Rick Sammon's Canon EOS Digital

 

Rebel Personal Training DVD

Reviewed by Michael Potter

Author: Rick Sammon Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470180757.html Released: July 2007 $20 USD, $24 CND ISBN-13: 9780470180754 Audience: Beginner Requirements: Standalone DVD Player or OS X 10.3.9+, DVD Drive and DVD Player app.
Strengths: valuable tips, summaries of lessons at the end of each segment.   Weaknesses: No additional content on disc, some lessons could be more in-depth, no “play all” option.

Introduction

 

It's not unheard of for someone to run out and purchase the latest and greatest DSLR camera and then simply leave it in its fully automatic mode for much of the time, failing to take advantage of the power they paid for.

 

Okay, I'll come clean.  It's not unusual for ME to do that, and that's exactly what happened when I purchased my first Canon EOS Digital Rebel. 

 

Coming from the film world, where I had been using a Canon AE-1 shutter priority camera for nearly 25 years, it was daunting, to say the least, to move to the Digital Rebel, where the question became not only a matter of setting the shutter speed, manual focus and shooting, but a wide gamut of choices including the shutter, aperture, white balance, multiple focus points, exposure compensation plus a wide range of fully automatic modes for more casual shooting.  Because I picked up my camera just a week before a family vacation, I dove right into using it and, though I fiddled around with JPG vs. RAW, ISO, adjusting the focus points, and it's shutter priority mode, I usually kept it in Program mode, not bothering with any of the more creative settings I could use to take better shots.  As a result, I developed some bad habits and got used to doing things a certain way, even though I fully realized that I wasn't taking advantage of the camera's features as I should.

 

While the manual that came with my Digital Rebel was adequate and I did, many times, set out to read it, it's rather dry and, sometimes, that urge to simply pick up the camera and start snapping overwhelms the desire to focus on the details.  The hour and a half worth of lessons found on Rick Sammon's Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD attempt to get you using your new camera to its fullest, yet out and shooting as quickly as possible.

 

On this DVD…

 

Specifically addressing the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera – which was the current model until very recently – this DVD Photo Workshop is divided into seven Lesson Chapters: Introduction; Get Started; Exposure; Lenses; Getting a Great Shot; Flash Photography; and Rick Sammon's Photographic Tips and Tricks.

For someone moving from a pocket point and shoot camera, an older SLR camera or, from another brand camera to the Canon line, you'll want to watch this disc from the beginning where basic topics such as setting the exposure mode, working with memory cards, reading the LCD display and holding the camera are all covered.  The Digital Workflow lesson, especially, is important for anyone moving to digital from film.    Everyone else may be tempted to jump straight to the Exposure lesson skipping the introductory lessons, but don't discount helpful reminders such as the need to back up your photos in multiple locations as well as some of the little nuggets even more experienced photographers might pick up.

 

As an example of one of those “huh, I never noticed that before” moments, Canon has a clever, but decidedly low tech way of indicating that a battery needs to be recharged:  simply flip the protective battery cover and a built in cut-out on the cover allows a color strip on the battery to show through which serves as a visual reminder that your battery is fully charged.

 

Other tips I picked up in the introductory lessons include some slight adjustments to the way I hold my Digital Rebel when shooting and a handy tip on the relationship between ISO and the amount of space the pictures take on the camera's memory card.

 

After the basics, we're next lead into some more detailed instruction for using the Digital Rebel beginning with the Exposure lesson.  For this lesson – and most of the others –  we're taught how to use the Digital Rebel by Rick Sammon through the eyes of our on screen surrogate, and new Digital Rebel owner, Vered.  Though this works for much of the disc, there are some segments where, because we're not in the room and can't always see some of the adjustments Sammon is making to Vered's camera, we can get a bit lost for how or why her shots improved.

 

Each lesson is divided into multiple sub-lessons and some of those divided further still.  Exposure, for instance, is divided into five main sections with one, Basic Picture Modes, comprised of seven individual segments covering each of the camera's fully automatic modes as well as when and why you might want to use them.

As you work your way through the lessons, you'll definitely want to have your camera at hand so you can try the settings as you watch.  Because of the complex nature of a DSLR, it would be near impossible to try to recall everything covered on the disc if you didn't at least try it once while watching.

 

A particularly helpful feature of each segment is a quick recap of the most major points discussed, along with some closeups of where to find those buttons and dials on the camera.  However, this brings up an issue I discovered while working through the disc.  Sammon doesn't always get indepth with the “whys”.  Sometimes he grabs the camera from Vered, makes some adjustments, hands it back and says “there, try that.”   Again, we're left wondering not only the adjustment he made, but why he made the change.  I've got the feeling that Vered often wonders too.

 

The longest segments top out at around 6-7 minutes while some are exceedingly short.  So short, that I'm left questioning why they even bothered to include it.  For example, the segment on Image Stabilization lenses found in the Getting a Great Shot lesson was about 30 seconds long with 20 seconds of review.  Certainly there's more to say about IS lenses than that?

 

Overall, however, the lessons found on the disc are useful and serve as a good overview for the Digital Rebel camera and help make the manual included with the camera more accessible.

 

Conclusion

 

At times I found the menu structure of the DVD a bit odd and there were situations when it appeared that some buttons were missing text and perhaps some proof-reading might be in order.  Many of the short segments could probably have been combined into longer segments or moved to other Lessons, and many could be fleshed out a lot more.  The IS Lenses segment I mentioned a moment ago, for example, could be much longer and might be a better fit in the Lenses lesson rather than Getting a Great Shot.  There was also no discussion in the Digital Workflow segment of software solutions to help catalog and organize your photos – an essential part of the digital workflow in my opinion.

 

I would also like an option to “Play All” for each lesson which would help make the odd navigation of the menus a bit more palatible to me and prevent my constant reaching for the remote to move on to the next segment.

 

My final issue with the disc is one of those things that will either annoy the jeepers out of you or it won't bother you one bit:  Rick Sammon tends to remind us over and over (and over) that he's “a professional photographer” and, while I'm reasonably certain it's not intended to be so, I find the manner in which he repeatedly drives that point home a bit condescending.

 

In the end, I enjoyed this disc.  The lessons covered include just about all the basics someone new to the Digitial Rebel will need to know to take better pictures, and I picked up some great tips along the way.

 

Recommendation

 

Ultimately, you're never going to improve your photography with your face glued to the TV or your nose buried in a book.  The best way to hone your skills behind the lens is to go out and take pictures.  Lots of pictures!  Though it's not perfect, Rick Sammon's Canon EOS Digital Rebel Personal Training DVD, is a good motivator for new Digital Rebel users and, at $20 list, it's worth checking out and keeping on the shelf as a quick review whenever you're ready to tackle something new with your camera.  The short lessons found here, when reviewed with camera in hand, will help you do just that.