Advice on settings for the newly arrived 30D.

[senatore]

My new Canon 30D camera arrived last night and I have been dabbling with the settings ever since.I did encounter a problem but thanks to Keith Reeder and Roy C it was solved and the dread of repackaging went away.

The well known saying "When the new camera arrives the weather will become dreadful as soon as you open the package" has been proved correct again.It's very dark and pouring with rain here.

Are these setting's OK for birding pics using a 400 f5.6 prime lens attached to the 30D or would you advise any tweaking :-

AF mode : AI FOCUS

AF point : Centre

Metering mode : Spot metering

Drive mode : Low speed continuous.

Picture style : Standard

Colour temp. : 5200K

Any other settings need looking at?

Initial observations : It's heavier than my 350D which I was aware of and the shutter noise seems louder than the 350D but I,ve only taken two pics through the bedroom window.

Any advice would be welcome.

Max

[Roy C]

Hi Max, I use one shot (or A1 Servo for movers) Plus High speed continuous, Centre point only and Spot metering. Not too bothered about Picture style or Colour temp as I always shoot in RAW.
And yes the shutter noise is a lot louder than the 350D. As for the weight, I know it is not a lot heavier than the 350D but I can sure tell the difference on a long hike with it slung around my neck for several hours.
Having said all that, it is a great Camera for birding shots. Look forward to seeing some great shots from you.

[Keith Reeder]

What Roy said (except I'm on AI Servo all the time)..!

;)

[Tannin]

Good for you, Senatore!

I prefer AI Servo, but focus mode doesn't make a lot of difference most of the time.

Yup, centre point focus is best for bird work. I rarely use any other point, though I sometimes flip over to manual focus.

Spot metering: probably. I used to use spot all the time on my old digiscoping cameras, but none of my SLRs have a spot meter, so I've had to use partial (Canon-speak for "largish spot") ever since and am now quite used to it. No matter what metering method you use, you will need to adjust with + or - exposure compensation sometimes. Deal with that when you get to it.

Why low speed drive mode? There is no point to that. Use high speed.

Picture style: matter of taste. Be aware that different picture styles trade off better out-of-camera results against less ability to post-process. I suggest Neutral. You can sharpen and add saturation later if the shot needs it. You can't undo stuff the camera adds in, however.

Colour temp. Don't go messing with colour temperatures unless you know exactly what you are doing. A good rule-of-thumb is to set white balance to AUTO unless the light is weird, in which case it's not a bad idea to switch to RAW or RAW + JPG. Be aware that if you set the white balance to something not suited to the light, there is usually nothing you can do to get your shot looking OK, except going back and reshooting.

Other stuff ....

Safety shift ON

Use the best JPG quality setting (unless you are going to shoot RAW). Space is cheap.

Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, shoot in aperture priority mode at ISO 400. Most of the time you will use that lens at f/5.6 or f/6.7. Go to 800 ISO if your shutter speed drops much below 1/1000th. Go to 1600 if you are already at 800 and still only getting a 400th or so. Go to 200 ISO only when the light is fantastic (sun on snow, sun on white sand, that sort of thing).

[postcardcv]

Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, shoot in aperture priority mode at ISO 400. Most of the time you will use that lens at f/5.6 or f/6.7. Go to 800 ISO if your shutter speed drops much below 1/1000th. Go to 1600 if you are already at 800 and still only getting a 400th or so. Go to 200 ISO only when the light is fantastic (sun on snow, sun on white sand, that sort of thing).

I'm curious as to why you recommend using such a high shutter speed? Most of my shooting is done at 1/500th, and it often falls lower. Unless a bird is moving swiftly I'd rather shot at lower ISO and lower shutter speeds, rather than pushing both up. Very few (if any) of my shots are taken at over 1/800th.

[Tannin]

Very few of my shots are taken under 1/800th, PCV. Long lenses and slow shutter speeds don't play well together, unless you are using a tripod. The 30D has wonderful high ISO performance, you'd be nuts not to take advantage of it. Even with a tripod, you get many more keepers at higher shutter speeds. Hand-held, it's even more important.

(OK, I'm mostly shooting at 500mm and 700mm (500 + 1.4) these days, but the same applies with my 100-400 when I use that.)

If you prefer, take the old rule of thumb about the shutter speed and focal length, not forgetting to multiply by 1.6 for the crop factor, and you will get much the same answers.

[Roy C]

Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, shoot in aperture priority mode at ISO 400. Most of the time you will use that lens at f/5.6 or f/6.7. Go to 800 ISO if your shutter speed drops much below 1/1000th. Go to 1600 if you are already at 800 and still only getting a 400th or so. Go to 200 ISO only when the light is fantastic (sun on snow, sun on white sand, that sort of thing).
I would go along with this if hand holding this non IS lens. I have got good shots hand holding this lens down to 1/250 and even slower but in the main I like a 1/1000 speed to or faster to guarantee a sharp shot. Like Tannin says the 30D is great at ISO 800. I often use a Monopod which easily gives me 2/3 stops over handholding.

[senatore]

Thanks everyone for your advice.All I need now is this dreaful rain to stop.

Max.