Canon EOS R advanced manual with tips and tricks

Canon EOS R advanced manual with tips and tricks

Introduction

The Canon EOS R has a 30,3-megapixel Full Frame CMOS sensor with a fast DIGIC 8 image processor.  This is Canon’s first full frame mirrorless camera, but they’ve managed to produce a sensor with no less than 5655 manually selectable autofocus points. The electronic viewfinder also has a generous 3,69 million dots and the EOS R features a vari-angle touchscreen on the back. When it comes to video, the Canon EOS R is no slouch either, with 4K capabilities at max 30P and 10 bit 4: 2: 2 HDMI output.

If you’re new to digital photography or Canon mirrorless cameras, I’m sure this guide full of tips and trips will make you more familiar with the various settings, features and functionalities of the Canon R. Now it’s time to turn your camera on and press the Menu button. You’ll be able to follow along page by page with this guide. Please note that in order to see all the pages, set the camera’s mode to Av, Tv or M as some other modes provide only a small subset of available menu options.

Firstly, you might have landed here for another Canon mirrorless camera. Even though the menus are similar, it’s best to use my specific guide per camera. 

You can find other manuals here:

• Canon EOS R6 manual
• Canon EOS R5 Manual 
• Canon EOS RP Manual

Also, if you want to see this more soothing black camera interface instead of the bright white, change the colour of the Menu in: Disp Level settings – Menu Display – Standard.

Canon EOS R Menu system

The Shoot Menu (Red Camera Icon)

Page Shoot 1 (SHOOT1) 

Image quality: you primarily need to decide whether to shoot RAW or JPEG. Raw records all the data from the sensor, Jpeg is basically a much smaller file that has all kinds of information already baked in. Most serious photographers shoot RAW, as this gives you the most flexible file to work with in an application like Adobe Lightroom.

You’ll be able to recover more colour in the highlights of your image for instance, and pull more detail out of the shadows with a Raw file than with a Jpeg. The only downside are the larger files and the fact that of course you’ll need to develop them later on. RAW file average size of 20.8 MB an JPEG file average size of 10 MB with the EOS R.

You’ll see that the is also a cRAW option, this is a format that uses lossy compression to reduce file sizes by roughly 40%. This is absolutely fine to use, the deterioration is negligible.

If you decide to shoot Jpeg, you can choose between Large, Medium or Small, each with a Fine or Normal setting. Check the table above for the relative pixel sizes for each setting. I would advise Large and Fine of course.

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Dual Pixel RAW: You’ll need to set the previous image quality to RAW or cRAW in order use Dual Pixel RAW. This setting produces images containing dual pixel information from the image sensor. Don’t confuse this setting the type of pixel shift technology like Pentax uses. 

Dual Pixel RAW uses the unique dual photodiode per pixel design of the 30.4 Megapixel sensor. A photodiode converts light into electrical current, and it the case of the Canon EOS R, each of these more than 30 million pixels actually registered light twice. Because these 2 photodiodes occupy actual physical space, you can imagine that the two register your point of autofocus slightly differently.

Now the camera itself is constantly calculating what the best fine focus point is between these two, and this is called A+B. When Dual Pixel AF is set to on, not only this A+B signal is recorded, but also the A signal (from one of the two diodes) separately. This means that Canon’s proprietary RAW developer now has access to the normal camera output (A+B), as well as the A signal and the B signal (A+B-A=B).

What this means for you in a practical sense is that you’ll be able to slightly shift, or a better word is fine-tune your point of autofocus. This is not a miracle worker, as remember the light is registered twice per pixel, and there are 30 million pixels on a 36 x 24mm surface. But it can help you if the focus is just slightly off, like for instance you barely missed focus on the eye at f/1.4. 

Another caveat is that it only really works at focal lengths between 50 and 200mm, and at large apertures.

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Still img aspect ratio: this describes how square (1:1) or wide (16:9) your image is. It’s expressed as a figure, like this: width:height (width always comes first). The aspect ratio of a Full Frame sensor is 3:2, and you should use this if you want to use the full surface of the sensor. Cropping can also be done later.  

• 3:2: the native sensor dimension of the Canon EOS R.
• 1.6x: this is wat is called crop mode, and is used when you use EF-S lenses from the APS-C cameras.
• 4:3: native resolution of a micro-four-thirds camera .
• 16:9: for a wider perspective.
• 1:1: a basic square setting.

