Set Up Your Camera For Best Field Use

Get the most from your camera by having it dialed in for nature photography

Text And Photography By Rob Sheppard

Labels: Camera Technique, How To

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Get your money’s worth out of your camera! Allow your images to use the entire LCD when they display, whether they’re horizontal or vertical. This setting is usually in the playback or setup menu on your camera. On most of today’s cameras, you can tell the camera not to auto-rotate verticals in the LCD, yet still keep vertical information with the files so that they do rotate when the images are opened in the computer.

4-Minute Auto Power Off
I don’t know about you, but I get annoyed when the camera shuts down just as I’m ready to take a picture. That happens all too often with most cameras at their default Auto Power Off setting. Again, these short times were originally chosen because, when the camera was on, it used too much battery power. That’s no longer true at all, but the manufacturers still have kept rather short default settings.

For me, a setting of about four minutes seems to be fine. The setting is usually in the setup menu of your camera. If you’re doing a type of photography that requires you to sit and wait for action to occur, such as wildlife photography, you may want to set this to an even longer time. It’s incredibly frustrating to have a bird landing on a nest as you push the shutter release, for example, and have nothing happen because the camera went to sleep.

8-Second LCD Review Time
The LCD is one of the great innovations of digital photography. It allows us to see what our photographs look like without having to take them to a lab for processing. This is a huge benefit, giving us instant results to review. And those results give us immediate feedback on what’s working or not working. LCD review can help photographers at every level.

Which is why I can’t imagine using the camera the way most are set up for LCD review. The timing is way too short to be able to do anything. The default settings for how long the LCD displays images after a shot are designed for very casual shooters. I’m not talking about beginning nature photographers either—these shooters are those who simply use any camera to point-and-shoot record shots of family and friends.

The short default LCD Review Time is a throwback to the design of earlier digital cameras. The LCD used to be a big power drain for the camera’s batteries. Because of this, manufacturers set the LCD Review Time—the time an image is displayed right after you take a picture—rather short.

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Professional makes this comment

Saturday, 05 September 2009

Thanks for the article!
michelle makes this comment

Thursday, 02 July 2009

Been pushing that shutter release for 40 some years. Eventually some learn; most never learn. I don't still shoot film because I'm an 'old foggy' but because it is essential that I stay on top of things and not have to resort to cheating with Adobe Photoshop. Same with the different film formats. Digital is *only* used when having to change film rolls would undo the efforts for the day, like shooting a race or some other fast paced event. Want to know more and be better at all of this? Go to a photo school that is at least two years!
Creek makes this comment

Wednesday, 01 July 2009

anything that bogs you down in the field and sucks up energy from the battery and/or takes away from the actual shoot should be looked at-double check your settings-you may be suprised to see what is lagging on your camera settings
Ami makes this comment

Wednesday, 01 July 2009

hey brother, what is ISO? is it something to do with taking pictures outdoors? many thanks.
William O'Connell makes this comment

Monday, 29 June 2009

I never worry about battery-saving techniques while shooting. I either use "8 second" or "hold", depending on what I'm shooting. If your battery gets low, just pop in 1 of your charged extra batteries. No pro goes anywhere without a couple (minimum) of spare camera batteries and cards and at last 1 set of AA's for their strobe, and neither should you. I own 6 extra batteries for my Canons and 3 chargers.
Bob Lurie makes this comment

Sunday, 28 June 2009

I disagree with your recommendation on Auto ISO. On my Nikon 300 ISO sensitivity auto control lets me set the maximum ISO and the minimum shutter speed. Thus in Aperture control I can set the ISO for anything I want (usually 400); but with Auto the maximum is 3200 and the minimum shutter speed is 1/125. Thus when I walk into a temple in Cambodia and the monk is talking to us, I find that without auto control his lips are blurred (non-correctable); but with auto on the ISO, the ISO may go up to 1600 but I still get a non-blurred picture. I find this setting fabulous and it has saved me many times. Sure, if I am using a tripod and am taking the world beating scenic I can easily turn this off or, more likely will still be in the settings that I intended. The amateur on a tour versus a pro with his own time schedule needs different settings.
The Most Interesting Man In The World makes this comment

Friday, 26 June 2009

I don't always drink beer; but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.
Fujichrome makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Digital photography did NOT kill Kodachrome. The far superior Fujichrome Velvia 50 did. Just ask any film pro, such as Art Wolfe. Best of all, Fuji still makes them and sells lots of them to pros today.
Bill Keiter makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Camera manufacturers seem to be more into computers than camera operations. A really simple way to be in manual mode without peering through the viewfinder for settings or groping for the right buttons would be a nice manual feature that I bet could be easily part of the multiple program featured modern digital camera and would make picture taking less of a geek experience.
Hagen makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Rather than the 8 second preview which seriously wastes power, turn the LCD review off and have the camera turn on the review with an easy to reach button. As you are rotating the camera down to look at the image, just press the button. Image will be ready for your viewing by the time you get it into position to see. Not only do you save power, but you also can review the image for as long as you want. Just push any "shooter" related button to get back.
Michael Perham makes this comment

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Great article. Very interesting to hear how others set up the optional parameters of their camera and why ...no one has a monopoly on good ideas and this kind of article is very useful in todays world where the options and parameters of digital cameras can be overwhelming.
Ed Ham makes this comment

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Wow - I just heard about Kodachrome getting shut down. What will happen to this magazine? Maybe they will focus on some digital issues?
Kodachrome makes this comment

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

I got a Nikon Camera. Momma just threw my Kodachrome away.

How-To

Set Up Your Camera For Best Field Use

Get the most from your camera by having it dialed in for nature photography

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