The Canon Magazine 37
CAMERA SKILLS
03 OPTIMIZE YOUR AUTOFOCUS
Many advanced Canon bodies, such as the 7D Mark II or 5D Mark IV, allow
you to set how the camera responds to movement when autofocusing. Go
into the AF menu and set it to AF Case 3, which is usually best for moving
animals and birds, setting the Tracking Sensitivity to +1, Acceleration /
Deceleration Tracking to 1 and AF point switching remains at 0. Some
Canon cameras don’t have these cases, but still contain autofocus
customization – you’ll find it in the Custom Function II: Autofocus
section, where you can set the same parameters as above.
UTILIZE BACK-BUTTON FOCUS
BACK-BUTTON focusing is an essential focusing method for
any photographer trying to capture fast moving subjects.
Back-button focus allows you to separate the autofocus
from the shutter button, so you can fire the shutter without
impacting your perfectly set focus. To do it go into the Custom
Controls section of your Canon camera’s menu, then click on
the function of the Shutter button, which will by default be set
to Metering and AF start when half-pressed, then change this
to just Metering Start. For enthusiast or pro Canon bodies
with an AF-ON button on the rear of the camera you can use
this to initiate autofocus. Pressing the shutter button will only
effect metering and take the shot in this case.COVERT CAMERA KIT
IF YOU’RE trying to remain unseen by the wild animals you’re
photographing then it’s a good idea to avoid bright and shiny
camera equipment. Tripods and accessories often come in
some rather bright and colourful options, but for wildlife it’s
best to stick to neutral or darker tones, or clad your tripod,
lenses and camera body in camo skins to blend into
surrounding woodland. Here we have two Ellie L-brackets
from Three Legged Thing, the copper version would be sure
to attract attention while the Grey version is much more
subtle and the better choice when shooting wildlife.Ge
tty