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Image review: You can modify the amount of time the image displays on the LCD monitor after your EOS R writes it to the memory card. You can set the preview time from 2 to 8 seconds or display the image until you turn off the camera. Or you can turn it OFF if you don’t want this.

I turn it off as I can always press the play button if I decide to review a shot I’ve just taken..

• Off
• 2 sec
• 4 sec
• 8 sec
• Hold

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Release shutter without card

If this is set to ON, you want be able to use the shutter button if there is no SD card inserted in the camera. This is a security feature, so that you won’t start shooting images without actually recording them on an SD card. On the other hand, if you’re just testing the features of the camera, you probably won’t wan’t to store these files, and then you can leave it ON.

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Page Shoot 2 (SHOOT2)

Lens aberration correction: digital technology provides the ability to adjust images in-camera. One area this can be useful is in correcting for optical performance. By mapping the performance of each camera and lens at a variety of focal lengths, focus distances and apertures, it is possible to correct for these irregularities and bring the lens performance closer to ‘perfection’. These corrections are only available for photos captured in the JPEG file format. There is no reason to turn this off, except if you’re noticing a slow down when shooting in burst mode. Then this might be the reason

• Peripheral illumination correction: This is called lens light fall-off or drop in the corners or vignetting.
• Distortion correction: If you’re shooting with a wide-angle lens you may have noticed that at the wide end you will most likely find some distortion. This corrects distortion for any lens in the lens database.
• Digital Lens Optimizer: Performs high- level correction for lens aberration in-camera
• Chromatic aberr corr: Automatically remove color fringing due to Chromatic aberration.
• Diffraction correction: a camera and lens specific correction that uses a profile of the lens used to ameliorate the effects of diffraction caused by small apertures (usually f/11 and beyond where there will be decrease in sharpness).

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External speedlite control: Using this menu item, you can adjust flash power. The Flash Control option also enables you to customizeas well as control an external flash head.

• Flash firing: Normally, this option is set to Enable. If you want to disable the flash, you can choose Disable instead. However, you don’t have to take this step in most cases.(just close the pop-up flash head on top of the camera if you don’t want to use flash).
• E-TTL II meter: This option enables you to switch from the default flash metering approach, called Evaluative. In this mode, the camera exposes the background using ambient light when possible and then sets the flash power to serve as fill light on the subject. If you instead select the Average option, the flash is used as the primary light source, meaning that the flash power is set to expose the entire scene without relying on ambient light. Typically, this results in a more powerful (and possibly harsh) flash lighting and dark backgrounds.

• Slow synchro: Slow Sync Flash is a function found on many cameras that tells your camera to shoot with both a longer shutter speed as well as firing the flash. This means you get the best of both worlds above and can both get a relatively sharp shot of your main subject as well as get some ambient light from the background and foreground.
• Safety FE: The camera automatically changes the shutter speed or aperture value when the flash fires to avoid overexposing and blowing out the highlights in the scene.

• Flash func. Setting and External flash C.Fn setting: these last 2 options on the Flash Control list relate to how to control external flashes from the EOS R itself. This depends very much on what flash you’re using, and you should consult the flash manual in order to set this up.

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Page Shoot 3 (SHOOT3)

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Expo.comp./AEB: Exposure Compensation and Auto Exposure Bracketing.

Exposure compensation: If you believe that your camera is over- or underexposing your images, or you want to do this for creative reasons, you can change the level of exposure by a scale of plus or minus 3 EV.

Auto Exposure Bracketing.: Using the exposure compensation setting, you can capture images at different exposure levels, and then select the optimal image later with a +/- 5 EV scale. These two functions can the be used in combination.

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ISO speed settings for photos

ISO speed: can either be set to Automatic or determine an appropriate value for yourself. Say for landscapes when using a tripod this is generally set to what is called base ISO 100. ISO 100 would give you the optimal quality for this sensor, but for many other types of photography you’ll need a higher ISO in order to have a fast enough shutter speed and hence no movement in your images. Leave this on auto for most uses.

ISO Auto: This is used to set the max for Auto, from 400 to the top value of 40000. When raising the ISO value, you are effectively raising the sensitivity of the sensor by boosting the output. This leads to more and more noise with every doubling of power. A Maximum of 12800 is as far as I would go with the Canon EOS R.

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Auto Lighting Optimizer

Auto-corrects image brightness and contrast. This only affects Jpeg and not your Raw files, but it can be handy for the Jpeg shooters out there. Have a go and see if you like the effect set to low or standard.

