My Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography (Best Settings)
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- We all have different ways of setting up our cameras. It can be a daunting task, causing some people to leave their settings mostly on defaults, but this will only lead to frustration when out shooting wildlife. It's taken me a while to arrive here, but I feel like my setup offers a great balance of features, simplicity, speed and frustration-reduction.
My Instagram if you want to see more of my pics: / blightrob
My camera gear: kit.com/blightrob
I want to hear what camera settings you like to use! Please leave it in a comment.
Rob make it look like you caught it on camera not like you like it, after spending hours in your software making that raw look nothing like the original. Software its at a such level that soon you wont be leaving your house to come up with that unreal wildlife photos.
Hello Rob, I have one suggestion. When videotaping yourself at home, set the focus to manual. This video is very good, but the camera struggling to focus drove me nuts.
He knows photography, not video :)
@@rjpg It's the same thing.
@@Rich6Brew ya, ok, keep thinking that
The front button focus with single point is a great feature and I find it works great I previously only had it set to single point and had to hold the Pv button and focus with back button but now I’ve changed it to focus as well much much better thank you.
Excellent no nonsense video, thanks again Rob
Rob,
I got my Nikon D500 about a year ago. Still am learning a lot. Just watched this video. I really enjoyed the way you explain your settings. Very clear and easy. Great video. Thank you.
Just awesome. I've watched many videos but have learned more from this one than any other. So very helpful and well put together. Loved the back button part. Thanks so much.
I have a very similar setup on the D500 on my wildlife /sports shooting bank. Manual with auto iso (max set to 12k).
Continuous high and Qc shooting modes. Back button focus with AF-on set to group focus, and joystick press to single point. Since when im using group focus it's for a moving/action shot and I'm trying to keep subject in the middle of the frame. For stationary subjects i can move the focus point with joystick to suit composition then focus by pressing the joystick button.
I keep metering in matrix mode, but the front function and preview buttons are set to spot metering and highlight metering. These are super useful when you don't have an evf allowing for quick adjustments in exposure and it means rarely do i need to touch exposure compensation. Im usually shooting wide open or 1 stop down, and shutter is usually at 1/250 or 1/2000. So even though im in manual, I only need to make 1 adjustment when switching between moving and stationary subjects. This basically means all I have to do is get the composition correct, and the front buttons take care of exposure and the back buttons take of the focus.
i think a cool feature would be when pressing AF-On auto focus+plus group area focus, if it also was programmed to switch the shutter speed to 1/2000. Then its like an auto action button
Thanks for sharing your experience with great comments/instruction...I have a D500 & didn't realise I could set up some of these benefits.. although only a hobbyist I love to learn about all the options on my camera that manuals don't always explain easily.... cheers from Australia 😀
Love this. Well explained and easy to understand.
Nice Rob, i have a D850, and it's great to hear that i use almost the same settings as you do! Great vid's by the way, keep up the work!
A subscriber from Belgium.
Hi Rob! Thank you for letting us know how you set up your camera, and explain why you have done it. I tried it yesterday when i was trying to take Pictures of birds and it helped me much.
The best video that I have encountered so far on how to set up one’s camera while shooting birds or wildlife. The informal approach helped a lot. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much! There were so many good tips in your video to save time. Much appreciated!
thanks for sharing your settings. I just started photographing and those tipps help me a lot :)
Some great tips, thank you.
A very big thank you. I learned a lot of things !
Thank you so much, Rob
Rob I have watch a lot of youtube videos on camaras, I do have a D500 and my friend, this videos have been if not the best is truly is one of the best descriptive on settings I have ever seen - Tanks a Lot for your time and effort... Good Job!!!!👍👍👍
Hi Rob another excellent informative video. I am a canon user and my settings are pretty much similar to yours with just a few personal tweaks. Keep up the great work I always look forward to your videos :)
Hey... nice video, thank you! Am just getting ready to buy the D850 and now have the D750 and really love back button set up. It's great! Going to try the front button as soon as the camera is in my hands! )))
Hi Rob there is also a setting that you can use to decide which order you play your images back after shooting, so if you want you can see the first image of a sequence of shots you’ve just taken or the last. Great video.
