d50 settings for birds (1 Viewer)

hi
i am getting to know my way around my nikon d50 i got recently. Ok i now want to get great photos but would like to know what settings other more experienced nikon users use please.
I use a sigma 170 mm - 500mm lens.i want advice for large birds that fill the frame and small birds that dont.
So which settings should i use for metering and focus area ? plus any other advice you can give me on photoing bird.
with thanks

Hi Dolores,

this is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions!



These are what I'm happy with on my D70 - they should work OK with the D50 (note that big bird or small doesn't really matter, I feel).

I use full Manual mode these days, but until recently was using P (Flexible Program).

AF-S/Single Area focus

Spot metering

Auto ISO

EV -0.3 (typically, but this gets changed a lot to suit the situation)

Minimum shutter speed 1/400 (but I've got an image stabilised lens)

Aperture F7.1 or lower. unless this means I can't get the shutter speed without the camera selecting 1600 ISO - I'll drop it to F5.6 happily enough

I think that covers it...

Any other advice? Yep.

Practice, practice, practice - then practice some more!

Keith Reeder said:

Hi Dolores,

this is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions!



These are what I'm happy with on my D70 - they should work OK with the D50 (note that big bird or small doesn't really matter, I feel).

I use full Manual mode these days, but until recently was using P (Flexible Program).

AF-S/Single Area focus

Spot metering

Auto ISO

EV -0.3 (typically, but this gets changed a lot to suit the situation)

Minimum shutter speed 1/400 (but I've got an image stabilised lens)

Aperture F7.1 or lower. unless this means I can't get the shutter speed without the camera selecting 1600 ISO - I'll drop it to F5.6 happily enough

I think that covers it...

Any other advice? Yep.

Practice, practice, practice - then practice some more!

Click to expand...

hi keith
thanks for your advice,
i cant quite understand if a =aperture and s = shutter speed and manual does it all why do we need p mode ?

Manual does none - you have to set BOTH yourself. P set both for you.

What you use tends to change with what you're shooting and what the conditions are like. I always set the ISO manually because I like control of the shutter speed and if, using P or AP mode the shutter speed is'nt high enough to ensure sharpness I find flicking the ISO up the quickest way to get what I want. Basically P mode is useful, especially as a 'safety' mode to keep the camera in between shots, because it will automatically select a combination of shutter and aperture to give correct, or near, exposure. If you wander along with your camera set to say f8 in AP and suddenly see something, point and shoot you may find it all blurry because there was'nt enough light for more than 1/30 second shutter speed. That's what happens to me anyway!!
So I tend to use AP when I can and flick back to P so I'm ready for a snatch shot. Everyone tends to use different methods so it's true that only practice can sort the best method for you. I tend to use c/w metering most of the time, using exposure compensation to adjust. I find the matric metering on the D50 pretty good but generally need to adjust the exp.comp. down a bit unless it's very dim. C/w and occasionally spot metering I find best for swans on the whole!