All photos Canon EOS R7 with RF-S 18-150mm lens |
The R7 and R10, introduced in the first half of 2022 are the first EOS RF mount APSC crop sensor cameras. The R7 which is the subject of this post is the more expensive model of the two with a higher level of specification and performance.
The R7 is often used by bird and wildlife photographers as
it gives all lenses an effective 1.6x increase in focal length due to the
sensor size. Thus the RF 100-400mm lens gives us 400mm at the long end on a
full frame camera and effectively 640mm
on the R7.
But the R7 is not just for the birds. It is really a very
capable and versatile camera for any kind of photographic endeavour.
This setup guide assumes we will be using the camera for a
wide range of photographic challenges. So the aim of the setup is to have the
camera ready for anything with the ability to switch quickly from one type of
subject to another.
This guide is written for the enthusiast photographer who understands
or is in the process of learning how to use the Av, Tv, M and Custom Modes on
the Mode Dial and who wants to take control of exposure and focus in the
pursuit of better photos.
This is the camera ergonomics blog. Over the last 15 years I
have developed a systematic approach to understanding how the camera and user
interact with each other.
I describe camera operation in four Phases, Setup, Prepare,
Capture (with sub-phases Hold, View , Operate) , Review.
When I set up a camera I am trying to simplify and
streamline each of these Phases of use so the camera becomes easy to operate
without my having to think about each separate task.
This notion applies especially to Prepare and Capture Phases
of use which can involve altering many parameters quickly.
Prepare Phase is the minute or few (or less) in which we re-configure the camera for a new
set of photographic requirements. For instance I might be doing landscapes but
see a bird flying towards me and want to change a lot of settings very quickly
to photograph the bird in flight. Some cameras allow me to do this, if they
have been set up optimally, others make it very difficult. For example many cameras have a Mode Dial (or
equivalent, as on the Canon R5) on which we can find Custom settings which can
be called up in a moment. Each of these enables immediate access to a group of
settings in one action. Thus it can be easy to switch from landscape to birds
in flight.
But some cameras lack the Mode Dial or any device offering
the same capability. To switch one of these models from landscape to birds in
flight we need a checklist and a voyage through multiple menus and submenus and
button presses and dial scrolls to arrive at the required settings.
In Capture Phase I want to be able to adjust primary and
secondary framing, exposure and focussing parameters without having to change
grip on the camera with either hand and without having to take my eye away from
the viewfinder. Some cameras make this easy, others make it impossible.
Fortunately the R7 is one of the better behaved models with
regard to these ergonomic considerations, but it could be improved.
So with these principles in mind here we go…..
Preliminaries
The R7 is one of the easier enthusiast cameras to get out of
the box and ready for operation. Unlike some models we have no need for an
accessory hand grip or thumb support, those are built in. We do not need a
special accessory to enable a filter or a lens hood to be mounted on the lens.
However we do need to attend to some things.
The first is: do we buy a body only or a body with one or
two lenses in a kit ? Buying body + lens(es)
in a kit is more cost effective. The kit
which I recommend is the R7 with the RF-S 18-150mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM lens which gives us an
excellent all purpose combination.
What about a protect filter for the lens ? Some photographers never use them, asserting
they impair image quality or autofocus operation or both. I have never
encountered either of these problems with top quality (= top price, cheap
filters are not a good investment) best brand (= Hoya, B+W) filters which I
strongly recommend if we are photographing on or near the sea or any place with
dust and other rubbish in the air. It is much easier and safer to clean the
filter than the expensive front element of the lens.
And a lens hood ? Canon supplies a lens hood with L series
lenses (and the non-L RF 200-800mm) but not with other lenses. Boo…. bad Canon.
Some of those lens hoods for consumer models are just bits of moulded plastic which
I suspect cost no more than a dollar to produce. Come on Canon, include a hood with every lens,
please. And yes, I find them useful. They protect the front element from stray
light and to some extent from salt spray, rain and dust.
Next, the LP-E6NH battery is good for a day’s shooting and
about a thousand exposures but prudence says buy a spare battery anyway. I
recommend genuine Canon ones. They are more expensive than third party
alternatives but generally have a longer service life and give more exposures
per charge.
Download the R7 Advanced User Guide from any Canon regional
website. Don’t be intimidated by the 963 pages, it is well written and a useful
reference.
