Canon Rebel XTi

[melange77]

Any XTi owners out there? I have one and I love it but I'm having trouble with a feature and reading the book didn't help.
Does anyone know if there is a way to see what you're ABOUT to shoot on the display screen. I can't seem to figure out if there is a way to compose your shot through the display or if you can only do it through the viewfinder.
(I'm also hoping this is damn near impossible to figure out on your own so that I don't look like the world's biggest dork!)
yup..too late already do I know! :p

[gjtoth]

Any XTi owners out there? I have one and I love it but I'm having trouble with a feature and reading the book didn't help.
Does anyone know if there is a way to see what you're ABOUT to shoot on the display screen. I can't seem to figure out if there is a way to compose your shot through the display or if you can only do it through the viewfinder.
(I'm also hoping this is damn near impossible to figure out on your own so that I don't look like the world's biggest dork!)
yup..too late already do I know! :p

I'm almost positive that I've read something to the effect that ALL DSLRs aren't capable of LCD preview. Only via the VF.

I'm sure someone (Peter?) will come along to verify or correct me.

[melange77]

Thanks, I've been doing some reading today and it would appear that you're right and the LCD preview is not an option. Really not TOO big a deal since the camera is a bit on the heavy side for me and my forehead is probably the only thing keeping it from shaking all over :D
Just what I'm used to after owning a Kodak Dx7590 for so long.

[jonrayner]

Hi melange77

I have the rebel xti (or the 400D as it is known here). It is not possible to preview the forthcoming shot. I believe that this feature, known as live view is now out on some of the later models, for example the Olympus E330, but is not on the Canon models as of yet. It'll probably be a new feature with the next model!

[dkippen]

Melange -

I too have the Rebel XTI. It seems to me I read somewhere (not sure where) but compsoing your picture through the viewfinder only and not the display screen has something to do with the brightness of what you're actually viewing. In addition to what you see through the viewfinder, view your histogram after you've taken your picture. To see the histogram, press the "DISP" button after your picture is taken. Your "lines" should be fairly even all the way across.

[rlcphotos]

no you can not view that way. It is all done thru the view finder. I believe they started that with the 300D, correct me if Im wrong, its okay

[LensBaby]

Yeah there are several cameras out now that you can do that now.

[jerryph]

Rebel XSI and Nikon D300 both have live view features. Let me be the first to say that I saw someone using a D300 like this and they looked quite rediculous, IMHO.

One of the reasons I could see live view helping is if you needed an overhead shot of a subject and were at the back of a crowd but, there is just something asthetically wrong about it(lol).

I am a member of a about 8 of Nikon specific forums... very few people say that they use the live view of the D300.

I say, if I wanted live view, I could always downgrade to a point & shoot camera. :)

[coffee]

Canon has what's called Live View. It is on the 40D, some of the 1D series, and on the up and coming XSi.

[LensBaby]

I don't know if I would ever use live view on my DSLR, because I am so used to not having live view!

[coffee]

It's not practical in most situations. But when doing macro work, it's wonderful.

While in Live View you can digitally zoom in 5 and 10X, and move the view around with a small joystick without moving the camera. In doing this you can manually focus on any point you want, with perfection. Macro is the only application I've found Live View useful. But Very Useful!

[LensBaby]

That does sound very useful for macros. Does it drain your battery fast?

[coffee]

I wouldn't call it draining, but I'm sure it takes more battery power. I don't have a huge amount of time with the 40D, but I know a few things: It's a great camera, Live View is great for macro, and it has wonderful battery life, and this is with one battery so far. Once my battery grip replacement gets here, which uses 2 batteries, I would guess I can shoot thousands of photos all day long with one charge. Live View or not.

[LensBaby]

Cool. That sounds great. I have heard that live view drains batteries, but I was wondering if it really did or not.

[jerryph]

Drain means to completely empty them. While it would not do that, you do reduce your total number of pictures per battery by about 50-65% using it constantly. On my camera I have increased total number of pics possible to take by 30%... simply turning off the preview after taking a picture. You can also save a significant amount by not "chimping" after a few pictures. Those LCDs do need a lot of power to be lit.