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Highlight tone priority

Improves gradation in highlights to avoid over exposure in bright subjects. What the camera does in highlight tone priority is underexpose the image to avoid clipping highlights, then boost the shadows up to give the appearance of a wider dynamic range in the jpegs. It does the same thing you might do when processing raw files, except it just applies it to jpegs. Another great feature to experiment with. Either Off or enabled.

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Metering timer

When you half press the shutter (or use back button focus) in one of the creative zone modes and then release it, the camera’s meter takes a reading and sets the exposure values. These values time out and disappear after the amount of time set by this option. You have to half press again to take a new reading at that point. From 4, 8, 16, 30 sec too 1, 10, 30 min.

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Expo. Simulation

When ‘Exp.SIM’ (which stands for Exposure Simulation) is on, indicates the image you are seeing on the rear screen and EVF is what the final image will look like. You can leave this on except when using flash in the studio as you’ll only see a dark frame in that case.

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Page Shoot 4 (SHOOT4)

White balance

Normally AWB (auto white balance) will do just fine but you also have the option to change this to AWB W (auto white balance with white priority This setting is amazing for indoor lighting), Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, White fluorescent, Flash, Custom and Colour Temperature adjustable.

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Custom white balance

This setting brings up compatible images to use. Set the white balance under the same light source thatwill illuminate your shot.

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WB Shift/Bkt.

White balance shift is a setting on the EOS R camera that allows a photographer to bias the colours in images in either blue, amber, magenta or green directions. This colour shift can be used to add or remove colour shifts that may occur when shooting in mixed lighting conditions. Typically think flash and daylight, flash and indoor lights, street lights and daylight and so on. White balance can be shifted from -9 to +9 in both blue / amber and green / magenta directions, or combinations of blue/amber and green/magenta shifts. The blue/amber shift is equal to five mired for each step.

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Color space

sRGB is what is used online, and Adobe RGB has a more extended colour profile that mimics the human eye. You might think that the latter is preferable, but unless you print a lot of photos with professional equipment, Adobe RGB is more hassle than its worth since you’ll need to proof every picture you want to use online and convert it to sRGB.

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Picture Style

Picture style allows you to take photos in the color tones that Canon deems most suitable to each subject . These include normal presets like Standard, Portrait and Landscape but also advanced scenarios like Monochrome, Fine Detail, Neutral and Faithful.

All these picture styles can be individually adjusted to taste with adjustments like Sharpness, Fine detail, Threshold, Contrast, Saturation, Hue. These adjustments can be saved in 3 user defined slots and even transferred to other EOS cameras.

Auto, Standard, Portait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Def. 1, 2 and 3]

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Page Shoot 5 (SHOOT5)

Long exp. noise reduction

Turn On noise reduction for exposures of 1 second or longer with the Canon EOS R. This function takes a second black or dark frame (with the shutter closed) with the identical shutter time of your first photo. The noise in this frame is then subtracted from the original photo. This method is the most reliable type of noise reduction, as the noise is measured specifically at that place and time with the same level of humidity and temperature. All factors that can contribute to noisy images especially in long exposures.

Some photographers however find it annoying to have to wait for this to finish as it doubles the time. You can turn it off and experiment with other types of noise reduction in Lightroom or any other photo editor if you shoot RAW.

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High ISO speed NR

You can choose from 3 levels of noise reduction: Standard, High or Low. This function is especially effective when shooting at high ISO speeds.

Multishot: This technique automatically combines four images captured at once to reduce noise. Compared to setting High ISO speed NR to [High], this feature minimises loss of image quality while reducing noise. Best technique for Jpeg shooters.

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Dust Delete Data

This function allows you to download your shots to your computer using the canon software. The software will analyse the images and any dust spots that show up on multiple images will be registered. This database is then relayed back to the Canon R that will ignore the pixels with dust on.

I don’t think this is necessary, as periodically wet cleaning yourself or by a professional should be part of your camera cleaning routine anyway.

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Touch Shutter

If the Touch Shutter function is set to On, you can take shots easily by having the camera focus on your subject and adjust the brightness simply by touching. I don’t use this function, but if you’re coming from a smartphone, you could find it very useful.

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Multiple Exposure

Bulb Timer

This is used for long exposures. Turn this, on, set the exposure timer to your desired setting and then shoot a Bulb exposure.  If you want to end the exposure early, just tap the shutter.

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Anti Flicker Shoot.

With anti-flicker shooting, the camera detects the frequency of the light source’s blinking and takes the picture when the flicker’s effect on the exposure or color is detectable.

