help with 7d settings for night shots etc

spudhead

spudhead

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gary
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as title I was in Disney and universal in florida for the last 2 weeks my daughter was with me with her 7d 24-70 f4 and she could not get any decent shots of fireworks and light shows, I was not much help as I use sony a and e-mount and know what to do to get decent shots with the sony . so question is can the cannon uses help with settings and where to find them in the menus, as I got my ear hole bashed when I couldn't help apart from setting in manual and she got some half decent shots, I cant believe the canon 7d wont have options for these shots and conditions regards gary
 
The 7D, although old, is more than capable of getting those shots, and the 24079 f/4 is a very capable lens for this sort of situation IME.

Sorry, but its a case of read the manual and get to know the camera. If you know the theory then its not hard to figure out how to do it on the Canon or any other brand.

What settings are you hoping to find? As you have said, using Manual got some decent shots, so there you have it. After that its just practice.
 
When I had my 7D I had to use low ISO to get decent noise feee shots. The problem you’ll find with f4 is that it may not quite let in enough light to keep the ISO low and the shutter speed quick enough to capture everything in the moment.

So with that in mind, bump iso until you get he image you want and if it’s noisey you will likely need to get a faster lens to bring the iso back down.
 
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With the 24-70. Having a 4 stop IS its hand holdable down to very low shutter speeds. I can easily get sharp images at 1/5 second hand held. This is why I think its a good lens for this type of situation. For fireworks you want a slow shutter speed, so even with a fast prime you would struggle to hand hold it.
I got some good night shots with just my 18-135 on my 80D last year at Disney. Having IS meant I didn’t need to carry a tripod around. I had a 35mm f/2 IS and 50mm f/1.8 STM, but didn’t need to use them much, although the 35mm f/2 is the best of both worlds.
 
hi thanks for replies, I agree a faster lens helps I was using a 16-50 mm 2.8 on the sony but my daughter doesn't in my opinion use her camera any where as much as she should and as opted for the lighter f4 lens due to weight ,and I agree she should learn it her self . I just wondered if there was a low light hand held scene setting in the menus that might help her a little and give me a rest from the ear ache.
 
spudhead said:
I just wondered if there was a low light hand held scene setting in the menus that might help her a little and give me a rest from the ear ache.
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No. The 7D is a professional camera and it doesn't have scenes and stuff like that. The user is expected to know how to use it.
 
But I don't get this:
spudhead said:
I use sony a and e-mount and know what to do to get decent shots with the sony . so question is can the cannon uses help with settings and where to find them in the menus, as I got my ear hole bashed when I couldn't help apart from setting in manual and she got some half decent shots
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Why didn't you just copy what you were doing with your Sony on the Canon? I mean surely its just a choice between the different exposure modes, a choice of shutter speed, ISO, etc. That's pretty basic stuff even if you're not familiar with the camera.
 
StewartR said:
But I don't get this:

Why didn't you just copy what you were doing with your Sony on the Canon? I mean surely its just a choice between the different exposure modes, a choice of shutter speed, ISO, etc. That's pretty basic stuff even if you're not familiar with the camera.
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:D

Other than that... With digital it should be relatively easy to shoot, check the results and adjust settings if required.

For low light shots I can think of a few common scenarios,
1. For still life stuff at night you'll possibly want the lowest ISO with the most acceptable shutter speed you can get away with.
2. For moving stuff / people shots at night you're going to want a reasonably fast shutter speed and a relatively high ISO (to freeze movement.)
3. With fireworks I assume you'll want a relatively slow shutter speed (to capture the burst, 0.5 to 2 seconds? 2 to x seconds?) and the lowest ISO you can get away with which could give you a problem with stability unless you can handhold at half to 2 seconds and are happy with the results.
 
The 7d doesn't have the scene modes of some more basic cameras (portrait, landscape etc) that said it's more than able to take great firework photos. I tend to use low iso, and long exposure, maybe 10 seconds to record a few bursts at a time, but if you've a steady hand and the IS of that lens half second shouldnt be a problem even for hand holding.
 
