Moving Photagraphs?

[Talon 1]

i just can't seem to master!
First of all (i have a D70) i have moved on to at times manual with stills with great results but with moving birds i am still in the jurassic period.
A couple of enquires i would like to ask.

1. does the view finder lock into the object on auto providing you keep it in the box so to speak.
2. I try to focus in on a perticular area and fire shots hoping it will come through that area and i will get at least one good shot but how can you do that against a skyline?

I know this varies a great deal on situations but say a magpie size bird was to fly with say 50ft of you at a height of say 50ft as well against the skyline.
If you knew this was going to happen (say the magpie was perched on a chimney top) but you knew you had it against a sky as it flew past how are you supposed to either manually focus or the camera supposed to auto focus.
If in this case you are lucky enough to get the magpie in focus on the chimney pot and you can keep it in the cross haires will the camera automatically focus all the time on its flight across you?

What settings etc? I know a High shutter speed but any ideas from you wizards. :brains:

[ermine]

Practice and RTFM are the answer to that. You need continuous AF set. For sky shots you can enable all AF points so the first one to get the bird will lock. You might want to crank the EV adjust to expose high to get detail in the dark shape against the sky which you can burn out a bit

[robski]

Free - a factor which maybe hindering you if you are using the 135-400 is the Autofocus speed of that lens. It is quite sluggish compared to faster AF lens. Autofocus works better with an uncluttered background. Does the Nikon D70 have an AF servo mode ?

If your lucky Greypoint will offer you some help as she has the same setup as you and she has flight shots down to a Tee.

Robert

[rezMole]

Definately have Continuous focus set - once it's locked on, it should keep the bird in focus.

The problem i find is that if you "lose" the bird, it takes a while to find it again as the lens starts searching and throws everything way out of focus. That's why i tend to use manual focus most of the time. These so-called advances like auto-focus may be good for general photography, but sometimes the "old" ways are the best.

[stevo]

I use the Sigma 135-400mm lens that your talking about albeit on an eos10D & yes even with continous focus it is a hit & miss affair.I find the best way around it is to manually focus or take a chance & select all the focus points.

Cheers Steve.

[Talon 1]

Stevo, That is exactly what i do. If not in Manual i tend to set the apperture and let the camera work the speed. I notice there are two focal modes on the lens (sorry i call them cross hairs old habit from other uses) . Which one do you use?
I also find that whenever i use the 's' button which is supposed to be for fast shots it always comes out dark?
At what speed in this mode would you use.
Portraits and landscapes are now of good quality in my view but the air shots i am struggling.
many thanks

[stevo]

Hi Free

Just my thoughts try & follow the bird from say left of the skyline & track it across shooting as you do so,in something like Aperture priority mode if your not getting a fast enough shutter speed then what I do is shoot in RAW mode & underexpose using the exposure compensation.Then when I`m back home I adjust the exposure compensation in Capture 1 software.Generally I use the centre focus sensor if the bird is flying straight towards you head on then try focussing on the wing tip.To get some practise why not go down to your local pond & try your flight photography on the larger birds first IE Canada geese or Swans as in general these are a bit slower,then when your getting sharp shots move on to the smaller stuff.

Hope this helps.

Steve.