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Photo by CLF

I continue to learn all that I can about the Canon 50D.  One can use the fully automatic setting, or even the creative auto setting…  Yeah, that’s not really me.  I need to know how to have full control over aperture, metering, flash, etc.

One of the things I have learned about the 50D is that the 6.3 frames a second is dependent on a number of things.  The number of photos that can be shot in succession is a function of the speed of your compact flash card; the speed at which you can shoot is decreased if you enable:

• the lighting optimizer
• strong noise correction
• potentially peripheral illumination; I will need to verify this

So, if you have a Canon 50D and are wondering why it seems to shoot so slow, try turning off some of the features.  You can always clean your pictures up in Photoshop anyway!

I’m busy getting up to speed with the new Canon 50D, so I’ll have some pictures to post shortly.  I did  have a bit of a problem getting tethering of the camera to work with Windows 7.  Turns out that the version of EOS Utility that ships with the 50D does not work with Windows 7.  Downloading the current version (2.8.1 as of this writing) works just fine.

Once you have EOS Utility installed and working, go and download EOSInfo.  This is a great little tool to quickly check the number of shutter actuations on the camera.  It works with almost all Canon DSLRs with the Digic III/IV processors, with the T1i being the only exception.  Knowing how many actuations your camera has recorded can allow you to plan for preventative maintenance.  A big thanks to David over at astrojargon.net for this little goodie!!