I have been photographing with two Canon EOS R3 cameras since the camera’s initial release and have now used them everywhere from the frigid Winter of Ellesmere Island in the high Arctic (in temperatures as low as -55º Celsius) where I was photographing Arctic Hares and Ptarmigan, to the heat (+35º Celsius) and dust of multiple African safaris with Elephants, Cape buffalo, Leopards and more. I have shot Arctic foxes with the EOS R3 cameras in the remote Hornstrandir nature reserve in bitter winter Iceland blizzards and storms, Polar Bears, Walrus, and Arctic birds on the winter sea ice in the Svalbard archipelago, wild Wolves, Eagles, and Wolverine in Finland in Autumn and Winter, and Musk Ox and giant icebergs in late Autumn on the East-coast of Greenland. There is no doubt in my mind that the Canon EOS R3 is Canon’s most sophisticated and powerful camera yet. The camera has incredible autofocus capability and also an extremely high degree of customization that can be achieved through its menu system to optimize in-field autofocus. But how do you configure the camera to get the most out of it?
There are numerous YouTube videos on the customization and set-up of the Canon EOS R3; but in my experience, most of them are either thinly veiled plugs for other products; or, are more typically based on little real-world practical field experience by arm-chair ‘YouTubers’ looking to garner views and subscribers. Virtually all of them show poor setup that fails to take full advantage of the camera’s powerful capabilities to capture incredible wildlife photographs. However, I recently stumbled across an outstanding video from Sabine that comes extremely close to my own set-up and I want to share her hard work here (as her video is excellent). Sabine’s video is the first I have seen that mimics my own EOS R3 autofocus setup utilizing three different customizable buttons for maximum flexibility and adaptability in the field. Outside of a few small personal preference differences, Sabine’s set-up of the R3 autofocus system matches my own and is in my experience highly optimal for maximizing the powerful capabilities of the EOS R3 for Wildlife photography. If you have a Canon EOS R3 and you want to maximize your EOS R3 investment and the powerful capabilities of this camera to ensure in-field flexibility and optimal results then I would strongly encourage you to check out Sabine’s video below.
If you own a Canon EOS R3 and have traveled with me on one of my workshops and expeditions and you would like a copy of my camera settings so that you do not have to go through and manually update your camera then please email me. I still strongly recommend you watch the video above to understand how my EOS R3 cameras have been optimally set up. There are a few differences to Sabine’s set-up; but these are mostly personal preferences.
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 