This chapter and the next three will help you sort out the settings you can make to customize how your Canon EOS RP uses its features, shoots photos, displays images, and processes the pictures after they’ve been taken. I’m not going to waste a lot of space on some of the more obvious menu choices. For example, you can probably figure out that the Touch Shutter option in Shooting 5 deals with whether or not the Touch Shutter option is enabled or disabled. In this chapter, I’ll devote no more than a sentence or two to the blatantly obvious settings and concentrate on the more confusing aspects of EOS RP setup, such as Automatic Exposure Bracketing.

The nine Shooting menu tabs discussed in this chapter are those available in still shooting mode. If you switch to a Movie mode, only the first four Shooting menus are available. I’ll explain the Movie Shooting menus in Chapter 16, where I’ve collected all the basic video capture information for the EOS RP. For now, let’s start off with an overview of the EOS RP’s menus themselves.

Anatomy of the EOS RP’s Menus

The EOS RP divides the entries into five major sections—Shooting, Playback, Set-up, Custom Functions, and My Menu—each of which (except for the last) is further subdivided into separate pages. Each page’s listings are shown as a separate screen with no scrolling.

The menus are easy to use, too. Just press the MENU button, spin the Main Dial to highlight the menu tab and page you want to access, and then scroll up and down within a menu with the Quick Control Dial. What could be easier?

Tapping the MENU button brings up a typical menu like the one shown in Figure 11.1. (If the camera goes to “sleep” while you’re reviewing a menu, you may need to wake it up again by tapping the shutter release button.) Different menu tabs are provided, depending on the shooting mode, shown in Table 11.1.

The EOS RP’s tabs are color-coded: red for Shooting, blue for Playback, amber yellow for Set-up, brown for Custom Functions, and Green for My Menu. The currently selected menu tab’s icon is white within a background corresponding to its color code. A lineup immediately underneath shows the page numbers available, and, at far right, the name of the page (for example, SHOOT1). The current screen’s number is highlighted. All the inactive menus are gray and dimmed.

Figure 11.1 The EOS RP’s menus are arranged in a series of tabs.

Here are the things to watch for as you navigate the menus:

• Menu tabs. In the top row of the menu screen, the menu that is currently active will be highlighted as described earlier. The numbers within the tab let you know if you are in, say, Set-up 1, Set-up 2, Set-up 3, or another tab. Just remember that the red camera icons stand for still and movie shooting options; the blue right-pointing triangles represent playback options; the yellow wrench icons stand for set-up options; the brown camera icons represent Custom Functions; and the green star stands for personalized menus defined for the star of the show—you.
• Selected menu. The currently selected menu entry within a given tab will have a black background and will be surrounded by a box the same hue as its color code.
• Other menu choices. The other menu items visible on the screen will have a dark gray background.
• Current setting. The current settings for visible menu items are shown in the right-hand column, until one menu entry is selected (by pressing the SET key). Current settings aren’t appropriate for some menu entries (for example, the Protect Images or Resize options in the Playback 1 and 2 screens), so the right column is left blank.

When you’ve moved the menu highlighting to the menu item you want to work with, press the SET button to select it. The current settings for the other menu items in the list will be hidden, and a list of options for the selected menu item (or a submenu screen) will appear. Or, you may be shown a separate settings screen for that entry. Within the menu choices, you can scroll up or down with the Quick Control Dial; press SET to select the choice you’ve made; and press the MENU button again to exit.

Shooting Menu Options

You’ll find that the Shooting menu options are those that you access second most frequently when you’re using your EOS RP. You might make such adjustments as you begin a shooting session, or when you move from one type of subject to another. Canon makes accessing these changes very easy.

This section explains the options of the first eight Shooting menu tabs and how to use them. There are additional movie-oriented entries on in the Shooting 9 menu (not discussed in this chapter), and in the differently organized Shooting menus that appear when the Mode Dial is rotated to the Movie position. The options you’ll find in these first eight red-coded menus include:

• Image Quality
• Cropping/Aspect Ratio
• Image Review
• Release Shutter without Card
• Lens Aberration Correction
• External Speedlite Control
• Exposure Compensation/AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing)
• ISO Speed Settings
• Movie ISO Speed Settings
• Auto Lighting Optimizer
• Highlight Tone Priority
• Metering Timer
• Exposure Simulation
• White Balance
• Custom White Balance
• WB Shift/Bkt
• Color Space
• Picture Style
• Long Exposure Noise Reduction
• High ISO Speed Noise Reduction
• Dust Delete Data
• Touch Shutter
• Multiple Exposure
• HDR Mode
• Focus Bracketing
• Interval Timer
• Bulb Timer
• Anti-flicker Shooting
• High Speed Display
• AF Operation
• AF Method
• Eye Detection AF
• Continuous AF
• Touch & Drag AF Settings
• Lens Electronic MF
• AF-Assist Beam Firing
• MF Peaking Settings

Image Quality

Options: Resolution: Large (default), Medium, Small 1, Small 2; JPEG Compression: Fine (default), Normal; JPEG (default), RAW, or RAW+JPEG

My preference: Resolution: Large; JPEG Compression: Fine; RAW+JPEG

You can choose the image quality settings used by the EOS RP to store its files. You have choices to make when selecting a quality setting:

• Resolution. The number of pixels captured determines the absolute resolution of the photos you shoot with your EOS RP. Your choices range from 26 megapixels (Large or L), measuring 6240 × 4160; 12 megapixels (Medium or M), measuring 4160 × 2768; 6.5 megapixels (Small 1 or S1), measuring 3120 × 2080; and 3.8 megapixels (Small 2 or S2), measuring 2400 × 1600. You can also choose RAW-only sizes of RAW and C RAW (6240 × 4160; 26MP). Both RAW formats have the same resolution, but C RAW (Compact RAW) produces a smaller file size: 17.1MB compared to 29.1MB for standard RAW.
• JPEG compression. To reduce the size of your image files and allow more photos to be stored on a given memory card, the EOS RP uses JPEG compression to squeeze the images down to a smaller size. This compacting reduces the image quality a little, so you’re offered your choice of Fine compression and Normal compression. The symbols help you remember that Fine compression (represented by a quarter-circle) provides the smoothest results, while Normal compression (signified by a stair-step icon) provides “jaggier” images. The Small 2 (S2) file option has no quality option icon, but it is Fine quality.
• JPEG, RAW, or both. You can elect to store only JPEG versions of the images you shoot or you can save your photos as uncompressed, loss-free RAW files, which consume about four times as much space on your memory card. Or, you can store both at once as you shoot. Many photographers elect to save both a JPEG and a RAW file, so they’ll have a JPEG version that might be usable as-is, as well as the original “digital negative” RAW file in case they want to do some processing of the image later. You’ll end up with two different versions of the same file: one with a JPG extension, and one with the CR3 extension that signifies a Canon RAW file.

To choose the combination you want, access the menus, scroll to Image Quality, and press the SET button. A screen similar to the one shown in Figure 11.2 will appear with two rows of choices. Spin the Main Dial to choose from:—(no RAW), RAW, or C RAW. Rotate the QCD to select one of the JPEG choices:—(no JPEG), Large, Medium, or Small in Fine or Normal compression (represented by smooth and stepped icons, respectively), plus Small 2 (with Fine compression), at the resolutions listed above. A red box appears around the currently selected choice. If you choose “--” for both RAW and JPEG, then JPEG Fine will be used. As always, when you’ve highlighted your selection, press SET to confirm.

Figure 11.2 Choose your resolution, JPEG compression, and file format from this screen.

Why so many choices? There are some limited advantages to using the Medium and Small resolution settings, Normal JPEG compression setting, and the two lower resolution RAW formats. They all allow stretching the capacity of your memory card so you can shoehorn quite a few more pictures onto a single memory card. That can come in useful when on vacation and you’re running out of storage, or when you’re shooting non-critical work that doesn’t require full resolution. The Small 2 setting can be useful for photos taken for real estate listings, web page display, photo ID cards, or similar non-critical applications.

For most work, using lower resolution and extra compression is often false economy. You never know when you might need that extra bit of picture detail. Your best bet is to have enough memory cards to handle all the shooting you want to do until you have the chance to transfer your photos to your computer or a personal storage device.

However, reduced image quality can sometimes be beneficial if you’re shooting sequences of photos rapidly, as the EOS RP is able to hold more of them in its internal memory buffer before transferring to the memory card. Still, for most sports and other applications, you’d probably rather have better, sharper pictures than longer periods of continuous shooting.

JPEG vs. RAW

You’ll sometimes be told that RAW files are the “unprocessed” image information your camera produces, before it’s been modified. That’s nonsense. RAW files are no more unprocessed than camera film is after it’s been through the chemicals to produce a negative or transparency. A lot can happen in the developer that can affect the quality of a film image—positively and negatively—and, similarly, your digital image undergoes a significant amount of processing before it is saved as a RAW file. Canon even applies a name (DIGIC 8) to the digital image processing (DIP) chip used to perform this magic.

A RAW file is more like a film camera’s processed negative. It contains all the information, captured in 14-bit channels per color (and stored in a 16-bit space), with no compression, no sharpening, and no application of any special filters or other settings you might have specified when you took the picture. Those settings are stored with the RAW file so they can be applied when the image is converted to a form compatible with your favorite image editor. However, using RAW conversion software such as Adobe Camera Raw or Canon’s Digital Photo Professional, you can override those settings and apply settings of your own. You can select essentially the same changes there that you might have specified in your camera’s picture-taking options.

RAW exists because sometimes we want to have access to all the information captured by the camera, before the camera’s internal logic has processed it and converted the image to a standard file format. RAW doesn’t save as much space as JPEG. What it does do is preserve all the information captured by your camera after it’s been converted from analog to digital form. Of course, the EOS RP’s RAW format preserves the settings information.

So, why don’t we always use RAW? Although some photographers do save only in RAW format, it’s more common to use either RAW plus one of the JPEG options or just shoot JPEG and avoid RAW altogether. That’s because having only RAW files to work with can significantly slow down your workflow. While RAW is overwhelmingly helpful when an image needs to be fine-tuned, in other situations working with a RAW file, when all you really need is a good-quality, un-tweaked JPEG image, consumes time that you may not want to waste. For example, RAW images take longer to store on the memory card, and require more post-processing effort, whether you elect to go with the default settings in force when the picture was taken, or just make minor adjustments.

Thus, those who depend on speedy access to images or who shoot large numbers of photos at once may prefer JPEG over RAW. Wedding photographers, for example, might expose several thousand photos during a bridal affair and offer hundreds to clients as electronic proofs for possible inclusion in an album or transfer to a CD or DVD. These wedding shooters, who want JPEG images as their final product, take the time to make sure that their in-camera settings are correct, minimizing the need to post-process photos after the event. Given that their JPEGs are so good (in most cases thanks, in large part, to the pro photographer’s extensive experience), there is little need to get bogged down shooting RAW.

JPEG was invented as a more compact file format that can store most of the information in a digital image, but in a much smaller size. JPEG predates most digital SLRs, and was initially used to squeeze down files for transmission over slow dial-up connections. Even if you were using an early dSLR with 1.3 megapixel files for news photography, you didn’t want to send them back to the office over a modem (Google it) at 1,200 bps.

But, as I noted, JPEG provides smaller files by compressing the information in a way that loses some image data. JPEG remains a viable alternative because it offers several different quality levels. At the highest-quality Fine level, you might not be able to tell the difference between the original RAW file and the JPEG version. You’ve squeezed the image significantly without losing much visual information at all. (See Figure 11.3.)

In my case, I shoot virtually everything at RAW+JPEG Fine. Most of the time, I’m not concerned about filling up my memory cards, as I usually have a minimum of five fast 64GB memory cards with me. If I think I may fill up all those cards on a trip, I usually have a laptop with me and can transfer photos to that device. As I mentioned earlier, when shooting sports, I’ll shift to JPEG Fine (with no RAW file) to squeeze a little extra speed out of my EOS RP’s continuous shooting mode, and to reduce the need to wade through eight-photo bursts taken in RAW format. On the other hand, on my last trip to Europe, I took only RAW (instead of my customary RAW+JPEG) photos to fit more images onto my laptop, as I planned on doing at least some post-processing on many of the images for a travel book I was working on.

Figure 11.3 Low compression yields the best image (left); at high compression, pixelation and artifacts rear their ugly heads.

Cropping/Aspect Ratio

Options: FULL (default), 1.6X, 1:1, 4:3, 16:9; Shooting area display: Masked, Outlined

My preference: FULL

Your EOS RP allows you to crop images in the camera. Instead of the full sensor frame of 36mm × 24mm, you can select a 1.6X APS-C crop (with a 3:2 crop ratio that’s the same as the FULL setting), or aspect ratios of 1:1 (square), 4:3, or 16:9 (which corresponds to high-definition/ultra-high-definition movie frames). You can also choose whether the shooting area is displayed within the frame—either outlined with blue lines or masked so that only the current crop or aspect ratio is displayed.

