Canon 7d Mark 2 advice please (1 Viewer)

Have just purchased a 7D Mark 2 as a second body. Familiar with Menu's of 1d Mark 4. Have managed to sort out settings for ISO, A1 Serco but the 7d Mark 2 menu is a more complicated than first thought. Any advice on settings for bird photography. Main lens is a 500 f4 version . Ta

HI Mark! Just want to let you know that I moved your post to the Canon camera sub-forum here on BF. You should get notifications anytime someone post to it

I'm surprised you find the 7D menu complicated Mark, to me it was a lot easier than the 1D4 although there are features the 1D series have that the 7D doesn't like the ability to switch custom settings at the press of a button rather than the twist of a dial.
I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for. What I have found very useful with my 1DX is the ability to use exposure compensation in manual settings which wasn't available with earlier models. Much depends on your preferred mode of shooting but apart from AF settings I now shoot in manual ( as before) use auto-iso and dial in the aperture and shutter speed I want to play with. Depending on the light and background I press the Q button and add or subtract EV.( you can use this button to change most things too, just toggle around the screen with the joystick, an advantage I seem to think my 1D4 didn't have). Under normal light it would be 0 but for birds flying in a clear sky I might dial in between +1 and+2. I use evaluative metering.
As for focus points I prefer fine single point but for moving subjects I might use more or even all the available points.
You have a menu of 6 different ready made settings that apply different tracking options which are adjustable still further. I would suggest you play with different ones to see what benefits you do or don't find. None of them are applicable if you only use a single point for focus though.
I only got a 7D2 yesterday so it will be interesting to see how it differs in performance to the 1DX2 when the menus appear pretty much identical at first look, perhaps the video options are a bit different but that's not an area I am too familiar with anyway.
Good luck with the new toy! Dave.

I've been shooting with 1D Mark IV's since the day they announced it and it's still one of my primary camera bodies. It virtually lives on my 500mm f4L IS II +1.4x, and it continues to deliver incredible images...

That said, I picked up a 7DII several years ago to get a tad more reach and I've been through 3 of them because of AF issues... this third one though seems to be fine. The camera is more technically advanced to be sure, with many more ways to get yourself in trouble with the myriad numbers of controls and settings it offers. I would highly recommend starting out shooting with the default settings until you get a feel for how it operates.

I find "Case" settings to be confusing at best, but do agree with Dave that you need to work with all of them to see how they perform best for you. I've found that the default case 1 to be the most versatile. Since you do have the option to customize the settings, you may ultimately end up modifying one of the other "cases" to work best for you.

Good luck!

Chris B. said:

I've been shooting with 1D Mark IV's since the day they announced it and it's still one of my primary camera bodies. It virtually lives on my 500mm f4L IS II +1.4x, and it continues to deliver incredible images...

That said, I picked up a 7DII several years ago to get a tad more reach and I've been through 3 of them because of AF issues... this third one though seems to be fine. The camera is more technically advanced to be sure, with many more ways to get yourself in trouble with the myriad numbers of controls and settings it offers. I would highly recommend starting out shooting with the default settings until you get a feel for how it operates.

I find "Case" settings to be confusing at best, but do agree with Dave that you need to work with all of them to see how they perform best for you. I've found that the default case 1 to be the most versatile. Since you do have the option to customize the settings, you may ultimately end up modifying one of the other "cases" to work best for you.

Good luck!

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I haven't got a 1D4 anymore so I can't check Chris but aren't most of the settings on the 7D2 available on the 1D4 too. I seem to remember that finding them was the issue whereas the menu on the more recent bodies is divided in to folders and easy scroll down choices. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Will still be using 1d4 as primary body. 7d 2 is for extra reach. The focus system does seem to be advanced on the 1d 4 but probably more to go wrong.

I have both the 1D Mark IV (after having had a 1D III before it) and more recently, a 7D Mark II. For birding I use them both with an EF 500 F/4L IS. I've had good results from both bodies using the default AIServo settings. I guess that if I was doing more bird photography, I'd experiment with the AF settings, but the default isn't bad.
I do like the GPS facility in the 7D Mark II, and with an EFS 15-85 zoom makes an ideal and competent if somewhat large and heavy travel camera. (I use GeoSetter for displaying my GPS mapped results. Excellent!)

Having had in the past a IDMKIV and two 7dMK2 PLUS A 1DX I am pretty sure you will find the factory setup of the 7d mk2 spot on . I tried a few alterations at the begining but resorted back to factory settings other than changing to Raw and altering the focus points.. works for me.

Good luck with the camera.