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Silent Shutter

You can adjust the camera’s drive and shutter operating characteristics to suit shooting conditions or the lens used.

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Silent LV. Shoot

In this mode, your camera’s operational sounds are silenced, allowing you to shoot pictures of sleeping subjects without worrying about getting noticed.

• Mode 1: Enables quieter shooting, Continuous shooting is available in this mode.
• Mode 2: When the shutter button is pressed completely, only one shot will be taken. While you keep holding down the shutter button, the camera operation will be suspended. This enables quieter shooting, and operation will resume once you return the shutter button to the halfway position. Even if continuous shooting is set, only a single shot will be taken.
• Disable: be sure to set it to Disable if you use a TS-E lens for shifting or tilting the lens or if you use an extension tube. If Mode 1 or Mode 2 is set, the standard exposure may not be obtained, or an irregular exposure may result.

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High Speed Display

The  Canon EOS R must be set to high speed frame rate to enable this option. This setting lets the EVF update faster than the 5 FPS rate at which the EOS R shoots in Continuous Hi mode. Doesn’t work with adapted lenses…

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Page Autofocus 1 (AF1)

AF operation

One Shot: for Still Subjects. When you press the shutter button halfway, the camera will focus only once.

• When focus is achieved, the dot inside the AF point achieving focus lights up briefly in red, and the focus confirmation light <> in the viewfinder will also light up.
• With evaluative metering, the exposure setting will be set at the same time focus is achieved.
• While you hold down the shutter button halfway, the focus will be locked. You can then recompose the shot if desired.

Servo: This AF operation is for moving subjects when the focusing distance keeps changing. While you hold down the shutter button halfway, the subject will be focused continuously.

• The exposure is set at the moment the picture is taken.
• When the AF point selection is automatic, the camera first uses the center AF point to focus. During autofocusing, if the subject moves away from the center AF point, focus tracking continues as long as the subject is covered by another AF point.

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AF method

Face + Tracking:

• the Canon R searches for faces in the frame. If it finds one, it displays a white focus frame over the face.
• In a group shot where more than one face is recognized by the camera, you see arrows on either side of the focus frame. To choose a different face as the focusing target, tap the face or use the Multi-controller to move the target frame over the face.
• To lock focus on the face, press and hold the shutter button halfway down or press and hold the AF-ON button. When focus is locked, the focus frame turns green, as shown on the right above, and the camera emits a beep. (Disable the sound effect via the Beep option on Shooting Menu 1.) If focus isn’t successful, the focus frame turns red.

1 point AF: only one AF point is used for extremely precise autofocus.

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When set to Movie mode, you now how the new Eye detection AF which can only be enabled in face tracking autofocus mode.

Also, AF frame size can now be set to small with the Canon EOS firmware version 1.2.

AF frame size

Select either Normal or Small frame size for the 1 point AF operation.

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Eye Detection AF

This is an exciting new feature, introduced with the EOS M APS-C cameras.  When its AF Method is set to Face Detect + Tracking, the entire active AF area (see the colored outlines in the graphics above) is used for focusing.  And, if a human face is detected, the Face Detect technology has been enhanced — the camera doesn’t simply focus on the most prominent face in the scene.  Instead, it now is able to detect the nearest eye on that face, and puts a smaller focus box on that eye.  If that person moves around the picture area, the Eye Detection AF continues to track that eye, as long as it remains visible.

When Eye Detection AF is active, you’ll see a large, outer box indicating that Face Detection has recognized a human face.  And within it, a smaller box will surround the actual eye that is being concentrated upon for Eye Detection AF.

This means that sharp focus will more than ever be placed on the “leading” eye of your subjects, whether you’re shooting portraits or candid pictures.  Where many experienced photographers might have previously made the effort to change to a single AF point, and move it manually to cover the face of a human subject, the new Eye Detection AF technology means that the process can be left to the EOS R in many cases.

All that has to be done to activate Eye Detection AF is to Enable Eye Detection AF in the 3rd Shooting Menu screen, and be sure that Face Detect + Tracking is the active AF Method.  It will function in most shooting modes.

While Eye Detect AF will normally focus upon the eye nearest to the camera, if you want to concentrate on the subject’s other eye, that’s easy to do — just press the AF Point Select button, on the back of the camera, twice.  You’ll see the smaller “box” surrounding the detected eye jump to the subject’s other eye.

