Part III: Advanced Tools

The next five chapters are devoted to helping you dig deeper into the capabilities of your Canon EOS 7D, so you can exploit all those cool features that your previous camera lacked. Chapters 7 and 8 list every setting and option found in the Shooting, Playback, Set-up, and Custom Functions menus. I’ll not only tell you what each menu item does, I’ll explain exactly when and why you should use every option. Then, in Chapter 9, I’ll show you how to select the best lenses for the kinds of photography you want to do, with my recommendations for starter lenses as well as more advanced optics for specialized applications.

Chapters 10 and 11 are devoted to the magic of light—your fundamental tool in creating any photograph. There are entire books devoted to working with electronic flash, but I hope to get you started with plenty of coverage of the EOS 7D’s capabilities. I’ll show you how to master your camera’s built-in flash—and avoid that “built-in flash” look—and offer an introduction to the use of external flash units, including the Canon Speedlite 580EX II. Because the 7D’s state-of-the-art wireless flash capabilities are so new, I’m devoting an entire chapter to that technology. By the time you finish these essential chapters, you’ll be well on the way to mastering your Canon EOS 7D.