Settings on a R7 for amateur photographer?

[CamerauserR7]

To all I have a EOS R7 with an 18-150 and a 100-400 lenses.  This is only a second DSLR camera I have ever owned.  Question I have it was is the best settings for a very amateur photographer?  O take pictures of my kids playing baseball.  The pictures come out ok but still not great.  I currently set the camera in P mode and take pictures.  Any help would be appreciated.   

[March411]

CamerauserR7, Welcome to the site and congrats on the new camera. Just a heads up, your R7 is not a DSLR it's a MILC (mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera). The best advice I can offer is to view youtube videos that focus on the menu options for sports and if the children are sitting still portraits. Most of the features you set up will be in the AF menu.

Youtube will also be helpful to learn all the features and elements of your R7. Simply search Canon R7 tutorial. It would be best to have your camera with you and follow along with the videos.

Canon R7 tutorial 

[CamerauserR7]

I appreciate the response.  I have watched multiple youtube videos.  They have me more confused then ever.  Also I need to keep the “shutter” sound off.  It stays off in P mode but any other mode you can’t silence it.  I was hoping someone here on the forum can help me

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:

The problem you have is that using a dedicated camera is a very different experience from shooting with a cell phone or a point and shoot camera.  They are capable of giving amazing results but demand a level of knowledge that you have yet to acquire.

There are two areas of knowledge you need to consider:
1.  The basic principles of photography that centre around measuring exposure and using three types of control to get the right settings - those include the 'holy trinity' of photography: Shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  The combination of these three in many different ways will give the correct exposure, but each has a different and significant impact on the resulting image.
2. How to use the controls of your camera.  Like any activity - such as typing - when one knows the layout and can reach for the right button or dial the equipment does not get in your way.

These are not instant fixes and no-one here can give you a formula that will quickly make you efficient and allow you to create great photographs.

Perhaps I can suggest a video to look at on the principles of photography in general.  Also, you should contact your local camera society and see if you can get someone who uses the same camera to spend some time with you. I note that these are means of reference, they do not replace a complete course.  When I first began photography,  I studied books for a year before I got a camera, now there are many more resources to help you get going.

The good news is that Canon cameras have a relatively user-friendly interface and although the course was designed for DSLRs it is just as applicable to the MILC you have.

Your other resource is the manual - that thing that people rarely open.  I recommend you download a PDF of the manual: c005.pdf (start.canon)  Use it as a reference source and use the search feature to find material based on words.

For example, the mechanical shutter sounds like a machine gun so you can look up how to change that.  Doing so, on P33 it indicates that you can set up SCM mode where there are two possible options that might work for you: 
Silent shutter and Sports modes.

For more details on each, do a search.  For example, do a search for spots mode and you will get the following on p111:

Whereas Silent Shutter can be found by a search on p120:

[stevet1]

CamerauserR7,

It's kind of hard to say what the "best" settings are, because they might vary depending on a variety of circumstances and what you are trying to achieve at the time.

For instance:

1) What time of day is it? Daytime or Nightime under artificial lights?

2) Do you want to isolate one player, or take in the whole field at a time?

3) IS the person moving, or are they standing still?

4) Are you close to the action, or are you standing or sitting quite a distance away?

5) What is it that makes you feel that the pictures are "not great"? Are they blurry? Or washed  out, or the wrong colors?

When you are in P mode, the camera is choosing your shutter speed and your aperture.

If you want to "freeze the action" of a single player in good light, try putting your camera in shutter priority, or TV, mode and set a shutter speed of around 1/400th's of a second or so.

Your camera should select an aperture of around f/5.6 or so. This should be enough to isolate the player and sort of blur out the background. If it doesn't, you can use Manual Mode and set that aperture setting yourself. Leave the ISO in Auto for now. Later on, you can play with manually setting a higher or lower ISO to make your pictures lighter or darker as you get more practice. 

If you want more of the field in focus with a deeper depth of field, you can narrow your aperture to f/8. If you leave your shutter speed where it is, the camera will increase your ISO in order to keep up and give you a good 3xposure.

Are you using single point autofocus?

I personally prefer single point autofocus using back button focusing (BBF) in Servo mode, but that's just me. Some people use the Tracking features of the camera, but I could never get the hang of it.

Steve Thomas

[CamerauserR7]

Ok stevet1 you lost me half way through.  I really do need to maybe take a class to teach me basics of photography.  I take pictures during the day the photos are not crisp. Sorry if I seem dumb but coming from an Iphone to this I was told it was easy to use and to get great pictures……

[stevet1]

CamerauserR7,

First off, you're not dumb at all. Everyone who takes pictures has to start at the beginning. It's a learning process, and you get better as you get more experience.

Your camera is capable of giving you great pictures. It's just a matter of learning how to use it. That will take time, and practice, and patience.

Knowing that you are takng pictures in the Daylight is a good start.

Try putting your camera in TV Mode, and set a shutter speed of 1400. Then take another at 1/320. Then take another at 1/250.

Then go the other way and take one at 1/400. Then take one at 1/500. Then take a other one at 1/600. Compare all those and see which one seems to be giving you the crispest one.

The nice thing about digital phography is that you can take a whole bunch of pictures, and not have to pay any extra money to get them developed.

Once you find a shutter speed to your liking, learn how to fire off a burst of 3 or 4 shots at a time, and you'll be able to catch a player diving for a ball, or sliding into third.

If you haven't done so yet, download a copy of your user manual in pdf format. Then using the search function of your pdf reader (like Adobe), you can search for all kinds of stuff on your camera.

Steve Thomas

[Tintype_18]

My recommendation is to download the manual and start with the basics. The members have given good advice but, a mentioned, there are a number of variables. Three grandsons play baseball so I have "refined" my setting to take advantage of the particular scenes. Two granddaughters run cross country. Same thing. I have found settings that freeze motions to the point of one having both feet off the ground. To wrap it up, the nice thing about DSLR is you need miles of film. Just shoot and look on the screen. Shoot many photos as you can then study the setting when you download them to your computer. Best of all, have fun! You might even print off some for framing.