We need some memory cards. The R7 accepts SDXC UHS-II cards
with two rows of contacts. Go for the fastest card you can find in a proven trustworthy
brand. Never put a cheap memory card in
your camera. The fastest card will give us the most shots before the buffer
fills and the fastest buffer emptying. Remember to format the card in the
camera before use.
For the record I use SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II, 300 MB/s,
64GB. I have been using these cards for years with no problems thus far. Cheap
memory cards are not a good investment.
There are many camera bags which will serve to carry the R7
with lens mounted plus a spare battery and cards, some pre-moistened lens
cleaning tissues and a microfiber cloth (I use Hoya branded cloths). I use a
LowePro Toploader Zoom 45 AW II which is very nice but there are lots of
alternatives out there such as the Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20.
To round out the preliminaries, we need to insert a charged battery and a memory card into the camera and turn on the power, being careful not to push the on/off/video switch to the video position.
The camera will prompt us to set the time, date and global
time zone, save the settings.
Look in the viewfinder and adjust the diopter wheel on the
left side of the viewfinder housing until the camera data displayed in the
viewfinder appears sharp.
The next job is to allocate button functions at the [Customize buttons] tab on screen 3 of the
Custom (orange) menu.
Here I describe the button functions which I use, trying to
simplify and streamline camera use as much as possible.
I locate as many Prepare Phase parameters as possible onto
the Q Menu to congregate them into one location. Unfortunately some cannot be
allocated to the Q Menu so have to be picked up in My Menu.
* Shutter Button half press: I leave this at default which
is Metering and AF Start. Some bird and wildlife photographers proselytise back
button focussing or even double back button focussing. Here the shutter button
half press activates metering but not focussing which is allocated to a back
button, usually the AF On button. Some also use another back button such as the
Star* button to activate focussing with different parameters. In practice I find that standard front
button focussing works just fine especially as my camera use covers a broad
range of subject types and situations and I try to keep things as simple as
possible.
* Movie Shooting button: As per default which is Movie
recording.
* Muti-function button (the little one between the shutter
button and front control dial) I set
this to ISO setting because the M-Fn button is much easier to reach than the
ISO button behind the front control dial.
* ISO button: OFF.
* AF ON button: OFF
* AE Lock [*] button: Q Menu. The ergonomic logic of this is
that the [*] button is easier to reach than the [QSet] button in the center of
the cross keys.
* AF Point button (that’s the one below the [*] button on
the thumb support) I set this to
Magnify/Reduce. I use this mainly for checking focus on playback.
* DOF Preview button (the one near the bottom of the front
of the camera body): I set this to [Exposure compensation, hold button, turn
top front control dial]. In Av and Tv Modes I set exposure compensation
directly with the top/rear control dial. But in M Mode I change shutter speed
with the front top control dial and aperture with the top rear control dial and
there is no third dial/wheel such as we find on the R3/5/6 models. So we need a
little workaround to set exposure compensation in M Mode. It works just fine.
* Lens function button: OFF
* Cross keys Up, Left, Right, Down. I set these keys to
Direct AF point selection. This duplicates one of the functions of the
Multi-Controllers (thumb stick). This also allows me to use the cross keys to
navigate in Playback. This makes sense ergonomically as the cross keys are
immediately above the playback button right at the bottom of the back of the
camera.
There are also times such as when the camera is on a
tripod, when I prefer to move the active
AF area with the cross keys instead of the thumb stick (multi-controllers).
* I then use the Q/Set button to re-center the AF area.
* Multi-controllers (thumb stick): Direct AF point
selection.
A straight push on the thumb stick will re-set the AF
area/point to the center.
The next item on screen 3 of the Custom Menu is
Customize Dials.
* Main (top front) dial: [Tv] which stands for time value, which is
Canon-speak for shutter speed setting (in this case in M Mode).
* Quick control dial
(top rear dial) : Av which stands for aperture vale which is Canon speak for
Aperture setting (in this case in M Mode).
* Lens control ring: Disabled. I disable lens control rings as they are
highly prone to getting nudged inadvertently while we are zooming or just
handling the camera.
Now for the Quick Menu.