For Face Detection AF, and the more advanced Eye Detection AF to function, the camera basically has to be able to identify typical human facial features two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.  Accordingly, there can be some limits to the EOS R’s Eye Detection AF:

• It will not function with Servo AF, so it’s unable to work with moving subjects (therefore, Eye Detection AF is not possible in Sports Mode or Panning Mode).  
• It’s disabled if you’re using the Miniature effect or Fish-eye effect settings, within the Creative Filters modes.

• Eye Detection AF cannot be used when recording video (overall Face Detection is possible during video recording, including when continuous Movie Servo AF is active).
• The primary face in the scene needs to be sufficiently close to take up a certain amount of space in the picture — if a detected face is too distant or small in the frame, the EOS R will revert to conventional Face Detection, and you won’t see the smaller “box” displayed over a subject’s eye before you take the picture.  
• Eye Detect AF may have problems if the subject’s eyes are partially or fully closed.
• The primary face needs to be turned so it’s essentially facing toward the camera, and the eyes need to be somewhat in the camera’s direction as well.  While direct eye contact with the camera isn’t required, if the subject’s eyes are angled significantly to one side or the other, the EOS R’s Eye Detection AF may not be able to detect the eye nearest the camera (again, it will usually revert to ordinary Face Detection, or conventional Automatic AF point selection).
• If one or both of the subject’s eyes are in deep shadow, Eye Detection AF (and sometimes overall Face Detection AF) may have difficulty functioning.
• Sunglasses, excessive make-up around the eyes, masks, and so on will usually prevent the Eye Detection AF from being able to detect and focus upon the nearest eye.  And, like Face Detection, it’s designed to detect human eyes… it normally will not work with animals or other non-human subjects.

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Continuous AF

Enable or disable continuous AF where the camera constantly tries to acquire focus, even without pressing the shutter. Turn this Off.

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Touch & drag AF settings

Touch & Drag AF basically means that you can drag the desired autofocus point to anywhere on the screen. This is much faster than any other method to do this.

You can select the active touch area: Whole panel, Right, Left, Top Right, Btm Right, Top Left, Btm Left. I have it set to the Bottom Left since this allows you to look through the EVF and change the focus point easily at the same time.

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Page Autofocus 2 (AF2)

MF peaking settings

Peaking is a focussing aide when the camera is set to manual focus. The in-focus area will have a type of coloured noise superimposed onto scene in the EVF or on the screen. This is of course not stored, it’s merely an aide that helps you determine where your focus lies and if your subject will be in focus. Very handy feature, I have it set to the Color red and Level High.

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Focus Guide

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Page Autofocus 3 (AF3)

Tracking Sensitivity

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Accel./decel. tracking

This sets the tracking sensitivity for moving subjects whose speed can suddenly change dramatically by starting or stopping suddenly for instance.

• [0] : Suited for subjects that move at a fixed speed.
• [+2 / +1] : Effective for subjects having sudden movements, sudden acceleration/deceleration, or sudden stops. Even if the moving subject’s speed suddenly changes dramatically, the camera continues to focus the target subject. For example, for an approaching subject, the camera becomes less prone to focus behind it, which would result in a blurred subject. For a subject stopping suddenly, the camera becomes less prone to focus in front of it. Setting +2 can track dramatic changes in the moving subject’s speed better than with +1.

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AF pt auto switching

Lens electronic MF

Disable after One-Shot AF/Enable after One-Shot AF:  The latter allows you to fine-tune focus manually in AF mode whilst half-pressing the shutter button.

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AF-assist beam firing

This is a read beam that some flashes have which helps to acquire focus in situations with low light.

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One-Shot AF release prior.

Effective when you want to achieve focus before capturing the shot. You can set the AF operation characteristics and shutter-release timing during continuous shooting after the first shot with AI Servo AF. Equal priority is given to focusing and continuous shooting speed.

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Page Autofocus 5 (AF5)

Lens Drive when AF impossible

This setting can effectively speed up your action photography, especially with tele lenses. Super telephoto lenses can become grossly out of focus during continuous focus search, taking more time to achieve focus the next time. 

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Limit AF Methods

You’ll find a list of all AF methods here, you can select and deselect which ones you use or don’t use, so that there’s less clutter in the AF Method Menu.

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Orientation linked AF Point

You can select different AF configurations based on the orientation of the camera. 

You can select up to three different AF point selection methods corresponding to whether you hold the camera in a landscape orientation, portrait with the grip up or portrait with the grip down orientation. Simply rotating the camera will choose whichever AF point or AF point selection method you have set for that orientation.

