Animals Show Birds

[Danny]

And too many images for me to sort through afterwards. It is an amazing feature, no doubt.

100% agree if it's used a lot. Just checking here and it's been used 5 times in just over 4 years. I set mine to 15 FPS with a pre burst of 5 shots, so it might take 20-25 shots. It depends how you set it on the Oly's, some might use 30-60 FPS and have 10-15 pre shots and that would drive me nuts

It can certainly give you shots where us as humans are just too slow on a bird take off, but and it's a big but, it can also feel like cheating personally. The other downfall is that it chews through battery power like nothing else on earth and it doesn't AF. It's a fixed focus thing so no AF with it on the Oly's. Suits me because I only use manual focus teles on the Oly anyway. A bit more than most will want to know

 

[Moonraker]

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[Danny]

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Oh yeah, just love that! Beautiful little one and the chirp I can almost hear. Stunning sharp shot.

 

[John King]

100% agree if it's used a lot. Just checking here and it's been used 5 times in just over 4 years. I set mine to 15 FPS with a pre burst of 5 shots, so it might take 20-25 shots. It depends how you set it on the Oly's, some might use 30-60 FPS and have 10-15 pre shots and that would drive me nuts

It can certainly give you shots where us as humans are just too slow on a bird take off, but and it's a big but, it can also feel like cheating personally. The other downfall is that it chews through battery power like nothing else on earth and it doesn't AF. It's a fixed focus thing so no AF with it on the Oly's. Suits me because I only use manual focus teles on the Oly anyway. A bit more than most will want to know

Never been one for machine gun photography either, Danny. Or OoF images ...

The fastest RAW+JPEG with pro capture and continuous AF is 18 fps, IIRC. That's faster than I need or want!

 

[Brownie]

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DSC00734 by telecast, on Flickr

 

[Terra Tourist]

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Reddish Egret

 

[John King]

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Reddish Egret

Nolan, that's a wonderful shot, except that you haven't got one essential element right - it's out of focus.

I cannot stress too often the most basic things in photography, and they have almost nothing to do with gear ...

1. Focus (and apparent depth of field)
2. Exposure (aperture and shutter speed)
3. Composition (of form and colour)

Of course, there are lots of other things, including camera/lens specific items. However, if you miss any of the above, nothing else matters.

I am definitely not being mean or nasty, but those three things are absolutely critical to get right before you even think about anything else. And you are by no means the only person this applies to!

As I know only too well, honest self criticism and assessment are very hard to do, but that is definitely an important step towards improvement.

 

[Terra Tourist]

Nolan, that's a wonderful shot, except that you haven't got one essential element right - it's out of focus.

I cannot stress too often the most basic things in photography, and they have almost nothing to do with gear ...

1. Focus (and apparent depth of field)
2. Exposure (aperture and shutter speed)
3. Composition (of form and colour)

Of course, there are lots of other things, including camera/lens specific items. However, if you miss any of the above, nothing else matters.

I am definitely not being mean or nasty, but those three things are absolutely critical to get right before you even think about anything else. And you are by no means the only person this applies to!

As I know only too well, honest self criticism and assessment are very hard to do, but that is definitely an important step towards improvement.

Thank you, John, for the pointers and your feedback... I'm continuing to learn, on the run, as it were.

 

[Danny]

Thank you, John, for the pointers and your feedback... I'm continuing to learn, on the run, as it were.

Lets try something. Looking at your EXIF ..........

• EF75-300mm f/4-5.6
• ISO 400
• 300mm
• f/8.0
• 1/500s

Try putting the camera on "M" manual mode. This helps to lock in the settings. At 1/500 there you are trying to take a moving subject and plus, you are moving as well, 1/1000 min would be ideal. To help get that, open up your aperture to wide open instead of F/8. Maybe try boosting the ISO to ISO 640-800 to help get it there. The faster the better for birds in flight, landing and of course you moving with them. Some lenses you need to stop down one stop, but that's something you need to try on your lens.

What I do is to use "M" and lock my ISO or sometimes even use auto ISO with the lens wide open, that now leaves me with only one thing to change, the shutter speed to get the correct exposure.

Everyone is different and my favourite saying is, there is no right or wrong, just different. What you do need to look at though is that shutter speed and how to get it faster.

Even when a bird is stationary I always have fast settings locked in at the sake of having a low ISO. What that does, is when a bird takes off and they always will, you need to be prepared for that as well, hence fast settings at all times, just a personal thing that is. Someone else looks at that entirely differently for sure.

I better stop before I go on forever as Jan keeps reminding me

All the best and never stop, making stuff ups is how we all learn and heaven help me, I make enough of them

Danny.

 

[John King]

Excellent advice, Danny.

 

[CatsAreGods]

Peek-a-boo!

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[CatsAreGods]

Peek-a-boo 2: Grackle Edition

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[Terra Tourist]

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[Danny]

Peek-a-boo!

View attachment 373022

Just have to love that look. The dappled light just makes it that much better. Love it!

 

[CatsAreGods]

Just have to love that look. The dappled light just makes it that much better. Love it!

Thank you!

 

[scott rawson]

Windermere lake

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[lucien]

Sony A350 and Minolta 500/8 AF Reflex. Was surprised it focused on the bird with all the sticks in the way.

View attachment 372672DSC00693 by telecast, on Flickr

Or you got very lucky, nice shot btw

 

[Brownie]

Or you got very lucky, nice shot btw

I've been able to repeat this many times, there were about a half dozen of these, this was the best pose. The center spot focus is small enough to catch what you want and nothing else in most cases. Another example, this time in-flight through the sticks. This is with the 28-135.

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DSC00724 by telecast, on Flickr

 

[will focus]

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A Nuthatch takes a break from the wind on the lee (downwind) side of a tree during a bit of a snow squall today. This bird rested here for at least 5 minutes.

 

[Toddster]

Just a few assessing the safety of the feeder with me in plain sight.

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