For reason entirely unknown to logical thinking camera users
the [Customize Quick Controls] tab is not located on the Setup or Custom menus
but on screen 8 of the Shooting (Camera (red) menu. Anyway there it is. Seek and ye may find. The items which I allocate to the Quick Menu
are generally those which I often change in Prepare Phase of camera use.
There are many options but for the record here are my
selections.
* AF Area. Note: when AF Area is active a sign appears
reading [Info then a dot and three horizontal lines symbol which indicates
subject tracking] then the words Enable
or Disable. This is confusing. If the word “enable” appears it means subject
tracking is enabled. If we press the [Info] button the word
“disable” appears. This actually means subject tracking is disabled. This is presumably a Japanese/English translation
error which has been pointed out to Canon execs but still not corrected.
* AF Operation [One shot/Servo] Note: To users unfamiliar
with Canon-speak, Servo Autofocus is the one we use when tracking a moving
subject. Other camera makers may refer to this as continuous autofocus. But in
Canon-speak continuous autofocus is a different and generally undesirable
entity which causes the camera to continuously hunt for focus all the time when
powered on whether the shutter button is half pressed or not. We should never
enable continuous autofocus as it just consumes battery power to no useful
purpose and I have no idea why Canon leaves it in their menus.
* IS (Stabiliser) Mode On/Off. Note: This is greyed out if
the attached lens has a stabiliser on/off switch on the lens barrel. On such
lenses IS (Stabiliser) on/off is controlled by the lens switch.
* Drive Mode. Note that the number of frames per second in
[H+] and [H] Drive modes depends on whether we are using Electronic First
Curtain or Electronic shutter.
* Subject to detect People, Animals, Cars, Off.
* Wi-Fi Bluetooth connection.
* Raw Burst Mode.
* Record Func. + Card /Folder Sel.
Some functions to which I require moderately quick access
cannot be allocated to the Quick Menu. These go on My
Menu
The items which I have on My Menu are
* Focus Bracketing.
* Shutter Mode. Full
mechanical, EFCS, ES
* Wi-fi and Bluetooth settings
* Format Card.
* Custom Shooting Mode
* Eye Detection
On the R7 Mode Dial there are 12 symbols. Three of them, C1, C2, C3 are Custom Modes. These allow us to select many pre-determined camera settings with one turn of the Mode Dial. This is extremely useful when we need to quickly switch from one subject type to a completely different subject type.
We can allocate any combination of settings to a Custom Mode.
People will have their own ideas about how best to use the
Custom Modes and we can change them at any time. For the record I have:
C1, Tripod landscape. I set ISO 100, Aperture f8, Aperture
Priority, EFCS, Stabiliser Off, Subject to detect Off, Drive mode 2 second
timer delay, AF operation One Shot, AF Area 1-Point AF centered in the frame
(this is a misnomer, 1 Point is actually a small square box not a point).
C2, Birds in flight. Manual Mode, ISO 1250, f8, 1/4000sec,
Shutter Mode EFCS or ES if the background is plain sky, AF Area Whole areas,
Tracking Enabled, AF Operation Servo AF, Stabiliser Mode ON but note big white
lenses have additional Stabiliser settings on the lens barrel, Drive Mode H+, Subject to detect Animals
(which includes birds in Canon-world).
C3 Moving subjects (not BIF) Tv Mode, shutter speed 1/2000-1/4000, Auto ISO,
Shutter mode electronic or EFCS depending on subject type and background. AF
Area 1 Point AF, AF Operation Servo, Stabiliser On, Drive Mode H+ or H, Subject
to detect, people, animals or cars as required.
Note one very important
sub menu when setting up Custom Modes. This is a sneaky little item
labelled [Auto update set.] under the Custom Shooting Mode tab.
If we set this ON then any change we make to settings in a
Custom Mode (we can change anything without restraint, the camera works the
same in a Custom Mode as other Modes) will be saved to the Custom Mode and
become the new base settings next time we use that Custom Mode.
If we set this OFF then any changes we make to camera
settings will not be saved. This means that every time we access a Custom Mode
the camera settings will always be the same. This is the setting I use. I need
to know what my Custom Mode settings will be whenever I switch to a Custom
Mode.
Now for the main menus. As is the case with most of the
mainstream camera makers Canon’s menus are a muddle of miscellaneous items
arranged in haphazard fashion without much evidence of photographic logic. Finding any specific item
can be a matter of trawling through all the options. Fortunately the most
frequently accessed items can be allocated to My Menu.