The 1.6X crop is significant, because it means that the EOS RP, unlike other Canon full-frame cameras, can, when equipped with an EF/EF-S mount adapter, use APS-C format EF-S lenses. You can use the 1.6X crop to increase the telephoto “reach” of RF and EF lenses (with adapter), giving you a 3888 × 2592–pixel, 10.1MP image. If you are using an EF-S lens, then the 1.6X crop is chosen automatically and the other aspect ratios are not available.

If you’ve selected the 1.6X crop or have mounted an EF-S lens, the EOS RP magnifies the image so the cropped portion fills the display, as the APS-C aspect ratio of 3:2 is identical to that of the full-frame image. If shooting RAW (or when using an EF-S lens), the area outside the 1.6X crop will not be captured. For other aspect ratios, only the captured image area will be shown on the display. The crop/aspect ratio options are shown in Figure 11.4, and the relative resolutions are shown in Table 11.2.

Figure 11.4 Crop/Aspect Ratio options.

Image Review

Options: 2 sec. (default), Off, 4 sec., 8 sec., Hold

My preference: 2 sec.

You can adjust the amount of time an image is displayed for review on the LCD after each shot is taken. You can elect to disable this review entirely (Off), or choose display times of 2, 4, or 8 seconds. You can also select Hold, an indefinite display, which will keep your image on the screen until you use one of the other controls, such as the shutter button, Main Dial, or Quick Control Dial. Turning the review display off or choosing a brief duration can help preserve battery power. However, the EOS RP will always override the review display when the shutter button is partially or fully depressed, so you’ll never miss a shot because a previous image was on the screen. Choose Image Review from the Shooting 1 menu, and select Off, 2 sec., 4 sec., 8 sec., or Hold. If you want to retain an image on the screen for a longer period, but don’t want to use Hold as your default, press the Erase button under the LCD monitor. The image will display until you choose Cancel or Erase from the menu that pops up at the bottom of the screen. A longer review time gives you an opportunity to delete a non-keeper quickly without a visit to the menu system.

Release Shutter without Card

Options: Enable (default), Disable

My preference: Disable

This entry in the Shooting menu gives you the ability to snap off “pictures” without a memory card installed—or to lock the camera shutter release if that is the case. It is sometimes called Play mode, because you can experiment with your camera’s features or even hand your EOS RP to a friend to let him/her fool around, without any danger of pictures being taken. Back in our film days, we’d sometimes finish a roll, rewind the film back into its cassette surreptitiously, and then hand the camera to a child to take a few pictures—without wasting any film. It’s hard to waste digital film, but Release Shutter without Card mode is still appreciated by some, especially camera vendors who want to be able to demo a camera at a store or trade show, but don’t want to have to equip every demonstrator model with a memory card. Choose this menu item, press SET, select Enable or Disable, and press SET again to turn this capability on or off.

Lens Aberration Correction

Options: Peripheral illumination correction: Enable (default)/Disable; Distortion correction: Enable/Disable (default); Digital Lens Optimizer (Chromatic Aberration): Enable (default)/Disable; Diffraction Correction: Enable/Disable (default)

My preference: Use the default values. However, if working with small apertures frequently, say for macro photography, disable Digital Lens Optimizer and enable Diffraction Correction. (They are mutually exclusive.)

This is the first entry on the Shooting 2 menu (see Figure 11.5). The EOS RP can automatically partially correct for lens aberrations in several different ways using three different settings, if you are using a lens for which correction data is available. Previously, several of these corrections were available only when post-processing the image in Digital Photo Professional or another utility. The three choices (see Figure 11.6), all described in detail in the next section, are as follows:

• Peripheral illumination correction. Fixes light fall-off at the edges of an image.
• Distortion correction. Adjusts for barrel and pincushion distortion.
• Digital lens optimizer. Corrects for a variety of characteristics, taking into account the lens, subject distance, focal length, aperture, and low-pass (anti-aliasing) filter over the sensor. It corrects for both chromatic aberration (color fringes around the edges of subjects) and diffraction for moiré effects produced when shooting at a very small aperture.
• Diffraction correction. This choice appears only when Digital Lens Optimizer is disabled. It corrects a loss of sharpness due to scattering of light as photons strike the edges of the lens diaphragm; it is generally most pronounced at small f/stops.

Figure 11.5 The Shooting 2 menu.

I’ll explain what each of these components do one at a time, and include some examples of those aspects that can be easily illustrated.

Figure 11.6 The Lens Aberration Correction screen.

Peripheral Illumination Correction

One defect is caused by a phenomenon called vignetting, which is a darkening of the four corners of the frame because of a slight amount of fall-off in illumination at those nether regions. This menu option allows you to activate Peripheral Illumination Correction, a clever feature built into the EOS RP that partially (or fully) compensates for this effect for any lens included in the camera’s internal, updateable (through firmware upgrades) database. Depending on the f/stop you use, the lens mounted on the camera, and the focal length setting, vignetting can be non-existent, slight, or may be so strong that it appears you’ve used a too-small hood on your camera. (Indeed, the wrong lens hood can produce a vignette effect of its own.) Vignetting can be affected by the use of a telephoto converter (more on those in Chapter 7, too).

Peripheral illumination drop-off, even if pronounced, may not be much of a problem. I actually add vignetting, sometimes, when shooting portraits and some other subjects. Slightly dark corners tend to focus attention on a subject in the middle of the frame. On the other hand, vignetting with subjects that are supposed to be evenly illuminated, such as landscapes, is seldom a benefit.

To minimize the effects of corner light fall-off, you can process RAW files using Digital Photo Professional or, if you want your JPEG files fixed as you shoot them, by using this menu option. Figure 11.7 shows an image at top left without peripheral illumination correction, and a corrected image at bottom left. I’ve exaggerated the vignetting a little to make it more evident on the printed page. Keep in mind that the amount of correction available with Digital Photo Pro can be a little more intense than that applied in the camera. In addition, the higher the ISO speed, the less correction is applied. If you see severe vignetting with a particular lens, focal length, or ISO setting, you might want to turn off this feature, shoot RAW, and apply correction using DPP instead.

When you select this menu option from the Shooting 2 menu, a screen appears with the name of the lens currently attached to the camera, along with a notation whether correction data needed to brighten the corners is already registered in the camera. (Information about the most popular lenses is included in the EOS RP’s firmware.) If so, you can use the Quick Control Dial to choose Enable to activate the feature, or Disable to turn it off. Press the SET button to confirm your choice. Note that in-camera correction must be specified before you take the photo, so that the DIGIC 8 processing engine can lighten the corners of your photo before it is saved to the memory card.

Figure 11.7 Left: Vignetting (top) is undesirable. You can correct this defect in the camera (bottom). Right: Color fringes can be corrected using the lens aberration correction feature (right top and bottom).

Distortion Correction

This option adjusts to correct barrel and pincushion distortion, based on information in the camera’s database.

Barrel distortion is found in some wide-angle lenses, and causes straight lines to bow outward, with the strongest effect at the edges. In fisheye (or curvilinear) lenses, this defect is a feature. When distortion is not desired, you’ll need to use a lens that has corrected barrel distortion. Manufacturers like Canon do their best to minimize or eliminate it (producing a rectilinear lens), often using aspherical lens elements (which are not cross-sections of a sphere). You can also minimize less severe barrel distortion simply by framing your photo with some extra space all around, so the edges where the defect is most obvious can be cropped out of the picture. If none of the above work, you can apply this feature, which is disabled by default, to “undistort” your image with some bending of its own.

Pincushion distortion is a trait of many telephoto lenses, producing lines that curve inward toward the center of the frame. You might find after a bit of testing that it is worse at certain focal lengths with your particular zoom lens. Like chromatic aberration, it can be partially corrected using tools like Photoshop’s Lens Correction filter and Photoshop Elements’ Correct Camera Distortion filter, Digital Photo Professional, or this in-camera feature.

Digital Lens Optimizer

This option is a general-purpose fixer-upper based on the EOS RP’s database understanding of its list of lenses and characteristics of the camera and sensor. It applies a whole range of corrections and can apply them separately to the center or edges of the frame, fixing spherical aberration, axial chromatic aberration, curvature of field, astigmatism, chromatic aberration, sagittal halo, and chromatic magnification. Many of these are technical aspects that are beyond the scope of this book.

Another defect fixed by the Digital Lens Optimizer involves fringes of color around backlit objects, produced by chromatic aberration, which comes in two forms: longitudinal/axial, in which all the colors of light don’t focus in the same plane; and lateral/transverse, in which the colors are shifted in one direction. (See Figure 11.7, top right.) When this feature is enabled, the camera will automatically correct images taken with one of the supported lenses to reduce or eliminate the amount of color fringing seen in the final photograph. (See 11.7, bottom right.)

Diffraction Correction

The final defect that can be corrected is diffraction, a phenomenon that can cause a reduction in the apparent sharpness of your image due to scattering and interference of photons as they pass through smaller lens openings. In effect, the edges of your lens aperture affect proportionately more photons as the f/stop grows smaller. The relative amount of space available to pass freely decreases, and the amount of edge surface that can collide with incoming light increases.

The best analogy I can think of is a pond with two floating docks sticking out into the water, as shown in Figure 11.8, left. Throw a big rock in the pond, and the ripples pass between the docks relatively smoothly if the structures are relatively far apart (top). Move them closer together (bottom), and some ripples rebound off each dock to interfere with the incoming wavelets. In a lens, smaller apertures produce the same effect.

Reminder: Diffraction Correction appears on the screen only when Digital Lens Optimizer is disabled. In addition, Multiple Exposures cannot be captured when Digital Lens Optimizer is Enabled.

The EOS RP’s sensor also includes a so-called “anti-aliasing” filter (technically known as an optical low-pass filter, or OLPF), designed to eliminate moiré. You might see it on your television when a guest wears a checked shirt with a pattern that’s very close to the interval, or frequency, of the lines that produce the video image. Or, it might show up when photographing a window screen (see Figure 11.8, right). The optical low-pass filter blocks most of that moiré by blurring the image slightly.

Figure 11.8 Diffraction interference can be visualized as ripples on a lake (left). Patterns, such as window screens, can create moiré effects (right).

With the EOS RP, Canon has greatly expanded the list of lens data included within the camera itself. However, if lens aberration correction information for your lens is not registered in the camera, you can often remedy that deficit using the most recent version of the EOS Utility. Just follow these steps:

1. 1. Link up your camera. Mount the lens you want to register, then connect your EOS RP to your computer using the USB cable supplied with the camera.
2. 2. Launch the EOS utility. Load the utility on your computer and click on Camera Settings from the splash screen that appears. (See Figure 11.9, upper left.)

Figure 11.9 Add lens correction data using the EOS Utility.

1. 3. Click on the Register Lens Aberration Correction Data choice. The Camera Settings options screen is shown in Figure 11.9, upper right.
2. 4. Choose your lens. The current lenses you own that have been mounted on your camera will appear in the EOS RP Lens Registration Tool, shown at lower left in Figure 11.9. You can place a check next to a lens you want to add, then click OK to confirm. If the message “This lens does not need to be registered on this camera” appears next to a lens, the EOS RP already has correction data for it, and you do not need to add it.
3. 5. Add another lens. You can add one or more lenses without mounting them on the camera by clicking on the Edit Lens List option, seen at upper right of the Lens Registration Tool. The Edit Lens List screen is shown in Figure 11.9, lower right.
4. 6. View and select lenses. Select the category containing the lens you want to register from the panels at the top of the new screen; then place a check mark next to all the lenses you’d like to register in the camera.
5. 7. Confirm your choice. Click OK to send the data from your computer to the EOS RP and register your lenses.
6. 8. Activate correction. When a newly registered lens is mounted on the camera, you will be able to activate the Peripheral Illumination Correction (anti-vignetting) feature for that lens from the Shooting 2 menu.

External Speedlite Control

This multi-level menu entry includes settings for controlling the Canon EOS RP’s accessory flash units attached to the camera (see Figure 11.10). I’ll provide in-depth coverage of how you can use these options in Chapters 9 and 10, but will list the main options here for reference.

Figure 11.10 The External Speedlite Control menu entry has six options, plus Clear Settings.

Flash Firing

Use this option to enable or disable the attached electronic flash. Choose Enable, and the flash fires normally when it’s attached to the camera and powered up. Select Disable, and the flash itself will not fire, but the AF-assist beam emitted by the unit will function normally. You might want to use the latter option when you prefer to shoot under low levels of existing light, but still need the autofocusing boost the flash’s AF beam provides.

E-TTL II Metering

You can choose Evaluative (Matrix) or Average metering modes for the electronic flash exposure meter. Evaluative looks at selected areas in the scene to calculate exposure, and is the best choice for most images because it attempts to interpret the type of scene being shot; Average calculates flash exposure by reading the entire scene, and it is possibly a good option if you want exposure to be calculated for the overall scene.