StewartR said:
Why didn't you just copy what you were doing with your Sony on the Canon? I mean surely its just a choice between the different exposure modes, a choice of shutter speed, ISO, etc. That's pretty basic stuff even if you're not familiar with the camera.
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^This

Regardless of the make/model of camera, exposure is exposure as they're both capturing the same light. If you were shooting at 2.8, your daughter would just need to increase the ISO on her 7D to account for extra few stops of light she was missing with being stuck at F4.
 
I am a 7D Mki owner so I will chuck in my ok I ion,..lol

Woof, woof has given some sound advice.
When trying to shot fireworks the burst lasts some times between 1 & 1.5 seconds, roughly

So even with a fast prime f1.4 lens, higher ISO you still need apx half second to 1.5 seconds or even 2 seconds to capture the rocket trail and burst.
This can not be achieved hand holding not on a 7D. If the Sony is a A6500 then that has a 5 axis sensor stabilisation and up to 5 stops of light. With the 7Di lens IS enabled this may get you between 2-3 stops of light at best !

You will need some sort of support, tripod or my personal favourite a gorillapod. This thing can be wrapped around almost anything. It is the only tripod type of support I take on holiday.

So my settings for Disney will be fine a bench, back of chair, top of bin, taking, lamppost and clamp gorillapod to it. Using a Joby gorillapod ball head a for and level out the 7D..
Use live view to set composition area. Settings would be lens set to infinity, lowest f stop, ISO 100 or 200, shutter start at 1/2 second, then 1 second, then 1.5 seconds. You shod get some good rich colours.

Point to remember is the 7Di noise starts creeping in at 400 / 600 ISO.
 
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Tysonator said:
I am a 7D Mki owner so I will chuck in my ok I ion,..lol

Woof, woof has given some sound advice.
When trying to shot fireworks the burst lasts some times between 1 & 1.5 seconds, roughly

So even with a fast prime f1.4 lens, low ISO you still need apx half second to 1.5 seconds or even 2 seconds to capture the rocket trail and burst.
This can not be achieved hand holding not on a 7D. If the Sony is a A6500 then that has a 5 axis sensor stabilisation. We're the 7Di lens IS may be 2-3 stops of light at best !

You will need some short support, tripod or my personal favourite a gorillapod. This thing can be wrapped around almost anything. It is the only tripod type of support I take on holiday.

So my set for Disney will be fine a bench, back of chair, top of bin, taking, lamppost and clamp gorillapod to it. Using a Joby gorillapod ball head a for and level out the 7D..
User view to set composition area. Setting would be lens set to infinity, lowest f stop, ISO 100 or 200, shutter start at 1/2 second, then 1 second, then 1.5 seconds. You shod get some good rich colours.

Point to remember is the 7Di noise start a creeping in at 400 / 600 ISO.
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I’ve carried a Manfrotto Pixi around Florida twice. The first time with my A6000 and the second with my A7. Like you say, you’re not going to handhold a few second exposure with any camera (mainly because you’ll be squashed within the crowd!) so any bins/walls/fences you can find will be useful. The only issue is people in front of you when you’re using a bin/fence for support because your camera will be lower down so you might need to to get creative with your compositions!
 
Stevelmx5,

shooting in a crowd is a mix bag affair as I have done gigs, fireworks, festivals, weddings etc
As soon as some one sees you have a quite spot others descend upon you !
Shooting Fireworks in a crowd is not going to net many decent photos, just not ideal for cameras on tripods ! ! !

I looked at the Manfrotto Pixi and not a bad bit of kit. I just find the gorillapod can be bent, flatted, held, wrapped on to most things. I use it a lot for my GoPro Hero 4 camera to do time lapse.
When I went to Australia and hired a car. The gorillapod was use a dash holder for my smart phone so I could SatNav. They are bloody amazing bits of kit
 
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