Shooting Menu (camera symbol, red)
Screen 1
* Image Quality. I use and recommend CRAW. This is Canon’s
proprietary lossy compressed Raw file format. It gives nothing away to standard
RAW in terms of image quality or ease of editing in Photoshop but is
significantly smaller so allowing more images per memory card and more shots
before the buffer fills and less time to clear the buffer. I never capture full
size RAW which is overkill or JPG which discards far too much image information,
making editing very difficult.
* Dual Pixel RAW
Disable
* Still img aspect ratio
3:2. There is no point capturing at any other ratio when cropping can be
done easily in post processing.
Screen 2
* Expo.comp/AEB
Never set exposure compensation from here. If you wish to use exposure bracketing
allocate this item to My Menu.
* ISO speed settings:
ISO Speed, Auto
ISO speed range and Auto range 100-25600.
Min.shutter spd. Auto. Check the submenu which allows us to
set the Auto min speed faster or slower. I just leave it at default which is
the middle setting. The camera changes the minimum shutter speed as the focal
length of the lens changes. This is appropriate and desirable.
* HDR shooting OFF, HDR Mode OFF, Auto lighting optimiser
OFF, Highlight tone priority OFF, Anti flicker shoot > Allocate to Q Menu.
Screen 3
* External speedlight control Deserves a separate
discussion. The R7 does not have a built in flash unit.
* Metering mode Evaluative. I use this all the time for
everything. Note that Canon cameras automatically bias exposure in favour of
the in-focus part of the image. Many Canon models including the R7 do not
display zebras with still photos. However if the viewfinder and monitor screen
are correctly adjusted I find I can usually evaluate the need for exposure
compensation sufficiently well just by viewing the viewfinder or monitor
preview image.
Screen 4
* White balance AWB (auto white balance) RAW files use AWB and white balance is
adjusted in post processing. Custom
white balance and WB shift/bracket are only required with JPG capture.
* Color space sRGB.
* Picture style Standard. This affects the appearance of the
preview and review images displayed in the viewfinder and on the screen.
* Clarity zero (default)
* Shooting creative filters
OFF
Screen 5
* Lens aberration correction: All submenus OFF, Long
exp.noise reduction and High ISO speed noise reduction OFF.
* Dust delete data: Refer to the User Guide. I have never
used this feature.
* Screen 6
* Multiple exposure OFF
* RAW burst mode and Focus bracketing: Allocate to My Menu. Se to Disable on this menu.
Screen 7
* Drive mode: Allocate to Q Menu
* Interval timer Disable here. Allocate to My Menu if we are
intending to use this feature.
* Bulb timer Disable. Astro photographers wanting an
exposure time longer than 30 seconds will set this to Enable, and adjust
exposure details on screen with the Mode Dial at the B position.
* Silent shutter function OFF
* Shutter Mode: Allocate to My Menu
* Release shutter without card OFF
Screen 8
* Image Stabiliser mode: Allocate to My Menu
* Customize Quick Controls (Q Menu) I like to experiment
with this so I put it on My Menu.
* Touch shutter: Disable. If this is enabled, when we touch
the screen to position the active AF area the camera will also take a photo.
* Image review OFF
* High speed display: This is only available in [H] Drive
Mode.
* Metering timer : Default, 8 sec.
Screen 9
* Display simulation, Exposure
* OVF sim.view assist OFF.
This option seeks to create a simulation of the optical viewfinder found
in DSLRs, presumably for those nostalgic for the old days.
* Shooting info. disp.
Screen
info.settings and Viewfinder toggle settings.
We have many options with submenus and sub-sub menus for what
information we want and do not want to see on the monitor screen. I find with
experience I want just the basics so the preview screen is not overly
cluttered.
VF vertical
display On
Grid
display Off
Histogram brightness, but I
prefer to get the histogram off the screen altogether.
Reverse display On. This refers to the appearance of the monitor
screen preview (flipped or not) when we are taking selfies.
Viewfinder display format.
Display 1 is larger, Display 2 smaller.
Disp. Performance. I use Smooth
although Power saving uses a bit less battery as it runs at a lower refresh
rate.
Screen 10
* This is all about video about which I know very little so
I just leave all these at default.
