New to Canon R7

[jeffnles1]

Longtime (since 19881) Nikon user and I just switched to Canon R7.

Any good set-up and guide videos you all can recommend? How about books?

I have downloaded the manual but I'd like a "Cliff Notes" version of the massive 963 page manual.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

 

[cnyphotoguy]

here is a general video, if you have a specific shooting style like BIF there are others too

 

[davesurrey]

I downloaded the book by Nina Bailey "understanding the Canon eos r7".

It's in pdf format and I can recommend it if you know nothing about Canon R series cameras.

It taught me what I needed to know about using the R7 for stills. There's little on the video side.

She also has a pocket guide which might be better for you.

 

[jeffnles1]

Longtime (since 19881) Nikon user and I just switched to Canon R7.

Any good set-up and guide videos you all can recommend? How about books?

I have downloaded the manual but I'd like a "Cliff Notes" version of the massive 963 page manual.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

I can't type. The area in bold should have been 1981.

Jeff

 

[KENTGA]

I like David Busch's books. Very thorough and detailed and easy to understand.

David Busch's Canon EOS R7 Guide to Digital Photography (The David Busch Camera Guide Series): Busch, David D.: 9781681989495: Amazon.com: Books

David Busch's Canon EOS R7 Guide to Digital Photography (The David Busch Camera Guide Series) [Busch, David D.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. David Busch's Canon EOS R7 Guide to Digital Photography (The David Busch Camera Guide Series)

www.amazon.com

Kent

 

[itsallBb2me]

Longtime (since 19881) Nikon user and I just switched to Canon R7.

Any good set-up and guide videos you all can recommend? How about books?

I have downloaded the manual but I'd like a "Cliff Notes" version of the massive 963 page manual.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

Here’s some contrarian advice for you. Do not read or watch any setup or guide material for at least two weeks after receiving your camera. Become thoroughly familiar with it straight out of the box before you make any changes, and, above all, do not reflexively attempt to replicate previous settings from older cameras. Trust the camera until it gives you good reason not to..

 

[jeffnles1]

to all who responded, thanks for the advice. I've read all the responses so far and will take them to heart.

Jeff

 

[palane]

Put it in FV mode and go for it!

 

[John Photo]

I didn;t see what types of photography you intend to shoot. For instance, there are a lot of videos on setting up the R7 for wildlife. Just search here or google it.

 

[MarshallG]

How do you want to shoot?
There are so many approaches to photography, and so many different genres, that we’d overwhelm you if you don’t tell us more about how you want to use the camera.



Some photographers are very technical, and they want very minute control over all the exposure and focus settings. Others just want to shoot. Others are in-between. I don’t know how much knowledge you have about photography, so it’s hard to point you in the right direction.



If you’re an experienced photographer, what I’d say is that new cameras have sensors so good that you can choose both aperture and shutter speed, and the camera will set an ISO value which will give you a great result.

 

[jeffnles1]

I didn;t see what types of photography you intend to shoot. For instance, there are a lot of videos on setting up the R7 for wildlife. Just search here or google it.

thanks. I apologize for not saying. I am into nature and wildlife. I don't do a lot of birds in flight. I also do quite a bit of macro and close focus. Thus the 100mm Macro as part of my kit.

Jeff

 

[jeffnles1]

How do you want to shoot?
There are so many approaches to photography, and so many different genres, that we’d overwhelm you if you don’t tell us more about how you want to use the camera.

Some photographers are very technical, and they want very minute control over all the exposure and focus settings. Others just want to shoot. Others are in-between. I don’t know how much knowledge you have about photography, so it’s hard to point you in the right direction.

If you’re an experienced photographer, what I’d say is that new cameras have sensors so good that you can choose both aperture and shutter speed, and the camera will set an ISO value which will give you a great result.

Thanks.

I've been shooting nature, wildlife, landscapes since about 1980. I've owned a lot of cameras in that timeframe but mostly Nikon. I had a Minolta in the earliest days. The camera system I just sold was based around Nikon D500.

Here is my Flickr Page to give an idea of what kind of stuff I typically shoot.

I'm not a "pro" but I'm also not a beginner. Mainly what I'm looking for and have been finding online and in the manual (all 963 pages of its glory) is what the are the capabilities and what the different settings will do for me. The challenging part is learning how setting "A" will impact setting "B".

Some of the video tutorials are geared toward someone who is buying a first camera. Here is how you turn it on, here is how you change lenses and lengthy explanations about what aperture, ISO and shutter speed are.

Bottom line, I think I have one set up that will work and saved it to C1 so I can at least establish a baseline. I'm sure before I settle on a "best" configuration for me I will have gone through several trial and error phases.

Jeff

 

[MarshallG]

You’ll need to walk through these settings using a YouTube video or someone with some experience. Of course, you don’t just want to enter the settings, you need to understand them.

The Canon setting menus go from left to right. There are tabs with subgroups beneath them. The last tab is a Custom Menu tab, which you add individual items to for faster access.