Pure gold, thank you!
Interesting setup, I use my D500 with the front button focus. Ken Rockwell, who I've followed since the pre-web days, uses a full step for changing exposure values. Old film camera habits. Overall a great tutorial, very well explained.
Will try a few of these tips on my “old” D810. When you do vids like this best have camera prefocused manually.
It's very informative thank you Rob
Very professionally done , well done. Enjoyed this video.
Very clear precise and insightful...
Thanks for this, going to get this camera soon.
Nice job
Thank you
I use some of these, but you gave me some ideas.
Cool video Rob :) I really liked the option to set a function button to AF-area mode + AF-ON with my D500. Sadly it’s not an available option on the Z7 for some unknown reason! My favourite setting, which the Z7 does have, is the silent shutter - having used it for a while I find even the quiet modes of DSLRs really loud!!
You can do the single point/grp focus trick as well by remapping what the joy stick does when you simply press it. That way you are always using your thumb to "back button" focus and can save the other function buttons for other functions. This is one reason I still shoot DSLRs in 2022. Was sad to find that they didn't include that function on the refurb 780 I just bought as backup. i menu gets you there quickly though.
Thank you so much for superb explaining
Excellent vid! I've already adopted two of your suggestions: I've just changed the group focus from front to back and the single one from back to front. I makes much more sense indeed. I've also found very useful the Qc shutter mode. Thanks a lot!
How do you do this?
Thankyou,great video.Much Appreciated.✅
Excellent! So helpful!
Interesting to see that you have your D850 set up virtually identical to the way I have my D500's set up for wildlife shooting. The one exception is white balance, I must admit this is the setting I have most difficulty with and I think it becomes a matter of personal taste. I used to use the cloudy setting on my earlier cameras but for the D500 I have settled on Auto 2 and go from there in post, it's not often that I adjust it, sometime it does look a little cool and I'll apply some warming.
Fantastic video thanks so much!!!!!
Brilliant video just got d800 needed some help thanks very educational 👍👍👍👍
Being able to set white balance to cloudy under most natural lighting says a lot about where you live 🤣🤣😉 in South America where I live, there is high altitude and thin atmosphere and therefore very bright sunshine ! I can assure you that setting white balance to direct sunlight is a must, obviously when the sun is out
I just followed you on Instagram too. Wow!!!I love your work!! Greetings from Virginia America.
Thank you for this informative video. Most channels just give me hype and nothing useful that can improve my photography.
Thank You for a great video much appreciated
Excellent coverage.
Great video,thanks.
Great info for me, Thanks..
Excellent brother thanks and salute your high quality experience.🤝🤝🤝
Good video thank you. When I shoot fast moving objects I set my camera to shutter speed priority so if my subject is stationary or not moving as fast I can focus on controlling only one possible adjustment. I also shoot tennis so they are constantly in motion while the ball is in play. Anyhow, I am not a professional photography by any means but I love shooting anything i can when I can. Thank you
Brilliant!. I wish I could go on a shoot with you....thank you!
Thanks for the great video! FYI You can set the joystick to move your focus point while also pushing it to focus at the same time. I Use the back button for 25 point group, and the joystick for single point. Most of my shots are moving, so rarely use single, just thought you'd like to know that since you mentioned using the joystick and front button at the same time. Super handy once you get used to it!
Great info, how do you do this?
Great vid, intuitive.
Outstanding video!!
Excellent video
Excellent Teaaching Video, Thank You
The Electronic front-curtain shutter is also on the D500. I have never used it.
Hi new subscriber here. I’m definitely going to make a few changes, esp. “front focus” and function button for quick switching focus modes. Brilliant!
Gonna need to re-watch, as I was a little confused about the quiet mode and its restrictions.
One more thing, my nikon 200-500 Has a switch for “full’ or ‘infinity to 6m’. What is the deciding factor when shooting wildlife? (I’m dabbling in the nature& wildlife genre).
Thank you so much!
Joystick press set to single point + af-on is an awesome combo with group focus - you press af-on for group, and move the focus point + single-point focus with just the joystick to zero-in on an eye.
