Canon 6D Gear Guide

INTRODUCTION

The Canon EOS 6D is the world's smallest and lightest full-frame DSLR. It features a 20.2 Megapixel Full-Frame CMOS sensor, a wide ISO range of 100-25600 for incredible image quality even in low light, and a DIGIC 5+ Image Processor delivers enhanced noise reduction and exceptional processing speed. A new 11-point AF including a high-precision center cross-type AF point with EV -3 sensitivity allows focusing in extreme low-light conditions, and with continuous shooting up to 4.5 fps, you are ready to capture fast action. Full HD video with manual exposure control, multiple frame rates, and the benefits of a Full-Frame sensor provides stunning performance and creative flexibility.

APS has two complete Canon 6D kits that are setup for utilizing the advanced video functions of the camera. The kits include a shoulder mount rig with follow focus and viewfinder. The kits also include f/1.5 24mm, 35mm, and 85mm cine lenses with geared aperture and focus rings. There are 2 variable Neutral Density Filters to allow for using slow shutter speeds and wider apertures in brightly lit areas. Each kit contains 2 batteries and a plug in power supply for the camera.
Canon has some great tutorial videos on the Canon website.

CARING FOR THE CANON 6D

APS has a very limited number of Canon 6D cameras. We appreciate your help in caring for this item to insure its long-term use at Evergreen.

DO NOT:
Drop this camera
Point camera toward Sun.
Submerge this camera in water
Leave this camera near a strong magnetic field!
Leave this camera in excessive heat, such as a car
Store this camera in excessive heat or cold
Use a blow dryer to blow dust from the camera
Store this camera in a location where there may be corrosive chemicals
Use excessive physical force
Please be gentle with this camera; it looks hardy, but it's delicate!

VIDEO SETTINGS

There are two VIDEO menus: MOVIE • and MOVIE ••
You get to these by turning the Live View lever down to the MOVIE icon, press MENU and click to the two movie camera icons to the right of the first four CAMERA icons.
These settings apply only to VIDEO shooting, and only appear when the 6D is in MOVIE mode. To get to the Live View menu, you do the same thing, but instead move the Live View lever up to the Live View icon, which then replaces these Movie menus with Live View menus.
These settings apply only to VIDEO shooting.

MOVIE •

Live View Shoot

This is set to ENABLE by default. Set it to DISABLE if you don't want Live View popping up if you hit the LIVE VIEW button by accident.

AF Method

This set how autofocus works, only while in Movies.

Silent LV Shoot

These are different ways to attempt to make the 6D work more quietly as you shoot. Try the different modes if you're curious.

Metering Timer

This sets how long the light meter stays on.

MOVIE ••

Grid display

This allows you to place a rectangular grid over the image on the rear LCD as a help in keeping the camera level.

Movie Rec. Size

This is where you set resolution, frame rate and compression scheme. The higher the resolution or frame rate, or if you choose ALL-I, the bigger your files.

Resolution

1920 Choose 1920 (1,920 x 1,080) for subjects of nature, landscapes, cityscapes ,wildlife. theatrical release, and theatrical productions.
1280 Choose 1,280 (1,280 x 720) for sports video. It has smoother motion and is better if you want to convert it to slow motion later. Contrary to what Japanese makers pitch for selling TVs, 1,280/60 has the same resolution, and uses the same amount of data as 1,920/30. This is because 1,280/60 has higher temporal (time or motion resolution), while 1,920/30 has higher spatial (left-right/up-down) resolution instead. 1,280 is better for sports, and 1,920 is better for drama — each has the same total resolution.

Frame Rates

24 Choose the [24] options for theatrical release. They are really 23.976 fps. Also choose them for movies that look like movies instead of just video. Another advantage of 23.976 is that it's easy to down-convert it later to NTSC and to PAL, from the same file.
30 and 60 Choose [30] or [60] for NTSC-based (American, Japan, Korea, etc.) TV release. It's really 29.97 progressive or 59.94 interlaced fps.
50 Choose 50 for PAL-based (Europe, China, Australia, Russia etc.) TV release.

Compression Scheme

IPB Choose IPB for normal use. The video looks the same as ALL-I below, and take up much less space. IPB video files take much less space because the video is stored taking advantage of the fact that most frames have a lot of repetition from one frame to the next. IPB is far more efficient than ALL-I because it takes advantage of often storing only the changes from one frame to the next, not needing to save all the data of every frame if parts of it were the same as the frame before. Since movies have frames that are pretty much the same from one instant to the next, IPB is a very efficient way of storing video that looks great.
ALL-I Choose ALL-I only when you have huge data storage resources and need excruciating precision in frame-by frame editing for theatrical release. ALL-I is intended for the editing needs of professional tele-production and motion picture production, not for consumer use. ALL-I stores each and every frame individually and in its entirety, even if most of it was the same as the frame before. ALL-I takes no advantage of the fact that most frames are very similar to the frames that came before them. Stored as ALL-I, your file has to save all of every frame, even when the background and 90% of each frame is exactly the same as the frame before it. The only real technical reason for ALL-I is that each frame is separate, so if you need to cut out and use just three frames, that all three frames are available to cut-out and use separately, while in IPB recording, most recorded frames depend to some extent on the frames before and after them to define themselves. Even shot IPB, there are still a few I (individual) frames recorded every second, and editing software recreates the entire video stream from the I, P and B frames before you start to edit.

