Rudy. When using a crop-sensor camera such as the Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 300mm is surprisingly sufficient. One of the biggest frustrations for most people is investing hundreds of dollars in a camera and feeling overwhelmed by the learning curve and underwhelmed by the results. Even if youre setting all three values manually, the meter will still appear in the viewfinder to tell you whether the camera estimates you are over, under, or properly exposed. Number of bracketed shots: 3 shots depends on how you bracket. I normally do not mess with these and leave the settings in Menu 1 and 2 at default. I recommend starting out with these safe values, but also experimenting, especially with common species of birds that you see all the time. However, if you have shaky hands, then the default Auto setting might not do justice to keep you away from camera shake. Magnificatn (apx): Actual size this allows me to see 100% crop when I press the magnification button when playing back images. The other solution is quickly switching to aperture priority mode and setting your widest aperture, at which point the camera will set base ISO and a good shutter speed. Multi function lock: Quick Control Dial this controls what gets locked when the Lock switch on the back of the camera is used. However, if you have lenses that are quite different, say a kit lens and a prime lens, then I recommend buying one for each. Lens AF stop button: AF stop controls the behavior of the lens AF stop button. However, unfortunately you cant switch between custom banks very quickly. I recommend starting out with these safe values, but also experimenting, especially with common species of birds that you see all the time. Canon EOS-1D X + 150-600mm @ 600mm, ISO 1600, 1/2000, f/7.1. Below, Ill introduce these settings and when to use them. Keep the center focus point on the bird and press the focus button to acquire and maintain focus. Is this useful in bird photography? That allows me to place the focus point where I want while having the surrounding points picking up focus when the central point loses my target. Canon 7D: AI Servo Set-up for BIF (Bird in Flight) _ 03/2010. I am also a birder and such shots are very useful even though Id prefer that no one ever see them :). That being said, you should not be experiencing effects that look like shutter shock with most of your images. 65 in all. Canon budget lens choices for serious birds in flight photography: This is a topic I frequently discuss during my frequent Birds in Flight Photography training and workshops in Milnerton / Woodbridge Island, Cape Town. I recommend full Manual Mode or Manual Mode with Auto ISO and exposure compensation to make quick adjustments. Some photographers actually shoot in aperture priority mode for almost all their bird photography for this reason. Good question. Thanks for sharing! Bird photography is very unpredictable, and at times, you will need to squeeze every last drop out of your files. Later, these settings will be quickly available by turning the Mode dial to C1 (or whichever you've saved them to). For the trip, I rented a Canon 7D Mark II, 300mm f/2.8 II, and 2X TC . I can think of a few possible reasons this might not be the case: 1. So if your lens is sharp wide open, leave it wide open. I also find it ergonomically more comfortable sometimes for low-angle shots (like birds on the ground or in the water) to press the shutter button to focus rather than using a button on the rear of the camera. Highlight tone priority: OFF unlike Auto Lighting Optimizer (ALO), Highlight tone priority does affect RAW data, since it actually underexposes an image to recover highlights. 11K views 1 year ago Canon EOS 7D Mark II for wildlife and bird photography in 2021. This might be annoying to use in certain situations though, particularly when the subject is very erratic and the camera struggles with autofocus acquisition. For example, if at 35mm focal length you are getting 1/50 shutter speed, moving to Auto(1) will speed up the shutter speed to 1/100. You should have the option to open the file using the Adobe Reader app, which will also save it for future reference. In addition, even if menu settings provide options to change particular settings, using external buttons / controls is simply faster. Canon EOS 7D Mark II Auto Focus Guide - Basics of Bird in Flight Photography Canon USA Support 30.1K subscribers Subscribe 2.4K Share 167K views 5 years ago Gain a basic understanding of. For still photographers, specifically those working with wildlife, this camera offers . No matter how rushed you are, you should be able to capture good, sharp images of birds. I hope you found this article useful. On your iPhone or iPad: Open up the email with the download link. Canon EOS 70D Manual Mode Settings Shutter speed: 1/12000 - 1/3200s Aperture: f/5.6 - 8 ISO 250-800 Focal length 400mm No Image Stabilization Autofocus mode (Centre Point or Zone AF) Continuous shooting mode / AI Servo (up to 7 fps) Handheld Cape Town Birds In Flight Photography Location Milnerton Lagoon Woodbridge Island, Cape Town By fixing a safe ISO value, you can avoid the camera metering somewhat randomly. Hope this video helps. You can also make the PV button activate AF as well If you dont use the back button you can also make that use group. White balance: AWB Just like ALO, white balance setting also does not matter, as you can adjust it later in post-processing. Bird & wildlife photography have specific AF setting needs and I am going to walk you through what I personally use . Try shooting your 7D at its M (8MP) or S (4.5MP) settings. //