topic Re: EOS R7 Best mode for wildlife or landscape photos? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R7 Best mode for wildlife or landscape photos?

terinsuke — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:41:48 GMT

Hello i have a question.

I have a Canon EOS R7 with a Canon RF 24-105mm f/4.0-7.1 IS STM and a Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM

Which mode is best for taking wildlife or landscape photos with this setup?

Re: Mode for Canon EOS R7

SignifDigits — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:34:30 GMT

Are you hoping to get wildlife stills or action shots? By "mode" do you mean "Creative Zone" versus "Basic Zone"? And what you consider "best"? Best quality? Easiest on you as the shooter? What is your level of experience?

The "best" is typically a photographer shooting in manual mode and understanding photography fundamentals, but that might not be "best" for you and your set of circumstances and level of experience.

Typically landscape will be shot at or near the 24mm focal length and wildlife shot with the 100-400mm lens.

Re: Mode for Canon EOS R7

stevet1 — Thu, 28 May 2026 21:46:13 GMT

terinsuke,

Landscape and wildlife are two different scenarios, so your approach to each is going to be slightly different.

For landscapes, as SignifDigits suggests, if you want a wide field of view, a lot of people will choose a smaller mm lens like the 24mm. If you want the whole scene to be in focus, you can set a smaller aperture like f/11 or f/16.

You can use Aperture Priority and let the camera set your shutter speed. Keep and eye on your shutter speed though. If you are handholding your camera, you'll want to make sure that it's at least equal to your focal length to avoid camera shake. Since the R7 is a crop sensor camera, I'd aim for double your focal length. If you're using a tripod, it won't matter.

In shooting wildlife, you probably want to isolate your subject, and you don't care too much if your background is blurry or not. In that case, I would go for a wider aperture like f/5.6 or so. Remember, that as your aperture gets smaller in number, your shutter speed will increase to compensate. If your subject is moving, you could use Shutter Speed Priority. You set the speed and the camera sets the aperture. For slow moving subjects, you could probably get away with 1/250th. For g=faster subjects like birds and such, you might wind up with shutter speeds of 1/1000 or 1/2000 depending on how fast they are.

In Manual Mode, you choose all the settings. With practice, you will learn what works and what doesn't.If your subjects are still and you're on a tripod, you can take your time in choosing those settings. If they are are moving, you might want to use one of the semi-automatic Modes like Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority where you have to act fast.

Steve Thomas

Re: Mode for Canon EOS R7

ebiggs1 — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:40:45 GMT

Easy answer since easy and simple is always best. KISS. Right off don't over think the shot which can be quite common for beginners. First P mode might be all you need and you should try it first. Perhaps all you will ever need.

If P mode isn't doing what you want try either Tv or Av. Personally, I like Av better than Tv, 80% of the time. Use M mode as a last resort when all else fails which will be seldom to never. Set your Auto ISO to a high and low number you are good with and your situation is good with. On a R7 this can be a pretty large range since it does well with the higher ISO numbers. (200 to 6400 even higher sometimes)

I would bet using P mode and Auto ISO will get you pretty close to perfect a vast majority of the time no matter what scene you are shooting. Modern cameras like the R7 are smarter than you might think and sometimes they can be smarter than you.

While we are on the subject make sure you get DPP4 from Canon. It is free and is a capable editor and file manager for your photos. Always shoot raw never jpg.

Re: EOS R7 Best mode for wildlife or landscape photos?

LeeP — Fri, 29 May 2026 16:44:01 GMT

Try Av for landscape so you can bias for f-stop.

Try P if wildlife is relatively still or Tv so you can bias for shutter speed if the critters are active.

Re: EOS R7 Best mode for wildlife or landscape photos?

SignifDigits — Sat, 30 May 2026 14:18:41 GMT

Along with the factors and suggestions from colleagues, when shooting wildlife you should consider activating your high frame rate burst mode combined with electronic shutter. You will need to be judicious when activating the shutter as you'll capture 15 frames every second the shutter is depressed. That said, if the wildlife is moving I think you'll find it useful. I am currently processing shots of California condors flying at quite a distance at Pinnacles National Park and finding that the frames vary quite significantly in quality and am glad that I have a lot to choose from.

Re: EOS R7 Best mode for wildlife or landscape photos?

TomRamsey — Sat, 30 May 2026 20:39:26 GMT

There are many ways to shoot and there is no best way for everyone, we are all different and we shoot in different conditions. These work for me. For landscapes I shoot in manual, usually on a tripod and usually in manual focus. I use a tripod because I usually shoot in the early morning, often before sunrise. Both your lenses are fine for landscapes, no two landscapes are alike. I shoot mostly between 20mm and 40mm, but also as wide as 15mm and as long as 800mm, the longer lengths are useful for creating an image with a large sun or moon. The wider focal lengths can get a vista look, and are easier to get everything more in focus.

For shooting wildlife longer lengths shine. I use an R6II and 200-800 lens, and I shoot in shutter priority. I have two custom shooting modes I have set up for wildlife, one for more "still" shooting and one to catch birds in flight or other moving animals. The former is set with a default shutter speed of 1/1000 and the later at 1/1600. They have different setups for autofocus, switching from one to the other is easy with moving one space on the mode dial. You can customize other buttons for useful placement for yourself also, I have it set to quickly change exposure compensation with my thumb, so I can dial it down for things like a white bird in bright sunshine.

Try different methods and see what works for you. There are so many features on modern cameras that make them pretty flexible to the user.