your camera by inputting your trademark ‘style’ to the camera, thus saving on post–processing time. The EOS 40D and EOS–1Ds Mark III SLRs come bundled with Picture Style Editor – for previous EOS digital models this software can be downloaded from Canon websites. Picture Style Editor allows you to adjust the Hue, Saturation and Luminance of each colour range individually and save it as a Picture Style file. These files can then be uploaded back to the camera for use at the time of shooting as a customised in–camera colour setting. Click here to find out how to use Picture Style Editor.

If you shoot at events with more than one camera, and want to be able to view images in order of the time they were taken, make sure you synchronise the time and date settings of each camera. That way, whatever the file number, or the camera used, you will be able to organise the files chronologically – even if you switch between cameras. This is particularly useful in events such as weddings or sports.

Don‘t need the full file size of your EOS–1D Mark III camera, but want all the advantages of shooting in RAW? Set the camera to shoot in sRAW. That way, you obtain a file size of around 2.5megapixels suitable for A5 prints and still have the ability to adjust exposure, white balance, saturation and colour tone accurately using Digital Photo Professional.

The Fine and Normal settings when shooting in JPEG indicate the compression applied to the file. For example, an image shot on an EOS 5D in Large/Fine will have the same number of pixels (4368 × 2912) as an image shot in Large/Normal. However, the image shot in Large/Normal will produce a smaller file size (2.3Mb compared to 4.6Mb) due to the higher compression applied to the file. Shooting with higher compression will allow more images per memory card, but may affect the final image quality. On the EOS–1 Series digital cameras, the compression level is set on a scale from 1 to 10 indicating JPEG quality.