How I set up the R7 for bird and wildlife photography - all settings

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

You can buy the Canon EOS R7 here (Adorama Affiliate Link): adorama.rfvk.net/6eeR5r

[@buddahbud1]

Thanx you gave me some new practical settings for quicker changes for types of wild life shooting in one button or more settings.

[@darkbidding]

Auto Level doesn’t digitally adjust for level as you said. Instead, it uses the IBIS to level the sensor. A big advantage of this is that there is no crop applied using this method.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Did I say digitally? Then that was a mistake, I meant that the ibis is moving

[@DavidJones-iq8hp]

Thanks, good info. at 15:49 you were talking about the manual focus guide.on your screen is the focus distance and mm used. where / how do I find or see on my screen I'm not seeing it thanks

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! This was in the configuration of the viefinder/screen and not in the AF section

[@Geordiegjs]

Hi Fabian, just received my new R7 today but having watched your video several times, I was already familiar with the customisation process. Many thanks for the Excellent video Fabian, I will move to the Canon 100-500 next. I do photograph birds, but military aircraft is my thing. Keep up the great work! George from the UK.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks and have fun with the R7

[@waynecampbell4974]

Excellent Job Fabian. Loved the secondary bird setup mode. You got a SUB......Thanks

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks a lot

[@wellingtoncrescent2480]

Thanks, Fabian: You managed to be both comprehensive and concise, with a helpful summary. I am however confused by one point. You have assigned the shutter button half click to "meter start + AF" (22:09). Then, the AF-on button is assigned to Eye AF, which adds subject tracking. How do you prevent the shutter button from over-riding the AF-on button? Or does that not happen when you hold the AF-on button in the 'click' position? I apologize if I've misunderstood, and thanks again for the detailed exposition.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! That’s a very good point. As long as you hold the AF-On button it overrides the AF function that was before on the shutter button. As soon as you let go of the af-on, the „normal“ af of the shutter button takes over. Does that make sense?

[@wellingtoncrescent2480]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography Thanks, that's very helpful. I had a different configuration using dual back-button focus, but I am going to switch to what you've described here. I really like the idea of separately assigning the AEL (*) for, say, birds in flight.

[@gossedejong9248]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I never new this, and have not seen this anywhere else either!! It is absolutely brilliant, as it de facto adds an extra possibilty for focussing! Sure will implement this, thanks!!!

[@gossedejong9248]

@@wellingtoncrescent2480 so will i!

[@gossedejong9248]

brilliant question, thanks!!

[@panomsuk397]

Thanks Fabian, I like your customized the button which I did some on my R5. On R5 I use the DOF button for 1.6 CROP but R7 no more need so I change to OVF sim. Love your setting * button is a way of quicker go to new setting than rotate the dial to C1C2C2.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks!

[@ballkd1]

Agreed! I set mine for that also. Now I can’t wait for that decisive moment when a bird suddenly flies. I just hope that my thumb finds that button properly in this very compact R7 and that I remember to keep the button held down during the shot sequence. 😃

[@susannedebernardi8223]

Thank you for the work. I will try those settings (complete Newbie), see how it works for me. Probably be looking for Landscape settings for C3 🙂 Great work. Susanne from Zuerich and Canada

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks and good luck!

[@KennyRoss-f6s]

This was really useful, thank you so much. Really informative!

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Happy to hear that 😊

[@stephen25uk]

Very useful, thanks Fabian. Like you I prefer AF and metering with the shutter button. I really don´t understand why you would assign AF to a back button? why press two buttons to take a photo when one will do?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks, happy to hear that

[@georgewatson9317]

ARe you able to asign a button for back button focusing??

