Canon 30D - Manual (Page 21)

Page 21 of 35 © Ken Rockwell 2006
12: Mirror Lockup. This is to prevent vibration and blur for exposures on a
tripod. Neither Canon nor Nikon do this correctly. They all did it correctly in the
1960s - 1980s, which is to have the mirror flip up as soon as the self-timer
starts.
0: Disable. Normal shooting.
1. Enable: Mirror flips up on first press of the shutter button, and picture
is taken either when the shutter is pressed again, or the self-timer
completes (if you've set the self timer.)
This is a pain. For normal use (if you haven't paid the big bucks for the special
Canon remote release cord) you have to set this way down in the menus, and
then also set the self timer. Now all works fine: press the shutter, the mirror
flips up, and 2 seconds later the shutter releases. All is fine until you're done:
you have to go back into BOTH these settings and return them to normal.
I would suggest Canon do the right thing and make the mirror flip up by
default at the beginning of the self-timer interval, without any menus needed.
13: AF Selection Mode.
0: Normal. The unmarked rear button selects them after you hit [+].
1: Direct. The unmarked rear button selects them without having to hit
[+]. I prefer this; it's faster. The 30D ignores the unmarked rear button
when it's asleep and around your neck anyway.
2: Quick Control Dial Direct (Big Dial). The Big Dial selects them
directly without needing to hit [+]. Of course this is what you used to do
to set exposure compensation, so now Canon says you have to hold
[+] and spin the Big Dial to set exposure compensation. Mine doesn't
do this - it ignores the [+] button and keeps changing AF points with the
big dial. In this mode the unmarked rear button is ignored during
shooting. Of course the 30D ignores the Big Dial for this unless you
have the power switch set to "/."
14: E-TTL-II (Flash Metering) allows you to screw up the flash exposure.
0: Evaluative gives correct flash exposure, and balances it with daylight
to fill in shadows. Lovely! Leave it here.
1: Average fires the flash with enough power to expose everything by
it's light alone. It won't look good as fill. Don't do this.