The Canon EOS 60D offers Automatic Exposure Bracketing, or AEB. This feature makes it easy to bracket exposures, which simply means to take the same shot using several exposure settings to increase the odds that you come away with a perfectly exposed image.
Setting up AEB is easy. If you’ve learned how to use exposure compensation, the steps are very similar. Instead of using the Quick Control dial or the multicontroller to adjust the exposure compensation value, use the Main dial to set the brackets the distance you want from the center point of the exposure index. Here are the specifics:
Display Shooting Menu 2 and highlight Expo. Comp./AEB.
Press Set.
Rotate the Main dial to establish the amount of exposure change you want between images.
As soon as you rotate the dial, the meter expands, giving you a broader range of adjustment than the Exposure Compensation feature. Here’s what you need to know to understand the control:
Each whole number on the meter represents one stop. The little lines under the meter show you the amount of exposure shift that will occur in the three shots the camera records.
Each bright line below the exposure meter represents a photo. When you see three bright lines, you will shoot three photos. The distance that they’re apart from each other corresponds to the exposure difference between each shot.
Keep rotating the dial until you get the exposure indicators to reflect the amount of adjustment you want between each bracketed shot.
Be careful not to try to use the Quick Control dial or the multicontroller instead of the Main dial to set the AEB amount. If you do, you enable the Exposure Compensation feature.
When AEB is enabled, the exposure meter in the Shooting Settings display shows the three exposure indicators to represent the exposure shift you established. You see the same markers in the viewfinder.
If you prefer, you can also enable AEB through the Quick Control screen. With the Shooting Settings screen displayed, press the Quick Control button and then use the cross keys to highlight the exposure meter. Press Set again to display a screen that works just like the one you get through the menus. Again, rotate the Main dial to set the bracketing amount and then press Set to wrap things up.
How you record your trio of exposures depends on whether you set the Drive mode to Single or Continuous. Drive mode determines whether the camera records a single image or multiple images with each press of the shutter button.
AEB in Single mode: You take each exposure separately, pressing the shutter button fully three times to record your trio of images.
AEB in Continuous mode: The camera records all three exposures with one press of the shutter button. To record another series, release and then press the shutter button again.
Self-Timer/Remote modes: All three exposures are recorded with a single press of the shutter button, as with Continuous mode.
To turn off auto exposure bracketing, just revisit Shooting Menu 2 or the Quick Control screen and use the Main dial to change the AEB setting back to 0.
AEB is also turned off when you power-down the camera, enable the flash, replace the camera battery, or replace the memory card. You also can’t use the feature in manual exposure (M) mode if you set the shutter speed to the Bulb option. (At that setting, the camera keeps the shutter open as long as you press the shutter button.)