Apart from the lens most of that is worth a try.  I wouldn’t use spot for AF, the whole point of animal/eye af is for the camera to find the subject.  Smaller AF regions can help with multiple subjects though.

I tend to use manual with auto iso too.  Knowing how to do exposure compensation for that can be helpful.  

Is it this lens?

https://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/c025_16_300_35_67/

If it is this lens then It’s designed for apsc cameras so you are not using the full sensor of the r8 and would only be getting 9.4 megapixels

For starters, the 16-300 isn’t designed to cover a full frame sensor. Probably want to replace that. And 300mm’s isn’t much reach for wildlife on full frame.

I’m not sure about older adapted Sigma crop body lenses, but for newer ones the R8 will just become a 9 megapixel APS-C camera as it automatically enters 1.6x crop mode. For some, you’ll just have a strong vignette as the image circle doesn’t cover the full sensor.

The only reason to limit your ISO is if you want an alert that says it’s too dark to bother taking pictures. There’s no such thing as too high an iso if you a.) require a minimum shutter speed to freeze motion and b.) are aperture limited with your lens and c.) can’t add light and d.) absolutely must get the shot.

TV is fine for wildlife. But I usually just use manual with auto iso so my lens doesn’t choose to step down aperture if I don’t want it to.

No real reason to use subject detect if you’re going to turn off whole area tracking and use spot AF. AF and burst depends if you’re trying to take pictures of deer running or grazing. Grazing animals isn’t that demanding.

Go watch a few Hudson Henry videos. He may not have your exact body, but his suggestions helped me set up my i-menu and function buttons. It was a nice tutorial and let me get to know my Z50ii better. 

As with all photography there are no set it and forget it settings for wildlife.

Make sure you have a good grasp of your AF system. Most people will use continuous autofocus. On your camera you will want to limit the AF area to a small section or even use a single point/dynamic point for best results. It means you need to work to get the box/point on the eye of your subject. 

Most people prefer a blurry background in wildlife photography now (that's new, Eric Hosking used to suggest stopping down to get a greater DoF). So shoot wide or near wide open. To keep it simple let's say never close the Aperture more than f/8.

Shutter speed. Oversimplified, but think as fast as possible, as slow as necessary. For small birds, especially moving ones 1/2000 or faster. For larger subjects, especially ones not moving you can go a lot slower. Probably never dropping below 1/250 or so even for a chilling big game/big cats, unless you are experienced and have good long lens technique. VR will help, but it's not a magic bullet -although it is the reason we aren't applying the old 1/focal length rule here. Preferably never less than 1/400 really, especially at the long end. 

ISO. Without going into the whole iso invariant and dual gain thing. As low as possible, as high as necessary/tolerable to you.

Just shoot bursts. Even if your subject is static. 

I went on a dedicated photographers safari in Botswana at the end of 2024. If you're in a group safari setting, be aware that yoru driver is probably used to phone camera photography and will try to get you in as close as possible, which may not be what you want with your big lens. Also, the drivers had very little feel for backgrounds..Just get in close. It took a few days to train our guys that we werent the typical tourist. Explaining that we wanted to stop here and wait for the Elephants to walk in front of the Acacia tree that lines up so nicely with the gap in the hills...Anyways, have fun.

I start in aperture priority mode and shoot sequences of 2-3 shots. Odds are one will have the subject still enough for no blur. I find I have to manage the ISO too much in shutter priority. Set the max ISO to something you can live with. I leave my camera at 6400 and you lose detail there but I'd rather get the shot.

That said if there's action I'll quickly switch to shutter priority.

I mostly work with single autofocus with the smallest spot size in the centre. I have the camera set to allow me to manual focus if I touch the ring. For action I will switch to continuous AF. Pre focus on something at close to the right distance.

I mostly use the electronic shutter because I like the silence and there's no worries about shutter shock. I switch to the mechanical shutter for high shutter speeds.

I have the display show exposure peaking so I can quickly tweak the EV if the subject is badly exposed by the automatic metering.

I mostly use the 300mm f4 and will bump up the f# if the light is good and I want more depth of field. I like having the whole animal in focus of I can.

