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The Canon EOS R7, like most modern cameras, has a menu filled with page after page of features. With so many settings (in fact more than 450) it’s easy to gloss over things that you don’t immediately need to adjust.

In this article I’d like to take a closer look at a few items that may improve the experience you have with your new camera. I’ll be calling out some new, overlooked or under-appreciated options and explaining what they do and who they are for.

Though I’m using the menu of the Canon EOS R7, these features can also be found on other cameras, even from other brands, but be advised that they may differ in slight or significant ways.

1. RAW burst and Pre-shooting modes [Shoot Menu 6]

Setting options:

• RAW burst mode: Enable/Disable
• Pre-shooting: Enable/Disable

Continuous shooting rates have steadily risen over the course of photographic history. Serious professional sports-orientated cameras are now able to shoot between 10 and 16 frames per second. When utilizing an electronic shutter, as the EOS R7 can, modern mirrorless cameras now frequently hit 30 frames per second.

However, it doesn’t matter how fast a camera can capture images if the key moment was missed before the shutter was pressed. The ‘RAW burst’ mode is designed to capture images from the moments immediately before your finger fully presses the shutter release button. This photographer’s holy grail has been available for some time on other brands, and on other Canon models like the G5X II and EOS M6 II, but is now available on R-mount cameras for the first time.

I came to appreciate this feature when trying to capture archers shooting arrows. Going in, I felt that the most compelling photo was the ones where the archer’s arrow has just been released but is still visible in the frame. The problem with trying to capture this moment is that it happens extraordinarily quickly and you can’t predict exactly when it will happen.

Catching an arrow in flight by trying to time its release is an effort in frustration. Using the RAW burst mode with Pre-shooting you can almost guarantee a good shot every time. Photo credit: John Greengo

First I tried to fire a sequence of images as soon as I saw the release of the arrow. In every case my reaction time was too slow and the arrow was off the screen. Next I tried firing a continuous burst at its highest speed just before I thought the archer was about to release. Most of these attempts ended with the camera’s buffer being filled up before the arrow was fired. Success was possible but resulted in an enormous amount of wasted images.

The RAW burst mode is designed precisely to solve the archer’s arrow problem. When you enable RAW burst mode and the Pre-shooting option, as soon as you start holding the shutter release button in the halfway position the camera begins recording high-speed frames into a buffer, over and over, flushing the old ones out. If you let go of the button and don’t take the shot, the images disappear and don’t clutter up your card. But if you do fully press the shutter, the most recent 15 images (0.5 sec) are saved as the start of your burst, and the camera continues to fire at 30 fps for up to 2 seconds (60 images). If you keep the shutter held, in total you’ll capture about 75 images, 15 from before the full shutter press and 60 from after.

Selecting the RAW burst mode is just the first step. You also need to select Pre-shooting to enable your camera to capture frames from before the shutter is released.

For decisive moments that are difficult to time, this is the feature that can guarantee your camera is capturing images at the right time. Subjects that are easy to predict but difficult to time – like hitting a baseball, whales breaching, and the archer’s arrow – can now be captured on a Canon R-mount camera like never before.

Be advised that when using this feature all images are written to a single .CR3 file. Extracting a single frame can be done either in camera or with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software. Additionally the camera uses the electronic shutter, which may exhibit rolling shutter distortion with certain types of subjects (see below).

2. Shutter mode [Shoot Menu 7]

Setting options:

• Mechanical
• Elec. 1st-curtain
• Electronic

Mechanical

With this option the physical shutter blades will open and close to begin and end the exposure. This is how Canon mirrorless cameras, and traditional Canon DSLRs, have worked for years. It’s a safe option for many types of photography and offers a flash sync of 1/250 second.

The downside of the mechanical shutter is that the first curtain opens with such speed that when it comes to a stop there is a slight vibration that may affect certain types of photographs. Images captured at marginally slow shutter speeds (1/30 to 1sec) can be affected by it. Images under high magnification like those taken with super telephoto and macro lenses are particularly susceptible to blur if any movement occurs during the exposure.

Elec. 1st-curtain

When the Electronic 1st-curtain shutter is employed the camera begins capturing the exposure by turning the pixels of the sensor on to record the light striking them. To end the exposure the mechanical shutter closes in the traditional fashion.

The effect of this process is that there is no physical movement inside the camera before the image is completely captured. While the second shutter does move and may cause a slight vibration, it happens after the exposure has ended. This makes the Elec. 1st-curtain option perfect for avoiding any vibration during the exposure.

Elec. 1st-curtain is a good option when working with high magnification equipment like super-telephoto and macro lenses. Without a first shutter in operation the camera will not have any mechanical movements during the exposure.

An additional benefit on the Canon EOS R7 is that Elec. 1st-curtain enables the camera’s fastest flash sync speed of 1/320, which is slightly better than the mechanical sync speed of 1/250. Elec. 1st-curtain is the factory default setting and probably the best setting for most shooting.

Electronic

With the full Electronic shutter option, the image sensor begins and stops recording by turning pixels on and off. In addition to enabling faster burst and shutter speeds, the benefit of the Electronic shutter is the complete absence of vibration and shutter noise. Ideal use for this may be during a stage performance or in a situation where audio is being recorded, and shutter clicks may be a distraction. In those situations, silent shutter can be a powerful tool.

The downside is that, as the sensor can’t turn all pixels on and off at the same time, a scanning technique is used. (See this article for a full explanation.) This means that subject movement during the exposure can appear as a distortion of that subject. The intensity of the issue depends on the readout speed of the sensor, and as the Canon EOS R7 does not have a particularly fast readout, its electronic shutter is often not suitable for capturing fast action.