This is very useful for many situations. At a wedding for example you may choose to use the central point when shooting in a landscape format but the middle top AF point for focusing on a face when shooting in a portrait mode.

It is also possible to select an alternate, or favourite, AF point that you can switch to immediately by using one of the customisable buttons on the EOS R. This customisation can also be used to select an alternate set of AF settings that can be recalled using a single button press. You may find this useful when photographing a running race for example. You may wish to use two different AF point selection methods, one for the start of the race and one for the end as the runners dip for the line.

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Initial Servo AF pt for face + tracking

This setting is allows you to select a specific point for the AF system to start tracking things when AF is set face detect plus tracking. 

Playback Menu (blue playback icon)

Page Play 1 settings (PLAY1)

Protect images

You can select how to protect and unprotect an image from deletion on the EOS 50D. Once an image is protected, it cannot be erased by the camera’s erase function. To erase a protected image, you must first cancel the protection. If you erase all the images, only the protected images will remain. This is convenient when you want to erase unnecessary images all at once.

You can choose to Select images, Select range, All images in folder, unprotect all images in folder, All images on card or unprotect all images on card.

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Rotate image

Vertical images are rotated automatically so they are displayed vertically on the camera’s LCD monitor and personal computer instead of horizontally. The setting of this feature can be changed.

• Immediately after image capture, the vertical image will not be automatically rotated for the image review.
• If the vertical image is taken while the camera is pointed up or down, the image might not rotate automatically for playback.
• If the vertical image is not automatically rotated on the personal computer screen, it means the software you are using is unable to rotate the image.

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Erase images

Select and erase images by selecting a range or All images in folder orAll images on card.

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Print order

You can connect the camera to a printer via Wi-Fi to print your images directly. This setting takes you to the selection screen where you can select a single image, multiple images for printing and the general set up. See the tutorial below on how to connect to a smartphone, it is the same procedure to connect to a printer

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Photobook Set-up

This function is useful for ordering photobooks online and for printing photobooks on a printer. 

When you select images to use in photobooks (up to 998 images) and use EOS Utility (provided software) to transfer them to a computer, the selected images will be copied into a dedicated folder. This function is useful for ordering photobooks online and for printing photobooks on a printer.

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Image transfer

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RAW image processing

Being able to perform RAW image post-processing right after shooting on a camera is a function that comes in very handy.

These settings are available on the Canon R:

• Brightness adjustment: EV-1, EV-2/3, EV-1/3, EV±0, EV+1/3, EV+2/3, EV+1
• White balance: WB: Shot settings, Auto, Day Light, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten light, White fluorescent light, Flash, Colour temperature
• Picture Style: Picture Style: Shot settings, Auto, Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Fine Detail, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Def. 1, User Def. 2, User Def. 3
• Auto Lighting Optimizer: Disable, Low, Standard, High
• High ISO speed Noise Reduction: Disable, Low, Standard, High
• Image quality: write small, medium and large jpeg files in fine or standard resolution.
• Peripheral illumination correction: Enable/Disable
• Chromatic aberration: Enable/Disable
• Diffraction correction: Enable/Disable

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Page Play 2 settings (PLAY2)

Cropping

Complementary to the other in-camera RAW processing feature, you can crop your image or multiple images here freely or according to preset dimensions.

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Resize

It’s also possible to resize your RAW images and save them in-camera for posting on social media for instance.

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Rating

You can add a star rating to your images here. This rating will show up later when you transfer the images to your computer if you use Canon’s Digital Photo Professional.

You can:

• Select images
• Select range
• All images in folder
• All images on card

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Slide show

You can setup and start an in-camera slideshow here.

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Set image search conditions

You’ll find lots of factors to choose here, I honestly don’t know why this was implemented and never use it.

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Image jump w/dial

This setting selects how much of the jump your image library will tale when you turn the dial.

You can select one by one, jump 10, jump by specified number, by date, by folder, display movies only, stills only, protected only or display by image rating.

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Page Play 3 settings (PLAY3)

Playback information display

You can enable up to 9 individual screens – all except the first, which is the basic shooting info overlay, allow the histogram to be specified as brightness or RGB, and in some cases, both.

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Highlight alert

The Highlight Alert setting will show you where the overexposed areas in your images are located.  The image preview will blink in areas that are completely white and have no detail.

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AF point disp.

This setting either shows or hides the number of AF points on screen and in your EVF.

