Motordrive maniacs

[taxman]

I dont know if its just me and im getting more grumpy with age, But I get totally p......d off with people in bird hides (public) photographing static birds with bursts of shutter akin to an Oozi 9mm. Perhaps that is what is going on in the mind of such people, they are hunting and shooting. I want to scream accross the hide 'the bloody thing is standing still, or asleep'. Why do they need to fire off bursts when 1 shot will do the trick. They must spend weeks in photoshop. They are probably those with shaky hands who havnt got the sensitivity right on the shutter. Strangely enough, more often than not these movie makers are adorned with big grey lenses rather than black ones!. Do they think it is macho, my shutter rate is faster than yours. Now bearing in mind I was sat there with a D3, would be a pointless line of attack. No wonder, those with telescopes rather than cameras tut! in hides, when Joe 'Rambo' Cannon takes aim at a helpless Mallard 10m from the hide.

Ah well, I must look on the bright side, while I am sleeping soundly with a couple of decent shots in the bag. These poor sods will be up till the we hours deleting 99% of their snaps and oversharpening the rest.

Taxman

[postcardcv]

Hi Taxman and welcome to BirdForum.

You're not the first to find the spray and pray approach to bird photography annoying, but then I guess it works for some people... There are probably more Canon users taking this approach as there are significantly more people using Canon gear than Nikon, especially for bird photography (I'm not saying that Canon are better, just that they have more users). If you're able to take a few photos and nail them, then hats off to you, most of use need to take some extras as insurance!

[Duke Leto]

Taxman, excellent 1st post.............
yep for a record shot its fine to take one shot and nail it, but as were all very keen and competitive, its that little nuance that makes a shot, the head at just the right angle, the light in the eye, the water droplets just so, the prey in the right place etc etc etc.....
With today's cameras we have the ability to take frames a few 1/10's of a second apart and its unbelievable how much difference that makes (I always seem to get the eye's closed!!) let alone the actual exposure, if I bracket then I will take 3 or possibly 5 shots, yep you can adjust in photoshop but there's nothing quite like taking from the card and saying, yep that's it.
IMHO I find many other aspects of hide abuse more annoying, people on mobile phones, people in bright clothes that hang out of hides or non stop chatting, but we live in a diverse society and we have to respect other peoples hobbies and habits (as long as there legal).
Me, I normally take the military approach, the double tap as a minimum, the 1st is the banker the second has there attention and as shutters are so loud hopefully gets the subject looking in your general direction after that its a case of checking the exposure and fine tuning (if the subject is willing)
Welcome to the world of BF and looking forward to seeing the images that you post,the D3 is a superb body and well out of reach I imagine for most BF members (me included)

[RJM]

Just like auto manufacturers tuning the sounds of their slamming car doors, Nikon has spent a lot of R&D $$ on getting the shutter sound just right. If you want to hear an annoying rattle trap, fire off the shutter on a Sony A900! Klackety klackety klack!

cheers,
Rick

[temmie]

I feel that if you push on the button (first shot), you have more camera shake. If you keep pushing, the following pictures are all without the shake of your index finger pushing the button. I also thought that was the reasoning behind shutter releases.

[njlarsen]

One point to P&S cameras: on those, shooting can be turned completely soundless.

I had an experience once with my old film SLR, where even taking just a single shot scared away the deer I was trying to photograph. I assume the shutter sound was too close to switching off the safety on a gun ...

Niels

[taxman]

Great reposts...see I said I was just a grumpy git. However, the motordrive was developed to help deliver images of moving subjects (for wich I frequently shoot in bursts of 2 or 3, maybe 4...or if its really cold and I cant feel ..shed loads).But if e the wee beast is asleep or possibly dead, we can still max out on 2, check the image, histogram, WB, focus, and re-shoot. Thant way the water rail hiding just out of sight, might still come out. Rather than legging it from that super wasp in the brown wooden thing.

Tax doesnt have to be taxing....

[Duke Leto]

However, the motordrive was developed to help deliver images of moving subjects (for wich I frequently shoot in bursts of 2 or 3, maybe 4...or if its really cold and I cant feel ..shed loads).

Yep and gunpowder or saltpetre was developed as an aid to medicine......
A perched bird will move its just a case of degrees.........
Now if I buy the EN-EL4 battery for my D300's batterypack I can raise my game to 8fps.... its like the cold war all over again

[ikw101]

In general the amount of noise being generated in hides on the more popular nature reserves is astounding. It's hardly any wonder that most of us now use scopes at sites that only 10 years ago would have allowed a decent view of a subject to be gained with a pair of binoculars.

Totally agree about the Uzi technique however it's frequently used by Nikon users as well as Canon ! If the sound of the shutter wasn't enough the sight of a 500mm lens sticking 6 inches out of a hide must surely help scare everything even further away. Even more bizarrely they seem to be frequently pointed in the direction of bird feeders !

Why stop at motordrive maniacs ? Mobile phones, pagers, the local bird club loudly discussing past holidays or sightings, disinterested children etc..all make hides something to be avoided whenever possible. If a Kingfisher lands within half a mile of a hide all hell inevitably breaks loose. Whilst I'd prefer everyone to show a bit more consideration back in the real world surely its about time our conservation organisations started to develop soundproofed hides.

Alternatively you could just get out there with your binoculars, camera and rucksack and start to study the birdlife on your local patch. The majority of birds are fairly predictable. If you use the available natural cover or even a portable hide/screen the whole photography experience will be far more enjoyable.

[Dipper]

I heard motor drives in use for macros

[Derry]

I see the same in sports,, even though I will shoot the D300(s) at the 6fps when there is some real action I always see shooters that live on the highest frame rate and keep that shutter button floored,, they fill their cards and put another clip in and keep shooting the slow or non action plays,,??? the noise is not a bother on the field or the gym but I often wonder what I am missing and what are they seeing,,

as mentioned they must live on their computers just to pull the good shots,, guess they are trying to see how many gig they can do in a game,,

Derry

[Fozzybear]

I've seen that in hides too, a guy with an enormous lens (the biggest I've seen by far, no idea what spec it was!) firing his camera like the minigun in the film Predator! I've done that only once in a hide, I was trying to catch a sequence of an avocet swipe feeding, but other than that I stick to single shot. I do take a number of shots of a subject (sometimes lots!) but I prefer to try to time the shot myself rather than rely on the frame-rate of the camera.