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Yes

[@BerndGramberg]

Hi Fabian, thank you for that great tutorial. I would like to know the the setting for the mode dial during your set up process?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

If I remember correctly, I was in "M"

[@crbhagwat]

I am an amateur photographer using Canon R7 and Rf 100-500 mm lens since last six months. the gear is set to the setting as recommended by you, but for birds in flight shoot with STAR button set I am not able to use exposure compensation needed for birds flying against the bright sky, can you please suggest me the remedy. thanks for the great video. awaiting your reply.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

You can preset a exposure compensation when recalling a shooting mode. A friend of mine is doing that for taking pictures of birds against the sky.

[@crbhagwat]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography thank you sir

[@Manbros22]

Hi Fabian..for some reason my AF operation is stack on MF no option for servo maybe i did something wrong I don't know...If you have suggestion i be happy to hear it ..Thanks mate.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Did you check if the switch on your camera or lens is on „mf“?

[@Manbros22]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography It's on AF why should me on MF?

[@Manbros22]

Oh working now Thanks mate cheers :)

[@lawrencelam1820]

Hi Fabian, thanks for your kind sharing.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Hi Lawrence, you’re welcome! Glad if it’s useful 😊

[@frankkihn]

Would changing the Drive mode to High speed from HC + have an effect on the electronic 1st-curtain vibrations at lower shutter speeds you refer to?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I did not test that, mostly due to the lower frame rate of 8fps. But it’s a good point

[@BerndGramberg]

Hi Fabian, thank you for this great tutorial. Just one question, what was your initial mode dial setting for this setup?

[@CarlosLatouche]

friend I was attentive to the video and there is an option that I could not appreciate, I usually make videos for social networks, I want to know if the R7 has to record in 9 16, does it come out in aspect ratio? please answer I'm very interested 🙏

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I‘m not sure, I never tried vertical video

[@WHEELSRT7]

Great video! I'm looking for that same combination of body and lens for auto sports. Maybe someone in the comments has done the same?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! Yes, I hope somebody can help you 😊

[@magnestory9622]

Is there a possibility to assign ,or otherwise switch between multiple shots & single shots when in electro- or mechanical shutter. Or is the only option to clip the series?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Do you mean if the only option is to cycle through all the options?

[@magnestory9622]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I would like to be able to with only one push of my tumb to alternate BTW single frame and whatever multiple frame mod I am in.....?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I think that’s not directly possible, no. But I never really tried as I didn’t have the need

[@jimkok1957]

Have you noticed a big difference between UHS I card and UHSII card?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I usually avoid SD cards 😉 So I didn’t have multiple cards to test

[@gossedejong9248]

Brilliant, very helpful, thank you!!

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks

[@joseangel81081]

Hellow, Eos r7 or OM-1 for birding? 🤔

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I didn‘t try to om-1. but generally speaking I prefer a bigger sensor, so personally I would go for the R7

[@joseangel81081]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography i see, the R7 is better than the OM-1 because of the size of the sensor. 👌

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Well, that’s only one aspect. I would go for the R7 but I know that there is also a bunch of people that would go the other way

[@joseangel81081]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography ok. Thank you so much. 👍

[@carmfully]

New to the R system. I am confused about regular AF and eye AF. I set up my af following your steps in video. But, despite setting up the af for a single point AF, when I try AF, the camera uses the entire frame while searching for what I assume to be an eye. If that's the case, what is the point of setting up single point af to begin with? Like does the eye AF override the regular single point AF?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

You need to deactivate tracking 😊

[@carmfully]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I have subject tracking deactivated in the AF menu 1. I am still seeing random AED disengagement where it is clearly locked onto the eye and then for no apparent reason, it jumps to grasses or nearby branches. This is especially true when the bird is perched in front of a busy background. The only way I can keep the focus point more "sticky" is to not use eye detection and just use regular af which defeats the whole point of the new af system - I could do that just as well with my old 7Dii. Any advice? What am I doing wrong? Is it just a limitation of a $1500 camera (vs something like the r3 which will literally lock on and hold focus on a tiny song bird hiding behind branches in low light)?