Same here. Works brilliant.
Thanks for the AF tips, especially the front button one. Going to give that a try! Cheers!
That 500pf.... what a lovely piece of Glass.
Look how small it is compared to the f4 version. I was wondering what lens that was. The flare or taper to a larger outside diamature is how I figured it out. Can’t believe how small it is.
@@thomastuorto9929 I've finally got one... it's a beauty. Worth the wait.
Thanks for the useful presentation. Is it possible in Nikon D500 to keep the AF points always turned ON?
Good one Rob, I've been using Nikon for over thirty years and your settings are virtually identical to mine or mine identical to yours, either way I think they offer the optimum for wildlife and I use pretty much the same settings for sports too. cheers.
This is a fantastic presentation.Thank you very much.I am following all your guidelines. I am using a nikon d7500 and was not able to assign group area mode to F1 button.Is it not possible in d7500 ? If possible can you please mention how to do that
Same here, I use pretty much the same settings on my D500 and D850 and find myself often switching between M and A modes. you're a lucky person, I've been trying to get my hands on a 500PF for the last 10 months or so, but with no luck. keep up the good work loving the vids...
I have a 500 f4 which I'm weary carrying around it just takes the pleasure out of the experience, so I've been trying to get a 500PF myself. I'm told there is still a long waiting list. Friend of mine has both a 500 f4 and the 500 PF and reckons the PF is about 90% as good as the f4. That'll do me.
@@wildfisher Im looking for a prime lens and I might just tie the knot on a F4 for now.
@@wildfisher In the USA? If so try a lot of smaller camera stores. Even if there is a waiting list, it is not as long as the bigger store like B& H & Adorama.
Great content
I use pretty much the same settings throughout with one exception.
I leave my camera in single point mode and use the pushed-down joystick to activate group AF. This feels natural as the two 'back button focus' buttons are side by side.
Hi Rob.. I am a wildlife photography enthusiast and yes I have the exact same gear as you do . D850 plus the Nikkor 500 mm F 5.6 .. The settings are near identical to yours though some of your tips I am grateful for , especially the Electronic front curtain shutter on ON.. Did that. Hopefully gives me the ability to shoot at even lower speeds hand held. Back button focus I have done from day one plus the front button toggle for focus modes. But yes .. Unlike you I am not stuck on an island 😄 and what I actually get to shoot are tigers in some 42 odd National Parks across India . All the very best...😀
Great video, can I please ask how do you assign the front button for focus as you mentioned?
Hi Rob, Nice video. On 3mins 40 you said you need to keep your eye on the ISO so it doesn't drop to low or high. You can set the minimum shutter speed in the ISO sensitivity settings to a certain shutter speed so that you don't have to worry about that / camera shake. Well worth setting that up if you haven't already. You can also set it to an auto setting which means it won't drop below the shutter speed relative to the focal length; For example 1/50th on a 50mm lens or 1/500th on your 500mm lens. I see you just picked up the Z6 & hope you enjoy it. I got 1 recently as well & liking it
Thanks, and yeah because I shoot in manual mode + auto ISO I don't have any use for the minimum shutter speed setting. I have used it in the past, but honestly I find it depends on the situation so much, I'd rather just have control over it. And yes liking the Z6 so much for video, and the 24-70/2.8S lens is on another level.
very good information
Thanks for the video. Do you set up AE hold button to lock the exposure?
I use almost the same settings as you but instead of using the front button for single-point focus I press the joystick button which means I can also control the focus point position at the same time.
Talking about the ISO I get my best results by put in a limit on how high My ISO goes hi ISO in a lot of situations does mean more noise I control the light by tweaking shutter speed and auto compensation I keep an eye on my histogram to do this changes the best looking pictures are when my ISO is below 500. ,Also you mentioned you leave your lens wide open I used to do that myself but I found that shooting at f8 when light is available I get more of the subject in focus because depth of field. So I switch aperture around.