Slow Synchro

You can select the flash synchronization speed that will be used when working in Av (Aperture-priority) or P (Program) exposure modes; choose from 1/180th–30 sec Auto (the EOS RP selects the shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1/180th second), to a range embracing only the speeds from 1/180th–60 sec Auto, or fixed at 1/180th second.

Normally, in Aperture-priority mode when using flash, you specify the f/stop to be locked in. The camera then adjusts exposure by varying the output of the electronic flash. In Program mode, the camera chooses the f/stop. Because the primary exposure comes from the flash, the main effect of the shutter speed selected is on the secondary exposure from the ambient light remaining on the scene.

Auto is your best choice under most conditions. The EOS RP will choose a shutter speed that balances the flash exposure and available, ambient light. The 1/180th–1/60th second setting locks out slower shutter speeds, preventing blur from camera/subject movement in the secondary (“ghost”) exposure. However, the background may be rendered dark if the flash is not strong enough to illuminate it. The 1/180th second (fixed) setting further reduces the chance of getting those blurry ghosts, but there is more of a chance the background will be dark. You’ll find a more detailed explanation of these options in Chapter 9.

Safety FE

Enabling this setting helps avoid overexposure from an attached and powered-up external flash when used during bright daylight or close to your subject. The EOS RP will automatically lower the ISO speed when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto.

Flash Function Settings

There is a total of six possible choices for this menu screen, plus Clear Settings. These additional options are grayed out unless you’re working in wireless flash mode. All these are explained in Chapters 9 and 10.

• ETTL Flash mode. This entry allows you to choose from automatic exposure calculation (E-TTL II), manual flash exposure, multi (repeating) flash, or Continuous Shooting Priority (CSP). The latter setting, which increases flash output and ISO speed each by one stop, uses less battery power and enables the EOS RP to use flash when shooting continuously.
• Wireless functions. These choices include Mode, Channel, Firing Group, and other options used only when you’re working in wireless mode to control a wireless-capable external flash. If you’ve disabled wireless functions, the other options don’t appear on the menu. I’m going to leave the explanation of these options for Chapter 10, which is an entire chapter dedicated to using the EOS RP’s wireless shooting capabilities.
• Zoom. Use this to select a flash zoom head setting to adjust coverage area of compatible Speedlites.
• Shutter sync. You can choose first-curtain sync, which fires the pre-flash used to calculate the exposure before the shutter opens, followed by the main flash as soon as the shutter is completely open. This is the default mode, and you’ll generally perceive the pre-flash and main flash as a single burst. Alternatively, you can select second-curtain sync, which fires the preflash as soon as the shutter opens, and then triggers the main flash in a second burst at the end of the exposure, just before the shutter starts to close. (If the shutter speed is slow enough, you may clearly see both the pre-flash and main flash as separate bursts of light.) This action allows photographing a blurred trail of light of moving objects with sharp flash exposures at the beginning and the end of the exposure. This type of flash exposure is slightly different from what some other cameras produce using second-curtain sync. I explained how it works in Chapter 9.

  If you have an external compatible Speedlite attached, you can also choose high-speed sync, which allows you to use shutter speeds faster than 1/180th second, using the External Flash Function Setting menu.

• Flash exposure compensation. If you’d rather adjust flash exposure using a menu than with the ISO/Flash exposure compensation button, you can do that here. (If you happen to specify a value with both, this menu entry overrides the button-selected value.) Select this option with the SET button, then dial in the amount of flash EV compensation you want using the Quick Control Dial. The EV that was in place before you started to make your adjustment is shown as a blue indicator, so you can return to that value quickly. Press SET again to confirm your change, then press the MENU button twice to exit.
• Flash exposure bracketing. Use these settings to specify options for adjusting the output of your unit when using bracketing with your compatible electronic flash.

Flash Custom Function Settings

Many external Speedlites from Canon include their own list of Custom Functions, which can be used to specify things like flash metering mode and flash bracketing sequences, as well as more sophisticated features, such as modeling light/flash (if available), use of external power sources (if attached), and functions of any slave unit attached to the external flash. This menu entry allows you to set an external flash unit’s Custom Functions from your EOS RP’s menu. The exact functions available will vary by flash unit. For example, with the Speedlite 320EX, only Custom Functions 1 (Auto Power Off), 6 (Quick Flash with Continuous Shot), 10 (Slave Auto Power Off Timer), and 11 (Slave Auto Power Off Cancel) are available. With high-end units, like the Speedlite 600EX-RT, a broader range of choices (described in Chapter 9) are at your disposal.

Clear Settings

This entry allows you to zero-out any changes you’ve made to your external flash’s settings and Custom Functions settings, and return them to their factory default settings. The exception is C.Fn-00 Distance Indicator Display (if available for your flash). That setting remains as adjusted until you change it yourself. Note that a flash’s Personal Functions (P.Fn) cannot be set or reset from the camera; you must use the Speedlite’s controls instead.

Exposure Compensation/Automatic Exposure Bracketing

Options: Exposure comp/Auto exposure bracketing

My preference: N/A

The first entry on the Shooting 3 menu is Expo. Comp./AEB, or exposure compensation and automatic exposure bracketing. (See Figure 11.11.) As you learned in Chapter 4, exposure compensation increases or decreases exposure from the metered value. You can set it from this screen, or, in Fv, P, Tv, or Av modes by simply pressing the shutter release halfway and then rotating the Quick Control Dial to add or subtract exposure. A plus/minus exposure compensation indicator is displayed while compensation is in effect.

Exposure bracketing using the EOS RP’s AEB feature is a way to shoot several consecutive exposures using different settings, to improve the odds that one will be exactly right. Automatic exposure bracketing is also an excellent way of creating the base exposures you’ll need when you want to combine several shots to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. (You’ll find a discussion of HDR photography in Chapter 4, too.)

Figure 11.11 Exposure compensation/AEB is the first entry in the Shooting 3 menu.

To activate automatic exposure bracketing, select this menu choice, then rotate the Main Dial to spread or contract the three lines beneath the scale until you’ve defined the range you want the bracket to cover, which can be up to plus/minus three stops from the base exposure, as shown in Figure 11.12. Then, use the Quick Control Dial (or left/right buttons) to move the bracket set right or left, moving the base exposure point from the metered (0) value and biasing the bracketing toward underexposure (rotate left) or overexposure (rotate right).

When AEB is activated, the bracketed shots will be exposed in this sequence: metered exposure, decreased exposure, increased exposure. You’ll find more information about exposure bracketing in Chapter 4.

Figure 11.12 Set the range of the bracketed exposures.

ISO Speed Settings

Options: ISO Speed, ISO Speed Range, Auto Range, Minimum Shutter Speed

My preference: N/A

Use this entry to select a specific ISO speed using a menu instead of the Quick Control menu, or to limit the range of ISO settings and shutter speeds that the camera selects automatically.

The four subentries include:

• ISO Speed. This scale allows you to choose from the enabled ISO speeds, plus Auto, using a sliding scale that can be adjusted using the QCD or the touch screen. Press INFO when the scale is visible to activate Auto.
• ISO Speed Range. You can specify the minimum and maximum ISO sensitivity available, including “expanded” settings you may have enabled such as Low (ISO 50 equivalent) and H1 or H2 (ISO 51200 and 102400 equivalent, respectively). I find myself using this feature frequently to keep me from accidentally switching to a setting I’d rather (or need to) avoid. For example, at concerts I may switch from ISO 1600 to 6400 as the lighting changes, and I set those two values as my minimum or maximum. Outdoors in daylight, I might prefer to lock out ISO values lower than ISO 100 or higher than ISO 800.
• Auto Range. This is the equivalent “safety net” for Auto ISO operation. You can set the minimum no lower than ISO 100 and the maximum to ISO 40000, and no further. Use this to apply your own “smarts” to auto ISO setting.
• Minimum Shutter Speed. You can choose whether to allow the EOS RP to select the slowest shutter speed used before Auto ISO kicks in. The idea here is that you’ll probably want to boost ISO sooner if you’re using a long lens with P and Av modes (in which the camera selects the shutter speed). If you specify, for example, a minimum shutter speed of 1/250th second, if P or Av mode needs a slower shutter speed for the proper exposure, it will boost ISO instead, within the range you’ve specified with Auto Range.

  This setting has two modes. In Auto mode, the camera decides when the shutter speed is too low. You can fine-tune this by choosing Slower or Faster on the scale (–3 to +3) that appears. Or, you can manually select the “trigger” shutter speed, from 1 second to 1/8000th second.

  However, if you’ve handicapped the EOS RP by selecting an Auto ISO range that doesn’t include a sensitivity high enough, the camera will override this setting and use a shutter speed lower than the minimum you specify anyway. The camera assumes (rightly or wrongly) that your upper ISO boundary is more important than your lower shutter speed limit. The lesson here is that if you really, really want to enforce a minimum shutter speed when using Auto ISO, make sure your upper limit is high enough. Note that the Minimum Shutter Speed setting is ignored when using flash.

Movie ISO Speed Settings

Options: Maximum for Auto: 6400, 12800, 25600 (default), H1 (51200), H2 (102400)

My preference: 6400

Although its name is similar to the entry that precedes it, this setting only allows specifying the maximum ISO sensitivity that can be selected when an automatic exposure setting (rather than Manual exposure) is specified while shooting movies. Ordinarily, in autoexposure modes, the EOS RP will choose an ISO setting in the range 100–25600 automatically for Full HD and Standard HD video. For 4K Ultra High Definition video, the maximum is one stop less: 12800. If you feel the top speeds will not be satisfactory, you can limit ISO Auto to a lower figure (down to ISO 6400), or even a higher number (up to H2/ISO 202400 equivalent). Note that when Highlight Tone Priority (located two slots down from this one in the Shooting 3 menu) is enabled, the automatic speed range minimum is ISO 200.

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Options: Disable, Low, Standard (default), High, Disabled in Manual or Bulb modes

My preference: Disable

The Auto Lighting Optimizer provides a partial fix for images that are too dark or flat. Such photos typically have low contrast, and the Auto Lighting Optimizer improves them—as you shoot—by increasing both the brightness and contrast as required. The feature can be activated in Program, Aperture-priority, and Shutter-priority modes. You can select from four settings: Standard (the default value, which is always selected when using Scene Intelligent Auto mode, and used for Figure 11.13), plus Low, High, and Disable. Press the INFO button to add/remove a check mark icon that indicates the Auto Lighting Optimizer is disabled during manual exposure and bulb modes. Since you’re likely to be specifying an exposure in those modes, you probably don’t want the optimizer to interfere with your settings, so disabling the feature is the default.

Highlight Tone Priority

Options: Disable (default), Enable D+, Enhanced D+2

My preference: Disable

This setting concentrates the available tones in an image from the middle grays up to the brightest highlights, in effect expanding the dynamic range of the image at the expense of shadow detail. You’d want to activate this option when shooting subjects in which there is lots of important detail in the highlights, and less detail in shadow areas. Highlight tones will be preserved, while shadows will be allowed to go dark more readily (and may exhibit an increase in noise levels). Bright beach or snow scenes, especially those with few shadows (think high noon, when the shadows are smaller) can benefit from using Highlight Tone Priority.

Figure 11.13 Auto Lighting Optimizer can brighten dark, low-contrast images (top), giving them a little extra snap and brightness (bottom).

Your choices:

• Disable/OFF. The EOS RP’s normal dynamic range is applied. Note that when Highlight Tone Priority is switched off, the related Auto Lighting Optimizer setting (discussed earlier in this chapter) functions normally.
• Enable D+. Highlight areas are given expanded tonal values, while the tones available for shadow areas are reduced. The ISO 100 sensitivity setting is disabled and only ISO 200 to ISO 40000 (or ISO 200–12800 for movies) are available. You can tell that this restriction is in effect by viewing the D+ icon shown in the viewfinder, on the ISO Selection screen, and in the shooting information display for a particular image. Image noise may slightly increase as the camera manipulates the image. Note that this setting disables the Auto Lighting Optimizer.
• Enhanced D+2. More aggressive preservation of overexposed highlights. Use this with caution, as your images can be changed rather drastically. This setting is not available when shooting movies.

Metering Timer

Options: 4 sec., 8 sec. (default), 16 sec., 30 sec., 1 min., 10 min., 30 min.

My preference: 8 sec. most of the time; I switch to 10 min. when shooting sports.

This option allows you to specify how long the EOS RP’s metering system will remain active before switching off. Tap the shutter release to start the timer again after it switches off.