Sound Recording

This is the recording level control. Leave it at AUTO, or you may set it manually. Here you also may select a low-cut (wind) filter, and an attenuator. The low-cut (wind) filter only applies with the built-in microphone.

Time Code

This lets you professionals set-up time code to your preferences. You even can set drop frame or NDF.

Video Snapshot

This is a corny feature to create a series of video clips of a few seconds each. Ignore it.

Wrench Settings

There are four Wrench menus: WRENCH•, WRENCH••, WRENCH•••, and WRENCH••••.
To set them, press MENU and click left or right to the four orange wrench icons towards the top right of the screen.

WRENCH •

Select folder

Select Folder is where you select the folder to and from which we'd like to record and play. This menu is also where we can create new folders. New folders might be useful if you shoot two different things on the same card, and want to have them neatly sorted while they're still on the card.

File numbering

This lets you keep your files numbered properly. By default ("Continuous"), the 6D keeps counting up. Auto Reset means that the 6D will start back at IMG_0001.jpg each time it gets a clean card on which to shoot. This is potentially a bad idea, since your computer will quickly fill with many files all named IMG_0012.jpg. Manual Reset forces the counter back to IMG_0001.jpg for the next shot.

Auto rotate

This sets whether or not the 6D flags your vertical shots, and whether or not the camera will rotate them when it plays them back. The 6D never actually rotates anything, it merely sets flags which are usually, but not always, recognized by most software when the images are displayed.

Format card

This lets us format the memory card so we have the lowest possibility of losing images. Always format the card every time it is put it in the camera. Formatting ensures that any potential data corruption is repaired. You can shoot a long time without formatting and never get any errors, but if your files are important to you, regular formatting reduces the risks even further. Formatting also erases all your images on the card, so don't do this until your photos are somewhere else, and backed up in a second location as well. When the card is formatted, it's simply cleared. The old photos aren't actually erased, but the card is programmed to ignore them and record over them cleanly. If for some paranoid reason you want everything wiped off the card, the low-level format option actually does this. If you select this option, the 6D actually writes-over every bit so there is nothing left, period — but it takes a much longer time to do this.

WRENCH ••

Auto Power Off

This sets how long the camera stays on before shutting itself off automatically.

LCD brightness

This sets the LCD brightness. If shooting outdoors in the dark at night, it may help to turn it down below 4, otherwise the LCD is so relatively bright that it tends to make underexposed images look correctly exposed, leading us to make images that are too dark outside at night.

LCD ON/OFF BTN

This sets not the when the LCD, but more specifically when the Shooting Info display turns off.

Quick Control Panel

Set to its default of Remain on, it stays on even with the shutter pressed; set it to Shutter btn. and it turns off as we're ready to take the picture.

Date/Time/Zone

This sets the clock.

Language

This sets your language. If it sets to a language you can't understand, the only way to navigate back to this option and identify it is that it also has a cartoon icon of a man talking. Once set other than English, it won't say "Language."

GPS

This sets which GPS does what. This is where we turn on the internal GPS, or set the 6D to talk to an external GPS. If we activate the internal GPS, we then are offered its set-up options. Look out, if the internal GPS is ON, batteries can run down faster even left idle.

Position Update Timing

This is how often it takes a fix. Set it to a shorter time and it updates more often, but also runs down your battery faster.

WRENCH •••

Video system

This sets the analog video output to NTSC (Never The Same Color) or PAL (Problems Are Lurking). It should be set according to your country and not need adjustment. Use NTSC in the USA and Japan, and PAL in Europe.

Feature Guide

This sets little tips to appear.

INFO Button Display Options

This sets what screens come up as you press the INFO button.

Wi-Fi

This activates the Wi-Fi connection. It's OFF by default. When ON, you cannot shoot movies or connect via USB.

Wi-Fi function

This menu item is only available if Wi-Fi (above) is set to ON. This is where we set what we want the Wi-Fi to do. Play with this one to see what the various options do.

WRENCH ••••

Sensor cleaning

This sets when the sensor cleans itself. It also lets us make the sensor clean itself now.

Battery info

This reads your battery charge to its exact percentage, tells you your battery's health with three green dots (or not), and how many shots this battery has made on this charge so far. If you know algebra, it's easy to predict how many shots are left on this charge and how many total shots you might get on the charge.

Certification logo display

This shows some more of the organizations to which Canon has certified that the 6D meets their standards for whatever they're testing.

Custom Shooting Mode

This is where you set the C1 and C2 positions of the top mode dial.

Clear all camera settings

This is where to reset everything back to their factory settings.

Copyright information

Here is where we program our 6D to record all our personal and copyright information into the EXIF data of every file. Follow the menus; it's easier to do than it is to explain.

Firmware version

This lets us check our current firmware version, and here is where we update it if needed.