I recently compiled all of my photos taken in the last 12 months to see what my most used settings were (you can do this too with the Library filter in Lightroom). These settings that I use most often would make a great starting point when you’re starting out with full manual exposure. I’ll explain the reasoning behind choosing a few of my most used settings for aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and focal length below.

Note that most of my recent photos are wildlife, so these settings reflect the best settings for those kinds of subjects. These stats are taken from a total of 12,802 photos in the past twelve months.

Aperture

f/8 (4,010 photos) – My most used aperture is f/8, which is my go-to aperture for using my 400mm lens with a 2x extender. Although I could use f/5.6 while using this extender, stopping down an extra stop dramatically increases sharpness and decreases ugly artifacts. You can still get a shallow depth of field and blurred background at f/8, just by getting closer to your subject and having a distant background.

f/4 (3,185 photos) – When using a 1.4x extender, the quality is not decreased enough to warrant stopping down an extra stop. This is the maximum aperture when using a 1.4x extender with my 400mm f/2.8 lens.

f/5.6 (2,911 photos) – When I need the most reach (800mm), but it’s close to sunset and light is fading, I will choose the maximum aperture available for my 2x extender.

f/2.8 (1,946 photos) – When light is at its lowest (before sunrise and after sunset), I will remove the extender and shoot at the widest possible aperture. It’s amazing how much longer you can shoot with a f/2.8 lens! A 70-200mm f/2.8, 300mm f/2.8, and 400mm f/2.8 are all good wide aperture options.

Shutter Speed

1/800s (2,936 photos) – If you’re handholding your lens (which I do 90% of the time), you’ll want to start with a shutter speed that’s at least 1/ the focal length of your lens (800mm = 1/800s). This shutter speed is also sufficient to freeze most wildlife action other than fast birds in flight.

1/400s (2,397 photos) – If you handhold and also factor in image stabilization, you can get away with 1-4 stops slower than 1/focal length. Because my lens is older and heavier, I typically only use 1-2 stops below 1/focal length. This shutter speed is fast enough to freeze any slow moving wildlife, especially if you pan along with their movement.

1/1600s (975 photos) – Occasionally I’ll photograph much faster wildlife (eagles, ospreys, jumping foxes), and a shutter speed of 1/1600s is necessary to completely freeze the action.

1/100s (723 photos) – This is my go-to setting when handholding wider lenses (17-40mm, 70-200mm). I will also use this in very low light for wildlife that’s not moving quickly. If you’re using a tripod, you don’t have to worry about handholding shake, only freezing action. If something is not moving at all, there’s no limit to how slow of a shutter speed you can use on a sturdy tripod.

ISO

100-200 (5,454 photos) – Your camera’s best quality (noise, color, dynamic range) is going to come from ISO 100. Quality is slightly less at ISO 200, but hardly noticeable.

400-800 (5,168 photos) – If you need a faster shutter speed, you’re probably going to need to use a higher ISO as well. ISO 400 or 800 will show very minimal noise on any modern camera, and produces very usable images.

1600 (637 photos) – With a newer DSLR, ISO 1600 will still have very good quality and only a slight amount of noise. You won’t get the dynamic range you will with ISO 100 (better for landscapes), but in order to freeze action in low light you’ll need a high shutter speed and high ISO to compensate (assuming you can’t brighten your image with a wider aperture first).

Focal length

These focal lengths are what I use with a full frame camera. If you’re using a crop sensor, remember your focal length will be multiplied 1.6x (Canon) or 1.5x (Nikon). A 500mm lens on a crop sensor camera gives the same framing as an 800mm lens on a full frame camera.

400mm to 800mm (8,551 photos) – My main lens is a 400mm f/2.8L IS, used often with a 1.4x or 2x extender to get 560mm or 800mm.

70-200mm (2,369 photos) – This is my go to lens for most landscapes and environmental wildlife portraits.

17-40mm (1,603 photos) – My wide angle lens, used mostly for landscape images.

TAKEAWAYS

For wildlife images, you’ll want to use the widest aperture you can (to allow the most light in). If you’re using a teleconverter and see a decrease in sharpness, try stopping down one full stop from the widest. Letting the most light in through aperture will give you the most flexibility for the other two settings.

The shutter speed you choose should be based on the minimum speed you can handhold (1/focal length), and the minimum speed required to freeze action in your photo. A good starting point for wildlife is 1/400s or 1/800s. Image stabilization will make handholding easier, but has no effect on stopping action.

ISO is used to create a good exposure, after choosing the other two settings. Use your histogram to make sure you’re exposing bright enough, since this will help minimize visible noise with higher ISO.

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