digital still cameras

Settings that might vary from one picture to the next are made with the various dials and buttons on the camera body. Other settings specific to general camera operations, such as resolution and compression of the photos, are changed through the camera's menu, which is displayed on the LCD screen.

On Canon cameras, access the menu by pressing the button labeled MENU. The menu will be displayed in the LCD screen. On the Rebel, the Menu button is at the top left of the camera back. _

The layout of the menu is somewhat different for every camera, but they generally cover the same thing. Here we cover the menus for the PowerShot G2 and the Rebel.

Rebel Menu

The Rebel has a total of five menus: Two shooting menus, one playback menu, and two setup menus. Menus can be navigated either with the Main Dial (the plastic wheel/knob at the top right of the camera or with the arrow keys. Major sections of the menu can also be navigated with the Jump button. Pressing the middle SET button activates the current menu choice (you should generally think of the SET button like an OK button as you work with the camera).

The Shooting menus let you set things like image resolution, whether the camera should beep for confirmation when you do certain things, ISO speed, set "bracketing modes," and adjust the white balance. The Playback menu lets you "lock" images, rotate them, and run a slideshow on the LCD. The Setup menus let you do things like set LCD brightness, set the timestamp, or format a CF card.

You can press the Info button on the back of the Rebel at any time to see a listing of all current camera settings. This makes it easy to see at a glance all of the menu options currently set or selected.

PowerShot G2 Menu

If you selected the G2's menu while in picture taking mode, you'll have a list of Rec Menu items (in red), which generally are settings for taking pictures.

If you selected the menu while in playback mode, you'll have a list of Play Menu items (in blue), which are settings for displaying pictures you've already taken.

In both cases, you'll see another menu list of Set up Menu items (in yellow), which generally are settings for the camera's display screen.

To navigate in the menus use the Omni Selector button with four arrows that's on the back top right of the camera.

Press the up or down arrows on the Omni Selector to move up or down within a menu.

Press on the right or left arrows on the Omni Selector to make selections within a menu item, or to move between the two possible general menus (Rec and Set Up or Play and Set Up).

In some menu items you may be asked to confirm an action (such as reformatting the flash card, which will prompt you to OK the action). In that case, used the left and right Omni Selector buttons and press the SET button on the back of the camera just to the left of the menu button to confirm the action. The SET button is the equivalent of saying "OK."

To leave the menu, simply press the Menu button again.

Note: On the Canon PowerShot G5 and Pro1, you can reset all the Menu options to the default factory settings by pressing the Menu button and holding it in for five seconds. Then use the Omni Selector left and right buttons to select OK, and press the SET button. On the Rebel, select "Clear Settings" from the second Setup menu.

This will restore the camera to the settings we recommend, with the exception of the Resolution setting, which you'll need to change to one of the middle settings using the Func button.