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The Canon EOS 4000D | Rebel T100 review

The Canon EOS 4000D is the entry point camera for canons DSLR camera range, and they have made it as cheap and as small and as light as they possibly can. That does mean that they have cut a few corners, but they are largely cosmetic, and aren’t really that important. The main workings of the camera are very good and they produce really good video and stills.

The Canon EOS 4000D produces an 18 megapixel image.18 megapixels is a reasonable size, slightly smaller than the next camera up from this, which is the 2000D and produces a 24 megapixel file.

This means the Rebel T100 can produce a 50 megabyte file, which is big enough for pretty much any type of usage. You can use that certainly on websites on your social media, and you can certainly print them in magazines and newspapers.

The sensor, which produces the 18 megapixel file, also produces really good video. It produces Full HD, which is 1080p, and it will produce standard HD, which is 720p. In both cases, the video is very smooth and the color reproduction is very good.

The is a crop frame or APS-C camera. This does have some affect on the images it produces, but it really doesn’t make much difference. And with the file sizes that you have these days, it makes even less difference. There is one advantage that we have with Canon crop frame cameras, which is that you can use the crop frame lenses and full frame lenses on this camera.

The brain of the Rebel T100 is the DIGIC4+ processor. It’s not the most recent processor, but it is a really good reliable workhorse. And it can produce very clean and very crisp images with excellent color reproduction. And it also does a very good video too.

The camera has two autofocus systems, one that runs through the viewfinder, and one that runs through the LCD screen at the back. The one for the viewfinder is very quick and very accurate. And the one that runs through the LCD screen is a bit slower, but also is quite accurate. Both autofocus systems operate with a nine point autofocus system, which means that it has nine autofocus points across the screen in a diamond shape. Now this is useful if you want to decide which part of the image you want to be sharp because you can move the autofocus point from the middle to one of the edge focus points and decide that that point is going to be sharp in the picture. Or if you’re going to be shooting something that moves around in the picture and moves from focus point to focus point, because it allows the camera to keep that subject in focus. The LCD screen on the back is not terribly large – the camera is quite small –  and it’s not terribly high resolution. So whilst you can certainly use it to check your composition, and check your color range, I wouldn’t really recommend that you edit your pictures on this back screen.

The ISO range on the Canon 4000D goes from 100 up to 6400 and then can be extended to 12,800. Now that’s a pretty good range. There is some degradation as you go up through the ISOs. But I would say that you don’t really notice that until about 3200 and the quality up to that point is really very good.

As mentioned,this camera will shoot three frames per second. And in terms of shutter speed, it will go from one 4,000th of a second write down to 30 seconds. That really covers more or less the whole range. Beyond the 30 second range, it will allow you to shoot bulb.

Despite the the Canon 4000D being the cheapest DSLR camera available from Canon, it has an impressive array of features and functions, not least the presets on the mode dial. It has eight presets, ranging from portrait, shooting landscapes sport close up, and also even a food option. It also has the semi automatic mode, which is standard, which are P, Shutter priority and Aperture priority. And then for manual mode. So basically, if you buy this camera, not knowing anything about DSLR photography, you can begin by taking decent pictures with the presets, and as your experience and knowledge grows, you can then move on to the semi automatic modes. And then finally shoot full manual.

Inside the camera, there are a series of very good features and creative filters, which allow you to change some of the styles of the picture that you take. And also to resize your image. And that connected with the Wi Fi compatibility of this camera means that you can take a picture, you can put a filter on it, you can then resize it to make it smaller, and then use the Wi Fi option to send it to your mobile phone and upload direct onto a social media platform. So it’s very handy for that.

Pros and cons of the Canon EOS 4000D

Let’s take a look at the bad points first. First this camera is almost entirely plastic apart from the electronics. And this means that obviously it’s lighter, and it’s cheaper, which could be seen as a good point. But also it suggests that this camera may not be quite as robust as other cameras that can produce. But provided you don’t swing it around your head and bounce it off the floor, this camera will be fine for everyday use. I’ve had my EOS 4000D for a year, I’ve taken it on two or three holidays. I’ve used it regularly on a day to day basis, and it’s in perfect condition.

