Canon 7D: What do you set on three custom set modes

[gunjankv]

<p>7D comes with three custom set modes on dial. I am sure many would have been using it with different kind of setting for different usages. I thought it would be a good idea to share those style and get some valuable inputs before I design and decide what to set on them.<br>

I read somewhere about using custom modes for (A) 1. Landscapes 2. Portraits 3. High Res RAW for special purpose<br>

or (B) 1. Video-one 2. Video-two 3. etc etc<br>

I was planning to use it as: 1. Standard + High contrast 2. Standard + High saturation 3. Standard + High contrast + saturation<br>

Choices.. choices</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>I haven't used mine yet, not even on the 5D which I owned for 3 years. </p>

[michael_p.1]

<p>C1 set to 100 ISO, f16 and AV. Basic setting for land scape. Easy to switch to regardless of what I was set at or shooting.<br>

C2 set to auto ISO, f16, and AV. General purpose. Easy to adjust aperture up or down depending upon what's up.<br>

C3 set to auto ISO, 1/4000, TV. I use this for birding. I adjust as needed to get proper exposure on birds with long lens.</p>

[nathangardner]

<p>well when I had my 40D I had:<br>

C1) tripod; ISO 100, M, MLU, 2 sec. s/t<br>

C2) action/sports; ISO 400, lowest f-stop on Av, al servo<br>

C3) low light; ISO 1600, lowest f stop on Av, one shot</p>

[paulo_fonseca1]

<p>it took me some time to understand the power of this feature, but now i think i can no longer live without it. i would promptly exchange those (for me worthless) full auto and creative auto modes for c4 and c5 :-) <br>

i do mostly casual (family, travel) shooting with the 18-135 lens and the settings that i need to change more often and that i find hard to adjust are the autofocus area and mode, as well as the drive mode. therefore, if i remember well, i usually have the following settings.<br>

c1) "action" (i.e. moving kids) - Av, auto af point selection (ocasionally zone), ai servo, hi-speed continuous shooting, stopped down 1ev, customised standard picture style (+1 saturation)<br>

c2) "portraits" - Av, manual single point af, one-shot, single shooting, stopped down 1ev,<br />customised portrait picture style (+1 saturation). pre-selected af points are different for horizontal and vertical orientation and roughly correspond to the top-left points of the 4/3 "rule".<br>

c3) "scenery" - Av, auto af point selection, one-shot, single shooting, f8, customised landscape picture style (+1 sharpening, +1 saturation).<br>

when i first get to the place, i change and store settings for the wb accordingly. in strong daylight, i often dial and store -1/3 or -2/3 ec.<br>

(sorry, too verbose, 1st post :-))</p>

[jonathan_lui]

<p>These settings are always in flux, depending on the current conditions. Generally, I set my 40D like this:<br>

C1) Flash exposure: Manual, lower ISO, 1/60 or so shutter, f/8 or whatever is best for ambient light at that time. This allows me to quickly switch between flash and ambient-only shots (higher ISO, larger aperture). If I need to turn on the hotshoe flash, I just switch to C1 and turn on the flash.<br>

C2) Setting for an indoor/outdoor exposure, or backlit/frontlit. Usually, I'll be using M mode for the most of my shots, then set C2 to be for the opposite environment. If I'm shooting mostly outdoors, I try to set C2 to an indoor setting, so I can switch quickly.<br>

C3) Super-P mode: This also changes frequently, it's P mode but set to ISO400 (or auto), RAW, auto focus point selection, longer review time, half-press to focus, etc. Basically, the "give to someone else to shoot" mode. I can't use standard P mode, since my CFn's move the focus to the back button, manual ISO, manual focus selection, and other settings that would be a pain for someone else using the camera. It would also be a pain for me to reset them back-and-forth.</p>