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Playback Grid

Sets the number of images or previews in the grid when you select Playback.

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Movie Play Count

The two options within this setting are Play Time and Time Code and they determine what is displayed while the movie is played back on the camera. In Play Time, the elapsed time after the start of shooting will be shown on the rear LCD panel during playback. With the Time Code setting, the associated timecode will be shown during playback.

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View from last seen

Either enable or disable the view from previous images in order to compare them.

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Magnificatn (apx)

you can set the starting magnification and initial position for the magnified view.

• 1x (no magnification): The image will not be magnified. The magnified view will start with the single-image display.

• 2x, 4x, 8x, 10x (magnify from center): he magnified view will start at the image center at the selected magnification.

• Actual size (from selected point): The recorded image’s pixels will be displayed at approx. 100%. The magnified view will start at the AF point that achieved focus. If the photo was taken with manual focus, the magnified view will start at the image center.

• Same as last magnification (from center): The magnification will be the same as the last time you exited the magnified view. The magnified view starts from the image center.

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Set Up Menu (Spanner, yellow gear icon)

Set Up Menu Page 1 (SET UP1)

Select folder

You can select and/or create the folder on your SD card where files will be stored here.

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File numbering

You can set the file numbering for each new shot to Continuous or Auto Reset/Manual Reset. Continuous will consecutively number your photos. Auto reset will reset the numbering every time an SD card is inserted, and Manual reset will reset the numbering once.

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Auto rotate

Auto rotate automatically rotates your images that are shot in portrait mode to fit the screen size. You can turn this on or off and decide whether this will behaviour will also apply to images imported to your PC using the canon software .

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Format card

You should format your SD card in-camera every time you insert an SD card when starting a new session. This to make sure that there won’t be any writing errors. Remember that formatting will erase all the images on the card, and won’t even be recoverable if you choose the low level format option.

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Set Up Menu Page 2 (SET UP2)

Eco mode

This function allows you to conserve battery power.When the camera is not in use, the screen quickly darkens to reduce battery consumption

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Power saving

The power will shut off in the following circumstances. Press the power button again to restore power.

Shooting Mode	Powers down approximately 3 minutes after the last control is accessed on the camera. The LCD monitor automatically turns off 1 minute* after the last control is accessed even if [Auto Power Down] is set to [Off]. Press any button other than the power button to turn the LCD monitor back on.
Playback Mode or connected to a Printer.	Powers down approximately 5 minutes after the last control is accessed on the camera.

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Display brightness

Adjust the brightness of the display in 7 steps.

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Display color tone

Adjust the color tone of the display.

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Date/Time/Zone

Select your local time zone, a date and time for your camera. This information will be written in the EXIF data of your photos.

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Language

Select your preferred language for the camera Menus. I choose English, as it is easiest to find information online in English.

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Set Up Menu Page 3 (SET UP3)

Video system

Select either NTSC or PAL depending on the region where you live.

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Touch control

You can turn on or off the touch sensitive screen on the back of your Canon EOS R. Standard/Sensitive/Disable.

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Beep

You can either enable or disable the beep when you engage the shutter as well as when you touch the screen.

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Battery info.

Display the battery charge in the upper right corner.

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Sensor cleaning

You should set this to Auto cleaning. This will send a charge through your sensor every time you turn it off, dislodging any dust particles that might be on the sensor. You should also make a habit of regularly cleaning the señor cage with a simple air blower.

If you prefer to only periodically clean the sensor, you can use the ‘clean now’ function to immediately do this procedure.

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HDMI resolution

You can choose either Auto where the camera will decide automatically what type of device it’s connected too, 1080p or 4K.

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HDMI HDR output

HDR output to compatible TV supported with a Micro – Type-D connector. If you won’t be using this function, turn It off.

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Set Up Menu Page 4 (SET UP4)

Shooting info. Disp.

There are a few sub menus here, let’s see what they do.

Screen info. settings: these settings give 5 different screen options. The first 3 allow you to configure the data overlaid on live view and save them as 3 separate screen types. You can turn on or off the basic shooting info (the data at top and bottom of screen), the detailed shooting info (the icons running down the left and right sides), whether the data acts as a touch button or not – if not, it loses the white frame and grey background – this applies to the Q menu button, the touch shoot button, the magnify button, the shutter speed, aperture, EV compensation scale and ISO value and “buttonizes” or “debuttonizes” them all at once; the histogram; the level gauge.

