Canon® EOS-1Ds Mark III Digital Field Guide

Chapter 3. Choosing Settings When Preparing for a Shoot

In This Chapter

• Prepping your equipment for a shoot

• Focusing modes

• Exposure metering modes

• Flash modes

• Drive modes

• ISO choices

• White Balance modes

• Image quality modes

• Picture Style modes

• Registering settings

Beyond camera setup lies the craft of prepping all your equipment for an upcoming assignment, and doing the most you can to minimize equipment surprises on the day of the shoot. Trust me, you'll never get rid of all the problems, but you truly can minimize trouble when the clock is ticking by thoroughly preparing before each assignment.

Now that you know what options exist within the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III system and how to locate and operate them, it's time to look at why you should pick particular settings for various shooting scenarios. If you photograph one type of assignment over and over (say studio portraits, or available light events, or architecture), you might find that you rarely change your preferred mode and menu settings. However, if your job types vary from one assignment to the next, your choices might change frequently as well.

Prepping Your Equipment for a Shoot

I began my professional career, like many others, as an assistant. However, in my case, it was as an assistant cameraman on commercials, features, and documentaries. Being responsible for extremely technical equipment to work extremely well (Panavision and Arriflex 35 camera systems, for example) when many thousands of dollars are at stake each hour, you learn ...