Just received my 20D......advice please

[Limeybirder]

I am so excited, just got my Canon 20D off the UPS man and am reading through the manual. Im totally new to digital SLR's so any advice would be most welcome.

I have been playing with the settings and have changed the image quality to RAW. Has anyone got any recommendations as to what ISO setting works best? I have it set to 400 for now. Are there any othe settings you guys can recommend. Im gonna shoot in Program AE mode or P as it shows on the dial. Evaluative Metering?

Took a picture in large Fine of a Green Anole which was drinking sugar solution from my Oriole feeder!! Bizarre first picture.

[postcardcv]

The higher the ISo the faster the shutter speeds will be, however you also get more noise (a grainy image), though it will be fine upto 800. Personally I shot on the lowest ISO that I can while still getting a fast shutter speed, I try to keep to 400 or below.

Have fun with your new camera.

[hummerman]

At the moment i seem to shoot in shutter priority (TV) and no higher than 200 ISO,also the white balance settings now seems prety important,although that can be resolved in post processing,shooting in raw is ok,but use the facility to shoot jpeg and raw,because you will probably need to load canons digital photo software that comes bundled with your camera,which incidentally is very good,.......enjoy the camera

[Limeybirder]

thanks guys all useful info. With conventional film SLR's I used 100 ISO slide film exclusively but Im looking forward to being able to change the settings on my new 20D without having to use film. Digital rocks! I wanted to go out this evening to a wading bird roost but it started bloody raining for the first time in a month!!! Typical. Anyway once this cold front passes the light will be mega so Im hoping to be able to get out early on thursday. I'll post my results.

How many memory cards do you guys typically carry? I have two a 1GB which I already had and a 512MB that came with the camera.

[postcardcv]

How many memory cards do you guys typically carry? I have two a 1GB which I already had and a 512MB that came with the camera.

I normall take out 1x2gb and 2x1gb cards, it's easily enough to get me through a days birding. I would think that a total of two and a half gb should do you fine, though shooting RAW does eat memory.

[James Eaton]

Hi Limey,

I shoot using option for processing both RAW and jpeg, get the best of both worlds that way. Especially if your using 1gb cards. Same advice as the others, ISO 200, though in the Summer 100, but if its about getting a record shot rather than a quality image in dull and murky condition, whack it up to 800, or if its really dark, 1600.
I carry round 3x 1gb cards and also an external harddrive if I'm going to be away from home for a while.

Best of luck with your new toy

[formula4speed]

As mentioned before shoot the lowest ISO you can to get the shutter speeds you need to get the shot. The 20D is very good at handling high ISO so don't be afraid to use ISO 1600 or even 3200 if you need to, noise can be reduced in post processing, motion blur cannot. Also when shooting birds you'll want your focus to be set on AI Servo and many people change the custom function to use the * button to focus, I believe that is custom function #4 but you can check the manual for that.

1.5 Gb will get you in the neighborhood of 150-170 shots in raw only (higher iso shots use more memory) so how much memory you need will depend on how much you like to shoot in a day.

[compa]

Congratulations on the 20D - A fine camera.

If you are new to digital photography (and digital editing) I strongly recommend against using RAW mode. Use the Large JPG setting (lowest compression). This gives you high quality photos that need a minimum of your attention after shooting. And saves you a lot of space on your CF cards.

Get to know your camera's settings. Experiment with it. Normally, aperture priority is the setting most used for birding photos. This allows you to adjust the background blur which causes your subject to stand out in the shot. Set your ISO up or down as the light requires to keep your shutter speed up to at least equal to the focal length of the lens you are using.

Read the book - take shots to try to see the effects of each setting. Go out and play then come back and read the book again. Get familiar with the settings. Really get to know the controls of the camera. Read the book again. Take some more shots to test out each feature. You have a very good camera that can jump hoops if you know how to use it. If you don't learn it all, you might have well purchased a $400 point and shoot camera.

Only now, after a your first 1-2000 shots will you be ready to start learning about digital editing and maybe it will be time to start thinking about shooting in RAW mode.

Personally, I don't use it.

[Limeybirder]

Congratulations on the 20D - A fine camera.

If you are new to digital photography (and digital editing) I strongly recommend against using RAW mode. Use the Large JPG setting (lowest compression). This gives you high quality photos that need a minimum of your attention after shooting. And saves you a lot of space on your CF cards.

Get to know your camera's settings. Experiment with it. Normally, aperture priority is the setting most used for birding photos. This allows you to adjust the background blur which causes your subject to stand out in the shot. Set your ISO up or down as the light requires to keep your shutter speed up to at least equal to the focal length of the lens you are using.