The summary of what you want to do is set the camera to shoot RAW or cRAW images at a high frame rate with continuous autofocus. Canon calls continuous AF “Servo AF.” They just recently introduced a feature called “Continuous AF” and you do NOT want that; it’s for video and it will kill your battery.

So you want Servo AF and you generally want to use Eye AF, configured to track Animals not Humans. So we tuck the “Human/Animal/Objects” setting into the Custom Menu area, in case you want to photograph a human.

There is an AF menu area which lets you configure an AF “Case.” This takes some time to set up and get comfy with; it pertains to how “sticky” the autofocus is on a subject and whether it tries to guess where the subject will go next. Long discussion possible there…

With the camera set for Eye Detection AF, what most action photographers do is reconfigure the Shutter release button so that its half-press is only a Meter On, and NOT Meter/AF On. There is an AF-On button at the top back which you’ll hold down to start and stop Autofocus. And there’s a menu where you configure all that.

Next to the AF-ON button there is a * button, and you’ll configure that button as a custom AF-ON which uses object detection instead of Eye Detection. Let’s say you’re in the forest and you see a pretty flower. Your camera won’t focus on it correctly because the flower does not have any eyes to detect. So you nudge your thumb over to the * button, hold it, and standard AF starts up, like your old Nikon, without the Eye Detection.

One other thing: For the very fastest frame rate, and silent shooting, you can configure the camera for fully electronic shutter. Most people don’t use this mode, because on R7 it produces rolling shutter effects which distort fast-moving wings and legs. Instead, set up Electronic First Curtain Shutter, which is electronic shutter to start the exposure but a shutter curtain ends the exposure, so no motion is recording to the sensor while the camera reads out the sensor. This is another item I keep in the Custom Menu, in case I want a perfectly silent shutter.

That should get you started.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Here is my Flickr Page to give an idea of what kind of stuff I typically shoot.

Holy Moly! The same stuff I do, except that you're better at it, and you shoot fewer landscape photos. And you sold a D500 for an R7! Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a "pro" but I'm also not a beginner. Mainly what I'm looking for and have been finding online and in the manual (all 963 pages of its glory) is what the are the capabilities and what the different settings will do for me. The challenging part is learning how setting "A" will impact setting "B".

Yes, sometimes one setting makes others impossible or forbidden. Sometimes it's easiest just to try, although the manual does have notes about that.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

The summary of what you want to do is set the camera to shoot RAW or cRAW images at a high frame rate with continuous autofocus. Canon calls continuous AF “Servo AF.” They just recently introduced a feature called “Continuous AF” and you do NOT want that; it’s for video and it will kill your battery.

?? If you select Continuous AF, the camera is always focusing whenever it's on. As far as I know, it doesn't have anything specifically to do with video. Apparently no one knows any use for it, and yes, it is a battery killer.

So you want Servo AF and you generally want to use Eye AF, configured to track Animals not Humans. So we tuck the “Human/Animal/Objects” setting into the Custom Menu area, in case you want to photograph a human.

There is an AF menu area which lets you configure an AF “Case.” This takes some time to set up and get comfy with; it pertains to how “sticky” the autofocus is on a subject and whether it tries to guess where the subject will go next. Long discussion possible there…

With the camera set for Eye Detection AF, what most action photographers do is reconfigure the Shutter release button so that its half-press is only a Meter On, and NOT Meter/AF On. There is an AF-On button at the top back which you’ll hold down to start and stop Autofocus. And there’s a menu where you configure all that.

Next to the AF-ON button there is a * button, and you’ll configure that button as a custom AF-ON which uses object detection instead of Eye Detection. Let’s say you’re in the forest and you see a pretty flower. Your camera won’t focus on it correctly because the flower does not have any eyes to detect. So you nudge your thumb over to the * button, hold it, and standard AF starts up, like your old Nikon, without the Eye Detection.

One other thing: For the very fastest frame rate, and silent shooting, you can configure the camera for fully electronic shutter. Most people don’t use this mode, because on R7 it produces rolling shutter effects which distort fast-moving wings and legs. Instead, set up Electronic First Curtain Shutter, which is electronic shutter to start the exposure but a shutter curtain ends the exposure, so no motion is recording to the sensor while the camera reads out the sensor. This is another item I keep in the Custom Menu, in case I want a perfectly silent shutter.

The second shutter curtain can impart a shock to the camera, however. Some people advise not using the second-curtain shutter with highest frame rates and slow shutter speeds, but you wouldn't do that anyway, would you? (Shutter blades can shake long telephotos, or some, mostly inexpensive zoom lenses with IS--even if IS is turned off.) (Hopefully we don't get into a long discussion about this, and no one starts bashing. Shutter shock is also known in the Nikon world.)

 

[jumpthesnark]

First, congrats on your new camera. I hope you enjoy it and the photography you do with it.