Secondly, there is no remote shutter cable socket on the side. A shutter release cable is very useful if you’re going to be shooting long shutter speed photography. So if you’re going to be doing nighttime photography, or if you’re going to be doing Astro photography, when your shutter speed might be a minute, two minutes, 10 minutes, all of this is possible. The camera as I’ve mentioned before, will give you automatic shutter speeds of one 4,000th of a second down to 30 seconds. But beyond that when you’re shooting bulb, you don’t have the same amount of control if you can’t use it with a remote shutter cable.

Thirdly, and perhaps the thing that you may have heard or read about this camera already because it did cause something of a brouhaha when the camera came out. This camera is designed to work with canon EX flash guns and not third party flash guns.

Canon EOS 4000D DSLR camera flashAlso, there’s no on off switch, it turns on via the mode dial. That’s not a huge issue, I don’t think and once you’re used to that it’s fairly straightforward. The other thing is that the the pop up flash doesn’t automatically pop up when you’re in one of the preset modes. However, it’s a fairly simple operation to put the flash up and back down again. So I don’t think that’s a big issue either.

What are the good points about this camera?

The most obvious one is its price. This is a remarkably competitively priced camera. It’s a full Canon camera, which means that all the accessories you buy for this camera are transferable to other DSLR camera bodies as you might choose to upgrade and increase your skills. It has a superb sensor which will give you fantastically clear Sharp, good color reproduction images of a very good size from website, social media right up to print publication quality, the processor is also very good, and will process your images very well with good color reproduction, and also process your videos, which it will also shoot to professional quality standard. So everything you need from a camera is in the Canon EOS 4000D or Rebel T100. And I would argue also, that by cutting some of the corners and removing some of the extraneous features which you get with some of the higher range DSLR Canon cameras, it’s doing your favor.

For information about our Superb Canon EOS 4000D manual, click here.

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Best Types of Canon Lenses

Best Types of Canon Lenses for each type of photography

In this blog post,  I will quickly go through the best types of Canon lenses for the most popular types of photography and suggest some great lenses for each. As we know, every lens is a compromise to a greater or lesser degree. The most generalist lenses – kit lenses for example may be OK at most styles, but they won’t excel at any of them. Because cost has been an important factor, the image quality will not compete with specialist lenses – or the Canon L lenses – and because they are zooms and cover a wide focal range, the variable apertures will not allow for very shallow depths of field. Let’s take a look at some good Canon Lenses for landscape photography first.

Landscape Lenses

Landscape photography is not just about getting a perfect image of a scene and making sure that it is sharp and well exposed. Successful landscape photography evokes a sense of time, place and includes an element human interaction – even if the interaction is the effect it has on the viewer. In a way, it is a chance for the photographer to pay homage to the world around us – natural or man made. Given so much width and depth available in the frame, the landscape photographer needs to understand how to take advantage of perspective, composition, relative distance, and the interaction between the manufactured and natural world. 

Often a landscape photographer will have studied the scene for some time before taking the picture – noting the angles, how the light falls at certain times of day, and how the scene is affected by different weather conditions. It could take many attempts to get that perfect shot. Landscape photography is about getting as wide an angle of view as possible – to get as much of the image into the frame as you can. You also want to have a wide depth of field to get most of the frame sharp. It doesn’t matter if you want to shoot expansive scenery or cityscapes and architecture, you are going to be looking for high quality, wide angle lenses. So, if you are looking for the best types of canon lenses to photograph almost anything in the wide world of landscapes, I would suggest one of the following:

The Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM lens. This EF-S lens gives you a wide 16mm effective focal length, allowing you to shoot imposing architecture and expansive landscapes. It is a high quality, light weight and cheap lens. A great starter for a landscape photographer.

 

 

 

 

The second suggestion would be a Canon EF-S STM  24 mm f/2.8 lens. This is a fixed lens for crop cameras, offering an effective 36mm focal length. It is very sharp and a great lens to have in your bag. It does produce some barrel distortion, but that can be corrected in edit. Again, small, light and cheap.

