Customizing My Camera

When I made the move from 35mm film photography to digital, I don't think I got as excited about photography as I have in making the move from D-SLRs to mirrorless cameras. And I think it comes down to customization.

When I first started using a D-SLR—my Nikon D80—I think I came to it with the notion that I knew about photography and how to use a camera, and the only difference was that I was storing my images on a digital card, rather than burning the image onto a strip of film. To me, the settings were all the same.

And for the most part, I was right. I knew all about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, so all I had to do was set the exposure that I wanted, based on whether I wanted to freeze action or produce a shallow depth of field, and adjust the other settings accordingly.

If I wanted to do something different—say, a multiple exposure—I'd consult the instruction manual.

It wasn't until I upgraded my camera that I took a closer look at the user guides. For my Nikon D7200, I read through the entire owner's manual, making sure that I understood the functions and features before taking my first shot. This camera was much more complex than the D80.

With my Nikon D750, I went through most of the manual before taking a shot, though there were lots of similar features to the D7200 that I didn't need to read about. Still, it was almost a week after buying the camera that I actually used it for capturing images (as opposed to capturing test shots, which were deleted right away).

On both the D7200 and D750, there were customizable dials that would allow me to set up the camera a particular way and then assign a dial to that setting. For example, when I worked in a studio, I'd have the camera in Manual mode with the ISO set to 160 and the aperture at f/5.6, with the shutter speed at 1/125 of a second to sync with the studio flashes (I'd mount a remote trigger on the hot shoe).

Instead of making all of those adjustments, manually, as I set up for a shot, I'd simply turn the dial to U1, and everything would be ready to go.

I only started using these customization settings about a year or so ago. When I had originally read the user guide, I was familiar with this feature but never put it into practice. It didn't really occur to me until just before my family and I were getting ready to head to Peru.

I had my D750 and a 200–500mm f/5.6 lens and I was planning to take photos of birds. In advance of the trip, I researched the best wildlife settings for the camera and programmed these settings into the U2 dial.

I think some of the photos from that trip turned out pretty well.

I also used this setting in Costa Rica, this year, and again I can't complain about the results.

Because I specifically sold my D7200 and a bunch of my lenses—in particular, the 200–500mm beast—to upgrade to a lighter camera that could still capture wildlife, one of the first things I wanted to do with my Sony α6700 was to set it up for capturing birds.

One of the great features on the camera is subject recognition, where the focusing system can identify a face, an animal and/or bird, an insect, a car, or a plane. For a human, animal, or bird, it will first focus on the designated subject and place a green box around them in the viewfinder or view screen. The camera will then identify the subject's eye that is nearest to the lens and place a green box around it as soon as it has a focus lock. So the first setting I made for birding was to have the camera detect a bird.

I set the focus metering to a small spot area but with tracking. This means that as soon as the bird is detected and in focus, the camera will track that bird if it moves within the frame or will stay locked on the bird if you recompose your frame.

I also have the camera set to continuous auto-focus. Lots of the birds that I spot move around and I don't want to have to constantly re-press the focus button. The AF-C mode means that I can hold down the focus button and it will constantly stay in focus.

For light metering, I've selected multi-metering. I find it better for when I'm shooting birds that are further away or are too small to fill the frame. If a bird were to fill the frame, spot-metering might be better but multi-metering doesn't hurt. If I had the time to switch, I'd do so.

I have continuous shooting set to high and with the mechanical shutter. It gives me up to 11 frames per second on the α6700, which is plenty. The electronic shutter is silent and can give me 20 frames per second, but if the bird is in flight, there's a chance that I'll get what is known as rolling shutter, where there can be some distortion in the image—in particular, in the bird's wings.

And I don't need to sort through nine extra shots when I'm done.

The mechanical shutter makes a noise as it clicks through frames but so far, I find that the birds aren't bothered. If anything, they become curious and look toward me, which means I might get a better picture.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler, curious about my shutter clicks.

As with my D-SLR settings for capturing birds, I have the camera set in Manual mode. The shutter speed is 1/2000 of a second and the aperture is at f/6.3 (which is all the way open at maximum magnification on the 70–350mm lens), while I have the ISO set to automatic, letting the camera figure out how much gain I need on the exposure.

I have indicated that the ISO go no higher than 6400, lest I get nothing but noisy shots. Originally, the shutter speed was set to 1/3200 sec. but I found the camera was always cranking up the ISO and my shots didn't look great. Slowing the shutter speed still freezes most shots but allows more light in.

Because I can adjust the white balance in post processing, I leave that setting to automatic.

The touch screen is turned off. The α6700 lets you focus on a subject by touching it on the view screen but I've disabled this function because I don't want to accidentally touch it while I'm setting up my shot. But this is moot, anyway, as the view screen turns off as soon as you raise the camera to your eye, and nine times out of 10, I have the view screen flipped so that it's tucked away from the back of the camera.

And that's pretty much it. I've taken all of these settings and programmed them into custom position 1 on the mode dial. The camera is almost always in this dial position, as I've only really used the camera for birding, so far.

The view-screen display in custom mode 1 on my Sony α6700. Ready for birding.

Other custom settings I've selected on the α6700, which also apply to any other mode for the camera, are Full-Time DMF (direct manual focus), which allows me to override the auto-focus capabilities. This comes in handy if I'm trying to focus on a bird who is in a bush and the branches are getting in the way of the focus sensor. I can simply turn the focus dial to get past all of the obstacles that prevent the camera from detecting the bird.

To help me with manual-focus override, I've enabled the focus-peaking feature, which outlines the bird in yellow when I have it in focus. It's a great visual indicator for when I have the subject in focus, especially since my eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be.

There's a customize button on the side of the lens, and I have it enabled to lock the focus. This is helpful when the auto-focus continues to try to focus even after it's established the subject. If a bird is in a bush and the leaves are moving, the camera may try to refocus: but when I have the bird in focus, I can press this button and disengage the AF-C mode.

I've turned the zebra stripes on. These diagonal lines indicate possible blown-out areas in the frame, prompting me to readjust my exposure settings.

So far, these are all of the customization settings I've made with the camera. The custom mode 1 is the most important, as it has everything set up to capture birds. As I start using the camera for more subjects, I'll customize the other two dial settings.

Great White Egret chased by a Redwing Blackbird, at Bruce Pit.

And I haven't even touched the video capability settings yet. Eventually, I'll get there.

If you've read this blog post to the end, you're obviously interested in photography, and hopefully I've given you some tips that are useful to you. What custom settings do you have programed on your camera? Let me know in the Comments section.

Happy Friday!