My settings for shooting birds with the Panasonic Lumix GH6

[Steve Siegel]

Whenever a new camera has come out there are always plenty of reports and videos about how to set it up for general shooting. Eventually someone comes along and offers suggestions on optimizing for wildlife, and I have always benefited from them. Since I am an early adopter of the GH6, I figured it's my turn.

There is a lot to wade through, and like any new camera, the choices you have to make are daunting and time-consuming. There is so much, that I simply made it an article in my blog, Birds Unwrapped https://birdsunwrapped.blogspot.com/2022/. You will see what I found to be useful and worthless in shooting video of birds. There is a link to the User Manual, and page references where various functions are discussed. I also outlined the ways to get to various functions in the camera menu.

Spoiler Alert: The autofocus is not as bad as the pundits would have you believe.

I hope you find this useful, as I have in the past from others.

[Doug Jensen]

That's a lot of work to put together, but don't see a link to any videos that show your settings and techniques in action.

[Steve Siegel]

Hi Doug,

I didn't put any links to videos. My purpose was to ease the task of setting up the camera for fellow shooters. That's all. I didn't think showing videos would really add anything of value and would have tripled (at least), the time to prepare the work. If I had intended to extol the camera, or offer entertainment value, videos would have been important, but I assumed that anyone interested in my information already had bought the camera, and would enjoy seeing what it could do by their own hands, not mine. That said, I feel that this is the most versatile and fun to use camera I have owned since the old Canon and Sony camcorders of the 2010 days. It certainly gives the best image quality I have ever obtained in video.

[Doug Jensen]

Hi Steve, obviously it is entirely your decision whether to post video samples or not. But I think that offering specific advice regarding best settings or techniques is useless without showing the results you were able to achieve using that advice. I haven't used a GH6 but I do own and S1H and several other cameras and I read several things in your blog that I completely disagree with. But if you were to show some proof of your results, then maybe I'd give more credence to them and perhaps even change my ways. But without some examples that we can judge, your advice is not worth much. Show your work. Just my 2 cents.

[Noa Put]

I read several things in your blog that I completely disagree with. But if you were to show some proof of your results, then maybe I'd give more credence to them and perhaps even change my ways. But without some examples that we can judge, your advice is not worth much. Show your work.

It would be a interesting to know which several things you completely disagree with and tell how you would do it differently but also back it up with some examples for us to judge, otherwise your opinion is also not worth much. I think many wildlife shooters would value your feedback.

[Steve Siegel]

Hi Doug,
I find your critique a bit hard to swallow and mostly way off-base. You have the right to your opinion, and, as I made clear in the piece, these are settings I PREFER, and may not work for you. This is not a test, and it is not something I intend to profit from. I have no interest in getting you to change your ways. I don't have to PROVE anything. If I can't outline the steps to applying various settings in a camera without being slammed for it (and by someone who doesn't even own the camera), I am very sorry. It sure will be the last time I try.

[Doug Jensen]

Okay, lots of opinions with no examples to back it up. Check.
Rather than being so defensive, why don't you take a step back and finish the blog by adding some video to back up your advice. Would that be so hard? You must have tons of test footage and great examples of the settings in action already in the can, so just put it together.

[Steve Siegel]

I have considered your comments and see the value in them. It is the "standard" to add video and show on the screen, what is being done, and the results thereof. You do this for a living, and I'm certain you are very good at it. I saw your loon video from last year. Impressive. What I did took over a week. What you propose would be good for several more weeks, as I am an amateur, not set up for a "HowTo" type of video. Trying to figure out what parts of it you find erroneous and correct them (as I thought everything was pretty accurate) would take even more work. I have neither the time, nor any incentive to undertake the job. So I have taken down the whole thing. Pretend it never happened. The lesson I have learned from this is a common one in today's fast-moving technological world: Stay in your own lane.

[Noa Put]

I have considered your comments and see the value in them.

