Hello from Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada !! I just bought a Canon EOS 7D camera kit and case and I was wondering if there was a website or book I could look at to give me the very basics on how to operate it!! Like I’m lost , it has this program installed on it called “ Magic Lantern “ and scrolling through the interface has left me confused . There’s just so much stuff on it OMG!! Anyways any help or information would be greatly appreciated .
as a beginner you probably want it reset to factory, see what others think about that first though go on youtube and type in "beginners guide to canon 7d" and other beginner or user tutorial searches, i learnt so much from youtube, not just camera stuff all sorts
I would suggest the first thing to do is get rid of Magic Lantern (ML), it is much too complicated for a new user. ML has not been istalled in the camera, it is a program that resides on the memory card and activates when the camera boots up. So if you wish to save it for future use then put your memory card aside and use a fresh one, otherwise format the original card on a computer which will delete ML. Follow this by resetting the camera to factory defaults as previously suggested. You do really need to download the user manual to get the best results from your camera, it is widely available on the internet. You Tube can help to explain some operations but the manual explains everything.
To the point of others above, Magic lantern is advanced, and probably not ideal or someone starting out. Learn to use from factory software, ML was very popular for adding some features for advanced users, but it was not support by canon for obvious reasons, and they haven't produced new versions of it since 2018 from what i understand so the project lost its steam many years back. User manuals as mentioned are actually great as they will walk through the actual navigation of how to do different types of things. But yes, when it comes down to learning the balance of shutter vs aperture in exposure, etc and the beginner concepts of photography watching videos or listing to podcasts etc... for teaching the basics, you will learn the when and whys that the manual only covers how to do.
As my late father was fond of saying, "When all else fails, read the directions". I was fortunate that my recently acquired Canon Rebel T3i came with its original user manual. I've only had the camera about four days, but it has already been an invaluable resource. My own challenge has been translating more than a decade's worth of knowledge of Pentax DSLRs into the Canon canon (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun). One thing you might consider is to start off simply. Put the camera into the 'green' mode on the dial, and let it do all the work while you get the feel of how the camera handles, then start branching out from there. Yeah, you're essentially turning a sophisticated DSLR into a point-n-shoot, but it's an opportunity to build confidence. If you're a visual/kinesthetic learner, YouTube videos are great. Watch them with your camera in your hands and follow what they're doing to begin building some muscle memory. But above all, be patient and don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Have fun with your camera and remember, settings can't permanently mess up the camera, and when a photo doesn't come out as planned, the delete button is your friend.
