Good day!
My name is Guts from Pangolin Photo Safaris, and today we're on the Chobe River.
I am going to talk to you about my 'go-to' camera settings,
so that I ready for any shot - that might happen - when I go on Safari.
Before we get started...please remember to subscribe, so you can get notified when there is a next video.
Today we've got the Canon 80D, which is the camera we supply to all our guests
here at Pangolin Photo Safaris on the Chobe River.
The 'go-to settings' that I believe is the best
is starting off with the absolute priority of shutter speed.
All my camera settings - I always shoot in manual mode - and I preset the shutter speed at 1/2500 sec.
Why 1/2500 sec?
Because I can literally shoot anything...a flying bird, an animal running through the water.
I don't want to be too slow.
I don't want to be caught off-guard.
That's why my priority is 1/2500 sec.
When there is a lot of light - like this - nice and bright sunny day...
I would go to f/8.
It's almost fool-proof...with a 1/2500 sec shutter speed and f/8, I can just about go and shoot anything!
That is, if we have enough light.
If we don't have this crazy amount of light, I will still prioritise my speed at 1/2500 sec....
but, I will go to my low f-stop - as low as my lens can go.
The cameras that we supply to our guests, are fitted with a Sigma 150-600mm Sport Lens,
and our lowest f-stop will then be f/5.
So, I will adjust to f/5 if there is a little bit less light.
The next thing is my ISO...set on auto.
BUT, I have capped the ISO at 3200,
because with this specific body - with the 80D - I find that you get a lot of noise after 3200.
So, I have capped ISO at 3200...and I know it's going to be somewhere in between there.
The next thing is my white balance, and because I shoot in raw,
white balance doesn’t really matter, so my camera's always on auto white balance.
Again, not a big problem.
The next thing is our focus point.
Personally, I like the single focus point, with the '4 little helpers'.
It just helps you to keep a bit of action (if it happens),
but it's not like a shotgun, that will just focus all over the show.
The next thing that people always ask about, is light metering...
Personally, I prefer partial light metering.
It prioritises where your focus point is, and a little bit around that.
For me that works well.
The advice with light metering, is that once you've selected one specific light meter, rather stay with it.
I stay with partial metering, because I know how it behaves.
I tend to never adjust my light metering, because it jumps up and down with spot metering....
if you are on the light, or off the light.
So rather just choose a specific light meter - in my case I use partial - and you will never need to adjust it again...
because you know how it behaves
If it's a picture that you need to overexpose...
I know on this specific light metering, I need to over-expose that much - so it's a constant.
Then, I have got my camera set on full frame - at 14 frames a second - which is gold,
because when there's some action you don't want to pick up your camera and go click, click, click, click!
You rather want to get all the action.
Another thing that people tend to forget is, every night when I put my camera back in my bag, I set it on this go-to setting.
What happens a lot, is that when you do night time photography, like star photography, or painting with light,
and then tomorrow morning the first shot that you get, is a leopard running across the road.
You pick up your camera, and you're still on a 30-second exposure...and that's a common mistake a lot of people are making.
Alight! F/8, 1/2,500 sec, auto ISO in this light,
it gives me an ISO of 200, which is more than adequate...
and my light meter is on partial, and I am ready to go!
The big thing is to always make sure that your exposure compensation is on zero - so, that's your 'go-to'.
I always tell my guests that you should do 'border patrol'.
That is when you look through your frame, and you see all the sides of your image.
In there you will see your f-stop, shutter-speed and exposure compensation (that's on 0).
You will also see the power left in your battery.
Once you are happy with what see there, you can put your camera away,
and if there's anything happening, you can pick it up and just SHOOT!
I hope you find that useful.
Please come and join me here in the Chobe.
We hope to see you soon.
Thank you very much for watching guys!
If you want to join me here for a Safari, I have put a link in the description below.
If there are any other photographic questions you would like to ask,
please let us know in the comments below, and we will see if we can make a video about that too!
Thank you!