My Bird Photography Settings
Taking photos of birds that are 3 inches tall and moving erratically at high speed is definitely not easy. But it’s a fantastic challenge that will help you in other types of photography such as Sports. The problem is that our cameras are not optimally set up by default to take photos of birds. You need to make some adjustments.
The 2 photographers that provide a ton of great tips are Stefano Ianiro Wildlife and Whistling Wings Photography. I have provided the links to their YouTube Channels in the link above.
Here are my settings for Bird Photography on my Canon EOS R5 Camera. Most of these settings are explained by Whistling Wings Photography so I would watch the following Video. I have saved the Bird Setting to the C1 Menu on my camera so that with 1 switch of a button all my settings are dialed in.
Menu 1
1-1 Switch to cRAW which will reduce the image from 45MB to 27 MB. There is less chance or maxing out the buffer and it will not impact resolution.
1-2 No Changes
1-3 White Balance K6100
Color Space Adobe RGB
Picture Style (Standard or Neutral)
Clarity at ZERO
1-4 No Changes
1-5 No Changes
1-6 Shutter Mode Electronic 20 FPS
Release Shutter without Card OFF
1-7 TOUCH SHUTTER DISABLE
IMAGE REVIEW 8 SECONDS
VIEW FINDER REVIEW DISABLE
METERING TIMER 10 MIN
EXPO SIM ENABLE
SHOOTING INFO DISPLAY
CHECKED 1-5 ONLY 6 IS UNCHECKED
VF VERTICAL DISLPLAY ON
GRID OFF
HISTOGRAM BRIGHTNESS SIZE SMALL
FOCUS DISTANCE IN MF MODE
DISPLAY PERFORMANCE SMOOTH
1-8 No Changes
Menu 2 AF
2-1 SERVO AF
EYE DETECTION (USE CONTROL RING TO CHANGE AF METHOD)
SUBJECT TO DETECT ANIMAL
EYE DETECTION ENABLE
CONTINOUS AF DISABLE
2-2 MF PEAKING SETTING
FOCUS GUIDE ON
AF ASSIST BEAM OFF
2-3 CASE 2—Tracking Sensitivity ALL the way Negative, Accel/Decel—ALL THE WAY POSITIVE
2-4 Lens Electronic OFF
One Shot Off
Switching PRIORITY—set to INITIAL PRIORITY 0
Lens Drive when AF possible ON
Limit AF methods * (USES CONTROL RING TO CHANGE AF)
AF Methods M-Fn
Orientation linked Separate AF Points; PT ONLY
2-5- Initial Servo Option 2—AF Pt SET for
Electronic Full Time OFF
Menu 3
3-1 No changes
Highlight Alert ENABLE
AF Point DISABLE
Playback GRID OFF
Menu 4 No Changes
Menu 5
5-1 AUTO SWITCH CARDS—Record/play 1Movies 2
BEEP Disable
Power Saving Display Off 5 min
ECO MODE OFF
5-3 Screen View finder AUTO 2
Brightness 6
Viewfinder Brightness AUTO
Screen/Viewfinder Color Tone 2
UI Mag Disable
5-4 Touch control Standard
5-5 Save Load Cam Settings on Card