1D X Tips and Tricks

[neuroanatomist]

Starting a thread dedicated to tips/tricks/settings that are only possible on the 1D X.

I'll start...

The 1-series cameras can save the current camera settings to a card, up to 10 sets, and load them on demand. The 1D X is the first 1-series body to feature Camera User Settings (C#). The combination makes for a powerful way to manage groups of settings, since the three C# settings are saved and loaded along with other settings.


For example, I have an Outdoors set, where C1 is for landscapes on a tripod with MLU, etc., C2 for static birds/wildlife, and C3 for BIF. I've got a People set, C1 for tripod shots with me in them (10 s timer), C2 for static shooting (min 1/125 s, manual AF point selection), C3 for moving kids (1/250 s min shutter, 61-pt AI Servo). I also have sets for Sports, a set with settings most useful for shooting birds with a supertele lens (higher minimum shutter speed, etc), and another set for manual AFMA with the FoCal settings.


I store them all on a few old, smaller CF cards carried in the pocket of my Blackrapid RS-4 strap and commonly used camera bags, with a backup of the settings files (.CSD) on my computer.

To make it easy/fast to switch between C# modes, I assigned mode switching to the M.Fn button next to the shutter release. Pressing that cycles through the C# modes (in order) and the last-selected non-C mode. I also use the ability to restrict the available modes - for example, in the Outdoors and People sets, I have the C1 setting disabled, since those shots are on a tripod, meaning I have the luxury of time. So, I can be on C2 and if action starts, I'm one press of the M.Fn button away from the C3 action settings (and two presses back to C2).

I find this setup really facilitates having the camera settings where I need them, when I need them.

[ahab1372]

interesting topic, even without owning a 1D X.
You said "only possible on the 1D X". Would it make sense to include useful features that are also available on the 5D III? That would increase the audience who can benefit from this thread. Or is the number of shared features to small?

[HDNitehawk]

interesting topic, even without owning a 1D X.
You said "only possible on the 1D X". Would it make sense to include useful features that are also available on the 5D III? That would increase the audience who can benefit from this thread. Or is the number of shared features to small?

It probably would make sense, except this thread is under the topic 1-Series Cameras in the forum.
I guess the 5D series bodies do not rate their own separate tab on the forum and it would have to be under Canon Digital SLR Cameras.
I think such a thread should get a sticky and if the moderators would delete any fluff or trolling and just leave the tips it would be very useful.

[Jonathan Huyer]

What excellent advice --- thanks John! I know that I don't come anywhere close to taking advantage of all the features on the 1DX. But this is one that I will definitely implement.

[apersson850]

I also recommend you to take a look at the various abilities to change more or less of the camera's setup by pressing/holding a button. There are some useful capabilities there, and more will come with the announced firmware update, once it becomes available in January.

[Vern]

Thanks Neuro - I use the camera custom settings (C1, C2, C3) while shooting volleyball to switch action and portrait type shot settings quickly but had not realized the potential you just revealed. I will definitely try this out - I especially like the M.Fn button to switch modes. The one thing I like less about the 1Dx than the 5DMKIII (in addition to the super loud shutter, OK 2 things...), is the lack of the dial to switch modes b/c the dial is faster.

[conropl]

The one thing I like less about the 1Dx than the 5DMKIII (in addition to the super loud shutter, OK 2 things...), is the lack of the dial to switch modes b/c the dial is faster.

+1... but probably better weather sealing without the dial.

[neuroanatomist]

The one thing I like less about the 1Dx than the 5DMKIII (in addition to the super loud shutter, OK 2 things...), is the lack of the dial to switch modes b/c the dial is faster.

OTOH, the 1D X displays the currently selected shooting mode in the viewfinder (unlike the 5DIII), so you can change modes without taking your eye away from the VF or shifting your grip on the camera.

[Jeff Lucia]

Starting a thread dedicated to tips/tricks/settings that are only possible on the 1D X.


I store them all on a few old, smaller CF cards carried in the pocket of my Blackrapid RS-4 strap and commonly used camera bags
To make it easy/fast to switch between C# modes, I assigned mode switching to the M.Fn button next to the shutter release. Pressing that cycles through the C# modes (in order) and the last-selected non-C mode.

These are both really good ideas.

[Colin500]

OTOH, the 1D X displays the currently selected shooting mode in the viewfinder (unlike the 5DIII), so you can change modes without taking your eye away from the VF or shifting your grip on the camera.
What I don't like about either is that I can't directly and simply change a C# mode from M to Av...

