Camera Settings for Insect and Bird Photography

Getting a Sony HV400V camera has been quite a learning experience. Previously I had only used a cell phone and a basic point and shoot camera. The number of settings has taken some time to learn. Since I had difficulty finding the best way to go online, I decided to post here what I have found as the best settings for birds and insects.

Birds:

• Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
• Aperature: Lowest Number Available, 6.3 at 50x  zoom
• Focus: MF
• MF Assist: Off
• High ISO NR: Normal
• White Balance: Auto
• DRO/Auto HDR: D-Range Optimizer Auto
• Creative Style: Vivid
• Focus Area: Center
• ISO: ISO Auto
• Exposure Comp: Set to CUSTOM button change as needed.
• Metering Mode: Spot
• Drive Mode: Cont. Bracket, or Continuous Shooting
• Image Size: 20M
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Quality: Fine
• GPS: On
• Flash: Off

The idea with bird photography is to get the shutter speed as fast as possible while still getting enough light to get the image. This is because you need a fast shutter speed to take a clear picture through all the wobble in the camera while zoomed in so far. To do this, the Aperture needs set to the lowest number possible and the EV is adjusted until the bird is at the edge of being too dark.

The only deviation from the above I found helpful was to turn on the MF Assist if taking a picture of a really stationary bird. It lets you get a perfect focus, but in most cases it is just too slow, resulting in a missed photo.

Insects:

• Camera Mode: Manual Exposure or Memory Recall
• Aperature: Highest Number Available, 8.0
• Focus: MF
• MF Assist: On
• High ISO NR: Normal
• White Balance: Auto
• DRO/Auto HDR: Off
• Creative Style: Standard
• Focus Area: Center
• ISO: 80
• Exposure Comp: NA
• Metering Mode: Multi
• Drive Mode: Single
• Image Size: 20M
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Quality: Fine
• GPS: On
• Flash: On

The idea here is to maximize depth of field so you can see a large percentage of the insect at the same time. Also, using the flash makes the background disappear. I set memory recall 1 to these settings so I can quickly call them up whenever I need them. 

I almost always use a +2 or +4 macro filter for insects.The only exceptions are fast moving insects like butterflies or dragonflies which are easier to photograph following the settings for birds. This makes it possible to zoom in impossibly close and catch details which otherwise cannot be seen.