In August 2010, some fellow nature photographers asked me how I set up my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera for wildlife photography. I wrote this guide to answer their specific questions and to allow me to share my thoughts with a wider audience on how to get the best out of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV.

I started using the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV in March 2010, having used the Canon EOS 1D Mark III for the preceding two years. In that time, I have had plenty of opportunity to experiment with all of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV options, settings and custom functions, in a variety of different shooting conditions. I tend to form my judgements using practical, in-the-field testing, rather than by using a more scientific approach; I use the quality and impact of my images as the ultimate test of whether or not something works.

The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV is an incredibly sophisticated camera and it needs some fine tuning in order to get the best possible results from it. Fortunately, most of the settings I used with the 1D Mark III work pretty much the same with this model, with a few notable exceptions. The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV gives better results straight from the box than its predecessor did so overall, it was pretty easy to get to grips with.

This is a much longer, more in-depth tutorial than the one I wrote for the 1D Mark III, so I have written it in separate parts:

• Part 1 explains how to go about adjusting your Canon EOS 1D Mark IV’s settings.
• Part 2 goes through my preferred camera settings in detail.
• Part 3 goes through all of the custom functions and concludes with a summary of all the non-default custom function settings I use.

Changing Camera Settings and Custom Functions

Before I describe my preferred Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera settings and custom functions, you need to know how to make changes to the default values.

Accessing the Menus

To access the menu items which control the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV’s settings and custom functions, press the Menu button, which located on the rear of the camera, in the top, left hand corner. This will display a row of menus on the rear LCD, which you can then navigate through using the Multi-controller (the small joystick, located just below the bottom, right hand corner of the viewfinder). By nudging the Multi-controller to either side, you can move from one menu to another, in either direction.

Accessing Menu Items

Pressing the Set button (located in the centre of the Quick Control Dial, which is the large wheel on the rear of the camera, between the LCD and the memory card door) will activate the currently highlighted menu and allow you to scroll up or down that menu’s list of menu items, by rotating the Quick Control Dial. Pressing the Set button again will activate the currently highlighted menu item.

Retracing Your Steps

Once the row of menus or a specific menu item are on display, pressing the Menu button will take you back one step (i.e. from a menu item to a menu, or from the row of menus to a blank LCD). If you press the Shutter Release Button, the LCD screen will go blank.

Now that you know how to change the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV default settings, you’re ready to learn about my preferred camera settings: that’s the subject of Part 2 of this tutorial.

Part 2 -> Canon EOS 1D Mark IV Camera Settings