Do you know if two-button focusing is possible for Fujifilm X-T3? I can set two buttons, but I don't think I can get them to behave differently. Any help appreciated! Great video btw
Wow man, thanks! I have been shooting in manual mode for birds and wildlife and having to constantly adjust my settings takes a lot of way from the enjoyment of shooting. Switching to aperture mode for everything except birds in flight or extremely harsh contrast situations has really improved my images and allowed me to shoot more without thinking about it as much just by adjusting the exposure compensation in the viewfinder with my d500 on aperture mode. My photography has definitely taken a step forward and I really appreciate it. Thanks again and best of luck to you in 2020!
Hello rob using the same combo as yourself for a few weeks now do you find that when you first got the d850 you encountered some noise in darker hours
Enjoying your video’s keep it up
By the way, sport vr mode does nothing for panning. What it does is make the viewfinder image more stable, and makes the vr lens group recenter less when you release the shutter (preserving your framing better). If you notice you’re getting missframed shots a lot, give sport mode a try.
Nice video Rob. But at 6:20 you can use "exposure Compensation" when the camera is if full manual mode?
when you use either the front 2nd focus customisation .... do you HOLD it, or just press once to switch modes ?
Little tip I have learned from using older Panasonic cameras is to use manual focus for the sit down stuff Rob otherwise you get that horrible hunting. Not sure what you are using to film with but it looks contrast based? With regards to settings although we are using different cameras many are similar although I do tend to have multiple custom setups for any given moment. That said this morning I tried taking a shot of a Buzzard without a battery in the camera! 🤣🤣
Yeah tell me about it... usually I use the D850 which has pretty good face tracking AF, this time though I was using a D5300 which seemed okay at first, but turned out to be pretty terrible when I reviewed the footage. I don't like using manual focus - tried it before and ended up out of focus the entire time. There's no perfect solution - even the Canon dual pixel AF loses focus sometimes. In the back of my mind I always think it would be sensible to stop the lens down, but gotta have that shallow DoF...
GRacias por el aporte. Una consulta: No considera el punto dulce del lente, ya que al principio indica que utilizará la apertura al máximo?
Hi Rob. Great help. Many thanks. One question. How did you assign the Fn1 button to open Playback? Just got a D850 and struggling to work it out.
what aperture lens would you recommend for animal photography? i shoot mostly my dogs and cats. do i need an F2.8 lense? or will an F4 be fine? i shoot 99% outdoors. Thank you Rob
I have 3 auto focus choices set on my Nikon D500: The PV button is set to single point focus. The AF button on the back is set for Group focus. The Joy Stick is set for 25 point and sometimes 72 point focus. I almost always keep the Joy Stick locked so when I engage the focus I'm not accidentally moving the points of focus.
How do you lock the Joy Stick to prevent moving your focus points?!
Focus selector lock. move to 'L'
@@clintonoxcjc Thanks.But I mean is there any way to just lock the Joy Stick not the focus selector?!
@@manofnature5381 The "L" locks both.
Like your camera strap. Where can it be purchased?
Hi, what is the triangle sign in front of aperture number on the screen display? Now I can’t change my Aperture number any more. Would you help please? Thank you
Do you happen to know if the d7500 has more than one focus choice?
Pretty much the same settings I use with my D500 and D850 Rob. Do you use the buttons on your 500 PF lens?
I have them set to focus recall, but for my style of shooting that feature just doesn't really get used. I can see some great uses for them though, like if you were in a hide you could set focus memory on a perch.
RAW & White balance and why get it right in camera. A correct white balance gives better exposure results.
A sensor speed setting low enough to capture fine detail with low noise and a properly exposed image gives the greatest amount of image detail.
You can't change in post what you've already captured in camera. White balance is no different than sensor speed ,all you can do is modify it through the subtraction or addition in gain.
White balance needs to be correct as possible,from the start.
A sensor must have a certain response to light and the colors it sees depending on the materials it's made from and the color filters used. There has to be a neutral fixed white balance or a color temperature that it works best at.
The silicone that digital video sensors are made from,are almost always more sensitive at the red end of the spectrum.
So as a result all sensors tend to produce the best result with light that has alot of blue(to make up for the lack of blue sensitivity) and not to much red.
So most cameras preform best with daylight and as a result most sensors are considered daylight balanced.
If a camera produces a great image under daylight,how can you possibly get a great image under tungsten without adjusting something?