The only thing Doug has accomplished is that you took your carefully prepared article down. While he wants you to invest the time to provide him the visual proof that your findings are credible he obviously doesn't want to spend any time explaining what he didn't agree with, this at least could have led to a interesting educational discussion.

I would put the article back up on your blog as it clearly was written with a passion for what you love doing and I"m certain there will be people who will find the content valuable.

[Ron Evans]

I agree with Nao. It is your blog. You can do what you want. It is up to other people to decide what they think of it. Doug clearly has issues that he is not prepared to elaborate on. So people can take their view of that too until he explains himself.

[John McCully]

And I totally agree with Noa and Ron (above).

[Doug Jensen]

If Steve decides to post some actual footage, then I would be happy to critique his advice and the results his advice has provided. If he is not willing to do that, I feel no obligation waste my time dissecting what he has written. It is one thing to write something, it is a whole other thing to show the results and actually prove that his advice and techniques can provide great results. And if shooting better video is not the point of the blog in the first place, then what is?

Perhaps you'd like to read about my advice and tips on heart surgery or sculpting marble into a human statue? I'm sure you'd take my advice because I took the time to write it, right? There's no need to actually show you that I know what I'm talking about, right?

If that doesn't satisfy the trolls and wannabes who talk a big game with their frequent posts(not you Steve), but never actually show any work to back up their big talk, I couldn't care less.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Steve Siegel

I have considered your comments and see the value in them. It is the "standard" to add video and show on the screen, what is being done, and the results thereof. You do this for a living, and I'm certain you are very good at it. I saw your loon video from last year. Impressive. What I did took over a week. What you propose would be good for several more weeks, as I am an amateur, not set up for a "HowTo" type of video. Trying to figure out what parts of it you find erroneous and correct them (as I thought everything was pretty accurate) would take even more work. I have neither the time, nor any incentive to undertake the job. So I have taken down the whole thing. Pretend it never happened. The lesson I have learned from this is a common one in today's fast-moving technological world: Stay in your own lane.

Steve, with all due respect, whether you are professional or not is irrelvent. Pleny of professionals suck at shooting video, and some amateurs are really talented. We have no idea where you call on that spectrum because you haven't posted any of your work with the blog, That is absolutely essential if your goal is to help others.. Now, if YOU don't feel that you have video worth yof posting, then doesn't that call into question the validity of your advice? Do you really feel condident in your recommended settings and techniques if they haven't led you to shoot video you'd be proud to show? I would argue that a blog with unsubstantiated advice can actually do more harm than good to your fellow camera owners if your advice is flawed, and I know that is not your intent.

Maybe the time you spent writing your blog might have been better spent learning from other people who have already blazed this territory and have shared their advice and have work to back it up. Even if you can't find exactly what you want for the GH6, beleve me, 90% of this stuff applies qually to the GH5, S1H, and many cameras from other manufacturers. Like I said, I don't have a GH6 but I'm smart enought to know that it cannot be that much different (operationally) than its predecessors.

[Ron Evans]

Doug , no one is criticizing your work. Your video work is very good, always. However if you choose to criticize someone the onus is on you, not the other person to justify themselves. That is the way the internet works. Anyone has the opportunity to say what they want without justifying. One only has to look at what politicians say to see that. You may not like it but that is the way it is now. It is up to the person receiving the information to decide if it is good or bad information. I am sure you also know that any video shown is questionable too.

If you question something Steve said then say what you mean or you are just as guilty of not providing information.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Maybe the time you spent writing your blog might have been better spent learning from other people who have already blazed this territory and have shared their advice and have work to back it up.

Why not, throw in some insults along the way while you are at it, you enjoy that when someone doesn't agree with you, don't you? :) It's funny how easily you are triggered when things don't go your way, if you feel the need to react to this, pls do but just that you know, I also couldn't care less.

Anyways Steve, if you are reading this, just put your article back up since I"m sure I am not the only one who found it an interesting read since I own several m4/3 and full frame Panasonic camera's. You could also share your findings in some wildlife facebook groups but just be warned there are also trolls present but don't let that stop you from sharing your experience.