The fourth screen style is just the AF targets and the exposure info when it is active, and the last screen type is the black, non-live view DSLR-style info screen.  These options are the ones you cycle through with the Info button when shooting with the camera – effectively this section allows you to customise them to taste.

Still within this submenu we haveL VF info/toggle settings (3 different EVF choices – one with basic shooting info under the screen, the other two configurable to individually add and combine as desired the vertical detailed shooting info icons, histogram, level gauge].  Like the previous item, it’s a way of customising what you get when you cycle through the styles of VF display whilst shooting when you use the Info button to do so.

Then the submenu has Grid display [Off, 3×3, 6×4, 3×3+diag], Histogram disp [Brightness/RGB, Large/Small], Reset.  That’s the end of this submenu.

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Disp. Performance

You can set this to Power-saving to conserve battery life, even though refresh rates will be a bit slower than with the Smooth setting.

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VF display format

[Display 1] shows the Live View image across the entire viewfinder screen. This allows you to fully maximize use of the EVF display, but shooting icons such as those indicating white balance settings and the Auto Lighting Optimizer will be overlaid on the sides of the viewfinder image. If you do not fancy that, you may prefer [Display 2], which features a smaller Live View image, with the shooting icons in the borders surrounding the image.
The icons displayed are customisable to some extent, and rotate accordingly when you switch to portrait orientation.

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Display settings

You can select whether to automatically switch from the back screen to the EVF if your eye is detected, or only use the back screen, or only use the EVF and turn the screen off.

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Help Text size

Choose the size of the help text that appears in the menu system.

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Set Up Menu Page 5 (SET UP5)

Wireless communication settings

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GPS Device settings

When you’re shooting while connected to a compatible smart device via Bluetooth, EOS R can collect GPS data and automatically add it to your images using the Canon Camera Connect app. It makes identifying locations easy and provides a useful editing feature for when you’re back home.

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Set Up Menu Page 6 (SET UP6)

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Multi function lock

If you find yourself regularly changing settings on the camera accidentally while moving around, then making use of the multi-function lock can avoid issues when you come to shoot in a fast-paced environment. The lock switch below the quick command dial can be used to lock the main dial, the multi-controller or the quick control dial – simply select which you would like to lock through the custom function in Group 2 Disp./Operation. When you come to change a setting, you may see L displayed in the viewfinder and on the top LCD panel. If this happens, you will be unable to change the setting because the multi-function lock is set. Simply flick the switch and the camera will return to normal.

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Custom Shooting Mode (CA-C3)

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Clear all camera settings

This is used to restore your camera settings to the factory default.

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Copyright information

Insert your own copyright information here. This will be written to every image you take.

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Manual/software URL 

A direct URL to the Canon EOS R manual. 

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Certification Logo Display

A bunch of certification logos. You officially have my permission to ignore this :).

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Firmware

You can check the firmware revision number here. 

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Custom Function Menu 

C. Fn1: Exposure Settings

Exposure level increments

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• Highest speed: You can set it from 1/8000 sec. to 15 sec.
• Lowest speed: You can set it from 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec

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Set aperture range

• Min. aperture (Max. f/): You can set it from f/91 to f/1.4.
• Max. aperture (Min. f/): You can set it from f/1.0 to f/64.

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AE lock meter. mode after focus

If you check “spot” metering for AE locked after focus, then I can lock the exposure when the shutter button is pressed halfway to focus.  Then you can recompose the image using AE (perhaps evaluative) and Auto ISO.  The new compostion will now register new AE and Auto ISO.

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C. Fn3:  Operation Settings

Dial direction during Tv/Av

Clear all Custom Func. (C.Fn)

Clears all the user custom functions saved in the Custom functions Menu and resets them to the factory defaults. 

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MY MENU1

My Menu allows you to build your own menus. You can add all your most used Menu functions to this page like Format for instance. Adding favourite functions to this menu means that you’ll be able to access them quicker than having to browse through the entire Menu system.

Conclusion

The EOS R is a fantastic mirrorless camera, and as you might have noticed there are many features hidden inside the Menu system. Even when coming from another Canon full frame camera the Canon EOS R is somewhat different because this is a mirrorless system with it’s own strengths and weaknesses. An EVF like this might take some time to get used too for instance, but the addition of features like Eye AF should make your job as a photographer easier on the other. A great way to get to know the Canon EOS R is to read this thorough menu run-through alongside your camera, set it up and do some testing of your own.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section below. Happy shooting!