New Birds in Flight Photographer (1 Viewer)

I am already into dgiscoping and static bird photography but would like to launch into the world of photographing birds in flights. Am off to Bempton Clifs next month to try it out.

I dont have a DSLR but own a good "bridge" camera the Panasonic DMC FZ30 which has 8m pixels, an optical zoom up to 12x 935mm to 420mm). Image Stabilisation etc.

Any tips for a starter on settings (yes this will of course vary depending on lighting etc) panning etc... we be most welcome.

Looking forward to hearing from you all out there

The main problem will be the speed of the autofocus. I owned the FZ20 which I found to be far too slow for birds in flight. It's possible that the FZ30 is a little faster.

Most likely the best technique will be to find a place along the cliffs where the birds frequently fly past - thre's loads of nooks and crannies for this - pre-focus the camera and wait for a bird to come into view.

Gannets tend to be slower movers so you may be able to get one in focus as they fly along the cliffs panning as it passes. Panning needs to be practiced - it's easiest to do with birds flying across your field of view as focus distance is pretty constant. Birds moving away from or towards you are constantly changing distance so it makes life more difficult for you and for the camera.

If it's a bright day then shutter speed won't be a problem. You may need to adjust exposure compensation though as many sea birds are bright and you'll be shooting against a dark sea. Dialing down EV by -0.7 will help correctly expose the bright birds to retain detail in the whites/greys. To practice there's no need to take photos - just practice keeping a flying bird in the viewfinder until you get the feel for it.

Birds sat on cliffs won't be a problem as the cliffs are pretty light as well.

Baron I've been trying to do the same for some time now with a FZ7.

As Ian mentions realistically your best chance of success is by pre-focusing on an object approximately the same distance away as the birds. Then slowly press the shutter until the focus lock engages and then either pan across until a bird comes into view or wait only until one appears. If you've got a decent size memory card taking a burst of photos greatly increases your chances. Likewise do everything possible to increase the depth of field whilst maintaining a fast shutter speed. Unfortunately this is where the Panasonic and other bridge cameras have problems. Whereas with a DSLR you could increase the sensitivity to 800ASA in my experience this approach on a Panasonic will result in an extremely noisy photo. Although perhaps not what you're after you may have more success taking short video clips.

Good luck

Ian

Thanks

B Ians both

Many thanks for these prompt and hepful suggestions. I am going to give it a go as you suggest. A DSLR would doubtless be easier but its not high on my budget at the mo,


Cheers