Autofocus Menu (magenta)
Screen 1
* AF operation and AF area are adjusted on the Q Menu.
* Set Subject tracking ON here. We can toggle it ON/OFF with
the [Info] button in the AF Area submenu in the Q Menu.
* Subject to detect. Allocate this to the Q Menu.
* Eye detection. I just set this to Enable here and leave it
always active.
* Switching tracked subjects. There is a lot of discussion
about this in user forums. I just leave it at default which is the middle
(zero).
Screen 2
There is much discussion about this screen on user forums
with conflicting advice from many sources. So I just keep it simple,
setting Case1 with Tracking sensitivity
and Accel./decel. Tracking at default which is zero.
Screen 3
* One-Shot AF release prior(ity), Focus. Not much point in releasing the shutter if
the subject is not in focus.
* Preview AF. Disable
* Lens drive when AF impossible ON. Note that mirrorless
cameras generally including Canon and Nikon tend to focus to the rear of a
small foreground subject and may need some coaxing to focus close.
* AF-assist beam firing OFF, unless we are trying to focus
in the dark and are using flash.
Screen 4
* Touch and drag AF settings. This refers to the ability of
Canon cameras with touch screens to enable moving the focus area by dragging
our right thumb on the screen while looking through the viewfinder. I disable
this on the R7. If enabled I use Relative positioning method and Right Active touch area.
* Limit AF Areas. There are five pre-set AF areas and three
flexible AF zones. I keep Spot, One point, Expand AF Area:Around and Whole
Area.
* Sensitivity-AF pt select. This is another of the many
inscrutable AF options which I just leave at default (zero) not having any
evidence to support an alternative setting.
* Orientation linked AF point. I set [Separate AF pts:
Area+pt.] With this setting we can have
the active AF area in one part of the frame for landscape orientation and a
different location for portrait orientation. This is very useful and I use it
routinely.
Screen 5
* MF peaking settings. OFF
I don’t use peaking on EOS R cameras because a much better indicator of
manual focus is the…
* Focus Guide. This is a little swinging arms indicator
which enables very accurate manual focus.
* Movie Servo AF ON.
Screen 6
* Electronic full-time MF
ON
* Lens electronic MF.
[One-Shot>enabled]. This allows us to apply manual focus while in
autofocus, sometimes necessary if the AF is not finding out subject.
* Focus/control ring. I have this set to FOCUS here. The
situation is a bit confusing because some lenses have separate focus and
control rings, others at the budget end of the range just have one ring. Of
these some have a focus/control slider switch on the lens barrel, others (such
as the RF-S lenses), have no switches on the barrel.
* I leave Focus ring rotation and RF lens MF focus ring
sensitivity at default.
Playback (blue) Menu
I leave most of these items at default except
* Magnification, Actual size, From focus point. I disable Maintain position.
* Playback information display. We can have a little or a
lot of info here. I prefer a clean screen so I only enable the [1] option.
* Highlight alert (blinkies) Enable
* AF point disp. Enable
Wi-fi (purple) menu
Follow the instructions in the User Guide to set up Wi-fi.
Set Airplane Mode ON when not using Wi-fi or Bluetooth.
Setup (Yellow) Menu
* Record func+card/folder sel. I find the options at this submenu
confusing. A visit to the manual did not clarify things either. The camera has
2 card slots. This menu is to tell the camera what to do with pictures and
video if two cards are inserted.
After much trial and error I settled on the first option in
the list, Photo/Video separate, Enable.
Otherwise I leave most items in Setup Menu at default.
* I allocate Format to My Menu
* Auto rotate On for camera and computer
* Video system PAL (most countries) or NTSC (USA)
* Mode Guide, Disable
* Screen/viewfinder display,
Auto 2
* Shutter at shutdown, Closed
* Sensor cleaning, Auto cleaning at Pwr off
* Firmware ver. Note that some lenses require the latest
firmware for correct operation. The camera will prompt if this is required.
Custom Menu (Orange)
I leave most items in this menu at default. Many of them are
couched in Cano-jargon which can be difficult to understand.
* Speed from metering/ISO Auto: I set [Restore Auto after
metering]
* Bracketing auto cancel ON
* Same expo for new aperture OFF
And that is yer lot for setting up the Canon EOS R7 for
still photos.
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