How much auto is too much? When to leave your Canon camera's auto settings turned on

Canon
AF Case 3 combined with a small block of AF points make it simple to target and accurately track a specific bird flying in the sky (Image credit: Brian Worley)

Every time camera technology moves forward, there are more automated options to help you get a great photo automatically. With so much auto, is there a need to move away from auto at all? 

Looking through the AF settings for the Canon EOS R8 and Canon EOS R6 Mark II demonstrates that auto settings are the defaults for so many aspects of what the camera focuses on and how it tracks your chosen subjects. While these auto settings simplify taking a better photo, they also take creative control from you. When the subject to be photographed is challenging or comprises many possible subjects in the frame, it’s time to control to make your own creative choices.

About Canon Pro: Brian Worley

Brian Worley headshot

Brian is a freelance photographer and photo tutor, based in Oxfordshire. He has unrivaled EOS knowledge, after working for Canon for over 15 years, and is on hand to answer all the photographic queries in Canon-centric magazine PhotoPlus.
Visit Brian's website

Switch from AI focus, if you know your subject is moving or static, use Servo for moving and or One Shot AF for static subjects. The EOS R8 and R6 Mark II cameras also have auto subject detection and this means the camera decides what kind of subject to track; people, animals, vehicles or something else. The one thing that photographers bring to a photo is their vision of what is to be pictured.

A day at the zoo is likely to mean animals not the visitors in front of them, so you would be best advised to choose the appropriate subject. For challenging photography such as birds in flight, select animals as the subject will make the focus react faster as it know what to look for, rather than identifying everything in the frame and choosing a subject to track.

Overriding autofocus selection enabled Brian to target the bird on the right of the frame instead of the closer one on the left (Image credit: Brian Worley)

How the camera reacts to different kinds of subject motion with Servo AF is down to the AF case. Again there’s an auto case which intelligently switches between the four defined cases depending on how the subject moves. It works well, but more predictable tracking happens when the photographer takes control, uses their knowledge of how the subject moves and chooses the appropriate case directly. For birds in flight, AF Case 3 is still a great choice.

All this automation is great if it gets better results in situations where you haven’t predetermined what to capture. When you have gone out to photograph a specific subject, it’s best to set your Canon camera up to get the shot.

PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine

PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine is the world's only monthly newsstand title that's 100% devoted to Canon, so you can be sure the magazine is completely relevant to your system. Every issue comes with downloadable video tutorials too. 


If this article was of interest, you might also like to find out more about the best Canon RF lenses, or see our list of the highest-resolution cameras available

Brian Worley

Brian is a freelance photographer and photo tutor, based in Oxfordshire. He has unrivaled EOS DSLR knowledge, after working for Canon for over 15 years, and is on hand to answer all the EOS and photographic queries in Canon-centric magazine PhotoPlus.

Read more
Canon camera top LCD showing Fv mode activated
Whaddya mean Canon invented a shooting mode that combines aperture and shutter priority? I reckon Fv mode should be talked about more!
Portrait of woman with blonde hair and wearing a red jacket in front of a blurred background of red, green and gold bokeh, next to an inset roundel of a finger pointing to the AF-ON button on a Sony camera
I’m a photography expert, and I hated back-button focus at first; here’s why I now LOVE using it …
The exposure triangle with pictogram examples of the effects aperture, shutter speed and ISO have on photographs
This is how I learned the exposure triangle and how I use it to shoot in manual mode
Pixel 9 series imaging tools
AI-powered cameras mean I don’t know what photography is anymore
Man twiddling his mustache
"Photographers must be problem solvers, not robots" reckons Paul Wilkinson
Superbike rounds a corner on a racetrack, with an inset roundel showing the exposure compensation dial on a Sony camera
I need to change my camera settings FAST, exposure compensation saves me every time – here's how...
Latest in Photo Technique
Backing up data is so annoying that most would rather…scrub toilets!
A screenshot of the Adobe Stock Customize tool
Adobe Stock now enables you to mass-edit with AI – but is it a nail in the coffin for stock photography, or another way for creators to earn money?
AIarty Image Matting
Cut the chaos: AI-powered background removal + free giveaway for photographers!
Neurapix before and after of smiling bride holding bouquet of flowers
“Neurapix reduced my editing time by 50%” – why this AI Lightroom plug-in is taking wedding photography by storm
Image of a red motorbike split into two halves, the first half exhibits camera shake and the second half is sharp
Slow shutter speeds have created a camera shake crisis, and I reckon ISO and Instagram are largely to blame…
Front cover photograph of the Ultimate Photography Ideas Book, which contains more than 60 photo projects covering a wide range of genres, published by Ilex Press and on sale now
Digital Camera World photo projects book is on sale now!
Latest in Tutorials
Total lunar eclipse
How I’ll photograph the blood moon total lunar eclipse tonight, one of the best astrophotography events of the year
Wildlife portrait of a gannet in front of a clean green background
10 tips for wildlife photography from birds in flight to insect close-ups
Mountain valley during sunrise. Natural summer landscape
9 landscape photography tips I think every photographer should know
Bride and groom hold hands aloft backlit against the sun on their wedding day
Want to be a wedding photographer? Here are my 11 tips that will help you get there the RIGHT way
Colourful trees frame a small river, photographed with a long exposure
I love to shoot long exposures in the rain – here’s why I head to the woods!
What is ISO in photography?