Canon 7D: My Basic Setups

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 19. December 2011 - 6:00

Recently, I was asked as to what was my everyday use setup for the Canon 7D. I have 5 stored settings. Yes, I know that there's only C1/C2/C3 but I can set the A mode and the M mode and the Canon 7D remember these settings.

I do mostly indoor landscapes and indoor & outdoor portraits, be it people or animals.

  1. I have removed the focus from the shutter. I always use the AF-ON back button or the focus will change every time that I press the shutter. See: Canon 7D and the AF-ON Button
  2. I always shoot raw, unless I do time lapses

Landscapes: Everything Manual

Dalbergia Wood Fine Objects

Indoor Landscape   click on image for gallery

  • Manual mode
  • No AF
  • No IS
  • F/11 and distance is set according to the hyperfocal. On a 17-55, at 17mm — f/11, the distance set to 5 feet, gives me a depth of field from 2.3ft to infinity
  • Center weighted average metering. Sometimes I use it, but I also use an old Weston Master selenium handheld light meter
  • Single shot
  • ISO 200
  • Remote trigger
  • Good tripod. I use mostly a Giotto carbon fibre tripod, but sometimes I also use an old (I bought it 35 years ago) aluminium Manfrotto tripod
  • White balance usually set to fluorescent, but it doesn't really matter, I almost always correct in post processing. I always use a grey card

Portraits: no flash

Cody & Manuel

Manuel & Cody   click on image for gallery

  • Av f/6.3, f/7.1 or f/8 depending on the depth of field required
  • Hi speed (7 frames/sec)
  • AI Servo AF
  • AF zone: horizontal: the middle zone, vertical: the top zone, see: Canon 7D: Orientation Linked AF Point
  • White balance, usually sun, even indoor. The important part is to have a consistent white balance
  • ISO from 400 to 3200 depending on indoor vs outdoor, brightness…

Portraits: flash

The cat is scared, it's the first time ever in his life that he went out in the “world.” He's 7 month old.The camera setup, from the table, is: Manual mode, ISO 1600, 1/40sec and f/4. I was around 3½ feet away or 1 meter to 1.1 meter. At that distance and focal length, the depth of field is: 0.15 feet or around 4 centimeters. That's why the eyes are in focus but the nose it not.The flash is set to E-TTL II, bounced behind me at around 45°. I'm in a large hall. The wall, behind me, is about 10 feet/3 meters away. If you look closely into the cat's eyes, you will see my reflection, the various people, and the layout of the hall behind me. The E-TTL II did all the exposure job.Note the most important part. I had to use my “magic” to get the cat to look at me straight on. Straight on, flash and no green eyes, the eyes are black!When using the flash, I almost always set the camera to manual with:The f/stop for the depth of field instead of controlling the flash. The speed for the ambient light. The flash in automatic to adjust the power to the right amount for the aperture that I selected

Flash and no Dreaded Green Eyes   click on image for gallery

  • Manual mode
  • Aperture set to f/6.3, f/7.1 or f/8 depending on the depth of field required
  • Speed set from 1/40s to 1/125s depending on how much ambient light I want. This is in spite of the sync speed going up to 1/250s. The shutter speed control the ambient light
  • Single shot
  • One Shot AF
  • AF zone: horizontal: the middle zone, vertical: the top zone, see: Canon 7D: Orientation Linked AF Point
  • ISO 400 or 800
  • White balance (usually flash)
  • Flash E-TTL, bounced back usually 45 deg up
  1. As you can see, I'm a fan of the AF zone and of the linked AF point. It's so fast. I just have to aim in the right direction, close enough. I usually try for the eyes, but the most important in a portrait is not the lighting but the expression, how the person feels. Look at the Manuel and Cody photo, look at how proud Cody is that he carries Manuel, the Chiwawa dog (sometimes also written as Chihuahua.)
  2. These are my settings. Ask any other photographer, she will have different ones.