Wildlife is so varying and can be everything from an owl where you can get away with 1 second exposures and fast moving animals needing everything from 1/1000-1/4000. Learn the behavior of the animal and keep the shutterspeed higher rather than lower.

My go to is manual mode+auto ISO. Find an ISO-range you're comfortable with.

Smallest focus point if you don't have animal detect, and either way if you're in an area with lots of branches in the foreground.

Adjust aperture and shutter speed, but start ~1/400 and work your way down in bad light and up in good light, also depending on how skittish your subject is. Stop down if you need more in focus, tele lenses doesn't leave much room for error due to shallow depth of field.

sitting or slow? start with 1/400s and adjust from there. flying or fast? start with 1/1600s and adjust from there, shutter mode with everything else auto.

those are the starting points to find your settings, not the final settings. back-button c-af so the shutter button only has 1 job

This isn't camera-specific, but keep both eyes open and overlap the viewfinder image with what the other eye sees so you can more easily track the subject when it's making erratic moves. The last thing you want is to be squinting through the very narrow field of view in your telephoto lens and trying to match it up with what your wide angle eyes saw a second ago.

On the GX85 here's a few tips (some already noted.)

• If you're shooting .jpgs, then I can't overstate how useful 4k pre-burst photo mode is.
• Shutter priority mode. Minimum shutter speed at 1/400 for moderately moving targets. Faster, raise that shutter speed and shoot in brighter lit areas.
• Single AF, Continuous AF isn't my jam on the GX85. On the G9 and G100 it's a better bet.
• Setup back button focusing. Use your shutter button for shooting only.

Hi, long time wildlife photographer here.

I almost exclusively use Manual with Auto ISO. And my ISO has a cap (limit). Meaning I do not go over a certain ISO level. If the shot is underexposed due to the ISO limit and I can not have a slower shutter, I either shoot with that and try to lift my shadows in post, or I do not shoot at all.

I generally shoot wide open, unless I have a couple of subjects or very close to my subject and adjust the shutter speed to match the scene I am trying to shoot or the amount of light available.

I also have 3 programmed settings on the mode selector to move quickly between some favorite settings. One for birds in flight for example, or quickly switch from mechanical to electronic shutter.

Hope this helps. Enjoy…

I have recently discovered the magic of User settings. On my Nikon camera they are on the Dial button that also has the A (aperture), M (manual) etc. settings.

I have set up one for BIF (Speed on 1/2000, Iso auto, a full stop overexposed)

Another for Birds on a perch (Aperture priority wide open, Iso auto and neutral exposure)

I make sure that my last used setting in the menu is for saving the user settings, so I can quickly save one of these, if I change my white balance or something else.

Now I can quickly change the Dial to U3 when I see a bird in the sky and fire away. I can then think about whether I want to crank up the exposure even further, but the basics are super quickly set.

For a standard walk and shoot wildlife session, I'll use M with auto ISO, usually aperture is the least changed, I'll knock it more closed if something is really close. Then I mostly adjust shutter speed and exposure compensation based on in-flight/perched and bird/background contrast.

Light doesn't change that fast in my experience. I don't shot wildlife, but I've done plenty of outdoor events in manual mode. I keep the ISO as low as possible and it's the last thing I'll change to get more exposure. I generally try to avoid wide open aperture, I keep the aperture above 4 unless I want to specifically shot something shallow depth of field, Because its outdoor events I want to keep some of the context of what's going on. So that leaves me mostly changing the shutter speed. I think sunny skies look nice with a small aperture too,

I do tend to take multiple shots and refocus if I can to increase the odds of getting a perfectly sharp image.

For wildlife i have settled on Tv mode, with auto ISO and auto Av. I have tried many other things in my past 20 or so years as a wildlife shooter. I set 1 custom mode for animals and another for birds, and I can easily toggle between them.

When I see something I raise the camera and compose and shoot. I worry about the composition not the camera settings. Today's mirrorless top cameras are smarter than I am anyway.

https://preview.redd.it/ulcuw7bnpb6f1.jpeg?width=5858&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e3b0575dcd2c11d110599907662bf3436218e9e

What body are you using?