[@annetteherz6253]

I saw something from Duane Patton here on KZbin on this where he compares R5 to R7 and he mentions that due to lesser AF points it may sometimes be jumpier than the R5. He uses a custom button to go to single point AF (*) to find the subject and then can go back to eye tracking.

[@garymeredith2441]

Fabian have you been having auto focuse issues with the Canon R7 like so many of us , because this has gotten totally out of control , if watch other KZbinrs like Duade Patton he has had lots of issues with the R7 I would hope maybe you can put in your two cents worth it's gotten so bad with me I have to back to my EOS 7 D Mk II because it just so horrible with my R7 I can't take photos that are In focus with this R7 .

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

It’s definitely not on the level of an R5 or R6 II. But especially when using a bit more the spot AF and less the animal eye detection, I was still quite happy with it (also regarding the price). For me the 7D II was the worst DSLR I ever owned in terms of AF and I think the R7 is worlds ahead. Just my two cents

[@jaheuk]

Hi Fabian, I am using canon R7 and I want my photonames start with IMG_ and videos start with VI_ HOWEVER what I try in "yellow menu 1" and saving it to C1 photo or video . . . . is doesn't work. I always keep my last setting . . . . Any ideas on this ???

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I‘m not sure if you can set this differently for photo/video

[@peterfox2538]

I'm getting a R7 but I'm slowly changing my mind if the focus doesn't work it can't be any good.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I wouldn’t say that it „doesn’t work“. But the R5 is more consistent

[@margotanenbaum1]

Thanks so much--this was super helpful. I just bought this camera and am leaving for Kenya in a few weeks--this helps give me a jump start on how to get the camera set up. If you focus by pressing the shutter half way down and you want to reposition the camera for a better composition, does the camera hold the focus or do you have to keep the shutter pressed halfway?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I set it up with AI Servo and Focussing with the shutter. This means that if I focus with Spot AF (or single point) and keep the shutter half pressed and recompose, the camera will adjust the focus continuously. But it works quite well with the animal eye AF. Otherwise I would recommend moving the AF point to the proper place before you start focussing. Hope that helps

[@peter8605]

Why don't you use BBF ...try it out :)

[@goswamidhaval]

Use back button focus. It is something very important in recomposing your shot. Try it.

[@AlessandroAvigni]

hi is RAW burst mode ok also with C-RAW?

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I‘m not 100% sure. But I thought that the user can not set this since it is recorded as a „raw-movie-sequence“

[@gabririn7266]

Beautiful content, I really appreciated a lot. Thanks a lot !!!!!!

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks a lot 😊

[@Klaus_Natur]

Hallo Fabian, wird dieses Video auch auf deutsch kommen? Gruß Klaus

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Yep, heute Nachmittag

[@Klaus_Natur]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography SUPER, vielen Dank.

[@markuhart8850]

I discovered that by capturing images only in RAW or CRAW I cannot magnify them on the screen, or move the image around to examine focus in other areas of the image. It takes a JPEG image to render it properly on the screen and magnify to all the levels of magnification. So now I set the Image Quality to CRAW+S2 so the Magnify button and Main dial are functional.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

That’s not a normal behavior of the camera. Usually you can magnify Raw and cRaw on the back of the screen

[@markuhart8850]

UPDATE: I learned from other users on the FM R7 users forum that this behavior is because I had the camera in the RAW burst Mode (pg. 272 of the User Guide.) The Pre-shooting

[@markuhart8850]

… mode cannot be enabled without the camera being set to RAW burst mode. When I set the camera in the pre-shooting mode I will just have to select the keepers from the RAW burst files using the slider to identify keeper. Then I can save them to RAW and do a closer inspection using the magnify function.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Ah yes! Sorry, I assumed you were just in the normal mode

[@andrear9500]

Very helping video. Nevertheless, there are way too many options and settings. Too many things to know and to remember. Of course one can decide to tweak just a couple and leave the rest as standard.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! There are indeed a lot of options available!