[apersson850]

The one thing I like less about the 1Dx than the 5DMKIII (in addition to the super loud shutter, OK 2 things...), is the lack of the dial to switch modes b/c the dial is faster.The capbilities of the 1DX prohibits using a dial. Since you can reload a configuration from the memory card, it must be possible to change the mode without physically rotating a dial.

[neuroanatomist]

The capbilities of the 1DX prohibits using a dial. Since you can reload a configuration from the memory card, it must be possible to change the mode without physically rotating a dial.

Well… it should be possible. But unfortunately it's not, because Canon didn't write that capabilty into the firmware.

[neuroanatomist]

The capbilities of the 1DX prohibits using a dial. Since you can reload a configuration from the memory card, it must be possible to change the mode without physically rotating a dial.

Well… it should be possible. But unfortunately it's not, because Canon didn't write that capabilty into the firmware.

[apersson850]

Oh yes you can. Recall a previously save configuration from a setup file on the card, and you end up in whatever mode you were when you saved the file. Regardless of where you were when you ordered the recall.

[neuroanatomist]

Oh yes you can. Recall a previously save configuration from a setup file on the card, and you end up in whatever mode you were when you saved the file. Regardless of where you were when you ordered the recall.

I think we're talking about different things, likely because I was reading more into the posts than was there.

I was referring to the fact that it is not possible to change the mode associated with a C# setting (e.g., change C2 from Av to M) leaving all the other settings intact. Instead, you have to start from the new mode, recreate all the settings, then overwrite the previous C# setting.

[apersson850]

No, it isn't. That's a legacy thing. When the first camera with custom modes was introduced (the 40D in 2007), there was no quick control screen. Thus there was no other way to select an exposure mode than by turning the mode dial. Since the custom modes also were located on the same dial, it was for physical reasons impossible to select a mode from inside a custom location, since you had to leave that custom location to access the mode you wanted.
Now, when we also have the custom control screen, accessible via the Q button, it would be technically possible to use that screen to change the mode as well. At least when inside a custom memory location. All current cameras except the 1DX prohibits this when outside a custom mode, since then you again have to physically rotate a dial to select the mode. I can understand that Canon for the sake of consistency have kept the same limitation also inside a custom mode. Doing the opposite would probably have rendered even more calls to the support lines.
Now the 1DX doesn't have any mode dial, and does already today allow you to change mode without even using the MODE button, as it's possible to reload a saved configuration from a file on the card. But, again probably for consisteny (I don't know - I work with product development, but not at Canon), you can still not change the mode via the quick control screen, and thus it's not possible inside a custom memory location either, since they are all selected through the MODE button and then rotating the main dial.
Recently, Canon has shown that the fact that other manufacturers are chewing on their market shares have introduced a more relaxed attitude towards moving outside their traditional bounds of design, so maybe they could give up this constraint on popular request as well. But it will then probably be for the 1DX only. It's technically possible to allow it on the Cx settings only, but I doubt they'll do that on a camera where it will be impossible on all other mode settings, due to the constraints imposed by the physical mode dial.

[Colin500]

Thing is, it's about time to leave behind these legacy restrictions and use today's possibilities for user interface design and customisation. I was also negatively surprised by this not being possible on the 1DX. And I don't understand why I can't freely configure ANY function to ANY button, with some macro/script-capabilities added on top! Imagine if all the functions of the camera where available inside a Lua interpreter, and you could assign any Lua-script to any button! If they gave me the source I'd hack that together in no time :-) At least if the original firmware is in C...

[neuroanatomist]

I wouldn't say that loading a saved configuration from a card is 'changing the mode'. Yes, the saved mode is loaded, along with all the other settings. That's been possible on several previous 1-series bodies.

There are many features that Canon *could* implement. This is one that, while nice to have, I haven't heard a real clamor for it. Contrast that with EC in M mode with Auto ISO, which has been a popular request for years, and which Canon finally delivered with the 1D X v2 firmware.

[Colin500]

There's a somewhat related feature that doesn't seem to be included yet, exposure lock in M mode. That should be pretty easy to add, too, in particular since the AE button doesn't have any other job in M mode.

(To make it clear what this is about, some cameras (but not from Canon) do the following in M mode: when you press AE-lock it acts as exposure lock, so when you then change the aperture the camera automatically changes the exposure time to compensate (and keep the same exposure), and vice versa when you change the exposure time.)

[Joel Eade]

I shoot manual almost all the time and I tend to adjust shutter speed and/or f-stop as a means of exposure compensation. The wheels are placed so that you can use your right thumb and index finger to adjust on-the-fly very quickly. I tend not to use auto ISO because I am frequently adding or subtracting 1 or more stops from the meter reading based on what I am shooting. With birds it is frequently adding 1-2 stops of light by adjusting shutter speed or f-stop or both. If I find the shutter speed is too slow then I increase the ISO (which also can be done with index finger and thumb while still looking through the viewfinder).

