topic Re: Rainbows in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 90D Recommendations for rainbow photos

Ramsden — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:41:43 GMT

Good morning from the North of England

Two days ago, while walking my dog on a very inclement and windy day (EOS 90D safely at home) I came across a wonderful rainbow, which I snapped with my phone.

Later, as part of my ongoing learning process, I wondered what settings I would have hastily set my camera.

On that walk, I would normally have my EFS 18-135mm with stabilser and Nano USM attached.

For starters, I would often be in ISO Auto, but the reason for my post is based on depth of field, to get the most out this spectacle, while capturing the wind swept environment, a 1000ft above sea level.

As a learner, I don't have that intuitive reaction. So what should my go to settings be, bearing in mind the beauty of the rainbow?

Ramsden

Re: Rainbows

Ramsden — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 08:15:04 GMT

I should have said that I try to stick to M or AV, and switch between Raw and Jpeg depending on the day..

Ramsden

Re: Rainbows

Tintype_18 — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:12:31 GMT

I'm ignoring the settings but focusing on the overall picture with the rainbow and the winding road.

Re: Rainbows

Ramsden — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:39:02 GMT

Thanks: great wake up call. The camera is currently taking me over!

But: it has a lot give.

Re: Rainbows

Waddizzle — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:50:55 GMT

The camera should have recorded exposure settings in the EXIF data for the image. Call the image on your phone. Is there a INFO icon of some kind?

There’s no one best shooting mode for all shooting scenarios. Ditto for AF mode and AF point selection. Most users will stick with the same settings for nearly all general shooting conditions. It’s a matter of personal preference and skill level.

Re: Rainbows

p4pictures — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 17:35:36 GMT

My choice for something like this would be aperture priority with auto ISO. The camera will choose a shutter speed to avoid camera shake, and increase the ISO if needed to achieve that. So then the question is what aperture value to choose. For a scene like this you will probably want to have foreground and distant background in focus, so I would choose an aperture value of f/11 and probably make sure to focus on the chevron road sign jut ahead of you. The combination of the f/11 aperture and the distance to that sign will mean much of the foreground and all of the background will be covered by the depth of field.

Re: Rainbows

Ramsden — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:23:26 GMT

Thanks Brian

That's around where I was thinking. I'm currently reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson - he calls them "The middle of the road" "Who Cares" apertures; which, despite the irony - does work in a lot of photographs.

Thanks again

Ramsden

Re: Rainbows

Ramsden — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:30:58 GMT

ISO 40

26MM 0.0 EV

F1.8

1/3084 S

They look interesting - but way off my camera spec!

Point and shoot, and thats what you get. And with a mucky lens (probably).