Instant upgrades Canon EOS 800D
Make your Canon snaps even snappier
ONE PEAK DESIGN EVERYDAY BACKPACK
Having spent the best part of a grand on the 800D, you don’t want to carry it around in a bag that screams ‘Yeah, I’m broke now.’ So treat yourself again to this Peak Design number – aside from offering enough nooks and crannies for your extra kit, it’s immensely comfortable to trek around with.
TWO SIGMA 30MM F/1.4 DC HSM
One of the best perks of owning a Canon is the sheer number of quality lenses you can add to your setup. A prime lens will give you the best possible image quality, and this here Sigma is a fine choice. Canon’s EF-S 24mm f/2.8 is a solid alternative for about half the price, though.
THREE VANGUARD ALTA PRO 263AB 100 ALUMINIUM TRIPOD
Lenses, bags and tripods are the holy trinity of camera accessories, so you’d best complete your set. With a lightweight design, max height of 68 inches and a complimentary bag of its own, you’ll be well set without draining your bank account much further.
1 GO LARGE, SAVE ON SPACE
RAW images might give you the greatest amount of pictorial detail and fidelity, but without a whopping great SD card you’re gonna be scrambling for free space in no time at all. e solution? Switch to the ‘Large’ jpeg file format for photos when you just want to test out a shot or aren’t bothered about going in depth with your editing. Or just buy a bigger SD card.
4 DABBLE WITH YOUR DIOPTER
You can always trust in a Canon’s viewfinder for more accurate shooting… but remember, it won’t be adjusted for your eyesight straight out of the box. at means you’ll need to give your diopter a quick swizzle. You know, the wheel by the viewfinder that fixes the optics so you don’t have to squint at them. What did you think we were talking about?
2 DON’T SCARE THE HARE
Spend all the cash you want on a long lens, remote shutter kit and matching desert camouflage gear – if your 800D lets off a shrill noise every time you try to capture a wildlife shot, you’re going to end up frustrated. So be sure to switch off the beep in your Canon’s menu before heading out on that mini-safari to the wilds of Longleat.
5 STYLE IT OUT
Looking for a specific aesthetic with your snaps? It’s well worth giving Canon’s Picture Styles a spin. ese presets alter how your 800D renders and processes images, allowing you to tweak the saturation, sharpness and contrast of your shots. ey’re especially useful for previewing monochrome photos, as RAW files will still retain the original colour information.
3 DO IT YOURSELF
As convenient as it is to stick with autofocus no matter what conditions you’re shooting in, you’ll almost certainly get better low-light results by switching your lens to manual focus. To check on your shots’ accuracy, use the zoom option in Live View for 10x magnification on any point in the frame. Otherwise, you could well be left with a load of blurry pictures.
6 GET YOUR EXPOSURE RIGHT
ere are loads of different ways to check exposure, but the easiest is to look at the histogram – a graph showing the range of dark to light pixels in your shot. View it by clicking the 800D’s Info button a couple of times; if the left or right side is too high, you need to use exposure compensation to move the graph one way or the other.