Cheat Sheets for Beginners: Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm...

R FRED Loc: Logan, OH

Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm IS II. I have varied interests, but birds and wildlife are my biggest. Having trouble with ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Any chance there are cheat sheets for basic setting situations i.e. perched bird at a distance on a sunny day? Just some general settings to help get me started? Thanks.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I know some of the members carry guides.
I don't and probably should.
You'll get some suggestions, soon.
Welcome to the forum!!
Pat

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

You need to read the Peterson Understanding Exposure book. You need to think about the shutter speed that will stop motion, both in the subject's motion and in the camera and lens especially if handheld. You need to think about the Depth of Field you need or want. A DOF calculator app can help greatly with that understanding. And you will need to set your ISO to enable the other two setting or add light using flash if that is possible. 1/focal length is a minimum rule of thumb for shutter speed and some will apply the crop factor to that number too. So, at 400mm you would think 400 x 1.6 is 1/640 minimum. DOF at 400mm at relatively short distances can be very shallow at maximum aperture. See the example at 20 feet from my DOF calculator.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

(Download)

CO

You really have an outstanding camera and lens there. For settings, I like to use aperture priority to control depth of field and keep the lens in the range where it's the sharpest. For your Canon 100-400mm, I would try to keep the aperture in the f/4.5 - f/8 range. For stationary birds, try use a minimum of around 1/250 second shutter speed. For large birds in flight like egrets and herons, use a minimum of 1/1000 second for your shutter speed. For smaller birds, you'll want a faster shutter speeds.

The 1/(focal length times crop factor) guideline for minimum shutter speeds is a good starting point. The image stabilization of your lens is rated a 4 stops so you can go with slower shutter speeds if needed.

LensTip.com does extensive testing. I downloaded their image resolution testing for that lens. It's best in the f/4.5 to f/8 range. It's still very good at f/11 but I wouldn't stop down the aperture any more than that.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens center

(Download)

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens edge of APS-C sensor

(Download)

columbine1111

I did not post this question, but thank you. It is beneficial to me, too.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

R FRED wrote:

Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm IS II. I have varied interests, but birds and wildlife are my biggest. Having trouble with ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Any chance there are cheat sheets for basic setting situations i.e. perched bird at a distance on a sunny day? Just some general settings to help get me started? Thanks.

I was introduced to a method for your Camera's manual mode, called, "I am Shooting", which stands for, ISO, APERTURE, SHUTTER-SPEED, settings in that order, this is just one of many suggestions on how to operate in your camera's manual mode. I would tell you the photographer's name who introduced me to this method of setting your manual mode, but I do not remember it presently. It may help you in setting your camera's settings in a logical order in Manual Mode. Hope this may be helpful, look forward to viewing your Bird and Wildlife images here on UHH. Happy Shooting!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Welcome to our forum!

Yes, many, many cheat sheets. I make up my own, depending on what I might want to reference later on. I know how to turn my cameras on, so that isn't necessary. : )

https://www.google.com/search?q=photography+cheat+sheets&oq=photography+cheat+sheets&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65l3j0l2.5415j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Practice practice practice. Digital film is really cheap. I use Program mode and auto single point focus and fiddle from there.

northsidejoe Loc: pittsburgh

R FRED wrote:

Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm IS II. I have varied interests, but birds and wildlife are my biggest. Having trouble with ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Any chance there are cheat sheets for basic setting situations i.e. perched bird at a distance on a sunny day? Just some general settings to help get me started? Thanks.

Hello and welcome to the forum i see cheat sheets on pinterest all the time hopes this helps saying hello from Pittsburgh.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Welcome to the Forum Renee, enjoy.

elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

R FRED wrote:

Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm IS II. I have varied interests, but birds and wildlife are my biggest. Having trouble with ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Any chance there are cheat sheets for basic setting situations i.e. perched bird at a distance on a sunny day? Just some general settings to help get me started? Thanks.

"Renee! There's always the "Sunny 16" rule from "back in the day" of film cameras and printed on the instruction sheets or boxes of film. Basically for a sunny light situation with distinct shadows, use a shutter speed of 1 over the reciprocal of the ISO speed and an aperture of F/16.
As lighting situations get less bright, the lens aperture is opened up to compensate for them. Of course if you are using a telephoto, you would definitely use an equivalent exposure with a faster shutter speed and/or "sweet spot" of the lens.

See: < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule > for a complete explanation and even a printable chart which can be carried with you. All the best! Cheers. Ed

clixpix Loc: Surprise, Arizona

Hi:
I believe that Photo Bert puts out a series of plastic laminated "cheat sheets" for a number of cameras. You can do a google search and find out about him. Good luck!!

R FRED wrote:

Hello all. I have been following for awhile but this is my first post. Very new to photography. I have a Canon 80D and just acquired a Canon EF 100-400 mm IS II. I have varied interests, but birds and wildlife are my biggest. Having trouble with ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Any chance there are cheat sheets for basic setting situations i.e. perched bird at a distance on a sunny day? Just some general settings to help get me started? Thanks.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

This one is Good.....

OOPS!!!! One Moment..... :-(

OK...

This is good:

https://alfredovela.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/comohacerfotografias.jpeg

-0-

bfstuff

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

You need to think about the Depth of Field you need or want. A DOF calculator app can help greatly with that understanding. ... See the example at 20 feet from my DOF calculator.
Todd Ferguson

Todd,

What is the name of the app you use? Available for Android, iOS, both?

Thanks!

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

Moose Winans at www.cameratips.com offers a selection of downloadable cheat cards for different camera/lens combinations.