Exposure Simulation

Options: Enable (default), During DOF Preview, Disable

My preference: During DOF Preview

This option allows you to choose whether the live view image mimics the exposure level of the final image, or whether the screen displays a bright image (dependent on the Display Brightness settings you’ve specified in the Set-up 2 menu for the electronic viewfinder and LCD screen) that may be easier to view under high-ambient-lighting conditions. Your choices are as follows:

• Enable. The image on the display corresponds to the brightness level of the actual image based on the current exposure settings, including any exposure compensation you’ve specified. Use this option when you want to be able to roughly (but not precisely) monitor the effects of your exposure settings in live view.
• During DOF Preview. The viewed image is displayed at standard brightness, but will be adjusted to simulate your exposure settings when you press any button you may have defined as a depth-of-field preview button. This is your best option when you might want to check exposure from time to time during a shooting session. It’s the setting I use most often, because I can compose with a big, bright screen, but still stop down to the aperture that will be used and view the effects.
• Disable. The EOS RP ignores any exposure settings and compensation, and shows the image at standard brightness. This setting is useful outdoors in full sunlight when using the LCD screen, instead of the electronic viewfinder, because any exposure simulation causing a dimmed LCD will be difficult to interpret under high ambient lighting anyway.

White Balance

Options: Auto (default), Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White Fluorescent, Flash, Custom, Color Temperature

My preference: N/A

This is the first entry in the Shooting 4 menu. (See Figure 11.14.) If automatic white balance or one of the preset settings available (Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White Fluorescent, or Flash) aren’t suitable, you can set a custom white balance using the Custom menu option or a specific color temperature value. The screen shown in Figure 11.15 is identical to the one that pops up when you select White Balance from the Quick Control screen. If you choose the “K” entry, you can select an exact color temperature from 2,500K to 10,000K using the Main Dial.

Figure 11.14 The Shooting 4 menu.

Figure 11.15 White balance presets can be chosen here.

Of course, unless you own a specialized tool called a color temperature meter, you probably won’t know the exact color temperature of your scene. However, knowing the color temperatures of the preset options can help you if you decide to tweak them by choosing a different color temperature setting. The values used by the EOS RP are as follows, with two options available for Auto:

• Auto (AWB). 3,000K–7,000K. Press the INFO button when this is selected to toggle between Ambience-priority (to keep warm color under tungsten light) or White-priority (to produce neutral whites even under tungsten illumination).
• Daylight. 5,200K
• Shade. 7,000K
• Cloudy. 6,000K
• Tungsten. 3,200K
• White Fluorescent. 4,000K
• Flash. 6,000K
• Custom. 2,000K–10,000K
• Color temperature. 2,500K–10,000K (Settable in 100K increments)

Choosing the right white balance can have a dramatic effect on the colors of your image, as you can see in Figure 11.16.

Figure 11.16 Adjusting color temperature can provide different results of the same subject at 3,400K (left), 5,000K (center), and 2,800K (right).

The problem with the available presets (Daylight, Shade, etc.) is that you have only seven of them, and in any given situation, all of them are likely to be wrong—strictly speaking. The good news is that they are likely to be only a little bit wrong. The human eye is very adaptable, so in most cases you’ll be perfectly happy with the results you get if you use Auto, or choose a preset that’s in the white balance ballpark.

But if you absolutely must have the correct color balance, or are frequently dissatisfied with the color balance the EOS RP produces when using Auto or one of the presets, you can always shoot RAW, and adjust the final color balance in your image editor when converting the .cr2 file. Or, you can use a custom white balance procedure, described next.

If automatic white balance or one of the preset settings aren’t suitable, you can set a custom white balance using this menu option. The custom setting you establish will then be applied whenever you select Custom using the White Balance menu entry described earlier.

To set the white balance to an appropriate color temperature under the current ambient lighting conditions, focus manually (with the lens set on MF) on a plain white or gray object, such as a card or wall, making sure the object fills the spot metering circle in the center of the viewfinder. Then, take a photo. Next, press the MENU button and select Custom WB from the Shooting 4 menu. Use the Quick Control Dial until the reference image you just took appears and press the SET button to store the white balance of the image as your Custom setting.

Using an ExpoDisc

As I mentioned in Chapter 8, many photographers prefer to use a gadget called an ExpoDisc, from ExpoImaging, Inc. (www.expoimaging.com), which fits over (or attaches to) the front of your lens and provides a diffuse neutral (or semi-neutral) subject to measure with your camera’s custom white balance feature. ExpoDiscs cost $75 to $100 or so, depending on the filter size of your lens, but many just buy the 77mm version and hold it in front of their lens. (There’s a strap attached, so you won’t lose it.) Others have had mixed success using less-expensive alternatives (such as the lid of a Pringles can). ExpoImaging also makes ExpoCap lens caps with similar diffusing features, and you can leave one of them on your lens at all times (at least, when you’re not shooting).

There are two models, the standard ExpoDisc Neutral, and a Portrait model that produces a slightly warmer color balance suitable for portraits. The product produces the best results when you use it to measure the incident light; that is, the light falling onto your subject. In other words, instead of aiming your camera at your subject from the shooting position, take the time (if it’s possible) to position yourself at the subject position and point your ExpoDisc-equipped lens toward the light source that will illuminate the scene. (However, don’t point your camera directly at the Sun! Aim at the sky instead.)

I like to use the ExpoDisc in two situations:

• Outdoors under mixed lighting. When you’re shooting outdoors, you’ll often find that your scene is illuminated by direct sunlight as well as by open shade, full shade, or a mixture of these. A custom white balance reading can help you zero in on the correct color balance in a situation that’s hard to judge visually.
• When using studio flash. It’s a nasty secret that many studio flash units change color temperature when you adjust the power slider to scale down the output. Perhaps your 1600ws (watt second) flash puts out too much light to allow you to use a larger f/stop for selective focus. So, you dial it down to 1/4 power. That will likely change the color temperature of the unit slightly, particularly when compared to your 800ws fill light, which you’ve reduced to half power. You can use the ExpoDisc to measure the color temperature of your main light at its new setting, or aim it between two lights to obtain an average reading. The result will probably be close enough to the correct color temperature to satisfy most studio shooters.

Custom White Balance

Options: White balance setting

My preference: N/A

If automatic white balance (Auto) or one of the preset settings (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White Fluorescent, or Flash) aren’t suitable, you can set a custom white balance using this menu option. The custom setting you establish will then be applied whenever you select Custom using the White Balance menu.

To set the white balance to an appropriate color temperature under the current ambient lighting conditions, focus manually (with the lens set on MF) on a plain white or gray object, such as a card or wall, making sure the object fills the spot metering circle in the center of the viewfinder. Then, take a photo. Next, press the MENU button and select Custom WB from the Shooting 4 menu. Rotate the Quick Control Dial until the reference image you just took appears and choose SET to store the white balance of the image as your Custom setting. Only compatible images that can be used to specify a custom white balance will be shown on the screen. Custom white balance images are marked with a custom icon, and cannot be removed (although they can be replaced with a new custom white balance image).

White Balance Shift/Bracketing

Options: WB bias and WB bracketing

My preference: N/A

White balance shift allows you to dial in a white balance color bias along the blue/amber dimensions, and/or magenta/green scale. In other words, you can set your color balance so that it is a little bluer or yellower (only), a little more magenta or green (only), or a combination of the two bias dimensions. You can also bracket exposures, taking several consecutive pictures each with a slightly different color balance biased in the directions you specify.

The process is a little easier to visualize if you look at Figure 11.17. The center intersection of lines BA and MG (remember high school geometry!) is the point of zero bias. Move the point at that intersection using the directional buttons to locate it at any point on the graph using the blue/amber and magenta/green coordinates. The amount of shift will be displayed in the SHIFT box to the right of the graph.

White balance bracketing is like white balance shifting, only the bracketed changes occur along the bias axis you specify. This form of bracketing is like exposure bracketing, but with the added dimension of hue. Bias bracketing can be performed in any JPEG-only mode. You can’t use any RAW format or RAW+JPEG format because the RAW files already contain the information needed to fine-tune the white balance and white balance bias.

When you select WB SHIFT/BKT, the adjustment screen appears. First, you rotate the Quick Control Dial to set the range of the shift in either the magenta/green dimension (rotate to the left to change the vertical separation of the three dots representing the separate exposures) or in the blue/amber dimension by rotating to the right. Use the up/down/left/right buttons to move the bracket set around within the color space, and outside the MG or BA axes.

Figure 11.17 Use the Quick Control Dial to specify color balance bracketing using magenta/green bias or to specify blue/amber bias.

In most cases, it’s easy to determine if you want your image to be more green, more magenta, more blue, or more amber, although judging your current shots on the LCD screen can be tricky unless you view the screen in a darkened location so it will be bright and easy to see. Bracketing is covered in Chapter 4.

Color Space

Options: sRGB (default), Adobe RGB

My preference: I use the expanded Adobe RGB color space.

When you are using one of the Creative Zone modes, you can select one of two different color spaces (also called color gamuts) using this menu entry. One color space is named Adobe RGB (because it was developed by Adobe Systems in 1998), while the other is called sRGB (supposedly because it is the standard RGB color space). These two color gamuts define a specific set of colors that can be applied to the images your EOS RP captures.

The Color Space menu choice applies directly to JPEG images shot using P, Tv, Av, and M exposure modes. When you’re using Scene Intelligent Auto mode, the EOS RP uses the sRGB color space for all the JPEG images you take. RAW images are a special case. They have the information for both sRGB and Adobe RGB, but when you load such photos into your image editor, it will default to sRGB (with Scene Intelligent Auto or Creative Auto shots) or the color space specified here, unless you change that setting while importing the photos. (See the “Best of Both Worlds” sidebar that follows for more information.)

You may be surprised to learn that the EOS RP doesn’t automatically capture all the colors we see. Unfortunately, that’s impossible because of the limitations of the sensor and the filters used to capture the fundamental red, green, and blue colors, as well as that of the elements used to display those colors on your camera and computer monitors. Nor is it possible to print every color our eyes detect, because the inks or pigments used don’t absorb and reflect colors perfectly. In short, your sensor doesn’t capture all the colors that we can see, your monitor can’t display all the colors that the sensor captures, and your printer outputs yet another version.

On the other hand, the EOS RP does capture quite a few more colors than we need. A 14-bit RAW image contains a possible 281 trillion different hues (16,384 colors per red, green, or blue channel), which are condensed down to a mere 16.8 million possible colors when converted to a 24-bit (eight bits per channel) image.

The set of colors, or gamut, that can be reproduced or captured by a given device (scanner, digital camera, monitor, printer, or some other piece of equipment) is represented as a color space that exists within the larger full range of colors. That full range is represented by the odd-shaped splotch of color shown in Figure 11.18, as defined by scientists at an international organization back in 1931. The colors possible with Adobe RGB are represented by the black triangle in the figure, while the sRGB gamut is represented by the smaller white triangle. The location of the corners of each triangle represent the position of the primary red, green, and blue colors in the gamut.

A third color space, ProPhoto RGB, represented by the yellow triangle in the figure, has become more popular among professional photographers as more and more color printing labs support it. While you cannot save images using the ProPhoto gamut with your EOS RP, you can convert your photos to 16-bit ProPhoto format using Adobe Camera RAW when you import RAW photos into an image editor. ProPhoto encompasses virtually all the colors we can see (and some we can’t), giving advanced photographers better tools to work with in processing their photos. It has richer reds, greens, and blues, although, as you can see from the figure, its green and blue primaries are imaginary (they extend outside the visible color gamut). Those with exacting standards need not use a commercial printing service if they want to explore ProPhoto RGB: many inkjet printers can handle cyans, magentas, and yellows that extend outside the Adobe RGB gamut.

Figure 11.18 The outer curved figure shows all the colors we can see; the outlines show the boundaries of Adobe RGB (black triangle), sRGB (white triangle), and ProPhoto RGB (yellow triangle).

Regardless of which triangle—or color space—is used by the EOS RP, you end up with some combination of 16.8 million different colors that can be used in your photograph. (No one image will contain all 16.8 million! Think about it: the only way a 24-megapixel image could include that many colors would be if two-thirds of the pixels were each a unique hue!) But, as you can see from the figure, the colors available will be different.

Adobe RGB, like ProPhoto RGB, is an expanded color space useful for commercial and professional printing, and it can reproduce a wider range of colors. It can also come in useful if an image is going to be extensively retouched, especially within an advanced image editor, like Adobe Photoshop, which has sophisticated color management capabilities that can be tailored to specific color spaces. As an advanced user, you don’t need to automatically “upgrade” your EOS RP to Adobe RGB, because images tend to look less saturated on your monitor and, it is likely, significantly different from what you will get if you output the photo to your personal inkjet. (You can profile your monitor for the Adobe RGB color space to improve your on-screen rendition using widely available color calibrating hardware and software.)