My only advice, as someone who switched from Nikon to Canon long ago, is to "reverse" the direction of some of the dials. Because Nikon and Canon had similar controls go in different directions to do the same thing - for example, a shutter speed dial - I found it easier to reverse the direction of the controls. That way when my thumb or finger was used to moving a certain way to raise or lower the shutter speed, it did it the way I was used to. I made the camera work the way my muscle memory had been trained. It was a menu item in their DLRs and I'm sure it must be still in their R lineup.

That made my changeover much easier. It applied to shutter speed, aperture and exposure bias, as I recall. Possibly ISO as well.

Best of luck with your new gear!

 

[itsallBb2me]

The summary of what you want to do is set the camera to shoot RAW or cRAW images at a high frame rate with continuous autofocus. Canon calls continuous AF “Servo AF.” They just recently introduced a feature called “Continuous AF” and you do NOT want that; it’s for video and it will kill your battery.

?? If you select Continuous AF, the camera is always focusing whenever it's on. As far as I know, it doesn't have anything specifically to do with video. Apparently no one knows any use for it, and yes, it is a battery killer.

I am not seeing “Continuous AF” in the menus of my R7 or in the manual. Did I miss an upgrade? Are you referring to Preview AF?

So you want Servo AF and you generally want to use Eye AF, configured to track Animals not Humans. So we tuck the “Human/Animal/Objects” setting into the Custom Menu area, in case you want to photograph a human.

There is an AF menu area which lets you configure an AF “Case.” This takes some time to set up and get comfy with; it pertains to how “sticky” the autofocus is on a subject and whether it tries to guess where the subject will go next. Long discussion possible there…

With the camera set for Eye Detection AF, what most action photographers do is reconfigure the Shutter release button so that its half-press is only a Meter On, and NOT Meter/AF On. There is an AF-On button at the top back which you’ll hold down to start and stop Autofocus. And there’s a menu where you configure all that.

Next to the AF-ON button there is a * button, and you’ll configure that button as a custom AF-ON which uses object detection instead of Eye Detection. Let’s say you’re in the forest and you see a pretty flower. Your camera won’t focus on it correctly because the flower does not have any eyes to detect. So you nudge your thumb over to the * button, hold it, and standard AF starts up, like your old Nikon, without the Eye Detection.

One other thing: For the very fastest frame rate, and silent shooting, you can configure the camera for fully electronic shutter. Most people don’t use this mode, because on R7 it produces rolling shutter effects which distort fast-moving wings and legs. Instead, set up Electronic First Curtain Shutter, which is electronic shutter to start the exposure but a shutter curtain ends the exposure, so no motion is recording to the sensor while the camera reads out the sensor. This is another item I keep in the Custom Menu, in case I want a perfectly silent shutter.

The second shutter curtain can impart a shock to the camera, however. Some people advise not using the second-curtain shutter with highest frame rates and slow shutter speeds, but you wouldn't do that anyway, would you? (Shutter blades can shake long telephotos, or some, mostly inexpensive zoom lenses with IS--even if IS is turned off.) (Hopefully we don't get into a long discussion about this, and no one starts bashing. Shutter shock is also known in the Nikon world.)

 

[chipman]

I like this guy -

WILD ALASKA

ALASKAN LIFESTYLE & ADVENTURE My name is Scott and I am extremely lucky and proud to live in Alaska. I have the luckiest opportunity to live and work in one of the greatest regions for nature and wildlife. Life never stops in Alaska. When most people think things slow down even in the...

www.youtube.com

He does a lot of wildlife shooting. His R7 setup will give you some ideas on what can be done. I didn't do everything his way, but it's a good first step.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

The summary of what you want to do is set the camera to shoot RAW or cRAW images at a high frame rate with continuous autofocus. Canon calls continuous AF “Servo AF.” They just recently introduced a feature called “Continuous AF” and you do NOT want that; it’s for video and it will kill your battery.

?? If you select Continuous AF, the camera is always focusing whenever it's on. As far as I know, it doesn't have anything specifically to do with video. Apparently no one knows any use for it, and yes, it is a battery killer.

I am not seeing “Continuous AF” in the menus of my R7 or in the manual. Did I miss an upgrade? Are you referring to Preview AF?

Yes, that's it. They renamed it. I still don't know what it's for, even with the new name.

 

[itsallBb2me]

The summary of what you want to do is set the camera to shoot RAW or cRAW images at a high frame rate with continuous autofocus. Canon calls continuous AF “Servo AF.” They just recently introduced a feature called “Continuous AF” and you do NOT want that; it’s for video and it will kill your battery.

?? If you select Continuous AF, the camera is always focusing whenever it's on. As far as I know, it doesn't have anything specifically to do with video. Apparently no one knows any use for it, and yes, it is a battery killer.

I am not seeing “Continuous AF” in the menus of my R7 or in the manual. Did I miss an upgrade? Are you referring to Preview AF?

Yes, that's it. They renamed it. I still don't know what it's for, even with the new name.

Thanks for your reply, but I am still wondering where they renamed it. Not in my camera, menus (firmware 1.20) and not in the manual. Is there a manual update?