setting up camera for bird photography

[Partha007]

I have recently brought a canon EOS R10 camera and canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 lens. I would like to know about the setting up of this camera for better bird photography.

 

[Johnnyxbow]

Try doing a search on YouTube. Would be a great place to start.

 

[spec68]

Don't know about the R10, but there are a few good birding YouTube videos on setting up other R bodies. Whistling Wings has the R7 so you could go off that one. Wildlife Alaska has a good one too. Also everyone has their own quirks so use these videos as a starter, rather than bible, and modify to your personal tastes.

 

[Johnnyxbow]

Just did a quick search, there are a few for the R10 wildlife and bird setups. This is a link to of them. Not looked at it myself as it is not of any use to me, but might be a starting point

https://youtu.be/MvHjykdJqFE?feature=shared

 

[Myer]

I have recently brought a canon EOS R10 camera and canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 lens. I would like to know about the setting up of this camera for better bird photography.

I assume you mean birds in flight.

I don't have a mirrorless camera (yet) because at this point I'm not really sure on the order (top to bottom) of Canon's lineup.

I use a Canon 7D Mark II and wish they had made a Mark III. I consider that camera a pro level body with a crop sensor. The ultimate for wildlife/action/bird photography.

The R7 is not on that level and in a Duade Paton video Canon confirms that. So the R7 is not a pro level camera that just happens to have been designed with a crop sensor. It is not at the R6 II level.

Back to your issue.

Birds in flight would be very simple if birds flew from left to right (or visa versa) and as they went to either side wrapped around so that the distance from the camera to the bird remained constant. But that's not the way life goes.

That bird is changing direction and thus it's distance from you to it. Consequently, you MUST have the camera continually focusing (or refocusing). This is a whole new ballgame.

My camera is always in AI Servo mode. I think they may now call it Servo but those are only words. SERVO.

That is unrelated to shutter speed, shutter burst selection, tracking setting, etc.

There are various adjustments that can be made to how Servo focusing works on you camera. I don't know exactly what they did on your model but on my 7D Mark II and the R6 Mark II (I played with my daughter's for an hour or two) that use Cases. Simply, a case is a group of several settings that determine how your camera will auto focus in Servo mode.

The most important is sensitivity. If there was a better or worse set of values all of the other would disappear.

When I first got my 7D Mark II I went out shooting birds and made sure I tried each Case for about a week.

Eventually I settled on a specific Case that was best for what I did and my style of shooting. Sensitivity determines what happens and how fast it happens when you camera focuses on a subject and then for some reason (maybe you move of the birds or maybe as it's flying it passes behind a tree, etc) loses focus. How quickly should it refocus or keep the existing focus since in a fraction of a second it will reapper.

The R cameras (I'm not sure if all have this) give you eye detect and even subject type.

That's the idea behind it all and which settings you want to look at.

So if you shoot birds in flight and want to be successful at it you will be using Servo. I spend a fair amount of time [racticing.

I hope this helps.

 

[EJ Fudd]

preorder the 200-800

 

[John Photo]

In addition to the suggestions already provided, you could use the search feature near the top of this forum page. A lot of great ideas have been provided in previous posts.

 

[Myer]

I have recently brought a canon EOS R10 camera and canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 lens. I would like to know about the setting up of this camera for better bird photography.

The 100-400 lens is a consumer lens which means the quality, sharpness, etc isn't going to be the same as an "L" lens at a much higher cost.

However, on a crop sensor like the R10 that's equivalent to a 640mm lens.

However, you may have to stay away from extremes on that lens. You'll find out after using it.

 

[bodeswell]

I have recently brought a canon EOS R10 camera and canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 lens. I would like to know about the setting up of this camera for better bird photography.

Use AI servo and one of the larger AF areas. Make sure eye detect is on if you have it. Use auto iso. Keep the aperture wide open or one stop down. Experiment with shutter speeds. You need short exposures for BIF, but you can get away with longer exposures for perched birds. Nina Bailey has an ebook about bird photography with the R cameras. Maybe give it a look. Don’t waste time with videos. Don’t listen to fantasists. Just take pictures and get to know your gear. Read the manual.

 

[Myer]

For birds in flight you may want to sheet no slower than 1/2000 sec and as fast as 1/3200 sec if you can.

 

[m100]

I have recently brought a canon EOS R10 camera and canon RF 100-400mm f5.6-8 lens. I would like to know about the setting up of this camera for better bird photography.

Start off by reading the manual then watch this 3 times.

Canon Auto Focus Explained with Canon Technical Advisor Rudy Winston - YouTube

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Hello, my name is Steve and I have GAS.