While both Adobe RGB and sRGB can reproduce the exact same 16.8 million absolute colors, Adobe RGB spreads those colors over a larger portion of the visible spectrum, as you can see in the figure. Think of a box of crayons (the jumbo 16.8 million crayon variety). Some of the basic crayons from the original sRGB set have been removed and replaced with new hues not contained in the original box. Your “new” box contains colors that can’t be reproduced by your computer monitor, but which work just fine with a commercial printing press. For example, Adobe RGB has more “crayons” available in the cyan-green portion of the box, compared to sRGB, which is unlikely to be an advantage unless your image’s final destination is the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks of a printing press.

The other color space, sRGB, is recommended for images that will be output locally on the user’s own printer, as this color space matches that of the typical inkjet printer fairly closely. You might prefer sRGB, which is the default for the Canon EOS RP and most other cameras, as it is well suited for the range of colors that can be displayed on a computer screen and viewed over the Internet. If you plan to take your image file to a retailer’s kiosk for printing, sRGB is your best choice, because those automated output devices are calibrated for the sRGB color space that consumers use.

Of course, choosing the right color space doesn’t solve the problems that result from having each device in the image chain manipulating or producing a slightly different set of colors. To that end, you’ll need to investigate the wonderful world of color management, which uses hardware and software tools to match or calibrate all your devices, as closely as possible, so that what you see more closely resembles what you capture, what you see on your computer display, and what ends up on a printed hardcopy. Entire books have been devoted to color management, and most of what you need to know doesn’t directly involve your Canon EOS RP, so I won’t detail the nuts and bolts here.

To manage your color, you’ll need, at the bare minimum, some sort of calibration system for your computer display, so that your monitor can be adjusted to show a standardized set of colors that is repeatable over time. (What you see on the screen can vary as the monitor ages, or even when the room light changes.) I use the Spyder5 Pro monitor color correction system from Datacolor (www.datacolor.com) for my computer’s three 26-inch widescreen LCD displays. The unit checks room light levels every five minutes and reminds me to recalibrate every week or two using a small sensor device, which attaches temporarily to the front of the screen and interprets test patches that the software displays during calibration. The rest of the time, the sensor sits in its stand, measuring the room illumination, and adjusting my monitors for higher or lower ambient light levels. Datacolor has recently introduced SpyderX available in Pro ($170) and Elite ($270) versions with faster, more accurate color correction.

If you’re willing to make a serious investment in equipment to help you produce the most accurate color and make prints, you’ll want a more advanced system (up to $500) like the various Spyder products from Datacolor or Colormunki from X-Rite (www.colormunki.com).

Picture Style

Options: Auto (default), Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, three User Styles

My preference: Auto

This feature is one of the most important tools for customizing the way your Canon EOS RP renders its photos. Picture Styles are a type of fine-tuning you can apply to your photos to change certain characteristics of each image taken using a particular Picture Style setting. The parameters you can specify for full-color images include the amount of sharpness, degree of contrast, the richness of the color, and the hue of skin tones. For black-and-white images, you can tweak the sharpness and contrast, but the two color adjustments (meaningless in a monochrome image) are replaced by controls for filter effects (which I’ll explain shortly), and sepia, blue, purple, or green tone overlays.

The Canon EOS RP has preset Picture Styles for Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, and Faithful pictures, plus Auto, and three user-definable settings called User Def. 1, User Def. 2, and User Def. 3, which you can define to apply to any sort of shooting situation you want, such as sports, architecture, or baby pictures. There is also a seventh, Monochrome, Picture Style that allows you to adjust filter effects or add color toning to your black-and-white images. See Figure 11.19 for the main Picture Style menu.

Figure 11.19 Picture Styles are available from this scrolling menu; these six, plus Faithful, Monochrome, and three User Def. styles that become visible when you scroll down the list.

Picture Styles are extremely flexible. Canon has set the parameters for Auto and the predefined color Picture Styles and the single monochrome Picture Style to suit the needs of most photographers. But you can adjust any of those “canned” Picture Styles to settings you prefer. Better yet, you can use those three User Definition files to create brand-new styles that are all your own. If you want rich, bright colors to emulate Velvia film or the work of legendary photographer Pete Turner, you can build your own color-soaked style. If you want soft, muted colors and less sharpness to create a romantic look, you can do that, too. Perhaps you’d like a setting with extra contrast for shooting outdoors on hazy or cloudy days.

The current settings for each are arrayed along the top in Figure 11.19 as icons, left to right: S (sharpness strength), F (sharpness fineness), T (sharpness threshold), Contrast (a half white/half black circle), Saturation (a triangle composed of three circles), and Color Tone (a circle divided into thirds). When you scroll down within the Monochrome Picture Style, Filter Effect (overlapping circles) and Toning Effect (paintbrush tip) appear. These parameters applied when using Picture Styles are described next.

Here are the parameters:

• Sharpness. This parameter determines the apparent contrast between the outlines or edges in an image, which we perceive as image sharpness. When adjusting sharpness, remember that more is not always a good thing. A little softness is necessary (and is introduced by a blurring “anti-alias” filter in front of the sensor) to reduce or eliminate the moiré effects that can result when details in your image form a pattern that is too close to the pattern, or frequency, of the sensor itself. The default levels of sharpening were chosen by Canon to allow most moiré interference to be safely blurred to invisibility, at the cost of a little sharpness. As you boost sharpness (either using a Picture Style or in your image editor), moiré can become a problem, plus, you may end up with those noxious “halos” that appear around the edges of images that have been oversharpened. Use this adjustment with care. You have three individual parameters within this setting that you can adjust individually:
  • Strength. Set the intensity of the sharpening on an eight-step scale from 0 (weak outline emphasis) to 7 (strong outline emphasis). Adding too much strength can result in a halo and excess detail around the edges within your image.
  • Fineness. This determines which edges will be emphasized, on a scale of 1 (sharpens the finest lines in your image) to 5 (sharpens only larger, coarser lines). Use a lower number if you anticipate your image will have a wealth of fine detail that you want to emphasize, such as a heavily textured subject. A larger number might be better for portraits, so that eyes and hair might be sharpened, but not skin defects. Changes in Fineness and Threshold (which follows) do not apply when shooting movies.
  • Threshold. This setting uses contrast between the edges being sharpened and the surrounding areas, to determine the degree of sharpening applied to the outlines. It uses a scale from 1 to 5, with lower numbers allowing sharpening when there is less contrast between the edge and surroundings. There is an increase in noise when a low threshold is set. Higher numbers produce sharpening only when the contrast between edge and adjacent pixels is already high. The highest numbers can produce excessive contrast and a posterlike effect.
• Contrast. Use this control, with values from –4 (low contrast) to +4 (higher contrast), to change the number of middle tones between the deepest blacks and brightest whites. Low-contrast settings produce a flatter-looking photo, while high-contrast adjustments may improve the tonal rendition while possibly losing detail in the shadows or highlights.
• Saturation. This parameter, adjustable from –4 (low saturation) to +4 (high saturation) controls the richness of the color, making, say, a red tone appear to be deeper and fuller when you increase saturation, and tend more toward lighter, pinkish hues when you decrease saturation of the reds. Boosting the saturation too much can mean that detail may be lost in one or more of the color channels, producing what is called “clipping.” You can detect this phenomenon when using the RGB histograms, as described in Chapter 4.
• Color tone. This adjustment has the most effect on skin tones, making them either redder (0 to –4) or yellower (0 to +4).
• Filter effect (Monochrome only). Filter effects do not add any color to a black-and-white image. Instead, they change the rendition of gray tones as if the picture were taken through a color filter. I’ll explain this distinction more completely in the sidebar “Filters vs. Toning” later in this section.
• Toning effect (Monochrome only). Using toning effects preserves the monochrome tonal values in your image, but adds a color overlay that gives the photo a sepia, blue, purple, or green cast.

The predefined Picture Styles are as follows:

• Auto. Adjusts the color to make outdoor scenes look more vivid, with richer colors.
• Standard. This Picture Style applies a set of parameters, including boosted sharpness, that are useful for most picture taking, and which are applied automatically when using Basic Zone modes other than Portrait or Landscape.
• Portrait. This style boosts saturation for richer colors when shooting portraits, which is particularly beneficial for women and children, while reducing sharpness slightly to provide more flattering skin texture. The Basic Mode Portrait setting uses this Picture Style. You might prefer the Faithful style for portraits of men when you want a more rugged or masculine look, or when you want to emphasize character lines in the faces of older subjects of either gender.
• Landscape. This style increases the saturation of blues and greens, and increases both color saturation and sharpness for more vivid landscape images. The Basic Zone Landscape mode uses this setting.
• Fine detail. As you might expect, this setting uses sharpening and contrast to produce an image with optimum detail, at the expense of possibly adding some visual noise.
• Neutral. This Picture Style is a less-saturated and lower-contrast version of the Standard style. Use it when you want a more muted look to your images, or when the photos you are taking seem too bright and contrasty (say, at the beach on a sunny day).
• Faithful. The goal of this style is to render the colors of your image as accurately as possible, roughly in the same relationships as seen by the eye.
• Monochrome. Use this Picture Style to create black-and-white photos in the camera. If you’re shooting JPEG only, the colors are gone forever. But if you’re shooting JPEG+RAW you can convert the RAW files to color as you import them into your image editor, even if you’ve shot using the Monochrome Picture Style. Your EOS RP displays the images in black-and-white on the screen during playback, but the colors are there in the RAW file for later retrieval.

Selecting Picture Styles

Canon makes selecting a Picture Style for use very easy, and, to prevent you from accidentally changing an existing style when you don’t mean to, divides selection and modification functions into two separate tasks. There are different ways to choose from among your existing Picture Styles:

• Picture Styles menu. Use this menu entry and scroll down the list shown earlier in Figure 11.19 with the Quick Control Dial until the style you want to use is highlighted. Then press SET.
• Quick Control screen. Press the Q button and navigate to the Picture Styles icon in the right column. With the icon highlighted, you can rotate either dial or use the left/right directional buttons to choose the Style you want to use and press SET to confirm.

Defining Picture Styles

Canon makes interpreting current Picture Style settings and applying changes very easy. As you saw in Figure 11.19, the current settings of the visible Picture Style options are shown as numeric values on the menu screen. Some camera vendors use word descriptions, like Sharp, Extra Sharp, or Vivid, More Vivid that are difficult to relate to. You can change one of the existing Picture Styles or define your own whenever the Picture Styles menu is visible. Just follow these steps:

1. 1. Choose a style to modify. Highlight the style you’d like to adjust.
2. 2. Activate adjustment mode. Press the INFO button to choose Detail Set. The screen that appears next will be like the one shown in Figure 11.20 for the six color styles or three User Def. styles. In addition to the Sharpness and Contrast adjustments shown in the figure, you can scroll down to two more: Saturation and Color Tone. The Monochrome screen looks similar, but substitutes Filter Effect and Toning Effect (discussed later) for Saturation and Color Tone.

Figure 11.20 Each parameter can be changed separately for color Picture Styles, such as the Standard style pictured.

1. 3. Choose a parameter to change. Use the Quick Control Dial to scroll among the parameters, plus Default Set. at the bottom of the screen, which restores the values to the preset numbers.
2. 4. Activate changes. Press SET to change the values of a highlighted parameter.
3. 5. Adjust values. Use the Quick Control Dial to move the triangle to the value you want to use. Note that the previous value remains on the scale, represented by a gray triangle. This makes it easy to return to the original setting if you want.
4. 6. Confirm changes. Press the SET button to lock in that value, then press the MENU button three times to back out of the menu system.

Any Picture Style that has been changed from its defaults will be shown in the Picture Style menu with blue highlighting the altered parameter. You don’t have to worry about changing a Picture Style and then forgetting that you’ve modified it. A quick glance at the Picture Style menu will show you which styles and parameters have been changed.

Making changes in the Monochrome Picture Style is slightly different. As I mentioned, the Saturation and Color Tone parameters are replaced with Filter Effect and Toning Effect options. (Keep in mind that once you’ve taken a JPEG photo using a Monochrome Picture Style, you can’t convert the image back to full color.) You can choose from Yellow, Orange, Red, or Green filters, or None, and specify Sepia, Blue, Purple, or Green toning, or None. You can still set the Sharpness and Contrast parameters that are available with the other Picture Styles.

Figure 11.21 Left: Applying color filters: No filter (upper left); Yellow filter (upper right); Green filter (lower left); and Red filter (lower right). Right: Toning: Sepia (top left); Blue (top right); Purple (lower left); and Green (lower right).

Adjusting Styles with the Picture Style Editor

If you’d rather edit Picture Styles in your computer, the Picture Style Editor supplied for your camera in versions for both Windows and Macs allows you to create your own custom Picture Styles, or edit existing styles, including the Standard, Landscape, Faithful, and other predefined settings already present in your EOS RP. You can change sharpness, contrast, color saturation, and color tone—and a lot more—and then save the modifications as a PF2 file that can be uploaded to the camera, or used by Digital Photo Professional to modify a RAW image as it is imported.