 

Best Types of Canon Lenses sigma lens

For something cheaper, take a look at the Rokinon FE14M-C 14mm F2.8 lens. This is a manual focus lens, so you would have to be comfortable with that, but has great sharpness at f8 and very little chromatic aberration

Our Superb Canon Lens Course is designed for DSLR owners who are thinking of buying a new or used lens for their Canon camera. There are so many lenses available for Canon DSLR cameras, that it can be quite confusing, even professional photographers.  This course tells you all you need to know about lenses for Canon DSLRs – both Canon lenses and third party lenses – so that you will be able to buy your next lens with confidence. Packed with information about the best lenses you can buy for each type of photography, and showing some amazing pictures from each mentioned lens, check out this Canon Lens Course now!

Sports Lenses

Sport and action photography is about speed and accuracy. Every split-second counts, and you only ever get one chance to capture the shot.  I would say that Action photography is one area of picture taking where practice is key. Like preparing for the sport itself, this could involve practicing single elements – zooming, panning, and using your autofocus, so that it comes naturally to you when you are in the field. For the very best results it’s important to have the right combination of camera and zoom lens. So let’s start with probably the first choice single lens for nearly every sports photographer:

best type of canon lenses sports lens

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Whilst every lens is a compromise, this lens excels in all the areas that are important for a sports photographer. The images are tack sharp, the auto focus is extremely quick, and it is great in low light. The downsides are that it is very heavy – you would need a monopod, probably. This is an EF lens for Full frame cameras. It will work very well with crop frame cameras, but the autofocus will be slower.

 

sports lens Best Types of Canon LensesFor a longer focal length, try the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM. This is an excellent lens for daytime action, though not really for low light. The image quality of this lens is considered to be outstanding and the build quality superb. The focal range of 100-400mm (160-640mm on an APS-C camera) gives you more options than say the 70-200mm especially for wildlife and sporting events.

 

And for a great lens with extra bragging rights, take a look at the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports lens. This is a beast, weighing 3 kilos and is 10 inches long, but it has very fast autofocus, superb optical stabilisation and produces very sharp images.  

Of course, some of the sports lenses would also be good for wildlife photography, but wildlife photography is all about getting your subject up close whilst keeping your distance. Usually you are shooting in reasonable light and so can exchange a little speed for extra reach.

Travel Lenses 

Picking a lens to travel with is a bit different to picking a lens for other situations. Not only will you be concerned with image quality, but also size, weight and versatility. After all, you will be carrying it around with you when you are travelling and, ideally, you want to keep the number of lenses in your bag down to a minimum. So for travel photography, it’s better to try and focus on getting a smaller number of lenses that work well in a wide variety of situations. I would suggest that you choose two lenses – a walk-around lens and a fast prime. If you have decided that you only want to take one lens, then you will want a good walk-around lens – one that will satisfy your travel photography needs. The usual walk-around focal lengths are considered to be between 28 – 50mm. These lengths should be good for street scenes, travel portraits, architecture and landscape shots.

best type of canon lens travel lenses

The first one to look at is the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. This lens is one of the best types of Canon lenses around and it will allow you to shoot panoramic landscapes, more intimate city images, contextual portraits, low light images and details – in fact most of the things you might want to shoot when travelling.It is a superb fast lens – and it is weather sealed, which is something you might want to consider if you are going of the beaten track. 

 

Best Types of Canon Lenses tamron lens

 

If you are going to by travelling in and around cities, you might want to think about a wide angle lens, perhaps the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR Di LD lens. It is not too heavy, and offers clean sharp images, being perfect for architectural and landscape pictures. It is also very good in low light.

 

 

Best Types of Canon Lenses l lens

If you want to  have a little more reach, take a look at the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. It is a favourite with photographers who want to travel light.  It offers really good image quality with advanced image stabilisation – which you may well need if you are shooting mostly hand held. It is a superb portrait lens and very good for landscapes. The near-silent focusing is useful if  you are shooting in enclosed spaces.

 

When it comes to that prime, I don’t think you can go wrong with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens or Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM lens. Both are excellent lenses and give you a good prime focal length for travel photography. They are also both the perfect size to fit in a pocket

Portrait Lenses

As a portrait photographer you may have to shoot various kinds of pictures, from group shots of families to professional style headshots. The challenge for portrait photographers is to tease out the inner essence of the subject. This might sound grandiose and pretentious, but a picture of someone that doesn’t reflect character or personality is really just a two dimensional representation – a passport photo. 

