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Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Setting up the Canon EOS R7 for still photos 7 February 2024

 

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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