1d mark iii settings (1 Viewer)

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G.Wills

Active member

• Apr 4, 2010

• #1

Hi all,

I've just bought a 1d mark iii after using my 400d for the past 3 years, and am a bit lost in refining some of the settings.

The first thing I’ve done on it is enable the af point expansion on the middle af point and I was just wondering if the assist points light up or are visible when focusing? Is this even a wise setting for birds in flight or is it better to have all af points active?

The other thing I noticed was when I was photographing Kittiwakes. The kittiwakes kept burning out, even with exposure compensation. Was this just because it was a sunny day and the strong light was bouncing back, or is it just the wrong settings?

The other thing is the pace of the panning. Do I set it to slow so that it doesn’t get distracted by obstacles or to fast so it can keep up with the pace of the bird?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Cheers,

Greg

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2010

GYRob

Well-known member

• Apr 4, 2010

• #2

af point expansion is quite good ALL points are more for a clear sky . ( carnt remember if they all light up, dont think so )
check the thread below about exposure lots of good info there.
i use slow tracking ,it does not effect the pace of the focus speed only the pace in which it will focus onto something else.
I.E if you lose the bird of the focus point it will hold the last focus a little wile ,this give you chance to get back onto it befor the camera trys to refocus.
Rob.

 

cookie99

Member

• Apr 5, 2010

• #3

Greg I am a long time user of the 1DMKIII (I use two for BIFs)

This Camera requires a lot of research as it is a complex piece of equipment and MILES away from your previous camera but in my opinon the best Bird in Flight Camera in the world (I even used and rejected the new 1D MKIV and kept my 1DMKIIIs.)

Try this site for starters and let me know how you go.

http://www.wildlifeimagesbyles.net/Technique/1DIII_guide/1diii_guide.html

 

G

G.Wills

Active member

• Apr 7, 2010

• #4

Cheers for your help guys and the link that’s great and much appreciated.

I tried out some of the settings on some Fulmars the other day and it was much better. The one issue I still have is exposing the whites correctly so they don’t burn out. I can expose it so the entire frame looks correct but the whites’ burn out or try and under expose it stop this but then the rest of the picture is dark. I’ve tried different metering settings and white balance settings but it still seems to happen. Any suggestions to try ad solve this?

Greg

 

M

Marcus Conway - ebirder

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2010

• #5

You need to learn how to adjust the exposure compensation settings or learn to shoot in manual.

EDIT. To begin with maybe try just setting the exposure compensation at -1/3 for general shooting. If you are shooting bright birds on dark backgrounds you may need to set this nearer -1, but it does depend on the situation.

 

Last edited: Apr 7, 2010

cookie99

Member

• Apr 7, 2010

• #6

I’ve tried different metering settings and white balance settings but it still seems to happen. Any suggestions to try ad solve this?

Greg

Click to expand...

Generally when shooting birds flying against the sky we go + 1/3 step, with the whites try spot metering on the bird but remember when you shoot in RAW (which I hope you are doing) "expose to the right of the Histogram" as you can always bring the exposure back in PP without losing detail but if you underexpose and have to lighten the image you will lose detail and introduce noise into the image.

Take your time, "blowing whites" is a perennial problem for wildlife photographers and is a hit and miss affair all too often.

Just keep taking lots of images (in RAW).

I have been using my MKIIIs for three years and have yet to master them completely, they will perform magic but you must learn their foibles first.

 

avan

avan

• Apr 12, 2010

• #7

Best AF point are one point, I see more out of focus shot when I try the expension point. Also you never know what you gonna encounter: bird in the sky, bird against a background, so the one point are safer. The AF sensitivity depend on your combo, the background, the bird size, etc.... If you feel you lose too fast the AF trying tracking the bird, move to a slower setting. In very contrasty situation you can change your image style to a less contrasty one like neutral. Also with the 1D3 you have now the highlight priority, use it in the situation cited above. The HP are very effective, but don't use it in dull day, your images gonna look greyish. I usualy put that setting in "my menu" so it is easy to put "on" or "off" in the field.

 

M

Malcolm Stewart

Well-known member

• Apr 21, 2010

• #8

G.Wills said:

...I tried out some of the settings on some Fulmars the other day and it was much better. The one issue I still have is exposing the whites correctly so they don’t burn out. ...
Greg

Click to expand...

It can be difficult when outside with the 1D MkIII to see whether you're over-exposing white feathers against a dark background. It's worth having the flashing highlight feature turned on, and setting -ve exposure compensation until the highlights stop flashing. I don't worry about the shadows - the 1D Mk III is good enough at normal ISOs for you to be able to raise shadow areas with little worry about noise. If you shoot in raw, you've got a little more headroom. but not much.

 

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paul goode

Well-known member

• Apr 21, 2010

• #9

And make sure contrast and saturation are set low in the picture style the camera is using otherwise the blinkies will blink at the wrong time compared to the raw file.

I'll often left the highlight warning show a bit of overexposure because I find its better that way than underexposing and having noise appear in the shadow areas

 

Last edited: Apr 21, 2010

beakgeek

Well-known member

• Apr 23, 2010

• #10

One thing you can do to fix blown whites is to convert the raw image twice. Once in linear and once in normal. Open them as two different layers in Photoshop. Adjust the opacity of the linear layer to get the whites to an acceptable level.

In general shoot raw, take test shots and get the histogram to look proper, then fire away.

Regards,

Terry