If you are looking for a lens that provides a reasonable working distance from the individual subject, with a narrower field of view than a 50mm lens, the 85mm is the most popular focal length for portraiture. 

Best Types of Canon Lenses 85mm

I think the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens is a really good place to start. It is an excellent portrait lens, the f1.8 is ideal for shallow depth of field work that lets the portrait really pack a punch. It is very sharp and with fast autofocus. 

Both Sigma and Tamron produce very good 85mm lenses, but to be honest, nothing can compete with the Canon for quality and price. Even the Canon L lens – the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L , is not regarded as highly by photographers as this f1.8.

Whilst the Canon 85mm can be used on a crop frame camera to good effect, APS-C owners have a real advantage here because the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM is a great portrait lens when you account for the crop factor. Ideally, having a longer lens gives you a slight advantage when shooting portraits because the subject looks more natural. The effect is hardly noticeable with a 135mm lens and so it is the jewel in any portrait photographer’s kit bag – particularly an f1.8 like this.

So that was a quick overview of the best types of Canon lenses for particular kinds of photography. As I mentioned, There are other great lenses available, but if you want to get a good lens to start with, none of these lenses will let you down.

For more information about Canon Lenses, and a superb course, click here

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The Nikon D4

The Nikon D4 Straddles the Stills/Video Divide

The D4 is an Ideal Camera for the Professional Photographer and Videographer

The Canon 5D markII set the standard for the professional photo/video camera. It is no surprise that Nikon’s response has upped the ante in both departments. However, instead of revolution, Nikon have chosen to improve incrimentally in many areas – the main changes in the stills department have been aimed at making the camera quicker and easier to use. A 16 mega-pixel file size is modest at this level, though 10 Frames per Second is useful, particularly with Autofocus.

The improved sensor on the Nikon D4 gives the better metering and Subject Tracking and extends face detection for the optical viewfinder. Extending the ISO range from 50 -204,800 is impressive, but surely would only appeal to specific niche – perhaps ill-lit night time sports or nature photography. The Kevlar/carbon fiber-composite shutter unit boasts a standard life cycle rating of 400,000 releases. There are some ergonomic improvements, making the camera easier to handle and the buttons easier to manage. The Nikon Wi-Fi transmitter allows you to see the Live View on an iPad, which can also control shooting mode and trigger the shutter, which might also be useful for the nature photographer.

The Nikon D4 is aimed at professional photographers and videographers who want the combination of top quality video and extensive lens flexibility. It will also appeal to specialist amateurs who shoot in very low-light and want to shoot remotely.

Of course, the main big change is in the video department. Nikon have seriously upgraded their video output to full HD (1080p), full native HD (1920 x 1080p) and even allows you to feed full, uncompressed video into external viewing devices. In other words, it offers full broadcast quality video and stereo sound. An Out Mic lets you set the sound levels before shooting.

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Nikon D3400 white balance

 

Nikon D3400 white balance settings

Nikon D3400 white balance is one of my favorite settings for a couple of reasons. The first is that it helps you set the camera so that you get naturally exposed pictures which is really good. And the second is that you can use that same process to be really creative with your photography. This article discusses what white balance is and what the camera is trying to do and how creative that can be and how it can help you to manage your environment.

So first of all Nikon D3400 white balance: what is it all about? Well, when you walk into a room, or even outside, the quality of the light and the tone of the light will change. It changes depending on whether you are in natural or artificial light. Your eyes and your brain filter all of that out, so usually you do not really even recognize it, but the camera will because it is quite objective, whereas your eyes and your brain are quite subjective. Usually you do not want to take pictures in a light which has a color cast. If you do not notice the ambient color, then after the shoot, you could discover that your pictures either have quite a yellow or orange tinge, or have quite a blue tinge. The Nikon D3400 white balance – and setting the white balance – allows you to set the camera so that, effectively, it sees what you want to see and it sets white. The important thing to remember about white is it is not a single color, it is a combination of all colors and so once you set white with the camera, the camera is able to set all the other colors accordingly.

