Hi! It's Danielle, and today I'm coming to you from the Pangolin Chobe Hotel in Kasane.
Today I will be talking about how to set up a Nikon D750 for wildlife photography.
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Today we have the Nikon D750 with a NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8 ED VR II⁠ fixed lens.
I will start with the lens. Firstly, make sure that on your lens, you're shooting on autofocus.
There should be a switch on the lens if you're shooting on autofocus.
Then on the camera as well - on the side of the of the D750 - is a little toggle...
...autofocus and manual focus. Make sure it's pointing towards AF.
99.9% of the time we shoot on autofocus.
Then, when we get to the camera dial, I shoot...
...personally I shoot in manual on auto ISO - for most of the time - depending on what we're shooting.
But mostly I put it onto manual. Also on that same dial you'll see
- between continuous and single shooting - I shoot on continuous high.
Meaning the fastest frame rate possible. Then, if we go to the menu...
...if you look at the back of my screen, you'll see that I am in manual.
I have chosen my shutter speed. I have chosen my f-stop. I always shoot in full frame mode. You can put it on DX as well,
but I prefer to shoot in full frame - with a full frame camera.
Then that's my frame rate. Then I shoot on auto white balance.
I shoot on RAW, so that's why I choose my white balance to be automatic,
and to fix it afterwards in Lightroom. As I mentioned I shoot in RAW - most of the time - when I shoot wildlife.
On the side of the D750 you'll see a little button saying 'quality'...
...and that's where you can change your quality to go from RAW to JPEG, if you want to.
I leave it on RAW. You've got all the options for JPEG, RAW and JPEG...
...but in the end, I leave it on the RAW.
Then I shoot on continuous autofocus. REALLY IMPORTANT.
If you press that little - where the dial was on the left-hand side - where I toggled from manual to auto focus.
In the middle of that toggle, there's a there's a button that you press...
...and when you press it in, that menu comes up.
If you use your back dial, you will see it changing between continuous autofocus, auto and single autofocus.
I leave it on continuous. I don't shoot wildlife on AF-S.
I don't want the camera to focus once-off, and then my subject moves towards me and the camera loses focus.
If it's on continuous autofocus, it means that it'll continuously pick up the subject
- as long as I hold my focus point on the subject -
it'll keep focusing and the subject will stay sharp,
where it is moving across the screen or towards me.
It's also nice to know that you can use AF-C for stationary subjects as well.
It doubles-up.
Because if the subject isn't going anywhere - and you hold your focus down - then it'll still focus.
As soon as the subject starts moving, then it will still focus on the subject.
So, it can be used for stationary as well as moving subjects, which is why I leave it on AF-C for most of the time.
Then, when I press that switch again - and instead of turning the back command dial -
I turn the front dial. You will see the AF area mode changing.
This is personal preference what you shoot on. Personally. I am mostly shoot on that one, which is group.
You will see four little squares together.
Group or single point focus, that's my preferred two.
I know a lot of people prefer shooting on the dynamic ones: the 9 point, the 21 point or the 51 point.
It's really up to you. What I like about the group focus, which is that one,
is that it activates five focus points at the same time, including the center focus point...
and it gives equal weighting to all five, as well as to the closest subject,
so it hardly ever allows you to pick up the background instead of the subject.
So, for fast moving subjects - to track the subjects - I like to use group autofocus points
or autofocus area mode, because your chances of getting the subject sharp are much better.
The other one is AF-area where the camera
picks up what it wants to pick up, so it'll choose an area for you,
which I never shoot on, because I don't like the camera choosing for me.
Your single point is really effective for bigger birds, that you can pick up easily,
and hold your point on. Because remember, it is only one point, so you have to be very specific on your focus.
..and then your dynamic area. Your 9, 21 and 51 points
Basically that means that the camera picks up the subject.
You have to pick up the subject with your center focus point first -
and all the surrounding points will then act - when the subject moves off of that focus point -
then it'll kick in on those points. But it's important to remember
that you have to pick up the subject first, and lock focus with your center..
...the focus point in the middle. Your strongest focus point.
Then, if the subject moves off of that point, it'll use one of the either
9, 21 or 51 other points to focus. That's why I like group, because it gives
equal weighting to all five points
instead of giving weighting to the middle point, and then using the surrounding points.
3D is the other option that you have on AF-C, and that means that your focus point
will actually move around. So, you don't have to move and keep the focus point on the subject.
So, for birds in flight for example, it works well.
You will see that when you look through your viewfinder, and it's on 3D,
and you focus, that your point will move around. As long as it stays in that autofocus area.
- as long as it doesn't go too far off to the side -
it'll pick up the bird. I find it to be effective.
I know it's a it's a love-hate relationship that some people have with that area mode.
3D tracking works well for me when there is nothing else in the scene...moving.
So, basically when you've got a bird against the sky, it works really well.
But, when the bird flies across some reeds - that are blowing in the wind - or you have a moving background,
then 3D tracking sometimes picks up the reeds that are
swaying in the wind, or the water, the waves, or something like that.
So, I like 3D tracking, when it's one subject, on a very clear (uncluttered) background.
Then it works really well. So, those are all the the area modes in AF-C.
I wouldn't suggest shooting on AF-S, because your subjects and wildlife mostly move,
and you don't know when they're going to move. So, stick it on AF-C. Leave it on AF-C.
Test out all the modes. My favourite at the moment - I find a group to be really effective...or single point.
One of those two.
When you are in AF-C - it's also important to go into your menu - and make sure under your custom setting menu,
which is your pencil on the left-hand side. If you go into autofocus.
You will see a1. It says AF-C priority selection. That basically means...
does the camera take the shot when it's focused, or when you press the button?
I like to leave it on release. I don't like the camera to only shoot once it's focused,
because it is a hit-and-miss sometimes in wildlife, and you want the hit.
You want the camera to release, even if it's not focused, because the
next shot, which is straight afterwards, it might pick it up and be in focus.
I just find my keeper rate to be a little bit higher when I set it to release,
and not to focus.
Then, what I also do, is that I use back button focus, personally.
I know that's also a topic of discussion, so you're welcome to comment below which is your favourite?
Do you use your shutter release button, or if you use your back button, as your focus button?
I use my back button to focus. This button you can set up as your focus button, and then I use my
shutter release only for shooting. So I track and follow, as long as you hold it on AF-C,
it keeps following your subject. It tracks your subject under your focus point...
...and then you shoot continuously with your shutter button.
To set-up back button focus - this button as your back button,
if you don't want to use your shutter release button.
Go into your menu. To custom settings. Under your pencil icon.
Then you go to controls. Your 'f' menu. Go to f4. You will see it says
assign AE-L/AF-L button, and that's this one over here. Then you if you press it,
it gives you a lot of options. It says, you can use it as an exposure lock.
You can use it as an exposure lock if you hold it only. You can use it as a focus lock.
I set it to AF on, and that means that every time I press or hold,
my AE-L/AE-F button, it's going to be used as the focus button, and I can shoot with my shutter button...
...my shutter release button, as a shooting only. Focus and shooting.
Then metering mode is really important as well. I stick to my matrix metering
for most of the time .I don't use my spot and my center-weighted metering too much.
Except if there's a high contrast situation, then I do, but for general
purposes I stick to matrix metering. It's called evaluative metering on Canon.
Each brand has their own name for it, but on Nikon it's called matrix metering...
...and that's my chosen metering system.
Please do leave me comments below. If you do have a D750 and you have any other suggestions,
or comments on your set-up for wildlife photography. I would love to hear them, and chat to you about them.
Until next time. Have a good day.
Bye-bye!