Iso sensitivity 100 (or whatever the lowest is) And on Max 12k . Thats just my opinion.

Message me on Instagram @lchapophoto I always use auto iso I can give you some tips.

You should check out some Steve Perry videos on YouTube. He explains a lot of useful things in great detail.

For wildlife I would have at least a minimum of 1/250th shutter speed, and I would max the ISO at 6400.

I'm not sure which video you watch, but there is absolutely no reason for you to be manually focusing on fast-moving subjects.

People like to suggest Tv mode, where you pick your Shutter Speed and ISO and the camera will select the aperture for you.

Personally, I prefer Av mode, where you select your aperture (the widest available, obviously) and ISO and the camera will pick the shutter speed for you.

And you need to switch your focus mode to AI Servo so that the focus will keep up with the subject, even if they are moving (as long as they're in your autofocus zone)

Switch the drive to High Speed so that you can fit as many frames as possible in a second.

Lastly, enable subject and eye-tracking and making sure eye-tracking is for Animals.

This is the setup I have. Set C1 to these settings:

Shutter speed to at least 1/1600(depending on size of bird), may need to go higher

Aperture to highest it can go - low f number (this will change as you zoom in)

Auto ISO

High speed continuous shooting

AI Servo

Subject Tracking - animals

Eye detect on

I typically use the focus points that look like a +

Look up Simon Dentremont on YT if you need further instructions, but these settings will yield great results

It sounds like you’re confused on the difference between manual exposure and manual focus. Manual exposure has nothing to do with focus settings.

You’re better off using aperture mode or shutter speed mode, auto is just that, it will do everything automatically without you being able to change those things

I use fv mode

There’s a great video called THE ONE EXPOSURE MODE TO RULE THEM ALL? By Duade Paton and he goes over the Fv mode. It’s Aperature priority, exposure, and iso priority all in one. I have 3 custom settings setup for Fv C1 and C2 and on my R7 and 200-800 I usually use auto iso, biggest Aperature and I only mess with the exposure time and sometimes I adjust the exposure compensation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85T--N0TnUI

If you enjoy shooting bugs and small subjects, definitely consider a "macro" lens. I'm impressed that you were able to get these as in focus as you have! After that, think about the quality of light you are working with and possible supplement the natural light with a strobe or other light source :)

That's not the lens you've used for these photos, it's it?

That fact that you’ve set your subject off centre tells me that you already have an eye for a good shot. Although I don’t love the overpowering foreground element in this instance, that is another “advanced” technique to add layers to the composition. And one last thing, you have added extra weight/space to your photo on the side where the subject is looking — that’s an artistic choice of a “pro”. Look up “rule of thirds”, Look up wildlife photography on the web — copy what you like. Try to figure out why you like some compositions more than others.

1. Make sure to shoot at a sufficiently high shutter speed. The general rule of thumb is to shoot at a shutter speed value thats double of the value of your focal length (at 300mm, you need to shoot 1/600 or faster).

2. Use burst mode but don't go overboard. This one depends on your subject matter but generally, it's a good idea to shoot burst with animals. What burst level depends on your situation. For slow moving animals like elephants, just do 5fps or so. For fast moving animals like birds, go as high as you can.

3. Use continuous autofocus if your subject is moving. This one is pretty self explanatory, just do your best to keep your subject in focus.

Yes. Take the longest tele lens you have. 400mm equivalent is about what it takes to get good close ups. I always shot on shutter speed priority to avoid blur from shaking. You will have enough light to go by at least 1/500, better 1/1000 and you don't need to sweat open arperture because the DOF is narrow enough anyway when you shoot tele. I left the short prime lenses behind; the smartphone is more than good enough for those pictures.

And very important: the less gear you have to juggle the more you will be able to actually enjoy seeing the actual animals you went all the way to Kenia to encounter in the first place!

Um... I'm going to go the other way... practice would be great but I think it's too late to talk about settings, film emulations etc. Your likely to get disappointment while not enjoying the safari.

Your camera should have a sports mode or similar - I would start and end with that at least for the animal parts and probably most of the rest... flip to portraits of an evening etc. Forget about changing lenses unless you're back at the lodge or something - you want the 18-300.