The electronic shutter is perfect for situations where you want to remain discreet. Some cameras, including the EOS R7, have a slower scan rate, so be careful with fast moving subjects. Photo credit: John Greengo

Choosing to shoot with the electronic shutter will interfere with certain other camera operations, and several menu items are greyed out when it’s selected. A key limitation for the camera is that it’s not able to sync with a flash at any shutter speed with the Electronic shutter option selected. Be advised that this limitation is different with other Canon cameras.

I recommend using this option sparingly to avoid the aforementioned problems.

3. AF-assist beam firing [AF Menu 3]

Setting options:

• Enable
• Disable
• LED AF assist beam only

On the front of the EOS R7 is a small round window to the upper left of the lens, officially known as the Self-timer/AF-assist beam. This orange lamp will signal the countdown of the self-timer or light up a poorly illuminated subject to help the autofocus system.

The built-in light can help in low-light and close-up situations but it can also be disruptive. Be aware of situations where the light may not be appreciated by subjects, fellow photographers and others around you.

Focusing in low-light situations can be challenging and this lamp may help so long as your subject is not too far away. The practical distance varies based on the existing lighting and the maximum aperture of the lens being used. The lamp is not employed when continuous (Servo) autofocus is activated, so it won’t work for moving subjects.

Turning off this beacon may be wise for a number of reasons. The light is only of marginal help in a few special situations. The camera has a number of other tricks it can employ to help focus under poor lighting, such as keeping the lens aperture at maximum opening during focusing and increasing the gain on the sensor.

If you photograph people be advised that this lamp will shine a rather harsh light into the eyes of your subject. It’s possible that your subject will squint, turn away or recoil from the sudden beam of light.

Another serious downside to the light occurs if you are working around other photographers shooting the same subject, like at a concert, press event or tourist attraction. The bright orange light you’re shining onto the subject will show up in their images. This is not likely to go over very well with your fellow photographers.

I first encountered this lamp problem when leading a photo tour in Turkey where we scheduled a private dance performance of whirling dervishes. In a dark private hall our group spread out on one side of the room. As soon as the dance began an orange lamp appeared to follow the subjects around. Complaints from the rest of the photographers were quick to follow.

The point is that the photographer, when confronted, didn’t know it was on and didn’t see it either in the viewfinder or in the resulting photographs. Moreover, after apologizing about interfering with the others, the photographer didn’t know how to turn it off. It took me a moment to find the feature in the camera’s menu (not a Canon EOS R7) and disable it.

While this feature may be helpful in some situations it’s probably better left in the off position for most people.

4. Switch (AF/MF) [Setup Menu 5]

Setting options:

• Enable
• Disable

A new feature on the EOS R7 not seen on previous Canon cameras is a physical AF/MF switch on the body. For more than 30 years Canon has steadfastly kept the AF/MF switch on the lens while others like Nikon and Fujifilm have typically put it on the body. This particular feature on the EOS R7 allows you to deactivate the switch. Deactivating it may be helpful if you find yourself accidentally bumping it or would prefer to control this feature from the menu system.

The new-to-Canon MF/AF switch can be controlled by one of your grip-hand fingers. The switch allows for quick changes with a new breed of Canon lenses.

The reason for this new switch seems to be to accommodate a new category of lenses from Canon without the dedicated AF/MF switch, such as the RF 50mm f/1.8. Switching from AF to MF with these new ‘switchless’ lenses will be easy to do with this new lever on the body. However, be aware that if you wish to focus manually with a lens like the RF 50mm f/1.8 you’ll need to have both the body switch set to MF and the Focus/Control switch on the lens set to Focus.

Canon lenses without an AF/MF switch:

• RF 16mm f/2.8 STM
• RF 50mm f/1.8 STM
• RF 15-30mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
• RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM
• RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM
• RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
• RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Instead of an AF/MF switch, several lower-end Canon lenses feature a Focus/Control switch that allows you to configure the focus ring for something else.	Mainstream and higher-end lenses in Canon’s RF lineup feature a dedicated AF/MF switch on the lens.

For all the other lenses, RF and EF with an adaptor, priority will be given to the AF/MF switch on the lens. When a Canon lens with an AF/MF switch is attached to the EOS R7, this new AF/MF switch on the body will do nothing.

The option to disable the body-mounted AF/MF switch is found within the AF menu.

Note that when you disable this body switch, a new menu item appears on the AF1 Menu page called ‘Focus mode,’ where you can select AF or MF. This feature cannot be set to a custom button but it can be added to ‘My Menu’ for quick access.

5. Direction to set Tv/Av [Custom Menu 3]

Setting options:

• Normal
• Reverse direction

When turning the either command dial to change exposure settings, would you like your finger movements to match the movement of the exposure indicator? If you answered yes you will want to set this feature to ‘Reverse direction.’

When changing shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation the default setting on the camera is to have the dials and exposure indicator work in opposite directions. If you move your finger along the top of the dial to the left, the exposure indicator will go to the right. That’s the way it comes from the factory.

The front and rear command dials don’t, by default, move in the same direction as the exposure indicator. You can reverse their action so changing settings is more natural.

This issue is easily addressed by setting the ‘Direction to set Tv/Av’ menu option to ‘Reverse direction.’ Dial actions will be reversed when it comes to changing shutter speed and aperture. I find it to be more visually intuitive when the physical action mimics the visual display.

John Greengo specializes in photographic education through online training, books and international photo tours. His photographic teachings have been viewed by millions around the globe.

These tweaks are just a few tips on how you can get the most from your camera. In the Canon EOS R7: Complete Camera Guide, an 8-hour video course, he will take you through all camera operations to help you set it up for your needs. John offers a multitude of classes covering a wide range of photographic topics including landscape, travel and gear-specific tutorials.