The self timer on the 20D/30D is set to 10 seconds by default, probably because it's anticipated that it will be used to allow the photographer to get into the picture. That's fine, but I don't use it for that. I use the timer so that when I'm using a slow shutter speed on a tripod I can avoid camera shake. Works great. However, 10 seconds is way more time than I need to get my hand away from the camera. 3 seconds would be plenty. I've been looking for a way to change this value, but all I found was custom function #12, which enables the mirror lock and thus changes the value to 2. David D. Busch, in his book on the 30D, says that this is the only way to change the timer's default value. Is this true? Or is there some other way to do it. (Excellent book by David Busch, btw. Although I own a 20D, almost everything in the book applies to it and it's easy to understand.)
~ 