Since I have become used to fully manual and can adjust things quickly as it is now I don't know if I would use AE lock in manual mode. It seems like it would be a combination of both shutter and aperture priority modes, or a fully automatic mode once you set the exposure.

[Colin500]

Since I have become used to fully manual and can adjust things quickly as it is now I don't know if I would use AE lock in manual mode. It seems like it would be a combination of both shutter and aperture priority modes, or a fully automatic mode once you set the exposure.
"A combination of both shutter and aperture priority modes"?

I'm not quite sure whether you are just giving this feature a different formulation, or whether I didn't explain the feature well enough for it to be fully understood.

It's just a shortcut that, for every click of one wheel in one direction, automatically does a click of the other wheel in the other direction, so that you keep the same exposure...

[Joel Eade]

I think I get it.....the exposure stays constant or "locked"

When you change shutter speed the f-stop automatically changes (like Tv mode) and when you change f-stop the shutter speed automatically changes (like Av mode).

Is this correct?

[neuroanatomist]

It's just a shortcut that, for every click of one wheel in one direction, automatically does a click of the other wheel in the other direction, so that you keep the same exposure...

That sounds an awful lot like...P Mode. In P mode, rotating the main dial reciprocally adjusts shutter speed and aperture.

You could assign mode change to M.Fn, and restrict modes to just M and P, and that would get you there (as a 'bonus' you get EC with the quick dial in P).

[Joel Eade]

That is why I also described it as a fully automatic mode once the exposure is "locked"

[Colin500]

That sounds an awful lot like...P Mode. In P mode, rotating the main dial reciprocally adjusts shutter speed and aperture.

It does? Seems that I haven't used P-Mode in a while :-)


You could assign mode change to M.Fn, and restrict modes to just M and P, and that would get you there (as a 'bonus' you get EC with the quick dial in P).
I would still want the initial exposure to be selected manually, however when I switch from M to P the current exposure settings aren't copied, I'm back in automatic exposure land!

[peety3]

I would still want the initial exposure to be selected manually, however when I switch from M to P the current exposure settings aren't copied, I'm back in automatic exposure land!
Frankly, it's just too complicated for me. I think you need to decide if you want manual exposure or not. If you do, IT'S MANUAL. If not, IT'S (possibly SEMI-)AUTOMATIC. Of course AE is useless in M...unless you turn a wheel, the exposure is already locked.

How are you arriving at this initial manual exposure that you want to lock? Are you making a rough guess, then taking a shot, and reviewing it on the screen w/ histogram? Are you relying on the camera's meter and watching the triangle in the viewfinder? Honestly you might want to try P with exposure compensation, then spin the little wheel to adjust your aperture/shutter pair.

[neuroanatomist]

Honestly you might want to try P with exposure compensation, then spin the little wheel to adjust your aperture/shutter pair.

Good point, especially coupled with the 1-series capability to specify ranges (min/max) for shutter speed and aperture.

[Colin500]

How are you arriving at this initial manual exposure that you want to lock? Are you making a rough guess, then taking a shot, and reviewing it on the screen w/ histogram?
What I'm suggesting is not an automatic or semi-automatic exposure. I'm running around somewhere, shooting in M as usual. At some point I want to change the depth-of-field but the exposure I chose earlier and was shooting at was already correct. So when I change the aperture to change the dof I need to compensate by changing the exposure time. So I for every click of one wheel I need to click the other wheel, too. The EV-Lock, while engaged, would automatically perform this compensating change to the second wheel. No automatic exposure, it's still all M, it sounds like you are reading too much into this feature.

[Joel Eade]

Makes sense to me.....you can lock the exposure yet still make a quick change of shutter speed or aperture to suit the current image being taken and the camera makes a reciprocal change to shutter speed or aperture to keep the exposure constant. Basically allows changing parameters with one of the wheels instead of two while staying in M mode and keeping the chosen exposure constant.

[Colin500]

Makes sense to me.....you can lock the exposure yet still make a quick change of shutter speed or aperture to suit the current image being taken and the camera makes a reciprocal change to shutter speed or aperture to keep the exposure constant. Basically allows changing parameters with one of the wheels instead of two while staying in M mode and keeping the chosen exposure constant.
Exactly! (One wheel would be aperture/exposure time balance, and the other one could be a choice of anything else that you can put on a wheel.) Plus this is a really simple thing to implement.