There are two ways of looking at the Nikon D3400 white balance. The most obvious one is when you are looking at the back of the camera as you press the i button and Nikon D3400 white balance is third along the top line. That gives you the option to select the white balance that you want. However it does not let you change the white balance within those settings. If you want to do that you need to go into the MENU OPTION and then go into SHOOTING MENU, then you go down to white balance and you will see that you have all the options that you would see when you look in the i button, but, should you press your multi-selector to the right, it will give you the option of either deciding to have a different option within that main sub-option (so for fluorescence, for example, you have seven further options in fluorescent which are all slightly different) or if you do not have different options then you have an option which allows you to change that option within the camera. You can do that by using the multi-selector and you can make either more green or more magenta or blue or more red. Personally, I think this is probably far too detailed unless you are going for a very specific look, but the general way of changing, which is to go back and just look at the general options in white balance when you are in the shooting menu, should be sufficient for you to decide your best option. But if you want to go in and change cloudy for example and make it a little more red or a little more blue then you can do so but you can not make those changes to that option from the i button.

So lets have a look at what the Nikon D3400 white balance options are when we come out of menu and we will have a look through them with the i button. The first one is AUTO. This tries to select the most obvious white balance itself. It has quite a good auto detection for white balance and in most cases you will be fine on AUTO with the Nikon D3400. It is fairly broad brush but it is pretty good for most circumstances. The next one is INCANDESCENT or tungsten. As I mentioned, that has quite a yellow tone to it because it is more like candle light or home and residential lighting which tends to be tungsten lighting and so it will try to take some of that warmth out – some of that orange and yellow and add some of the blue to make whatever is white in that picture more white and less yellow. The next one beyond that is FLORESCENT. That is a little bluer and it is the sort of lighting that you get in offices – the sort of strip lighting that goes across the top – which gives a very blue tone to things. And as a consequence of that the camera will try to add a little yellow to the picture. Then we get on to DIRECT SUNLIGHT. Now direct sunlight is actually a lot bluer than you might imagine and so it does try to add a little more yellow to that just to give it a more natural look. The one after that is FLASH. When you fire the flash, whether it is the built-in flash or an external flash, that is a very cold white shade. So as a consequence of that it does try to add some more yellow to give a more natural tone to the color, and especially, obviously for skin tones which is quite important. Then the next two which are CLOUDY and SHADE move further up Kelvin scale from and obviously then the environment becomes more and more blue as you move up there and so it will be trying harder and harder to add a little yellow and a little orange just to warm that picture up and make it look less cold. Obviously if you are shooting in shade or in cloud then as I said before there is a natural inclination for you for it to look slightly blue, slightly cold, so you want a little orange to warm that picture up.

At the moment, we are looking at setting the camera to get the most natural exposure, but imagine that you are shooting in a fluorescent office, but want the picture to look like it is a room with natural sunlight. This would be a good opportunity to change the Nikon D3400 white balance to shade and the camera will automatically warm the image up for you, changing the whole feel of the picture. That is how the white balance can work for you to create more interesting pictures.

For more information about the Nikon D3400 click here 

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Canon 1300D video settings

The Canon 1300D/Rebel T6 DSLR is a great camera for shooting stills and also movies. However, it is always a good idea to get the Canon 1300D video settings right from the start.

The Canon 1300D has a specific option for movies and in order to make any changes in the 1300D to shoot movies you need to go to the Video Mode, which is on the Mode Dial. Turn the Mode Dial round to the very bottom option which shows a video camera, and you will hear the mirror inside the camera pop up. This allows you to see your subjects through the backscreen and this is the only way you can shoot video on this camera.

