How do you set up your R5 for shooting video of wildlife and birds in flight?

[LaneW]

As a long time still shooter, I am a newbie to shooting video. Looking for advice on R5 setup.  Interested in all advice - frame rates, resolution, everything - but specifically how do you set up AF. It’s so different from my back buttons set up for stills. Tracking, zones, etc?

Thanks!

[March411]

Josh from the Youtube channel walks you through a pretty nice setup for the R5. I started there and tweaked it a bit for my style. It's pretty in depth, he walks you through the menu at a decent pace.

[LaneW]

Thanks for the reply and link, Marc!

Its an excellent video that I have seen before.  However, my question is in regard to set up, AF and other settings, for video, this one is focused on still photography.

Thanks agian

Lane

[March411]

Sorry Lane I missed the video comment. I should get better at reading ;o)

[esimavi]

I use autofocus the entire area mode. Turn on auto track and Choose animals as the subject to auto track. Preferably use 8k video recording and don't try to zoom in all the way to the subject. Later open up final cut, zoom and stabilize your subject within a 4k frame. I always use wide open aperture, auto ISO and auto shutter speed. 30 fps. Ofcourse you can do higher fps if you want to do slow motion. Although final cut is getting better at their optical flow for slowed down footage. 

By the way I'm no pro, I just like taking videos with telephoto lenses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYT-Ek5_GQ

[LaneW]

Esimavi

Thank you! This is the kind of help I'm hoping for.  Some questions:

I, too, am set to use the full are focus and tracking. It works, most of the time.  But I am also setting my camera up to be able to switch to a zone, when needed. Do you find that this is necessary, or just stay with full zone for a bird, like the crane you posted, moving across varying backgrounds?

You say to shoot in 8K, which I can do, even though I have been using 4K to date.  But to process in a 4K frame, what do you mean? Opening it in a 4K timeline or?

Regarding what you say about using auto ISO and Shutter Speed: Most of what I read says to set a fixed value for both, using the 180 degree rule for SS because otherwise your exposure will change in the middle of the video - do you find that to be true?

I don't use Final Cut, but Premier Pro.  And I do like to shoot a little higher fps so I can slow down. Usually at 60 fps so that I have audio.  I'm shooting an R5.

Finally - did I see that you are using an R5 ii? If so, how does video capability compare? I"m considering upgrading.

Thanks again

Lane

[esimavi]

Hello, let me answer some of your questions

You say to shoot in 8K, which I can do, even though I have been using 4K to date.  But to process in a 4K frame, what do you mean? Opening it in a 4K timeline or? I create a 4K or 2K project on final cut, this way you can zoom into the 8k footage without any loss of resolution. And you can better stabilize your footage as you are zoomed into it, there is more room to remove the camera shake.

I only use two different auto focus zones, it's either spot focus with auto tracking turned off (usually for static subjects), OR I use the entire area auto focus with auto tracking turned on to track a subject. I've not experimented with other auto focus zoning. One thing I can recommend is to disable the focus drive when shooting flying objects. That tends to lock in the focus on birds and airplanes much better than when the focus drive is enabled which tends to lose the focus on the subject and focuses on the background which completely makes it impossible for the camera to refocus on the subject.

When I'm doing videos I always have ISO on auto. Only time I ever play with ISO is when I set it to 100 for still photography, or sometimes on videos I will set a max ISO of 800 when the light is lacking in the evenings. (High ISO doesn't create an issue when there is plenty of light and it will allow you to use a much higher Shutter speed for blur free frames in your video). 

If you don't want the exposure to change during your video you can always lock in the exposure after you start recording, usually the asterix button is programmed for that.

I got the R5 II because it was Canon's latest release and it has been well over a decade since my last camera purchase, I wanted to have something that has the latest tech in it. I find it to be extremely capable. I've not had any over heating issues yet but I don't really record 8k much. Also I haven't had the chance to use it in the summer heat yet. Sorry I don't have any experience with the first R5. I have an EOS M5 and an old EOS 7D. The USM RF lenses are very fast to focus and I'm very satisfied with that.

Take care

[LaneW]

Thank you SO much,

You have me switching to 8k for the reasons you explain. Makes sense, for sure.  Unfortunately, however, my R5 will only shoot 8k at 30fps, I believe. I see that the mii can do so at 60 fps, which is great, as I like at least some degree of slow motion.  May have to upgrade.

About turning off focus for a BIF - I get your reasoning, but does it result in issues, say, when a bird comes closer or farther away and losing focus on it?

And about ISO. I have set mine on 800, no auto, because of concern about the exposure changing. But maybe I need to reconsider that, and set the camera up to turn off exposure, as you say.  My solution has been to use a VND filter, which works well, but is clumsy to operate.  Do you use such a thing?

Thanks again

Lane

[esimavi]

About turning off focus for a BIF - I get your reasoning, but does it result in issues, say, when a bird comes closer or farther away and losing focus on it? I dont mean turning off auto focus, I mean turning off the "lens drive when AF is impossible" setting. The camera will auto focus on the subject as it comes closer or further away, but if there is a moment when it cannot it won't drive the focus through its entire range to find something else to focus on. This usually makes you lose your subject completely. Turning off the lens drive helps me in acquiring birds or planes in the sky much easier when I'm using a 500 mm or 600 mm lens. The camera will bring a slightly out of focus subject back to focus with the lens drive turned off. It just won't do a huge drive of the entire focus range in trying to acquire something to focus on.

I have never used filters in any of my lenses, as I said I'm not a pro. I just do this for a hobby. limiting ISO, I don't mean setting ISO, I mean limiting max ISO to 800 but leaving it on auto. And you should only do that when the light is lacking. When there is plenty of light shooting at high ISO won't grain your videos at all.