In this lesson I’ll outline a few of my ideas on how to use the a7R II for wildlife photography.
Continuous shooting
It’s better to shoot JPEGs if you need a faster fps. However, that defeats the purpose of buying the a7R II in the first place!
Also, the camera overheats quickly, and takes its own sweet time to start up once it goes to sleep, so you might miss the shot you’ve been waiting to take.
It’s better to shoot in small bursts, so better anticipation is key.
Focusing
AF-A with Phase Detection is perfect, and probably mandatory. You need native Sony lenses – which unfortunately are not the fastest.
Eye AF is also useful, but not very reliable all the time.
Low light and bright light – dealing with large dynamic range
Visit locations beforehand, shoot at the best times possible, but there’s only so much you can do.
However, when in doubt, underexpose. The shadow recovery power (my term) is phenomenal. Standard JPEGs are a great place to start, then tweak according to taste.
Mixed color temperatures
Again, not much any camera can do. Switch to RAW if this is the case. Use compressed RAW to save space.
Color
This is a personal preference, but I’d start with Standard as advised, and go from there.
Exposure
Multi-metering works great. A half-stop underexposure looks fine.
Also, an eyecup would be useful, though flimsy under tough sweaty conditions. The LCD might not be visible at all.
Batteries
Use a battery grip, and even a USB PowerBank for those times. With the newest firmware, overheating is reduced with a battery grip. The grip will also help as counterweight to large telephoto lenses.
If I think of more ideas I’ll definitely update this lesson. If you know of any pointers please share and everyone can benefit from it!
