Canon 350D settings.
 

Have purchased a Canon 350D for use with a Sigma 175-500 lens.Shall be taking mainly wildlife photos(birds).Any suggestion for setting on the camera would be gratefully received.


Geoff.:)

Geoff the best settings I have mine set on with the 170-500. are the following.

First of all try and shoot in RAW then if you do make a mistake with the setting all may not be lost you may be able to correct things in a good editing package.

1. AV. Always have it on this except when I want to experiment with manual.
2. ISO basically depend on the light 100-400 for normal light. In extreme conditions like the weather the way it is at the moment 800 and even 1600.
3. Compensation I usually have in two modes if I know I am going to take flight shots with light background I give between +1 to 1.1/2. for birds on feeders and with plain backgrounds like grass -1 on a dull day. just to bring out the shadows a bit. I have gotten so used to where the compensation switch is now its second nature to change quickly from one to the other if the need arises.
4. Speed. I know they say to keep the speed to whatever length you have the lens e.g.. 400mm. speed 400. I have found what is comfortable for me to hold the lens with no shake sometimes half that amount or less I can hand hold at 450mm down to 125th.

Play around with those setting and get used to where the compensation button is so you are always at the ready. I just played for a while and kept checking the histogram to find the best settings.
Enjoy your camera and just keep playing. When you get more adventurous try the manual setting but don't forget to switch it back to AV afterwards.

I have not got this lens but for almost all bird shots with a tele lens I use the camera in AV mode with the lens wide open.

Roy just reminded me about the aperture settings

In AV for the absolute sharpest photo with the 170-500 if the light will allow it, is f10 if not then try the various f stops going down to f5.6 to get a reasonable speed.
It is only recently that I found the optimum setting for the lens and now I find I am getting even better results and less throw aways if I can keep it around the f10 mark.

Check out my Gallery on BF for the ISO, Fstop, speed.

Birds seldom stand still. They move all the time. Even if they only move their head can ruin your photos. I suggest you set your aperture at the widest opening so you will have highest speed. I consider speed slower than 1/400sec not suitable for wild birds.

See my birds pictures here:

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/....com&password=

Most of the bird pictures here were taken without tripod with speed faster than 1/400sec.

Sigma 170-500
 

Christine,

I have been using a Sigma 170-500 with a Pentax MZ6 (film) for about 4 years and love it. I have just purchased a Pentax *istDS2 and although I took the big lens to the store to try it with my other Pentax lenses I haven't had time yet to get out and give it a good work through. Your photos on Bird Forum are excellent and have given me the stimulus to go out in the freezing cold next weekend.

By the way I emigrated from Stafford in 1970.

Cheers,

Mike

I am puzzled ruchai have used the Sigma 170-500mm lens?

Looking at your recent shots in BF they all seem to be taken with a Nikor 80-400 VR. If these were taken wide open you may find your shots gain a bit more detail if you stopped down a bit.

In an idea world the 1/400 sec or faster is a good rule of thumb but most days I am happy if I can get 1/200 sec @ ISO 400 or 800.
If you open up the lens too far there can be poor depth of field or the lens is not at peak optical performance. If I drop below 1/100 sec it's time to think about packing up and going home. Now shooting Blue tits at less than 1/100 sec is a real challenge.

I think Christine's advice is good for this lens. My experience of Sigma lens is that many of them do benefit from being stopped down to improve the optical performance. It is a juggling act to get shots with low noise, good depth of field, sharp image and a high enough shutter speed to freeze action.

Who said photography was easy especially in the UK where the light is rarely brilliant.

I do not have the Sigma. I have had experiences photographing birds more than 40 years. Whit film cameras in the good old days I used 400mm tele with f:4 with ISO 400 films. Now with digital camera I use the 80-400 (120-600) f5.6 which is fine in the weather here. I chosen the Nikon D50 because it has the lowest noise ccd among the DSLR cameras available at the time. I believe you will need the lowest noise ccd camera with lens that could be use at full opening for birds. My 80-400 Nikkor and Nikon D50 seems to work well at f:5.6 and ISO 400. Nikon external flash also do help as filling when the situation get dim.

I should hope so the lens is double the price of the Sigma 170-500. :rolleyes:

The top spec lens do perform better than the cheaper lens at a wide setting.

I must confess I am still a novice as I only took up photography 30 years ago. I am glad those old days of trying to keep the chemicals warm in my darkroom during winter months are long gone. Now bird photography I am wet behind the ears. I've managed a few passable shots since taking up this aspect less than 12 months ago.

Ever the master of understatement. ;)