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Greetings,

In my current situation of low-light church photography as a member of a church's media team/department equipped with a T3i (a little under 800 ISO for low-light performance), I've come into a situation where being able to fine-tune the automatic settings for shutter speed, aperture, and ISO would definitely come in handy.

For instance, I would set that for shutter speed a value no greater than 1/100 but no maximum; for aperture a minimum of f/4 but a maximum of f/11, favoring f/11 if possible; for ISO, I know I can set a limit on the camera through the Menu but it lacks "intelligence" -- minimum of 100, maximum of 800, and permit 1600 only in the scenario that the shutter speed would normally be less than 1/40 (because I can handle some underexposed photos at 800 ISO due to my T3i's low-light performance being 793 ISO, but in very desperate situations can compromise for 1600 ISO but cannot compromise for a minimum of 1/100 shutter speed and refuse to go down to an f/2.8 aperture on my 70-200mm f/2.8L II), and on top of this that if the shutter speed would be 1/2 or greater to have full range **including boostable 12800 / H ISO** (this in itself may be an entirely different feature request) -- I may be trying to get some crowd shots where there is minimal or very very low lighting, requiring me to use 3200, 6400, and sometimes even 12800 (but I have to manually set it to H to use 12800; Auto will never select it).

Is a feature by this nature even possible? If so, it would be incredibly useful. What I have to do now is frequently switch between Av and M, and in many scenarios even doing this isn't enough and I have to adjust shutter speed, ISO, and aperture on the fly in [M]anual to try get a shot. Automating these 'intelligently' through rules I specify could allow me to skip any adjustment altogether for particular scenes or conference sessions; of course, moving into an entirely different environment such as going outside when it is sunny vs having just been inside a church auditorium that can push my T3i to its limits. I hope I'm not the only one that would benefit from this, and hope that this is something possible and could gain traction as a request.

Shutter Speed:
* Minimum = fastest
* Maximum = 1/100

Aperture:
* Minimum = f/4.0
* Preferred = f/5.6
* Maximum = f/11.0

ISO:
* Minimum = lowest
* Maximum = 800
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1/40 = 1600
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1/20 = 6400 (not to be confused with 'highest' which IMO = 12800, H, or boostable ISO)
* Exception (previous rule obsolete): Maximum if Shutter Speed >1" = highest (aka boosted 12800, H)

Donno, maybe there could be something for EV as well, and a points-based system thing somehow for encouragement to lean more toward f/11.0 rather than f/4.0. I'm out of ideas. I find myself adjusting aperture and ISO a lot, ... but then ... hmm, maybe my idea is stupid

It's too dark, so for the first shot it hits up against 30 seconds and won't switch to BULB mode. However, if it is light enough and it can get a correct exposure 30 seconds or less (including if it hits up against 30 seconds and wants more), it will automatically switch to BULB mode for the shots taken past the first shot.

Just something I've noticed with 2.3, not sure if it is a bug or what. Can someone else try to repeat this?? I am using Av mode on my Canon t3i.

It would be handy and cool to have a feature where you can have ML apply a +/- step offset to the autofocus after the camera has finished its autofocus on a half-press.

I have a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Here is an example of doing autofocus while at 70mm: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/joyunbound/7892052264/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Here is another example where I zoomed in to 200mm, halfpress for autofocus, wait for autofocus to finish, zoom back out to 70mm, and full press from half press: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/joyunbound/7892047846/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Notice how much sharper the second one is because I zoomed in to the max to attain an autofocus value and then zoomed out. I think this is simply because of optics, but I could be wrong. At least for guys like me who have a low-end Canon t3i DSLR, it would be cool to figure out what +/- stepping works best so that I don't have to zoom in --> autofocus --> zoom out --> take shot.

I imagine the flow would work like this: camera attempts to autofocus by itself, and once it attains and establishes itself on a particular focus stepping ML jumps in and adjusts it +/- number of steps (something set by me in ML menus).

EDIT: This could also be handy in some situations where you're behind a transparent curtain and may either be video recording or using AI Servo to constantly autofocus. If you know the distance of your subject beyond the curtain or blocking object, you could have ML jump your focus away from you (applied post-autofocus). This way if you're moving slightly forward or backward from behind said partial obstruction, it would for the most part keep the focus at the particular distance you want it to be focused at. Donno, just a crazy idea.

Greetings,

I have a Canon t3i. By itself, it takes 1x 1200mAh Canon battery. With a battery expansion pack, it takes 2x 1200mAh EP8 batteries. With battery expansion pack using AA battery cartridge, it can take 6x AA batteries. I have 8x 2400mAh Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable NiMH batteries, and 4x 2600mAh LaCrosse rechargeable NiMH batteries. So, 2400mAh (2x1200 EP8) vs 14,400 mAh (6x2400 AA) vs 15,200 mAh (4x2600+2x2400 AA).

Unfortunately, when I use AA's instead of EP8s, my t3i will give a message "Change the battery pack" when I turn on the camera. I can't get passed this message and I know of no way to bypass it. It appears that it will read the memory card (lots of blinking after I insert memory card with ML2.3). Is there a way or is it possible to bypass this via ML or something? It would certainly beat the EP8 batteries. It's pretty sad that batteries smaller than the EP8s can outdo in capacity and performance. I haven't been able to find an EP8 that is anywhere near the competency in both capacity and size (or density to put it short).

Thanks!