[@philippe-malet]

A big thank you, it is very inspiring.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Glad if the video helped you

[@Helen_von_Holten]

Great video! Thanks! 😄

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thank you!

[@bernardnuij]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Happy to hear that

[@azkaz8157]

Hello Fabian, loving your videos, keep up the great work! Like you, I prefer to leave the main shutter as is and not use back button focusing. I have found one problem that I thought you might be able to help me with. 90% of the time I use tracking. But sometimes tracking is just too jumpy and I need to be able to switch between servo with tracking and just servo mode where I have the focus point.. The closest I can come is leaving subject tracking off as you recommend and setting another button for start/stop tracking. The problem is the following scenario. A bird is on the branch and you are tracking it in servo with the shutter half pressed. As soon as you release the shutter to then find another target, the tracking stops and you revert to single point servo. To engage tracking you have to then press the start/stop tracking again. And you have to do these each time you release the shutter button. Do you know how I can have one button that permanently enables or disables tracking? One press, tracking is permanently on no matter if tracking of the bird is lost or if I choose another target. Press it again and it stays in servo mode without tracking. I hope that is clear, thanks for your help!

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! Hmm, no I think that‘s not possible. If you use tracking most of the time you could switch the buttons, i.e. have tracking on the shutter and single point AF on the AF-on button

[@azkaz8157]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography Thanks Fabian, I can't seem to find a menu item labelled single point AF to assign to the AF-on button.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Where you customize the dials & buttons (custom settings tab 3) you can register any AF method. Let me know if you found it!

[@azkaz8157]

Hi Fabian, yes I found the sub menu. Thanks!

[@macrain2691]

Thank you

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

You’re welcome 😊

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I hope this video was helpful. If you want to support me and my channel, please consider using the "SuperThanks" Button below the video 🙂

[@Albiemanmike]

Fabian Fopp - Nature Photography do you find that using the Electronic 1st curtain causes blurring due to the harshness of the R7 shutter function? Most KZbin vids on this camera recommend using the electronic shutter due to the harsh shutter slap.

[@bimosunupoernomo7120]

Canon, gurat order Of tthings Is to create battery grup for KZbin EOS R7. NO OTHER IS URGENT THEN THIS. Otherwise leta impor and improvisasi The One front POLLAND

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Not sure I understand, but you want a battery grip? Personally I don’t need one but maybe it might be useful for some people

[@jesuszb1981]

Hello! Can you put the subtitles in Spanish please? Thank you!!

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

No, sorry. My Spanish is clearly not that good 😅🙈

[@jesuszb1981]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography haha, it's a youtube option that you can activate in options 😉

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Yes, but this is something you need to choose when you watch the video. I just checked again, it’s possible to select basically any language when you watch the video

[@jesuszb1981]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography Thanks a lot!!!!😃

[@ronaldstoor9808]

You are not using an R7 for your demo camera. Your pictures show a top screen which the R7 doesn`t have. Do you really have one !

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

What do you mean? The camera in the video is an R7, look a bit closer 😉

[@ronaldstoor9808]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography You look at the beginning of your video which shows the top of the camera next to the shutter button. There is a information screen in your picture. The R7 does not have an information screen on top of the camera, only on the back of the camera. Ron Stoor

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Yes, for four seconds I was showing a clip of my R5 I recorded two years ago. But the whole „demo“ is with the R7, I think that’s the point of the video, right? 😉

[@ronaldstoor9808]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography Thank you for your reply. Enjoy the R7. I still use the R. Ron Stoor

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

The R is also a great camera, especially for slower moving subjects. I just used the R7 of a friend that I had to return after some time. So now I’m back to the R5

[@swarupmukherjee6222]

You are explaining too fast, please be little slow to understan in detail.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks for the feedback, I will talk slower the next time

[@jerslens]

Just turn the video speed down to 0.75

[@jarrett2213]

Now, just get rid of the video

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

What do you mean?

[@AmandaDunn-g9e]

Really helpful. Thanks.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Happy to hear that 😊