The menu tab options are different when you are in video mode. You have fewer choices, but they are dedicated to shooting video. The first thing that you should decide on is your video system. This may seem a bit irrelevant – it was developed when Television systems were very different and if you wanted to show your videos on a TV screen you had to marry the cameras settings to the TV. There are two systems, one is PAL and the other is NTSC. NTSC operates in the United States and PAL tends to be the system which is operated in Europe and other parts of the world. Whilst there is not much difference, it does change the way that the camera operates very slightly. For example, when you start to look at the frame rates you will see that under NTSC you get a frame rate option of 60 frames per second or 30 frames per second. When you are in PAL you get the option of 50 frames a second and 25 frames per second. Most people these days don’t shoot on DSLR in order to show their videos on televisions. They tend to use it for social media or showing on a laptop. In which case it doesn’t make really any difference. However, also be aware that these frame rate speeds can affect the way a video looks under artificial lighting, or if you have a tv screen or monitor in the shot. That is because lights flicker and TVs work at the same NTSC rates in the USA and PAL rates in Europe. So it is worth getting right, otherwise you might find a strange flickering in your video, or the TV screen will have a black band dropping down the screen, because the camera and lights are out of synchronisation. Annoyingly, you won’t see this until you are editing afterwards. In order to change Video Mode you need to go into the menus and you go to Tab 2 and down at the bottom you have the option to change Video System.

The second options you need to think about in the Canon 1300D video settings is file size and frame rate. Although they are two choices, they are combined for you in the Canon 1300D video settings. These options are important because they will decide the quality of the movies that you produce. The canon 1300D is pretty good – it will shoot 1080p which is full HD and it will also shoot 720p which is standard HD – both these sizes are absolutely fine for YouTube or Vimeo. In order to make those selections go into Video Tab 2 and find Movie Recording Size. Press on that option and we are offered four choices. Depending on whether you’ve chosen NTSC or PAL, you maximum rates will be either 60fps or 50fps.

The next option you need to consider in the Canon 1300D video settings is exposure. When you are shooting photographs with the Canon 1300D you have many options. They are all on the Mode Dial and they go from entirely manual to semi-automatic and then to entirely automatic options. In most of these Modes the Canon 1300D is trying to get the best exposure for the stills that you are shooting, within the parameters of light etc. With shooting movies you have two options – you can either shoot Automatic or you can shoot Manual. With Automatic in the movie setting the Canon 1300D will try to get the best exposure for you and it usually works very well, so I would suggest that initially at least you shoot in Automatic until you become more confident.

When you progress to Manual, changing the various parameters in the Canon 1300D video settings can seem quite complicated. They are certainly different than the option for shooting photographs. Movie Exposure is in Video Tab 1 and you get the two choices, Auto or Manual. If you choose to go into Manual then you have much more control over the settings. You will be able to change the Shutter Speed, the Aperture and the ISO. For the Shutter Speed, rotate Main Dial on the Canon 1300D. By depressing the AV button and rotating that Main Dial at the same time you can change the Aperture. The ISO is changed by pressing the flash button and rotating the Main Dial.

The fourth option you need to consider in the Canon 1300D video settings is sound. Sadly, the Canon 1300D does not have an external microphone socket. It just has an internal microphone which works reasonably well, but can be a bit limited. In Shooting Tab 2, the second one down is Sound Recording and you can set that to one of three options. You can have either Auto, Manual or Disabled. I don’t think you should disable it entirely because sometimes it is useful to have sound, even if you don’t intend to use it in the final cut. It is helpful for editing. Auto is quite good and it will try to pick up as much sound as possible. Of course, you may not want the ambient sound, you might be trying to capture something specific. Manual is OK provided you are quite close to the sound source. On the backscreen you will see a decibel bar going across the bottom and you should try to get the sound peaking at about 12.

The next couple of options in the Canon 1300D video settings that need to be checked are in Video Tab 3 and it may seem that they are less important than other choices. However, you should take a look at them because they do affect the way that your video looks. Go to the bottom of Video Tab 3 to the Picture Style option. These options can really affect the way your movies look. They are the same options that you get with photographs and you can choose to have Vivid or Sepia or many other options and some of them are set so that they bring out the best qualities for portrait and landscape. With video it tends to be better to try and shoot video as flat as possible and so the best option to start with is neutral and so you should always set that to neutral for video until you make the decision that you want to change the Picture Style and shoot something differently. The one just above that in Video Tab 3 is Custom White Balance. It’s very important for shooting videos because if you start moving around and shooting things in different light then the one stable element – the one constant – will be the white balance.

To see more about the Canon 1300D/T6 Click here.