Somehow you need to change the red and blue channels. Do it in camera and what you get is optimised for your choice of color temperature at the time of shooting.
But you can always change or undo this in post by subtracting or adding to what was added in the camera. If you want anything other than the native response you'll have to do it in post. You will be recording at the cameras native white balance. If you want a different color temperature you'll have to add or subtract gain at the RGB channels in post to alter it. So you're not really changing the actual white balance.
Either way what you record has a nominal white balance and anything you do in post is SKEWING what you have recorded using GAIN. There is no such a camera with no native white balance,all cameras will favor one paticular color temperature.
So if you want the very best image quality,the best method is to adjust at the time of recording.
Shoot Raw and as follows:
Color TemperatureLight Source
3000-4000 KSunrise/Sunset (clear sky)
5000-6500 KDaylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead)
6500-8000 KModerately Overcast Sky
9000-10000 K Shade or Heavy Overcast Sky
Sunrise/sunset at 9000 K -10000 K for dramatic colored skies.
Note: moonlight has a 4100 K temp
That's warmer than the sunrise or sunset.
Yet other times custom white balance is my second method when my client is concerned with color tones.
Raw doesn't magically not have a white balance,so shooting at the wrong white balance and correcting it in post is not something you should want to do.
Enjoyed your video. I have the D850 and share most of your settings. I have never tried the Cloudy WB so will check that out. With regards to the Auto ISO could you tell me what setting you use for the minimal and maximal ISO and also what do you use for minimal shutter speed? Thanks.
Thanks cii. The min and max ISO are as low and as high as they can go - the wider that range the better. There is no minimum shutter speed, since I'm using manual mode it's whatever I set it to (depends on lens, handholding ability, etc).
@@RobBlight Thank you.
Rob, could you tell what camera strap do you use for your camera?
Outdoor filming
Full-hd 25p 200mb
Eterna
high lights: -2
shadow: -2
noise: +2
detail: +1
color: -1
dr:400
Iso: 800 or 1600 (no auto).
Cheers rob, really help full 👌🏻🤘🏻
Rob Bright. Good tips for setting up. I should not have had a beer before watching this video, you keep going in and out of focus. I set the three pre-sets on my A9 for birds in flight and longer range close ups of butterflies. One is set to AFC, tracking wide, 1/1600th, f6.3, auto ISO for bigger birds. One is set up for AFC, tracking wide, 1/2000th, f6.3, auto ISO for smaller, faster birds: and the last is set up on AFC, expandable spot, mechanical shutter (for flash), 1/250th, f13, ISO 100. I have the camera set up in manual, AFC, expandable spot at 1/800th or > (using my new 200 - 600mm) f6.3, auto ISO for stationary/slow moving subjects. Using a zoom is handy for butterflies, as it's not always possible to use my A7III + 90mm macro.
Nice Rob. Good tips for setting. My settings on the D500 are very close to yours. I have a question : what maximum sensitivity are you using in Auto ISO ? (25600 all the time?)
Thanks Chris. Yes as high as it will go.
@@RobBlight Thank you Rob. I have one more quick question - are you using this settings for tripod and handhold the same ? I watch your channel with great interest and learned a lot from it. Keep it up. Regards from Canada.
@@ChrisChristoffos I don't know, I never use a tripod for wildlife.
Did you set up the video camera?
Where can I open raw file if dont have photoshop
You need a canon sl2 for video! It's a cheap camera with dual pixel auto focus.
It appears the gear link is broken.
You are, probably using autofocus mode for the camera you are using to record this video. As a result, the camera autofocus every time your hand or camera moves in front of it.
Thanks, I'll be using a couple of these ideas (was already using the others!)
One question though: I thought when you set your camera to capture RAW, that overrode whatever WB setting you have selected. Am I mistaken?
May I know what is the picture control setting you are using on you D850?
I use neutral, but it only affects the preview you see on the back of the camera not the RAW.
@@RobBlight Ah.. I see. No wonder regardless of the mode (SD, NL,VI) I use, they all look look the same on my monitor. Thanks. Today I learnt yet another new thing from you.