Tomorrow and every day you can... go out and take pictures of cars on roads, the local soccer practice in the evening or anything with some action or similar lighting like dawn/sunset/noon.

Learn your camera before you go. You don't want to waste your time on safari trying to figure out how shit works.

Hey everyone! Took my camera out in nature for the first time today and managed to capture a young fawn!

I struggled with capturing a sharp image of the fawn due to slight movements when I was holding the camera or the fawn moving.

I’d love to know some rough shutter speeds to capture more shots like this where the face is sharp. For this one I used 1/500 but ISO felt a little high at 3200.

>while also keeping ISO low?

Your ISO should be whatever it needs to be for a proper exposure in-camera.

ISO is not the cause of noise.

Noise becomes evident if you do not capture enough signal light. It's Signal vs Noise and if there's not enough signal, there's going to be more noise, simple as that. Light can only be captured by your shutter speed and aperture - ISO is amplification that happens after the light is captured.

High ISO is therefor symptomatic of the problem, not causal. You're at high ISO because you are not capturing enough light.

So - do not fear the high ISO. If you're on an invariant sensor (most modern cameras) then you do not hurt yourself by having the ISO where it needs to be - your noise levels remain the same both in-camera or in post.

If you're on a variant sensor however you can do your image real damage if you have your ISO too low in camera and then try to increase the exposure in post. You'll actually end up with a noisier image doing that.

Thus it is proved: With the notable exception of preventing blown highlights there's never any good reason to have your ISO significantly lower than whatever it needs to be. If that means 6400 - or even higher - do it.

The images will be noisy, but the only way to reduce noise is either a wider aperture, a slower shutter, or use a flash/strobe to add the light you need - which usually isn't an option shooting wildlife.

As to what shutter speed to use - that's going to be a judgement call every time - but as a generality the faster your shutter speed the sharper your images will be. Any time you can go faster - you should.

Freezing the animal's motion (unless you want blur--some birds in flight photographers like blurry wingtips, for example) is factor #1 for shutter speed. Avoiding lens shake is also a factor, but this will depend on how long of a lens you have and how good your image stabilization is. Aperture is generally going to be set as wide as possible while retaining the desired depth of field (exceptions being if your lens needs to be stopped down for sharpness or you have slow autofocus and need a little bit of leeway in case it misses a bit).

The longer the lens, the more movement on your part is a factor. I know some folks go by a reciprocal rule when choosing shutter speed--one over the focal length normally. For example, you'd want at least 1/200 if using a 200mm lens. Good image stabilization, however, can allow you to go considerably slower. For some subjects (a fidgety bird, for example), you may need to go considerably higher.

After all that is considered, the ISO is generally what you need to make the rest work. How far you can push that depends on the camera, your post processing tools and skills, and your personal tolerance for noise. With my 5D3 I generally would call it a day if I was bumping up against ISO 3200 frequently--the light just wasn't in my favor. With an R5, I have no problem with 8000 and can go up to 12800 with a little post processing.

Your shot above looks a bit dark to me, and it would probably be challenging to lighten it without making the noise more noticeable. There are lots of tools like Topaz Denoise that can help with that, but its important to remember some days just aren't right for photos.

For me, part of the learning was figuring what conditions would give me good photos with the equipment and skills I had. As I got more knowledge and better equipment, the conditions I could shoot in expanded, but there are still days where I don't bring out the camera because I know I'm not going to be happy with the final product. Experiment, figure out what works for you--that's part of the fun!

As a wildlife photographer once told me: "You can play with noise in post, if you don't have a sharp image then the amount of noise is not going to matter anyways". Try capturing the subject first, especially if they're prone to flight or rare, worry about the optimal settings after

1/500 is def on the slower side for wildlife, I usually shoot around 1/1000-2000

I actually don't think this picture looks all too noisy, esp if you're not pixel peeping. It's in an acceptable range for me but you could always clean it up a little more in your favorite editing program.

Since you can't really change the surrounding lighting (obs would not recommend a speedlight for wildlife), the only thing you can really change is getting a lens with a wider aperture or a camera with better high ISO performance.