Yeah - pretty good light Keith, I had just finished shooting some Oystercatchers while resting on a stone wall and did not have time to flip the ISO up to 400 which would have given a much faster shutter speed. Got away with it on this occasion. BTW this is almost full frame.
Don, I agree with the partial manual focusing when using a taped tc, I have been doing this for a while now. I also use this technique when a perching bird has not got enough contrast with the background for a taped tc to achieve AF. I also find that the Camera and type of tc makes a big difference.Roy...I just started shooting BIF with the 400 5.6...I also have the Canon 1.4 tc and have started using it with the pins taped...At first I noticed that it wants to really hunt for the focus with the tc and I was thinking that it wasn't going to work for BIF shots as it was too slow to focus with the tc. I read where Arthur Morris had said to pre-focus manually in the general area where you expect your shots to be and it would speed up the focus...I tried it and it works great...I got a nice Osprey shot this past Saturday using the 400mm with the tc this way. I got set-up on the river and noticed the distance most of the birds were travelling and I just set the focus manually in that general area...when a bird did appear...the focus would lock on like the tc wasn't on it and it would track as it usually would...try it, I think you will be surprised at the difference...
