Focusing on Flying Birds

[mitchell]

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I've made myself a project of taking photos of flying birds.

 

I'm using R9/DMR, and usually a 180/2.8 lens from 6-7 feet prefocused on a tripod. I

 

catch them coming and going from a birdfeeder. Getting them in the frame is difficult

 

enough. Focus is very chancy. DOF is minimal unless it's a very bright day. Keepers

 

are a very low percentage. I'm open to any suggestions to increase my success rate.

 

 

I have virtually no experience with Auto Focus. I think this is a very challenging focus

 

problem. The one advantage is that the bird/subject is the closest object and alone.

 

After my extremely longwinded preamble, my question is:

 

can a say C***n D 5 autofocus fast enough to catch a bird this close?

 

 

 

Don't yell and scream at me. I love the DMR. I also love what the birds do with their

 

wings when flying, and want to catch it.

 

Thanks,

 

Mitchell

[marknorton]

It's a tough subject; rapid movement, long-ish lens, close focus, you want both high shutter speed to freeze motion and small aperture to give depth of field. I've done similar shots on my Nikon D2X with an IR remote and the autofocus on it works well. I just stand clear and press the remote, lot's of non-keepers even so - one advantage of digital.

[mitchell]

Thanks Mark for your response.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an "IR remote."

 

Best,

 

Mitchell

[marknorton]

Infra-Red remote, I set the camera up near the bird feeder, and can then stand clear and fire the camera when I want to; the IR receiver fits in the hot shoe and points back to where I am standing; I've tried both single shot and 6 fps, but you then end up with 6 times as many non-keepers...

[carstenw]

If you know where the birds are going, you can also try pre-focusing on a specific spot, and then following the birds with your camera, shooting when you reach your spot. I think this might be a lot easier. I tried to get a picture of a swallow when I was in Egypt recently, and with this technique I finally succeeded in getting a good shot. Before that, I shot perhaps 50 blurry ones This was with a 5D.

[mitchell]

Hi Carsten,

 

That's very interesting. With the 5 D you find manual prefocusing easier than Auto. I'll try panning, but I'm not too hopeful because the birds appear suddenly and close to the finder so there isn't much time to get on them.

 

So far it's looking like there is no magic bullet, although higher ISO could help alot, giving me more DOF.

 

As it is, I get some keepers, a few for every hundred. As time goes on, I'm improving, largely from changing the set up to get the birds to go where I want them.

 

Thanks,

 

Mitchell

[telyt]

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Many people using AF cameras have had better success with manual focus because the AF system may lock onto the near wingtip or if the camera's focus sensor(s) wander off the bird the camera locks onto background or a cloud. I've found the SL's viewfinder much better for flying birds than just about anything else:

 

 

 

 

(all photos: SL, 400m f/6.8 Telyt)

 

I also like what the high ISO capability of the DMR lets me do:

 

 

this photo: R8/DMR, 560mm f/6.8 with 1.4x APO Extender; I pre-focussed on the pine cones and watched the jay with my face away from the viewfinder so I could anticipate and trip the shutter at the right time.

 

My fantasy camera for this kind of stuff would be a DSLR with an SL viewfinder and DMR or better image quality.

[mitchell]

Doug,

 

I'm using basically the same method you used with the jay. I loved that jay series when you first posted it.

 

It's not that I miss them all, but you should of seen the ones that got away. !:^)

 

 

Best,

 

Mitchell

 

 

 

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[telyt]

It's not that I miss them all, but you should of seen the ones that got away. !:^)

 

The two best things about digital capture are the high-ISO capabilties and the extremely low cost of the dud pictures, both very handy features for wildlife photography

[Jamie Roberts]

{Snipped}

this photo: R8/DMR, 560mm f/6.8 with 1.4x APO Extender; I pre-focussed on the pine cones and watched the jay with my face away from the viewfinder so I could anticipate and trip the shutter at the right time.

 

My fantasy camera for this kind of stuff would be a DSLR with an SL viewfinder and DMR or better image quality.

 

Doug--your photos are breathtaking. I don't shoot birds, and I never will after seeing that stuff you do!

 

But I gotta ask, how *on earth* did you manage to see where the Jay was with your naked eye given you're shooting an effective telescope at about 780mm--with a 1.3 crop no less ?? Do you use a spotting scope or something too?

 

It doesn't look like you had much room to guess either in terms of DOF...

 

Let's hope the R10 is your dream camera! Your requirements work for me as well

[jank]

Hasselblad used to make a quick focusing handle, and an external viewfinder for the accessoru shoe.It could be folded if not in use.

The handle was a clamp- on ring for the focusing ring with a handle with arm and ball on end On the ring there were small movable markers in different colors ( a piece of rubber tubing).

The Viewfinder had an eye piece ( an eyecup with aperture) and a frameholder in front.

Frameholder would hold in place a piece of light blue transparent plastic with rectangular hole covering the field of view of the lens used.

This way one can see what is comming into frame(in blue), and also see a marker showing the position of the focusing ring,when perfocused, calibrated for certain spots.

I used it for birds, and baseball bases prefocising on them with red ,green, yellow markers and guessing for in-between places.

You can make a use of this contraption , if still available, make an adaptor for flash/accessory shoe, and use playdo with toothpicks on the focusing ring.

Jan

[mitchell]

Jan,

 

I'm not sure I understand completely how it worked, but close enough, I think to do something similar. I'm thinking of prefocusing on a number of points, and marking the focus ring with a removable sticker of some sort for the different focus points.

 

I can see this being really helpful. Thanks for getting me on track.

 

Best regards,

 

Mitchell