[peety3]

What I'm suggesting is not an automatic or semi-automatic exposure. I'm running around somewhere, shooting in M as usual. At some point I want to change the depth-of-field but the exposure I chose earlier and was shooting at was already correct. So when I change the aperture to change the dof I need to compensate by changing the exposure time. So I for every click of one wheel I need to click the other wheel, too. The EV-Lock, while engaged, would automatically perform this compensating change to the second wheel. No automatic exposure, it's still all M, it sounds like you are reading too much into this feature.
For the record, no, I'm not reading too much into this. I get it completely. I just don't understand the logic behind "give me full control of the camera, using the knobs at my disposal, across the three dimensions of the exposure triangle. Great, thanks. Now stop and give me a macro so I can turn one knob and not have to turn another knob, because I'm too lazy to do so myself after turning them just a moment ago." Further, I think it's a short-sighted assumption to think that the 327 1Dx customers who might want this would want the macro to only pair up aperture & shutter - some are going to want aperture & ISO as the mated pairing, and others are going to want shutter & ISO as the mated pairing. Now it's not so simple...

[Colin500]

Now it's not so simple...
You are right. Of course what I really want is the camera to implement a scripting language. Expose all features as functions in that scripting language. Let me assign a custom script to all buttons. Then I can do some true 21st-century-style customisation. The technology is available and, as I have had the opportunity to experience in a reasonably similar context, easy to implement. The customisation we are getting now is still very old-school and is not using the possibilities we have today to really go beyond the customisation paradigm of 20 years ago. It's quite sad in a multi-thousand-dollar device when many other areas with unit costs down to at least double-digit prices have already transitioned to expose the general-purpose processing capabilities that they have for customisation. It's a logical step. Once you implement too many individual things it's better to jump to the next level and implement one thing at a higher level of abstraction. No more need to explicitly limit which functions can be mapped to which buttons etc...

[Colin500]

And just think of the possibilities! Automatic in-camera AFMA? Somebody will write a script for that! Want to do an automatic sunrise picture sequence? Write a script that starts shooting when the light arrives! Want the two wheels to do aperture and ISO instead of exposure time and aperture? Just change the function that's called for the wheels! All buttons would be mappable to any script. You'd be really free to let your camera do whatever you want. If you don't have the programming experience, odds are, somebody else with the same requirements will, or you can find and pay somebody to do whatever you need. The internet would be full of scripts, and here on TDP there'd be a well-chosen selection of them :-)

[Joel Eade]

I attempted to download the new guide for 1DX autofocus. It opens fine but doesn't seem to actually download to my phone. Any ideas?

[neuroanatomist]

I attempted to download the new guide for 1DX autofocus. It opens fine but doesn't seem to actually download to my phone. Any ideas?

What phone?

It's a .pdf file, when accessing it on my iPhone I can tap to open it in iBooks, or download it on my Mac and sync it to the phone via iTunes.

Nice format, and the navigation is very good.

[Joel Eade]

It's an iPhone 5

[neuroanatomist]

It's an iPhone 5

Weird. Once the file opened in Safari, I tapped on it and got the prompt to 'Open in iBooks...' which saves it to the PDF section.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

you have to wait for it to load, took a while for it to load on my iPhone 5 on AT&T LTE, if you still have problem give me your email and I'll send it to you.

[apersson850]

Basically allows changing parameters with one of the wheels instead of two while staying in M mode and keeping the chosen exposure constant.Which is exactly what happens already, if you use P mode with locked exposure. So the functionality is almost there already in the camera, just not combined with a completely manual mode.

[Busted Knuckles]

Not sure this is a tip or trick, but....

How often should we expect to clean the sensor. 3,500 or so frames and several spots have appeared. Didn't seem to have this issue w/ my 5dIII. It took a long time to get spots on the sensor.

Thoughts?

[neuroanatomist]

Not sure this is a tip or trick, but....

How often should we expect to clean the sensor. 3,500 or so frames and several spots have appeared. Didn't seem to have this issue w/ my 5dIII. It took a long time to get spots on the sensor.

Thoughts?

I clean my sensor fairly often. My APS-C cameras only very rarely get dust, but my 1D X attracts it like a Swiffer. Rocket Blower, Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly and a Sensor Loupe are all I've needed (I have Sensor Stamps just in case).

[Jonathan Huyer]

I clean my sensor fairly often. My APS-C cameras only very rarely get dust, but my 1D X attracts it like a Swiffer. Rocket Blower, Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly and a Sensor Loupe are all I've needed (I have Sensor Stamps just in case).

My 1DXII has been very good so far at avoiding dust. Mind you, most of the time I use it for wildlife photography and I'm shooting with a wide open aperture, which makes all but the worst dust spots unnoticeable. I agree with Neuro's protocol for cleaning, in the exact order that he lists. The sensor stamps work very well, but I'd try all the other methods first.