To freeze birds in movement and during the flight with FZ18/28/35 (1 Viewer)

André Adeodato

Well-known member

• Oct 29, 2009

• #1

I already had FZ18/28 and I am planning to buy FZ35 however in none of the predecessors I got with success to photograph birds in movement or flying without the pictures were shaken. When I used priority of speed and configured for 1/640 or more the pictures were dark same me configuring ISO for 400 and photographing with enough sunshine to do the picture.

It was the all dark picture and here this an example, this picture was made 09:14AM and EXIF soon this below. Notice that the head of the bird shows the movement that he did for the sides, if I increased the speed the picture would be still darker, the day was sunny and there was not need to use ISO above 100 for a day of sun as that.


f/4.4 - 1/320s - ISO100 - 09:14am

 

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RJM

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

• Oct 29, 2009

• #2

Birds in flight need 1/800sec minimum. Small birds even faster. ISO might need to be higher for proper exposure.

Rick

 

André Adeodato

Well-known member

• Oct 29, 2009

• #3

RJM

in the case of the picture the bird is just moved to feed and even so I didn't get to freeze movements and the picture was dark

 

RJM

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

• Oct 29, 2009

• #4

Obiviously 1/320sec was not fast enough to freeze the movement of the tail. You need faster speeds so you need to increase ISO. Perhaps ISO200 would let you get 1/640sec in this case.

Rick

 

André Adeodato

Well-known member

• Oct 29, 2009

• #5

The subject is not only to freeze the tail or the head of the bird, see that the whole picture was dark in 1/320s, same increasing ISO for 200 the brightness would not be enough for not darkening the picture with 1/640s. The day was of a lot of sun.

My doubt is also as I can make pictures in high-speed and obtaining a picture with shine, contrast and good clearness

 

RJM

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

• Oct 29, 2009

• #6

I opened the pic in Silkypix. You used Spot metering so I am sure the camera exposed for the light colored feathers of the bird or the banana. You either need to crop the pic down to the size of the bird OR use a different metering program such as centerweighted or matrix. I seldom use spot metering, prefering centerweighted when cropping in ideal lighting and matrix for difficult lighting and full frame shots.

Super zoom cameras have limitations. They perform well only under optimum conditions and subjects. You have to learn to work within the limitations or upgrade to a dSLR for more flexibility.

Rick

 

Last edited: Oct 29, 2009

bartolli

Well-known member

• Oct 29, 2009

• #7

Would tend to agree that if you used spot metering then the banana or feathers would be used for exposure hence rest of pic dark.

I believe the FZ18 has a exposure bracket option where you can automatically take 3 pics at plus/minus 0.5 f stop? Or i that just the FZ28? Worth a try to see the difference.

Otherwise try different metering or manually under/overexpose using the joystick.

 

njlarsen

Gallery Moderator

Opus Editor

Supporter

• Oct 29, 2009

• #8

I have my FZ18 set at automax 400 for ISO, allowing the camera to go a little faster in the cases where the bird is in shade. I also agree with the others that the camera in your sample picture probably exposed for the open part of the banana, which is very light compared to the rest of the image and is correctly exposed. Try using the center-weighted option for metering (which is where my camera lives full time).

Also, unless you have a strong reason to do otherwise, let the camera stay at wide open aperture (4.2 at full zoom).

Finally, and very important to my experience, is setting the camera in burst mode. if you take 3-5 images in a row, chances are that the bird sat more still in one of them than the others. Of course, you then have a lot of images to sort through in the computer afterwards.

Cheers
Niels

 

ChrisKten

It's true, I quite like Pigeons

• Oct 29, 2009

• #9

I don't know about the FZ18, but with the FZ28 I get decent results using the Sports Mode on the dial. If you select the Creative Sports option you use the Joystick to alter the shutter speed to freeze or blur the action (It's basically Shutter Priority with help). Also, on the FZ28 you can set the max ISO at 800 without excessive noise (FZ28 has a slightly larger sensor than the FZ18, hence the decrease in zoom.)

I don't really do BIF as my neck can't handle looking up, but I find it easy to get Black-headed Gulls in flight when fighting over food.

Check my gallery (or others using the FZ28) for an idea what ISO 800 looks like, and check the EXIF data for shutter speed etc.

 

M

Megapixelit

Member

• Apr 22, 2010

• #10

Most of the time, I set my FZ35 to highest shutter speed, 3MP ISO Auto, in P mode. And shoot at birds towards light, and I can usely capture them in motion with great detail.

Hope you don't mind, but here are a couple pictures I shot. These were a Long ways off, maybe 300-500 yards not sure. And I didn't even have the camera set to the best settings.

Had these birds been much closer I'm sure they would be pretty good.

 

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