To create and load your own Picture Style, just follow these steps:

1. 1. Load the editor. Launch the Picture Style Editor (PSE, not to be confused with the other PSE, Photoshop Elements).
2. 2. Access a RAW file. Load a RAW CR3 image you’d like to use as a reference into PSE. You can drag a file from a folder into the editor’s main window, or use the Open command in the File menu.
3. 3. Choose an existing style to base your new style on. Select any of the base styles except for Standard. Your new style will begin with all the attributes of the base style you choose, so start with one that already is close to the look you want to achieve (“tweaking” is easier than building a style from the ground up).
4. 4. Split the screen. You can compare the appearance of your new style with the base style you are working from. Near the lower-left edge of the display pane are three buttons you can click to split the old/new styles vertically, horizontally, or return to a single image.
5. 5. Dial in basic changes. Click the Advanced button in the Tool palette to pop up the Advanced Picture Style Settings dialog box that appears at left in the figure. These are the same parameters you can change in the camera. Click OK when you’re finished.
6. 6. Make advanced changes. The Tool palette has additional functions for adjusting hue, tonal range, and curves. Use of these tools is beyond the scope of a single chapter, let alone a notation in a list, but if you’re familiar with the advanced tools in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Digital Photo Pro, or another image editor, you can experiment to your heart’s content. Note that these modifications go way beyond what you can do with Picture Styles in the camera itself, so learning how to work with them is worth the effort.
7. 7. Save your Picture Style. When you’re finished, choose Save Picture Style File from the File menu to store your new style as a PF2 file on your hard disk. Add a caption and copyright information to your style in the boxes provided. If you click Disable Subsequent Editing, your style will be “locked” and protected from further changes, and the modifications you did make will be hidden from view (just in case you dream up your own personal, “secret” style). But you’ll be unable to edit that style later. If you think you might want to change your custom Picture Style, save a second copy without marking the Disable Subsequent Editing box.

Uploading a Picture Style to the Camera

Now it’s time to upload your new style to your Canon EOS RP into one of your three User Def. slots in the Picture Style array. Just follow these steps:

1. 1. Link your camera for upload. Connect your camera to your computer using the USB cable, turn the EOS RP on, launch the EOS Utility, and click the Camera Settings/Remote Shooting choice in the splash screen.
2. 2. Choose the Shooting menu. It’s marked with an icon of a white camera on a red background, from the menu bar located about midway in the control panel that appears on your computer display.
3. 3. Select Register User Defined Style. Click on the box, outlined in red in the figure, to produce the Register Picture Style dialog box.
4. 4. Choose a User Def. tab. Click on one of the three tabs, labeled User Def. 1, User Def. 2, or User Def. 3. Each tab will include the name of the current Picture Style active in that tab.
5. 5. Click the Open File button and choose the Picture Style file to load. The Picture Styles you’ve saved (or downloaded from another source) will appear with a PF2 extension. Click on the one you want to use, and then click the Open button in the Open dialog box.
6. 6. Upload Picture Style to the camera. The Register Picture Style File dialog box will return. Click OK and the Picture Style will be uploaded to the camera in the User Def. “slot” represented by the tab you’ve chosen. The name of the Picture Style will appear in the EOS RP’s menu in place of User Def. 1 (or User Def. 2/User Def. 3).

Changing a Picture Style’s Settings from the EOS Utility

You can modify the settings of a Picture Style that’s already loaded into your camera from the EOS Utility when your camera is linked to your computer. Just follow these steps:

1. 1. Link your camera to the computer. Connect your camera to your computer using the USB cable, turn the EOS RP on, launch the EOS Utility, and click the Camera Settings/Remote Shooting choice in the splash screen.
2. 2. Choose the Shooting menu. It’s marked with an icon of a white camera on a red background, from the menu bar located about midway in the control panel that appears on your computer display.
3. 3. Access the Picture Style. Click on the Picture Style choice. The currently active Picture Style in the camera will be shown, along with its detail settings.
4. 4. Choose a Picture Style to modify. Click the Picture Style box to produce a listing of all the available Picture Styles.
5. 5. Click Detail Set. At lower left, Landscape is now highlighted. When you click on Detail Set., a dialog box appears. You can move the sliders to change the settings, as described earlier. You can also click the Default Set. button to return the settings to their original values.
6. 6. Confirm choice. Click Return when you’ve finished making changes, and the Picture Style you’ve modified will be changed in the camera.
7. 7. Exit EOS Utility. Disconnect your camera from your computer, and your modified style is ready to use.

Getting More Picture Styles

I’ve found that careful Googling can unearth other Picture Styles that helpful fellow EOS owners have made available, and even a few from the helpful Canon company itself. My own search turned up this link: https://global.canon/en/imaging/picturestyle/index.html, where Canon offers a half dozen or more useful PF2 files you can download and install on your own using the EOS Utility. Select Register Picture Style File from the EOS RP Utility screen shown earlier in Figure 11.9, upper right.

Remember that Picture Style files are compatible between various Canon EOS camera models (that is, you can use a style created for the Canon 40D with your EOS RP), but you should be working with the latest software versions to work with the latest cameras and Picture Styles. If you owned an earlier Canon EOS camera and haven’t re-installed the EOS Utility software since your camera upgrade, you might need to re-install the software. It’s available for download from the Canon website.

Try the additional styles Canon offers. They include:

• Studio Portrait. Compared to the Portrait style built into the camera, this one, Canon says, expresses translucent skin in smooth tones, but with less contrast. (Like films in the pre-digital age that were intended for studio portraiture.)
• Snapshot Portrait. This is another “translucent skin” style, but with increased contrast with enhanced contrast indoors or out.
• Nostalgia. This style adds an amber tone to your images, while reducing the saturation of blue and green tones.
• Clear. This style adds contrast for what Canon says is additional “depth and clarity.”
• Twilight. Adds a purple tone to the sky just before and after sunset or sunrise.
• Emerald. Emphasizes blues and greens.
• Autumn Hues. Increases the richness of browns and red tones seen in Fall colors.
• Video Camera X Series Look. Provides image characteristics similar to images shot with Canon’s professional digital video camera (X series) and contrast is softer than Standard in Picture style.

Long Exposure Noise Reduction

Options: Off/Disable (default), Auto, On/Enable

My preference: Auto

This entry is the first in the Shooting 5 menu. (See Figure 11.22.) It allows you to enable or disable long exposure noise reduction, or allow the EOS RP to evaluate your scene and decide whether to use this noise-canceling adjustment. Visual noise is that graininess that shows up as multicolored specks in images, and this setting helps you manage it. In some ways, noise is like the excessive grain found in some high-speed photographic films. However, while photographic grain is sometimes used as a special effect, it’s rarely desirable in a digital photograph.

The visual noise-producing process is something like listening to a CD in your car, and then rolling down all the windows. You’re adding sonic noise to the audio signal, and while increasing the CD player’s volume may help a bit, you’re still contending with an unfavorable signal-to-noise ratio that probably mutes tones (especially higher treble notes) that you really want to hear.

The same thing happens when the analog signal is amplified: You’re increasing the image information in the signal, but boosting the background fuzziness at the same time. Tune in a very faint or distant AM radio station on your car stereo. Then turn up the volume. After a certain point, turning up the volume further no longer helps you hear better. There’s a similar point of diminishing returns for digital sensor ISO increases and signal amplification as well.

These processes create several different kinds of noise. Noise can be produced from high ISO settings. As the captured information is amplified to produce higher ISO sensitivities, some random noise in the signal is amplified along with the photon information. Increasing the ISO setting of your camera raises the threshold of sensitivity so that fewer and fewer photons are needed to register as an exposed pixel. Yet, that also increases the chances of one of those phantom photons being counted among the real-life light particles, too.

Figure 11.22 The Shooting 5 menu.

Fortunately, the EOS RP’s sensor and its digital processing chip are optimized to produce the low noise levels, so ratings as high as ISO 800 or ISO 1600 can be used routinely (although there will be some noise, of course), and even ISO 3200 can generate good results.

A second way noise is created is through longer exposures. Extended exposure times allow more photons to reach the sensor, but increase the likelihood that some photosites will react randomly even though not struck by a particle of light. Moreover, as the sensor remains switched on for the longer exposure, it heats, and this heat can be mistakenly recorded as if it were a barrage of photons. This entry can be used to tailor the amount of noise-canceling performed by the digital signal processor.

• Off/Disable. Disables long exposure noise reduction. Use this setting when you want the maximum amount of detail present in your photograph, even though higher noise levels will result. This setting also eliminates the extra time needed to take a picture caused by the noise reduction process. If you plan to use only lower ISO settings (thereby reducing the noise caused by ISO amplification), the noise levels produced by longer exposures may be acceptable. For example, you might be shooting a river spilling over rocks at ISO 100 with the camera mounted on a tripod, using a neutral-density filter and long exposure to cause the pounding water to blur slightly. To maximize detail in the non-moving portions of your photos, you can switch off long exposure noise reduction. Because the noise-reduction process used with Auto and On can effectively double the time required to take a picture, Off is a good setting to use when you want to avoid this delay when possible.
• Auto. The EOS RP examines your photo taken with an exposure of one second or longer, and if long exposure noise is detected, a second, blank exposure is made and compared to the first image. Noise found in the “dark frame” image is subtracted from your original picture, and only the noise-corrected image is saved to your memory card.
• On/Enable. When this setting is activated, the EOS RP applies dark frame subtraction to all exposures longer than one second. You might want to use this option when you’re working with high ISO settings (which will already have noise boosted a bit) and want to make sure that any additional noise from long exposures is eliminated, too. Noise reduction will be applied to some exposures that would not have caused it to kick in using the Auto setting.

High ISO Speed Noise Reduction

Options: Disable, Low, Standard (default), High, Multi Shot Noise Reduction

My preference: Low, with further noise reduction as required in an image editor

The other type of noise results from using higher ISO settings. This entry allows you to specify just how much or how little of this noise reduction to apply, which can be a valuable option because noise reduction does eliminate detail while blurring the amount of noise. The default is Standard noise reduction, but you can specify Low or High noise reduction, or disable noise reduction entirely. At lower ISO values, noise reduction improves the appearance of shadow areas without affecting highlights; at higher ISO settings, noise reduction is applied to the entire photo. Note that when the High option is selected, the maximum number of continuous shots that can be taken will decrease significantly, because of the additional processing time for the images.

• Disable. No additional noise reduction will be applied.
• Low. A smaller amount of noise reduction is used. This will increase the grainy appearance, but preserve more fine image detail.
• Standard. At lower ISO values, noise reduction is applied primarily to shadow areas; at higher ISO settings, noise reduction affects the entire image.
• High. More aggressive noise reduction is used, at the cost of some image detail, adding a “mushy” appearance that may be noticeable and objectionable. Because of the image processing applied by this setting, your continuous shooting maximum burst will decrease significantly.
• Multi Shot Noise Reduction. When this option is active, the EOS RP takes four separate shots continuously. It then aligns them (in case there was movement between images) and then merges them, using the dark frame subtraction technique to ignore random pixels caused by noise. The result is a JPEG image that is of better quality than the High setting.

  Multi Shot NR works best if the camera is mounted on a tripod and your subject is not moving. It is not available when Image Quality is set to RAW or RAW+JPEG or Dual Pixel RAW, nor when using flash, live view, shooting multiple or Bulb exposures, or performing autoexposure/white balance bracketing.

Dust Delete Data

Options: Store Delete Data

My preference: N/A

This menu choice lets you “take a picture” of any dust or other particles that may be adhering to your sensor. The EOS RP will then append information about the location of this dust to your photos, so that the Digital Photo Professional software can use this reference information to identify dust in your images and remove it automatically. You should capture a Dust Delete Data photo from time to time as your final line of defense against sensor dust.

To use this feature, select Dust Delete Data, select OK, and press the SET button. The camera will first perform a self-cleaning operation by applying ultrasonic vibration to the low-pass filter that resides on top of the sensor. Then, a screen will appear asking you to press the shutter button. Point the EOS RP at a solid-white card with the lens set on manual focus and rotate the focus ring to infinity. When you press the shutter release, the camera takes a photo of the card using Aperture-priority and f/22 (which provides enough depth-of-field [in this case, depth-of-focus] to image the dust sharply). The “picture” is not saved to your memory card but, rather, is stored in a special memory area in the camera. Finally, a “Data obtained” screen appears.

The Dust Delete Data information is retained in the camera until you update it by taking a new “picture.” The EOS RP adds the information to each image file automatically.

Touch Shutter

Options: Enable (default), Disable

My preference: Disable

The Touch Shutter feature allows you to tap the LCD screen to focus and snap a picture with one gesture. It’s easy to accidentally trigger the Touch Shutter, so I generally leave it off. However, it’s quite useful when your camera is on a tripod and you want to be able to snap a picture of some portion of your scene quickly and with minimal vibration.

