Best Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography

If you are into bird photography, you may already be aware of the significance of certain camera settings to capture crisp and sharp photos.

Bird photography is exceedingly challenging and even a slight goof up can ruin the entire photograph.

A camera like Canon R5 in your kitty may come in extremely handy when the accuracy of a picture is not something you can compromise as a photographer.

With its big list of astounding features and specifications, this masterpiece from Canon can help you to get the best out of your Bird photography aspirations.

Here is a list of the best Canon r5 settings for bird photography that can facilitate you to achieve that perfection and sharpness.

Recommended Canon R5 settings for bird photography

1. Always shoot in RAW format

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography - RAW fomat
Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography – RAW format

As you look forward to the best Canon r5 settings for bird photography, shooting in RAW format needs to be on the top of your priority list. Being a bird photographer, shooting in RAW mode can provide new dimensions to your photos.

A RAW file carries all the data that is been captured by your camera’s sensor. This further means that you are getting the best use of the sensor’s capacity to capture the desired images.

JPEG format, on the contrary, is an image compression standard that compresses the data to minimize the file size, by clearing off some data away.

Hence, you may lose some critical details of your shot while shooting in this mode. If you don’t have an expert hand in RAW mode, you can try starting with RAW + Fine JPEG. Speaking of the RAW mode, it carries the below advantages for all the bird photography specialists.

  • The White Balance settings can be adjusted during the post-production stage.
  • A RAW file holds the complete details captured by the camera’s sensor. Hence, you will get more details in both the highlight and shadow zones of your image.
  • While shooting in the RAW mode, you can bring back all the required details in the shadow regions during the post-processing stage.
  • You can always expect to bring the perfect contrast and color in the captured shot.

2. Make the best use of the Auto ISO setting

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography - Auto ISO
Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography – Auto ISO

The Auto ISO setting can prove to be crucial to your bird photography aspirations. Hence, you must enlist it in the best Canon r5 settings for bird photography.

With an Auto ISO setting, topped with higher shutter speeds, your Canon R5 bird photography can achieve some perfect sharpness and contrast.

According to most bird photography professionals, using a higher ISO is highly recommended. Yet, you must be careful during its usage as a higher ISO may result in a lot of noise in your captured shot. Hence, it’s always advisable to set it to Auto ISO while putting the maximum sensitivity to be 800.

Canon R5 allows you to use the minimum shutter speed in Auto ISO mode. By doing this, you can ensure that the camera is using the lowest possible ISO to gain the minimum shutter speed value.

This way, you can keep a tab on the noise while enhancing the sharpness of the shot.

3. Use the Auto White Balance (AWB) setting

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography - Auto White balance
Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography – Auto White balance

The Auto White Balance holds a key part of Canon r5 settings for bird photography. During Bird photography, the light keeps changing constantly. Additionally, it is nearly impossible for the photographer to adjust the white balance according to the rapidly changing movement of birds.

This way, opting for just one standard white balance may not bring you the required results during the Canon R5 bird photography.

Hence, it’s always recommended to use the AWB setting that will auto-adjust according to the changes in the lighting conditions around.

The AWB setting also helps you to get the right and sharpest of colors during the shooting. So, just set your camera on AWB mode while using the RAW format and stay assured of getting the finest shots.

4. Using the Evaluative metering mode

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography - Evaluative metering mode
Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography – Evaluative metering mode

You cannot forget to include Evaluative metering mode while talking about the best Canon r5 settings for bird photography. Besides getting the perfect exposure to your captured shot, this mode also helps in bringing most of the elements of the shot into the image frame.

While there are photographers that advocate the usage of spot metering mode instead of Evaluative metering mode, the latter brings more elements into play during the shooting.

While spot metering mode focuses on just 3-5% of the shot frame, Evaluative metering mode brings other aspects like the subject in focus, background, and other objects in the frame into play as well.  You can easily quote it as sharper than the spot and center-weighted metering.

5. Make the best use of Histogram

Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography - Histogram
Canon R5 Settings For Bird Photography – Histogram

A lot of people undermine the relevance of histograms in Canon R5 bird photography. Yet,  it helps you to get the right idea regarding the exposure of any given shot. So, as you look to capture the best shot do check the histogram.

The bright and ambient light of the LCD can easily make you get the wrong idea about the correct exposure to any given shot. You cannot analyze whether the shot is under or overexposed. This is where a histogram comes into play while giving you a clear-cut exposure reading.

Using it, you must ensure that the histogram’s distribution should not be touching either the left-most end (underexposure) or the right-most end (overexposure). The distribution needs to stay right in the middle, ensuring a perfectly exposed shot.

6. Getting the best lens for bird photography

Even though a lens isn’t related to the Canon r5 settings for bird photography, you cannot think of capturing the perfect shot without it. As your subject( bird) is constantly moving, you got to have the perfect angle and focal length while capturing the desired shot.

As for Canon R5 bird photography, referring to the below list of lenses is highly recommended:

  • Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
  • Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM
  • Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS
  • Fujifilm XF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR
  • Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM

Bottom-line for best Canon R5 settings for bird photography

There is no rocket science involved in the above-mentioned list of best Canon r5 settings for bird photography.

You just need to select them once and the Canon R5 will make them work for you for all your future aspirations regarding bird photography.

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