Read the book - take shots to try to see the effects of each setting. Go out and play then come back and read the book again. Get familiar with the settings. Really get to know the controls of the camera. Read the book again. Take some more shots to test out each feature. You have a very good camera that can jump hoops if you know how to use it. If you don't learn it all, you might have well purchased a $400 point and shoot camera.

Only now, after a your first 1-2000 shots will you be ready to start learning about digital editing and maybe it will be time to start thinking about shooting in RAW mode.

Personally, I don't use it.

Thanks for the advice I'll certainly be experimenting with all the settings and where else is better in the world. I have quite a bit of experience using Adobe Photoshop and the few keepable images I have taken so far Ive been able to mess around with editing wise and had decent results. I do like the fact that I can change ISO settings. All I need now is a big lens but I'll have to save a while first and make do with the 300mm sigma that I got with the body.

[rwhillman]

ISO 400 is a good starting point, but you may need to bump it up in low light. ISO 800 works surprisingly well in low light. I set my 20D on av (aperture priority) and normally stop the aperture down a bit (f8 on a f5.6 lens), letting the camera set the shutter speed. I do it this way to get the fastest shutter speed, although this method does mean a narrower depth of field (range of focus). Evaluative metering works OK, except with white birds, where you have to use the dial on the back to reduce exposure by as much as a stop. It is a great camera. Enjoy! Bob

[Barry Boswell]

This is one really useful thread. I have nothing to add, but I am learning quite a few tips from it, so please keep the comments coming. Like all the other novices out there I need all the advice I can get.

Barry Boswell.

[Art Thorn]

Compa had some really great advice - use the camera's capabilites to the full. Since you have access to photoshop (and the raw converter?) I do suggest shooting Raw. I have done both and was often disappointed when I was looking at my shots, seeing something terrific, wanting to clean it up, blow it up, but finding it was a jpeg that I had lost control over. And do try the Phase One LE raw converter - marvelous and free for 15 days!

[tirc83]

I am so excited, just got my Canon 20D off the UPS man and am reading through the manual. Im totally new to digital SLR's so any advice would be most welcome.

I would recommend joining one of the many mailing lists available as they can be an invaluable source of information.

One of the best and friendliest is Digital-Rebels@yahoogroups.com

I use my 20D for quite a lot of bird shots and have just come in from a fruitful morning's shooting. There are a dozen of the better ones at http://www.pbase.com/tirc

Regards
Gary

[jimtfoto]

Limeybirder:

Congrats on the new camera ... if you're after smaller birds, you might want to look at a Sigma 2X teleconverter for your 300mm ... you may need the reach ... as to your question about storage, my wife and I just came back home from two weeks in the Fort Myers Beach area ... we visited Ding Darling (about nine times), Corkscrew Swamp and Loop Road, among other sites closer to our hotel. We both carry one 1gb and two 512mb cards, but also have an Epson P2000 storage device, which is invaluable when shooting at these locations. Our busiest day saw 18 downloads.

If you are looking for more specific info on the camera, check out http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

There are many other forums specific to nature photography. I belong to a couple and can give you links if you wish.

Cheers, and enjoy,
jim

[madmike]

Hi Limeybirder,
I've had the 20D for about a year now, and it's a great camera - but to get the best out of it you need a good lens. These tend to cost from about £800 (not sure what they cost on your side of the pond)
I have found with all Canons that you generally need to OVER expose by a stop to get the correct exposure!
For close up stuff you can get a +1 0r 2 diopter filter that screws on the front of the lens - a cheap way to get some good results.
I normally use 200 asa (but don't be afraid to use faster if you have to) and also shoot RAW. If you open the images using the Canon software RAW is not a problem but the results are much better.
I save all images in TIFF and work on the TIFF files. I only change to JPEG for E Mails or BF etc.
Good luck and we hope to see some of your pics on BF SOON!


Cheers,

madmike o:D

[138mph]

Hi Limeybirder,
I normally use 200 asa (but don't be afraid to use faster if you have to) and also shoot RAW. If you open the images using the Canon software RAW is not a problem but the results are much better.
I save all images in TIFF and work on the TIFF files. I only change to JPEG for E Mails or BF etc.

Hi,
I would highly recommend this advice. I used the fine quality JPEGs option and regretted that decision almost immediately. I now save the raw files unaltered, create a TIFF of the main area of interest, and then produce JPEGs as required from the TIFF. That way you can always go back to the original image if need be, and you dont suffer from the compress/decompress/compress problems of JPEGs.

Saving two large image files does mean that you need to do regular purges of saved images. Before I went digital I used to save details of every image in a database, so that I could search them. But, nowadays that's just too much work.

Hugh