Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 7. Special Features of dSLRs

In This Chapter

• Reducing noise

• Canceling camera shake

• Understanding time-lapse photography

• Shooting infrared photos

• Taking care of dust

Everyone loves watching movies on DVD more than on videotape, premium cable, or maybe even in a theater. Why? Because of those special features! It's a kick to press a button and hear the director's commentary, watch hilarious outtakes, or listen to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson banter in French or Japanese. Okay, maybe a minority like the image quality that DVD provides, but for me, special features are the attraction.

The special features built into your digital SLR are even cooler. These functions come built into some dSLRs, but not all. They let you do some very interesting things, such as take pictures in virtual darkness or shoot the unfolding of flowers through time-lapse photography.

This chapter describes what you can do with some of these special features. No movie stars are chattering in a foreign language among these options, but if you have your heart set on gibberish, your dSLR probably has a setting for switching your menus to any language you like. While you're looking for that setting, I'll explore some of the more useful features of digital cameras.

Feel the Noize at Night

All digital SLRs can take fine pictures at night, but some do a better job than others, thanks to special features built into them to ...