Canon R7 best settings for bird photography

Brentor

Brentor

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I have just bought a Canon R7 and I'm off on a trip to photograph birds this weekend, both static and in flight. I have other Canon cameras so the settings are familiar but this is my first mirrorless model.

As I don't have time to experiment, any tips or links on the best settings for small bird photography would be appreciated.
 
For puffins in flight I switched to letting the camera detect movement over the whole drone, with the subject set to detect animals.

For static birds I choose the focus point.

The rest is pretty much the same as a traditional DSLR.
 
I think settings can be a little subjective and also, they can change with the conditions.

I have an R7 and I use adapted EF lenses, as well as a Sigma 150-600C.

My basic settings for wildlife in general are these but not inclusive..................

Animal eye AF on,
Eye detect, enabled,
AF mode, Servo,
Single point AF, the animal eye tracking will still lock on. I personally don't like the zone AF settings,
Drive Mode, H+ but depends on situation, sometimes I only take one at a time, depending on situation, I'm not keen on machine gunning,
Touch shutter disabled,
Exposure simulation on,
Always shoot in RAW,
Shutter mode, Electronic first curtain, although I'm still making my mind up on this one and may go back to just mechanical. I don't use the electronic shutter as the rolling shutter can be really bad.
All IS off if you're using a tripod, both in camera and in lens. Handheld, all on.
I tend to use the viewfinder over the screen, my close up vision isn't great and I find glasses annoying. I can't recommend enough using the histogram in the viewfinder.
Usual settings, like aperture, shutter speed, ISO (ISO 1000 is a good starting point) etc will depend on the day but that's just the same as DSLR. I tend to use manual mode but will resort to Aperture Priority, depending on situation.

FV mode is worth a try and I'm still trialling it. I'm set in my ways though and usually end up back in manual. FV mode needs some understanding although it does simplify things but maybe that's best left until you get back home. (y)

This should give you a good start but it will be horses for courses. It's no different really to a DSLR.

HTH, have fun. :)
 
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I have an R7 which was an upgrade from 7Dii and I use similar settings to Dale, except in M mode I leave the ISO on Auto, and S mode to use the +/- Compensation dial if I want brighter or darker images.
I to adapt all my EF glass to EF-EF canon adapter and I do have any issues, apart from my Sigma 150-600 C & Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 OS HSM as both have the pulsing issue.
The docking station is required to down latest firmware and adjust setting in the lens ( 150-600 C only ) and this stops about 90% of the issue.
 
Tysonator said:
I have an R7 which was an upgrade from 7Dii and I use similar settings to Dale, except in M mode I leave the ISO on Auto, and S mode to use the +/- Compensation dial if I want brighter or darker images.
I to adapt all my EF glass to EF-EF canon adapter and I do have any issues, apart from my Sigma 150-600 C & Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 OS HSM as both have the pulsing issue.
The docking station is required to down latest firmware and adjust setting in the lens ( 150-600 C only ) and this stops about 90% of the issue.
Click to expand...


Out of interest, when you say 'pulsing' do you mean when trying to achieve AF or when you're actually focused and using high speed shooting? I have noticed in bursts with the Sigma that one shot is sharp but the next can be soft. I've not noticed this with any EF glass but to be fair, it's usually the Sigma that is on my R7.

@Brentor, sorry for the slight derail but it could be relevant if you use the Sigma too.
 
Dale. said:
Out of interest, when you say 'pulsing' do you mean when trying to achieve AF or when you're actually focused and using high speed shooting? I have noticed in bursts with the Sigma that one shot is sharp but the next can be soft. I've not noticed this with any EF glass but to be fair, it's usually the Sigma that is on my R7.

@Brentor, sorry for the slight derail but it could be relevant if you use the Sigma too.
Click to expand...
Yes it’s a much reported problem.
 
Dale. said:
Out of interest, when you say 'pulsing' do you mean when trying to achieve AF or when you're actually focused and using high speed shooting? I have noticed in bursts with the Sigma that one shot is sharp but the next can be soft. I've not noticed this with any EF glass but to be fair, it's usually the Sigma that is on my R7.

@Brentor, sorry for the slight derail but it could be relevant if you use the Sigma too.
Click to expand...

Watch this YouTube video will explain all about the pulsing & a fix
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7TEu1Tgq5I


Even on my DSLR 7Dii some of my 150-600 C shots would be slightly soft and this could be a number of issues, some times it is user error !
Make sure the reciprocal rule states that to capture sharp photos, your shutter speed should be at least “1” over your lens focal length. As the 7Dii is a crop sensor one should factor this in to the shutter speed. So at 600mm you shutter should be 1000th

Some times the Sigma may be front or rear focusing, so a slight tweak is required via the Sigma dock, and I believe it can be done with in 7Dii menu
 
Tysonator said:
Watch this YouTube video will explain all about the pulsing & a fix
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7TEu1Tgq5I


Even on my DSLR 7Dii some of my 150-600 C shots would be slightly soft and this could be a number of issues, some times it is user error !
Make sure the reciprocal rule states that to capture sharp photos, your shutter speed should be at least “1” over your lens focal length. As the 7Dii is a crop sensor one should factor this in to the shutter speed. So at 600mm you shutter should be 1000th

Some times the Sigma may be front or rear focusing, so a slight tweak is required via the Sigma dock, and I believe it can be done with in 7Dii menu
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks.

I will start another thread on this, not to derail this one further. (y)
 
Brentor said:
I have just bought a Canon R7 and I'm off on a trip to photograph birds this weekend, both static and in flight. I have other Canon cameras so the settings are familiar but this is my first mirrorless model.

As I don't have time to experiment, any tips or links on the best settings for small bird photography would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I would be interest to know your findings after your bird shoot, good luck, and enjoy
 
Dale. said:
Out of interest, when you say 'pulsing' do you mean when trying to achieve AF or when you're actually focused and using high speed shooting? I have noticed in bursts with the Sigma that one shot is sharp but the next can be soft. I've not noticed this with any EF glass but to be fair, it's usually the Sigma that is on my R7.

@Brentor, sorry for the slight derail but it could be relevant if you use the Sigma too.
Click to expand...
No problem, seems we are all still learning.
 
Not quite going to plan as I pulled out of the workshop as the young chucks had flown. However I am near RSPB Minsmere so I spent a few hours there yesterday.

I used a combination of Dale's settings and some of those in the video. I checked that the Sigma 150-600 C firmware was up to date before I left home but I didn't change the lens settings as I only played the video after I had left.

It is not the best time of year for bird photography and a lot of the birds at Minsmere were too far away for the camera, but fine for binos or spotting scopes. Thankfully some birds were in range and give me chance to practice.

I use BBF on my other cameras so I followed Duade's instructions which are different to my settings. In the AF menu he turns off subject tracking. He also sets AFon to eye AF. This didn't work for me so I just moved AF to the * button. I try to avoid machine gun shooting so I started with single shot, then tried low-speed continuous shooting before moving to high-speed continuous shooting. All handheld.

Most of the time the subject tracking and eye detect worked very well. At the high speed I did get some pulsing with some shots in a sequence in focus but not all. I did not notice any hunting. Not sure this is the same as pulsing but the lens did hunt on my DSLR when I first got it and it was sent to Sigma for repair.

If the weather holds I will visit Minsmere again today.
 
Apologies for resuscitating an old thread one questionsfor insects what settings do people use?
 
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