Multiple Exposure

Options: Multiple exposure: Disable (Default), Enable; Multiple exposure control: Additive (default), Average; Number of exposures: 2–9 (default 2), Continue multiple exposure: 1 Shot Only (default), Continuously; Select image for multi-exposure

My preference: N/A

This option lets you combine two to nine separate images into one photo without the need for an image editor like Photoshop. It can be an entertaining way to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when complex photos were created in the camera itself. In truth, prior to the digital age, multiple exposures were a cool, groovy, far-out, hep/hip, phat, sick, fabulous way of producing composite images. Today, it’s more common to take the lazy way out, snap two or more pictures, and then assemble them in an image editor like Photoshop.

However, if you’re willing to spend the time planning a multiple exposure (or are open to some happy accidents), there is a lot to recommend the multiple exposure capability that Canon has bestowed on the EOS RP. For one thing, the camera can combine two or more images using the RAW data from the sensor, producing photos that are blended together more smoothly than is likely for anyone who’s not a Photoshop guru. In addition, Canon has eliminated one annoying aspect of the feature found in some cameras: it’s not necessary to return to the menu to activate multiple exposure for every set. If you want to take a series of pictures, you can set it once, and forget it. (But don’t forget to turn it off when you’re done!)

Multiple exposures cannot be captured if white balance bracketing, HDR shooting, or moviemaking modes are in use. Before you begin snapping your own multi-exposures, you’ll need to set your parameters using the options discussed below. (See Figure 11.23.)

• Multiple Exposure. The Disable option deactivates the multi-exposure feature; Enable turns it on. This is the “master control” that allows you to turn multiple exposure on and off (leaving the other parameters you’ve set unchanged).
• Multi-Expos Ctrl. This essential parameter can determine how successful your multiple exposure is, by controlling how each individual exposure is merged with the overlapping portions of the other images in the series. Picture an image like the one shown at top in Figure 11.24. The performer, Todd Cooper of the Alan Parsons Live Project, was photographed against a plain, dark background. He happened to be moving, so neither of the two images overlapped with each other, or with any details of the featureless background. But in Figure 11.24, bottom, the dancer remained in place, so that each subsequent image overlapped the others slightly. The Multi-Exposure Control feature allows you to specify how the images are combined with these choices:
  • Additive. Each individual shot in the series is, by default, given the full exposure, which is what I used for Figure 11.24, top. Because the background was totally black and the subject was moving and did not overlap, the cumulative exposure effect was to combine two separate images into one image.

    However, you can manually adjust the amount of exposure each shot is given by dialing in exposure compensation, making this mode useful for overlapping images as well. The customary procedure is to specify –1-stop exposure compensation for two shots, –1.5 EV for three-shot multiple exposures, and –2 EV for four-shot multis. Manually calculating the amount of negative exposure compensation allows you to fine-tune the look of overlapping images.

  • Average. Choose this option and the EOS RP will apply appropriate negative exposure compensation for you, based on the number of exposures you’re combining into a single image. If your multiple exposures happen to be of the same scene (rather than separate subjects), the camera will attempt to ensure that the background receives the equivalent of a full exposure. I used this option for Figure 11.24, bottom.

Figure 11.23 Set these parameters to configure your multiple exposures.

Figure 11.24 Top: Multiple exposure using Additive exposure, and no exposure compensation. Bottom: Multiple exposure using Average exposure.

• No. of Exposures. You can choose from 2 to 9 exposures in each multiple exposure set. Highlight the option, press SET, and spin the QCD to choose the number of exposures. I recommend starting out with three multiple exposures when you begin exploring this tool; you’ll quickly discover picture opportunities that call for more or fewer combined shots in a single image.
• Continue Mult-exp. Choose 1 Shot Only or Continuously. Choose the former if you want to take a single multiple exposure series and then return to normal shooting with Multiple Exposure then disabled. Select Continuously if you plan to shoot a batch of different multiple exposures and don’t want to return to the menu system to reactivate the feature after each shot.
• Select Image for Multi-Exposure. If you like, you can use an image you already took as the base image for a subsequent multi-exposure. The base image can only be a RAW image (not M RAW or S RAW). When RAW images taken with your camera (other RAW images on the card cannot be used) are available, this option will be selectable. However, a RAW image that is already a multiple exposure can be used as your base image (the mind boggles at the possibilities).

  With the option highlighted, press SET and choose the image you want to use. Rotate the QCD to view compatible RAW images and press SET to choose one. Press OK. You can then take the remaining exposures in your set. That is, if you’ve chosen to combine three shots in a multiple exposure, the base image counts as one, so you’ll be able to add two more by pressing and holding the shutter release.

  Note that images using Highlight Tone Priority or an Aspect Ratio other than 3:2 cannot be used as your base image, and Lens Aberration Correction and Auto Lighting Optimizer will not be applied to your set. If the RAW image specifies the Auto Picture Style, the camera will revert to Standard for the rest of the images.

HDR Mode

Options: Adjust Dynamic Range, Effect, Continuous HDR, Auto Image Align

My preference: N/A

I described using the EOS RP’s HDR Mode in detail in Chapter 4. To recap, this menu entry has four subentries you can adjust:

• Adjust Dynamic Range. Select Disable HDR, allow the camera to select a dynamic range automatically, or select the range yourself to achieve a particular look. You can choose plus/minus 1, 2, or 3 EV.
• Effect. You can add special effects on top of any Picture Style you are using to produce an even more dramatic HDR image. Your choices are as follows:
  • Natural. Provides the most useful range of highlight and shadow details.
  • Art Standard. Offers a great deal of highlight and shadow detail, but with lower overall contrast and outlines accentuated, making the image look more like a painting. Saturation, bold outline, and brightness are adjusted to the default levels, and tonal range is lower in contrast.
  • Art Vivid. Like Art Standard, but saturation is boosted to produce richer colors, and the bold outlines not as strong, producing a poster-like effect.
  • Art Bold. Even higher saturation than Art Vivid, with emphasized edge transitions, producing what Canon calls an “oil painting” effect.
  • Art Embossed. Reduced saturation, darker tones, and lower contrast give the image a faded, aged look. The edge transitions are brighter or darker to emphasize them.
• Continuous HDR. Choose 1 Shot Only if you plan to take just a single HDR exposure and want the feature disabled automatically thereafter, or Every Shot to continue using HDR mode for all subsequent exposures until you turn it off. This is like the multiple exposure option described earlier.
• Auto Image Align. You can choose Enable to have the camera attempt to align all three HDR exposures when shooting hand-held, or select Disable when using a tripod. The success of the automatic alignment will vary, depending on the shutter speed used (higher is better), and the amount of camera movement (less is better!).

Focus Bracketing

Options: Focus bracketing: Enable, Disable; Number of shots: 2 to 999; Focus increment: 1 (narrow) to 10 (wide); Exposure smoothing: Enable, Disable

My preference: N/A

If you are doing macro (close-up) photography of flowers, or other small objects at short distances, the depth-of-field often will be extremely narrow. In some cases, it will be so narrow that it will be impossible to keep the entire subject in focus in one photograph. Although having part of the image out of focus can be a pleasing effect for a portrait of a person, it is likely to be a hindrance when you are trying to make an accurate photographic record of a flower, or small piece of precision equipment. One solution to this problem is focus stacking (which Canon calls “Focus Bracketing”), a procedure that can be considered like HDR translated for the world of focus—taking multiple shots with different settings, and, using software as explained below, combining the best parts from each image in order to make a whole that is better than the sum of the parts. Focus bracketing requires a non-moving object, so some subjects, such as flowers, are best photographed in a breezeless environment, such as indoors.

With the EOS RP’s Focus Bracketing feature, the camera takes a series of pictures, adjusting the focus slightly between each image, refocusing from closest to your subject to the farthest point that needs to appear sharp. You end up with a series of up to 999 different images that can be combined using two simple Photoshop commands, which I will describe shortly.

You can visualize how focus stacking works if you examine Figure 11.25, which is cropped versions of three actual frames from one of my own Focus Bracketing series. All three used an exposure of 1/30th second at f/5.6. At left is the original exposure, with the lens focused on the third row of crayons. The center image shows the 35th exposure in the series, in which the Focus Bracketing feature had adjusted focus on the last row. In between were 33 intermediate-focus shots that I merged in Photoshop to produce the finished image at right.

Figure 11.25 Closest focus (left), farthest focus (center), merged image (right).

Here are the detailed steps you can take to use Focus Bracketing for your own deep-focus images:

1. 1. Set the camera firmly on a solid tripod. A tripod or other equally firm support is absolutely essential for this procedure. You don’t want the camera (or the subject) to move at all during the exposures.
2. 2. Attach a remote release. You want to be able to trigger the camera without moving it. However, the procedure does pause for a short period of time once you activate it, perhaps giving your tripod/camera time to settle down even if you begin by poking the OK button with your finger.
3. 3. Attach an autofocus lens with an appropriate close-focus range. Focus Bracketing uses the lens’s built-in autofocus motor and will not work with manual focus lenses or with an AF lens set to manual focus. You can use any of the RF-mount lenses offered to date, plus (with a mount adapter) the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM, EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM, EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM, and EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS USM optics.
4. 4. Set the focus modes. Choose One-Shot (single focus) and the 1-point or Spot AF.
5. 5. Set the quality of the images to JPEG FINE. You’ll want the highest image quality possible.
6. 6. Set the exposure, ISO, and white balance manually. Use test shots if necessary to determine the best values. This step will help prevent visible variations from arising among the multiple shots that you’ll be taking. You don’t want the camera to change the ISO setting or white balance between shots.

   Note: Even though you’ll be effectively increasing depth-of-field through focus stacking, you should still avoid the widest apertures of your lens, as they are rarely the sharpest f/stops. I always stop down at least 1.5 f/stops—using f/5.6 in the example. Shutter speed is not as important, because the camera is on a tripod, but I tend to avoid very slow speeds anyway. You can manually set a slightly higher ISO sensitivity, if needed, to obtain the shutter speed/aperture combination you want to use.

7. 7. Turn off image stabilization. If your lens has IS, slide the IS switch to Off.
8. 8. Access the Focus Bracketing menu. Select an appropriate setting for each of the following parameters (shown in Figure 11.26), using my guidelines:
   1. Focus bracketing. Select Enable to activate the feature.
   2. Number of Shots. You can choose from 1 to 999 individually refocused shots. The number of images captured will depend on how finely you want to have the EOS RP change focus between shots (and you’ll combine this with the step width option described next). I rarely need more than 50 shots, and used only 35 for the example shown earlier in Figure 11.25.
   3. Focus Increment. You can specify values from 1 (a narrow slice per adjustment) and 10 (a much wider focus change). Canon does not specify how much each increment changes the focus, for a very good reason: it can’t. Depending on the focal length of your lens and your f/stop, the effective plane of apparent focus may vary from narrow, to very narrow, to super-narrow in macro shooting environments. (If you’re confused, see “Circles of Confusion” in Chapter 5.)

      You may need some trial-and-error to choose the correct number of shots and focus step width. For example, with 50 shots and a wide focus step, the first 10 may encompass your entire subject and the last 40 may be wasted on completely out-of-focus images. It’s often worthwhile to take a test shot, view a slide show of all your images, and decide whether to increase/decrease the number of shots and/or focus step width.

   4. Exposure Smoothing. I recommend shooting under a steady, constant source of illumination and using Manual exposure. However, if you’re working outdoors that may not be possible. In that case, in semi-automatic modes turn Exposure Smoothing On and allow the EOS RP to match exposure between frames. Exposure Smooth works in Manual exposure mode, too, if you enable Auto ISO Sensitivity so the camera can change ISO sensitivity during your sequence if required. Don’t use smoothing with the following Canon lenses: EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM, and EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM.

Figure 11.26 Focus Bracketing Shooting options.

1. 9. Prepare to shoot. When all the parameters are locked in, press MENU to return to the shooting screen. A “folder” icon will appear (just above the magnifying glass icon.) I recommend tapping it to create a new folder for your images, in order to keep them separate from the other shots you’ve captured.
2. 10. Set focus point to nearest object. Press the AF Point button and use the directional buttons to position the red focus box on the subject nearest the camera lens.
3. 11. Capture images. Press the shutter button to begin shooting.
4. 12. Combine your images. I’ll describe the steps for that next.

The next step is to process the images you’ve taken in Digital Photo Pro or Photoshop. For maximum flexibility, I recommend using Photoshop. Transfer the images to your computer, and then follow these steps:

1. 1. In Photoshop, select File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. In the dialog box that then appears, navigate on your computer to find the files for the photographs you have taken, and highlight them all.
2. 2. At the bottom of the next dialog box that appears, check the box that says, “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images,” then click OK. The images will load; it may take several minutes for the program to load the images and attempt to arrange them into layers that are aligned based on their content.
3. 3. Once the program has finished processing the images, go to the Layers panel and select all of the layers. You can do this by clicking on the top layer and then Shift-clicking on the bottom one.
4. 4. While the layers are all selected, in Photoshop go to Edit > Auto-Blend Layers. In the dialog box that appears, select the two options, Stack Images and Seamless Tones and Colors, then click OK. The program will process the images, possibly for a considerable length of time.
5. 5. If the procedure worked well, the result will be a single image made up of numerous layers that have been processed to produce a sharply focused rendering of your subject. If it did not work well, you may have to take additional images the next time, specifying smaller slices of the subject as you move progressively farther away from the lens.
6. 6. You’ll want to flatten the final image before saving it. Given the 26MP resolution of the EOS RP, the stack of individual shots will sometimes be more than 2GB, which exceeds the maximum file size of some storage media and/or OS file systems.

Although this procedure can work very well in Photoshop, you also may want to try it with programs that were developed more specifically for focus stacking and related procedures, such as Helicon Focus (www.heliconsoft.com), PhotoAcute (www.photoacute.com), or CombineZM (www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk).

Interval Timer

Options: Interval: 1 second to 99 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds; Number of shots: 1 to 99

My preference: N/A

This feature, the first in the Shooting 6 menu, was covered in depth in Chapter 6 and I will not repeat that information here. The feature is easy to use: just choose how long you want the EOS RP to pause between shots, and specify the number of exposures you want to capture. (See Figure 11.27.)

Bulb Timer

Options: Disable (default), Enable, Exposure time

My preference: N/A

This feature is available only when the Mode Dial is set to the B (Bulb) position. It allows you to specify exposure times up to 99 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. I described use of this feature, too, in Chapter 6.

Figure 11.27 The Shooting 6 menu.

Anti-Flicker Shooting

Options: Enable, Disable (default)

My preference: Disable, unless shooting under flickering light source

Novice sports photographers often ask me why shots they take in certain gymnasiums or arenas have inconsistent exposure, wildly varying color, or banding. The answer is that certain types of artificial lighting have a blinking cycle that is imperceptible to the eye, but which the camera can capture. This setting, when enabled, detects the frequency (it’s optimized for 100 to 120 Hz illumination and may not detect other frequencies) of the light source that is blinking, and takes the picture at the moment when the flicker has the least effect on the final image.

You may experience a slight shutter release time lag as the camera “waits” for the proper instant, and your continuous shooting speed may be reduced, which makes this setting a necessary evil for sports and other activities involving action. Your results may vary when using P or Av modes, because the shutter speed can change between shots as proper exposure requires. You’re better off using Tv or M mode, so the shutter speed remains constant.

If you want to detect flicker manually, once this feature is enabled, you can press the Q button, choose Anti-Flicker Shooting from the Quick Control menu, and press the INFO button. The camera will tell you whether or not flicker has been detected.

Anti-Flicker is disabled when using Basic Zone modes, and may not work as well with dark backgrounds, a bright light within the image area, when using wireless flash, and under other shooting conditions. Canon recommends taking test shots to see how effective the feature is under the light source you are working with.

High-Speed Display

Options: Enable, Disable (Default)

My preference: Enable

This function activates a high-speed display that is more responsive, switching between the shot you’ve taken and the live image. Sports shooters will find it particularly useful when they’re trying to follow action, as the default display is limited to about 5 frames per second. To use high-speed display, these conditions must be met:

• Using RF lens. High-speed display does not work when an adapted EF/EF-S lens is mounted on the EOS RP.
• Servo AF. You must set AF Operation to Servo AF to allow continuous focusing of your moving subject.
• High-Speed Continuous. Drive mode must be set to High-Speed Continuous. You don’t need this feature at slower shooting speeds, anyway.
• No Anti-Flicker Shooting. Set Anti-Flicker to Disable.
• Exposure Simulation. You must enable Exposure Simulation.

AF Operation

Options: One-Shot AF, Servo AF

My preference: N/A

This menu entry, the first in the Shooting 7 menu (see Figure 11.28), is an alternative to using the Quick Control or M-Fn button options to set autofocus operation. If the AF/MF switch on the lens is set to MF, then only MF appears in this entry and the other two are not available. Reminder: when focus is achieved, the focus point turns green or blue (in Servo mode); if focus cannot be achieved the point turns orange.

To recap:

• One-Shot AF. Single autofocus locks in a focus point when the shutter button is pressed down halfway. Green boxes will appear when the image is in focus at the active focus points, or orange if the EOS RP is unable to achieve sharp focus. The focus will remain locked until you release the button or take the picture.
• Servo AF. This continuous autofocus mode sets focus when you partially depress the shutter button, but continues to monitor the frame and refocuses if the camera or subject is moved. The focus area turns blue when focus is achieved, or orange if the EOS RP is unable to focus.

AF Method

Options: Face+Tracking, Spot AF, 1-point AF, Expand AF area, Expand AF area: Around, Zone AF

My preference: N/A

You can use this menu entry instead of the Quick Control screen or M-Fn button options. You can check focus with 5X and 10X magnified views by pressing the Magnify/Reduce button in all modes except Face+Tracking.

Figure 11.28 The Shooting 7 menu.

Your choices, as explained in more detail in Chapter 5 are as follows:

• Face+Tracking. The EOS RP uses intelligent algorithms to locate and focus on human faces, and track them and refocus if your subject moves. If no face is found, it will use all the focus points within the frame. You can select the initial position for autofocus when using Servo AF.
• Spot AF. Uses a single, small, reduced-size manually selected AF point.
• 1-point AF. Allows you to manually select a larger AF point.
• Expand AF area. You can manually select a single AF point, as well as the four points located above, below, and to the left/right of it.
• Expand AF area: Around. You can manually select a single AF point, as well as up to eight points surrounding it (above, below, left, right, and diagonally from the selected point).
• Zone AF. AF points are segregated into square-shaped zones that cover about one-sixth of the frame, and you can select which zone to use. In this Zone mode the EOS RP will seek out faces and attempt to focus on them.

Eye Detection AF

Options: Enable, Disable (default)

My preference: N/A

Turns Eye Detection AF on or off, as described in Chapter 5. In use, an AF point is displayed around a detected eye. Eye Detection is available only with One-Shot AF and the Face+Tracking AF method. Temporarily disable Eye Detection AF by pressing the AF Point Selection button, followed by the M-Fn and the INFO button. Press INFO a second time to reactivate Eye Detection.

Continuous AF

Options: Enable, Disable (default)

My preference: N/A

When Continuous AF is enabled, the EOS RP refocuses all the time (even in One-Shot mode) until you press the shutter release halfway. Then it refocuses (and locks, in One-Shot mode) and resumes refocusing (in Servo mode) until you press the shutter release all the way. The net effect is that when you’re ready to take a picture, the camera has focused and refocused continually and therefore should be ready for the final focusing when you take the photo. Canon warns that if you want to switch to manual focus when Continuous AF is active, you should turn the camera off first, slide the lens switch to MF, and then turn the camera back on.

Touch & Drag AF Settings

Options: Touch & Drag AF: Enable, Disable (default); Positioning method: Absolute, Relative (default); Active Touch Area: Whole Panel, Right (default), Left, Top, Bottom, Top Right, Bottom Right, Top Left, Bottom Left

My preference: When enabled, I prefer Relative Positioning and Whole Panel Active Touch Area.

As I’ve mentioned before, your touch screen can be useful even when you’re working exclusively with the electronic viewfinder. When you access this entry you are given three options:

• Touch & Drag AF. Choose Enable to activate, or Disable to turn the feature off. When enabled, you can touch and drag according to the parameters that follow. In Face+Tracking mode, a round orange frame appears in the viewfinder while you are dragging. As soon as you are satisfied with that position, lift your finger and the frame changes to a square frame and tracking of the subject begins. Press the Trash button to cancel selection of that subject.
• Positioning method. You have two options for this setting:
  • Absolute. While looking through the viewfinder, touch the LCD screen with a finger on the active area and drag to any position on the screen. The AF point will move to that location. This option may be more precise, but it requires you to be aware of approximately where you are touching the screen. When the active touch area (as described next) is the whole panel, that’s not difficult, but the behavior is more touch and go (so to speak) with smaller screen active areas.
  • Relative. You can touch and drag anywhere within the active area and move the AF point in that direction by an amount corresponding to the size of the motion.
• Active Touch Area. It’s simplest if you select Whole Panel, so the entire LCD screen is active for the Touch & Drag feature. However, you can choose to make only the left, right, top, or bottom halves active, or the top and bottom left and right corners. A smaller area requires less dragging to move the focus point to a particular location, but is also less precise. The Whole Panel choice is generally more accurate, even if a bit slower than the alternatives.

Lens Electronic MF

Options: Enable after One-Shot AF (default), Disable after One-Shot AF, Disable in AF

My preference: Enable after One-Shot AF

This is the first entry in the Shooting 8 menu. (See Figure 11.29.) You may need this entry’s capabilities if you frequently use EF/EF-S-mount lenses with an adapter. A limited number of extra-fast Canon prime lenses and one zoom—all of them L lenses with USM or STM motors—feature super-sensitive electronic manual focusing rings you can use to fine-tune focus after focus has been locked in using One-Shot AF. You might want to disable the use of this ring when using one of the compatible lenses, because even a casual bump against the ring can change focus significantly.

Figure 11.29 The Shooting 8 menu.

Note: Even if you’ve enabled One-Shot: Enabled (Magnify), the LCD screen or viewfinder display may not be magnified when you turn the focus ring while pressing the shutter button halfway following a shot. If that happens, release the shutter button, wait for the magnified display, and then press the shutter release halfway again while turning the focus ring. (This is a rather esoteric capability; I don’t expect many readers of this book to need it.) The lenses in question are as follows as of this writing:

EF50mm f/1.0L USM

EF85mm f/1.2L USM

EF85mm f/1.2L II USM

EF500mm f/4.5L USM

EF50mm f/1.8 STM

EF300mm f/2.8L USM

EF400 f/2.8L USM

EF400mm f/2.8L II USM

EF28-80mm f/2.8-4L USM

EF24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 STM

EF600mm f/4L USM

EF1200 f/5.6L USM

EF200mm f/1.8L USM

EF40mm f/2.8 STM

You have three choices:

• Enable after One-Shot AF. When active, you can continue to hold the shutter release halfway, while adjusting focus manually. I use this when shooting portraits with my 85mm f/1.2 lens at a large aperture, allowing me to zero focus in on the near eye of a subject seated on a diagonal angle.
• Disable after One-Shot AF. Manual focus is disabled. Use this when you are satisfied with the focus set by the camera’s autofocus system and don’t want to manually tweak it. Remember that if you truly want to use manual focus and bypass the AF system entirely, just slide the AF/MF switch on the lens to the MF position.
• Disable in AF. Turns off the feature entirely.

AF-Assist Beam Firing

Options: Enable (default), Disable, LED AF-assist beam only

My preference: LED AF-assist beam only

This setting determines when bursts from a compatible external electronic flash or the camera’s built-in LED are used to emit a pulse of light that helps provide enough contrast for the EOS RP to focus on a subject. You can select Enable to use the camera’s LED or an attached Canon Speedlite to produce a focus assist beam. Use Disable to turn this feature off if you find it distracting. Keep in mind that if you select Enable and the Speedlite’s own AF-Assist Beam Firing is set to Disable, the AF-assist beam will not be emitted (the flash’s setting takes precedence).

• Enable. The AF-assist light is emitted by the camera’s LED or an attached, powered-up external flash whenever light levels are too low for accurate focusing using the ambient light.
• Disable. The AF-assist illumination is disabled. You might want to use this setting when shooting at concerts, weddings, or darkened locations where the light might prove distracting or discourteous.
• LED AF-Assist Beam Only. Some Canon flash units have an LED AF-assist lamp. Select this option to activate only the Speedlite’s beam. If your flash does not have an LED, the EOS RP’s LED will be used instead. Again, if you’ve turned off the external flash’s AF-assist beam using its own controls, this function is disabled.

MF Peaking Settings

Options: Peaking: On, Off; Level: High, Low; Color: Red, Yellow, White

My preference: On, High, Red

MF Peaking Settings deals only with manual focus and therefore available only when focusing in Manual modes. Focus peaking is a technique that outlines the area in sharpest focus with a color that can be red, white, or yellow. The colored area shows you at a glance what will be very sharp if you take the photo at that moment. If you’re not satisfied, simply change the focused distance (with manual focus). As the focus gets closer to ideal for a specific part of the image, the color outline develops around hard edges that are in focus. You can choose how much peaking is applied (High, Medium, and Low), select a specific accent color (Red, Yellow, or White), or turn the feature off.

Peaking Color allows you to specify which color is used to indicate peaking when you use manual focus. White is the default value, but if that color doesn’t provide enough contrast with a similarly hued subject, you can switch to a more contrasting color, such as red or yellow.